Peter.st.giles

BEVS

Not on topic at all so apologies for that.

Could you perhaps pop along to the Australia forum to the thread you started there, if you have a mo, and answer Dorothy's question to you please?
Only she and others have given of their free time and it's good if the OP ( opening poster = your good self ) does come back to continue the conversation rather than just starting a new one on something else, somewhere else. It could seem that it was a bit time wasting , a passing notion, if you see what I mean although I am sure it isn't that way at all.
They are a good bunch in there so will be able to further help and guide you once they know the visa status and which state/territory.

Thanks
BEVS

On topic:

I take it you have never emigrated and always lived in the USA then. It will be the same list of reasons that all immigrants around the world can have for any country they have left for a new one.
Family.
Age.
Lifestyle.
Health.
Familiarity
Unsettled.
Sense of belonging
Culture

It may be more beneficial if you ask the Oz lot why they stay where they are as it is Oz you are interested in emigrating to.

durham_lad

namsbabe

The country I was in was/is turning to shit. And our country has more opportunities in my industry.

between two worlds

As a British expat who moved back from the USA after years of living there, but always longing to return (I've written about my reasons at length in other threads), it was also pretty much Bev's list.

A lot of it was, and I realised this, an emotional pull. Not a neat weighing-up of pros and cons about which was "better." But wanting to be back where I felt I belonged, surrounded by the culture and history of Britain—castles, churches, cathedrals, villages, Cotswold stone, Kentish flint, the greenness, the way the landscape looks, sheep, cheese......plus continental Europe on the doorstep.

And this longing just got worse as I grew older. (Whereas you might think it would fade away as one got "settled," to use your word.)

Jerseygirl

I think for most Expats who are homesick/wish to return home, they miss the familiarity. That may be family, friends, the countryside, the humour, the history or just the day to day way of life.

I always say ‘I miss/missed my life’.

A couple of months ago someone posted this pic in the NZ forums. Pretty much sums it up I think.

between two worlds

Yes Jerseygirl, exactly. Love that sculpture by Catalano! The void inside.

Even if you haven't lived there for decades, so it's no longer "familiar" exactly, you still want to be where you don't have to explain everything all the time.

BEVS

Yes.

Lion in Winter

Yes.