My husband (UK-born, US permanent resident since '04) and I (US citizen) have toyed with the idea of moving back to the northwest of England for about 4 years now. Every time we start the long process, something happens and we get sidetracked or intimidated. This time around, we are just 100% dead-set on moving back. He is so homesick, I am really wanting my children to go to UK schools, etc... so we've decided to start a timeline.

So we figure that we should go ahead and give ourselves a certain amount of time to get completely prepared to move back. We have established a life here, own a home, have a kid with another on the way, pets, etc. So I've made a checklist of everything I can possibly think of that we need to tie up before we leave, including: Selling our home, paying off debt and credit cards, deal with immigration (both US and UK), make plans to get our pets over on the pet passport, save up for and make arrangements to move the belongings we choose to bring over, start up with a bank over there, and on and on. So after looking at our budget and USCIS time lines and everything else, I'm thinking that we can plan to be over there in the next two to three years.

Is this completely unrealistic? Will it take longer? How long did it take for you? I know it really differs no matter what your situation. We have a three year old (born in the US) and I'm 4 months pregnant with our second. My husband is a hotel manager and I am currently going through courses to get my teaching certification, which I'm not sure is transferrable to the UK. We have 5 pets (a lab, a pug mix and three cats) which I'm assuming will cost appx $4000-$5000 to move, and enough belongings to fill half of a shipping container. We have an old minivan that is paid off, so no problem there, and a car purchased in July that we have a loan on. I'm not sure if it would be even worth trying to bring that over. My husband has a financial history in the UK, but I don't, so I understand that banking will take a while to get going.

But when push comes to shove, we both miss it desperately. We miss family and friends, our quality of life over there, etc. I would wait ten years if thats how long it took!

So I guess I'm wondering if 2 to 3 years is a realistic time-frame... if you've done it or are in the process, what has it been like for you? What have been big obstacles? Is it even possible with 2 kids and pets?

Any information, stories, advise would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you!

Molly

No 1 Priority:

Your spouse really ought to get US citizenship before leaving the US. Green Cards will become invalid after a year of living overseas (although you can apply beforehand for an extension for up to 2 years of absence).

One English poster on here ("Jasper" who posts on the 50s/60s thread here) is in his mid-60s and is leaving in just over a week to return to live in the UK despite living overseas for 30+ years. He was encouraged by other posters to obtain his US citizenship first - and he did. It didn't take long, but it means that if he really can't settle in England, he can easily return to the States - in essence, taking US citizenship - and therefore a US passport - is like having an 'insurance' card!

Thanks, that is really good advice. We have been thinking about that for a long time. I'm not really familiar with the process but will look into it further now. I'd heard about permits allowing reentry after a certain period of time out of the states, but I think the US is allowed to deny those at will, so it seems there isn't any security behind that.

The main thing I'm confused about there is dual-citizenship. If my husband gets his US citizenship, will he still be a British citizen? I've been told that as a US citizen, if I were to apply for British citizenship, I would lose my citizenship in the states.

I guess I need to find someone who has been through the process to ask questions.

Thanks for the input

You can all be dual national eventually. Dh needs to get his US citizenship start right away, it only takes a few months.
The children are probably already dual if you Dh was born and raised in UK and lived there. So you may want to look at getting British consular birth registration and British passports for them.
Once you have been in UK for a time you can do the the UK citizenship for yourself. You all get to keep both citizenships, you don't give up one for the other.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-...tering-a-birth

Hello,
entirely doable, and the path is well trod by those moving to UK before you.
You have come to the best forum for advice. It is all in these pages whether you choose to search or post for update info.

I echo what the others said, husband should get USC before he leaves, other than that you have pretty much got your list headlines already thought through.

We are UKC, naturalized USC, came back this year after 18 yrs in US. We did not lose UKC in becoming USC, nor would you lose USC in becoming UKC.

Your time line can be whatever you make it but may be controlled by issues that cannot be easily managed, for many this is the sale of a US house, or saving what they think should be enough reserves. Allow at least six months living expenses while trying to find work, plus house rental deposits etc. car purchase etc. Do not depend on getting a credit card approval very quickly. I cant speak much on the subject of kids but I suspect it may be a good thing you coming before they get enrolled in a US school and have to make the transition, one less pressure i imagine - but others have moved kids of school age over. I had a friend in US, a teacher, she had spent time in UK but was not permitted to teach in UK on her US license - others may be able to shed more light on that.

Our transition took 8 months from starting to prep the house (which took 4 months) to landing this side the pond - we were lucky with a quick sale of US house. One cat, no children.

I would suggest not bringing cars over, it would make driving on the left side more difficult. Late model used cars are plentiful here for OK prices.

My opinion would be get started on the USC straight away then get started on the sale of your house, everything else will fall in between these two important steps.

best wishes, visit here often, advice along the way is available.

also look at travelling back on qm2. it has proven cost efficient and great experience for some members of this forum.

Take a look at this link regarding teaching in the UK as an overseas qualified teacher: http://www.tda.gov.uk/get-into-teach...programme.aspx

"If you qualified as a teacher overseas, and outside the European Economic Area (EEA), you may be eligible to work in England as a temporary, unqualified teacher for up to four years while you achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). Currently, this programme is only available in England."

Good luck!

Add to that short list of must do's that are time controlled; the 6-month Fixed wait period of the DEFRA Pet Travel Scheme, I suggest having it complete by the time you list your house for sale so that you are then free to go as soon as a sale comes.

Assuming you can find a decent rental nearby, consider selling your house ASAP. It's a hassle to do two moves, but it takes away one big uncertainty, and it's highly unlikely that house prices are going to rocket any time soon.

The rest is just ticking off the boxes when you can, which is probably under a year.

Bev

If you visit the UK in the interim do the LITUK (life in the Uk test) test while you're here.
With your duration of marriage it helps you got straight to indefinite leave to remain.

On the US citizenship thing. Consider the cost vs benefit. How likely are you to move again? You can always travel back for visits anyway. if you don;t do the citizenship it's also one less tax return to do! ;-)

We decided last Xmas we would do it and we moved the following July.
Wife has just got her ILR. (We did not consider the LITUK test when we were last here- Doh! would have saved us near $1000)

On the banking side of things - consider starting accounts with HSBC and American Express now. I have a UK HSBC account and American Express card and both will transfer my credit history across when I move to the US, which means I'll have a bank account and credit card ready to go when I get there. I'm assuming that they'll do the same thing from US to UK.

American Express require you to have had a card for at least 12 months before you can transfer and obviously the longer you can build up history with a bank the more history they will have to transfer across.

Also - on a more personal note - as someone who has spent the last few months being driven crazy by her own checklist (although we've only got about 4 months rather than a couple of years)- don't forget to take a break occasionally and make some time for non-moving stuff as well! It's amazing how quickly all the red-tape can get on top of you!

Good luck!

I wonder if this would apply in my situation, too. I am British-born and educated and a certified secondary school teacher for Britain. However, I moved to the USA 30 years ago and haven't taught in about 25 years.) I would LOVE to return to teaching in the UK as it is my first love. I just don't know if I can simply get a job teaching as soon as I return to the UK at 58 yrs of age.