Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

My husband will be based at Canary Wharf....we still have a little house which we bought about 20 years ago in Epping Forest.....however there is no way I want to live there again and I know that our tenants would like to continue to stay there (they don't know that my spouse is returning to London...!).

He is quite happy to just rent a bedsit initially, as he's going to be doing a lot of international travel to Asia and back to the New York office from time to time. There is no point in trying to sell our house here in NJ as the market is not great (although we are in a great location as we can walk to the station for the direct trains into NYC); the problem would be converting the $ into pounds right now.

The other problem of course is where would our son live? He needs a home/base. I think that we will keep the house for another 2-3 years and try to work out what to do then (and hope that our son will become financially independent....some hope that will be since this is one of the most expensive areas to live in the USA LOL! :lol:

I'm just wondering how feasible it will be to live both in the UK and US and what to do about health insurance over here.....? Now maintaining my green card is another problem.....!:eek:

Elvira....yes you can come and do the cleaning whenever you want LOL! :rofl:

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Be sure to let me know if you find a way... :thumbup:

(btw, I was thinking more in terms of Lady's Companion rather than getting my tender hands dirty. I know my way around all of London's galleries, and how to get the best affordable seats at the ROH......... and much else besides............. if this helps...

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Wow! Hearing these stories is wonderful. I've always felt that I was rather unique about feeling "between two worlds" since the two countries were England and the U.S. I've always felt that people are more sympathetic to other, obviously foreign cultures (Asian immigrants, for example) as they have an obvious reason to feel different. It's been hard for me because Americans looked at me and wondered why I was different while growing up - not knowing the pressures I got from my parents. That's why I have such an odd combination of accents. Now I just tell people that I'm "bi-accented". They usually have to think about that for a second, and then they smile.

Thank you for sharing stories about yourselves or your children. It's really opening my eyes to the fact that I wasn't so unique after all! (And that's a good thing!!!!!) :thumbup:

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

I agree, it's an interesting thread. For me it's going to be an interesting time ahead as my 4 year old is technically British but wasn't born there, or here. Right now she's indistinguishable as different to the other kids at daycare, but I think that as she gets older and realises that her parents are different to the other kids, she'll wonder about it. I'm hoping that we'll have citizenship by that time, but I know that me and the hubby will always sound (and probably act!) British even if we do get to call ourselves American.
I remember having a hard enough time as a kid myself when my folks moved across country and I had a Southern accent in a Northern school!

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Take a read back through some of the threads in the Moving Back to the UK forum. There's been plenty of people who left the UK when they were children and much later in life have returned...in some cases leaving their family behind. There was a program on UK TV recently about the 10 pound Poms. One lady...in her 80's I think...returned to the UK because she didn't want to die anywhere but the UK. She returned alone. :(

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

My daughter arrives tomorrow night.....we're off to see Patrick Stewart as 'Macbeth' on Saturday afternoon in NYC...:thumbsup:

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

There is a term for it: "Third Culture Kid" ie. an expat child growing up in a different culture and not sure where he/she belongs. Google it.....:)

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Oooohhh . . . I fancy Mr. Stewart. Lucky you and your Daughter!!!!

You know, even with a funny "sort-of Australian" accent (as Americans think), I've still had a lot of fun being who I am over here. It's not all doom and gloom. I think the thing I didn't get so much of was a real sense of being o.k. regardless of being "different" when I was much younger. Because my Mum was so negative about the U.S. and America, I grew up thinking I wasn't so great because I was educated here. That's tough on a young child. I think the really important thing is to make your kids feel comfortable with who they are regardless of where they are. If they feel secure in that, they can be happy anywhere.

And by the way, having an interesting accent has certainly never hurt me in attracting the opposite sex. It's a great ice breaker, don't you find?

Yes, I think I should be a U.S. citizen. I've never been sure about how to negotiate the two passport thing. I'm going to search and see what others have said about that in other threads. This is a terrific forum!

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Welcome to BE Arctic Gal. :)

The two PP thing is easy. Just remember you must use your US PP to leave and enter the US...it is a legal requirement. You can use either to enter the UK and most other countries. Now go and download for N400 from here and start the ball rolling:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/usc...0045f3d6a1RCRD

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

You have just given me a piece of information that I've been searching for. I knew there had to be studies about this, but I've probably never looked hard enough to find this. I never knew what I was called.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!!! :thumbsup:

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

[QUOTE=Englishmum;6154501

I'm just wondering how feasible it will be to live both in the UK and US and what to do about health insurance over here.....? Now maintaining my green card is another problem.....!:eek:

:[/QUOTE]


and that's what i've been doing for the last 4 yrs....hoping it would help me settle here knowing that i have a house in the uk to return to whenever i want for as long as i want (within the limits of my Green Card) but tbh it's pretty knackering after a while. i want to work again, miss not working but no-one would employ me being as i'm always heading one way or the other across the pond. my son now lives in la jolla, ca and is a usc and may return to the uk to live one of these days but is enjoying life with the girlfriend at the mo so watch this space ;)

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Problems arise if he gets married to a USC and at some point wants to move back to the UK and she doesn't...especially if children are involved. :(

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

she has lived in the uk and when they were over at xmas with us in the uk they went all around her old stomping ground...enjoyed it all so much they have just booked tickets to go back again this summer. it's not a problem for me, my son and i don't live in each others pockets and plus i don't go looking for problems as they may just never happen :)

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Will you be applying for/have you applied for US citizenship? (I don't know how long you have held your Green Card for?). What are you doing regarding health insurance in the US - do you 'suspend' it when you are in the UK or do you just keep it going year-round? (Sorry, I don't know if you are covered by your spouse and don't know if he's in the UK or US) :confused:

I'm just trying to get my head around as to what to do for the next few years! I know these questions are rather personal and if you do wish to reply, perhaps you may prefer to send me a PM...;)

Re: Any long-term residents who emigrated as a child?
 

Is she applying for US citizenship? :rofl: Hang onto your hat EM. :eek:

BTW I suppose if you are coming here as a visitor you can use travel insurance to cover healthcare. Your son of course poses a different question.