Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has moved back from the US to the UK and regreted it?
I have been here in the US for over 3 years now and have all the great things the US has to offer, good job, nice big house, big new car and tonnes of cash. But I can't help feeling that something is missing and begin to believe it is homesickness.
Talked to my brother about it, he lives in the UK, and said I would be mental to return could'nt understand why I would give it all up for a tiny house, making les than half the money I do over here, expensive cost of living and a country over run by chav's.

So has anyone made the move and regrted it? I am heading back in November for the first time since I can here over 3 years ago, maybe my mind will change if I see the place again without my rose tinted glasses on!!

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

Hello
I am in USA too but I am from poland being here for 17 years and dont like it anymore, acutally thinking moving to great UK. If money is your domain you found paradise dont question it. I think I can make as much money in europe or in UK doing what I do here which is IT, I can make as much in london area as I do here in florida, plus I will have culture ,europe, better healthier food great folks,more vacation.So if your thing is big house big car you are in best place,I value different things :), Think about social life , how long you been there?
Peter


Just wondering if anyone has moved back from the US to the UK and regreted it?
I have been here in the US for over 3 years now and have all the great things the US has to offer, good job, nice big house, big new car and tonnes of cash. But I can't help feeling that something is missing and begin to believe it is homesickness.
Talked to my brother about it, he lives in the UK, and said I would be mental to return could'nt understand why I would give it all up for a tiny house, making les than half the money I do over here, expensive cost of living and a country over run by chav's.

So has anyone made the move and regrted it? I am heading back in November for the first time since I can here over 3 years ago, maybe my mind will change if I see the place again without my rose tinted glasses on!![/QUOTE]

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

Lots of people have regretted it. And lots of others haven't.

You need to know where you feel more at home. What brought you to the US in the first place, and what's your status there (H1B, green card, US citizen etc)?


Jeremy

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

I lived in the U.S. for 8 years and last year I made the decision to move back to the UK. I found it very hard to open a bank account and get re-established again took quite a while. I'm back in the US for a visit for 2 weeks which is my first time back in a year and there is a part of me that does miss life in the U.S. I know that I miss owning my own home - back in the UK I'm renting and I know that as a person on my own it will be hard finding a decent property that I can afford whereas in the States I know I won't have any problems at all. I feel very torn between the U.S. and the U.K. as I nopw have both citizenships.

I think that this trip home will do you good and give you some perspective.Everyone is different and you need to weigh up what is important to you. Good luck - I'm still in a quandry if I should move back to the States! :)

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

At least becoming a US citizen has given you the option to move back - if you were on a Green Card there's a good risk it would already have been lost and you would no longer have the choice (happens to lots of people).


Jeremy

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

Yeah, I think I will get my citizenship first before considering anything, unless things get really bad!

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

Definitley get your citizenship before you move. It will keep your options open - I know it makes me feel better knowing that if I wanted to that I can move back easily. :)

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

BG..how the hell are you matey...??? I think this is the first post I have seen from you for ages...

Really hope you are well and happy now you are here in the UK. Would love to know how everything is....

Take care

P

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

Thanks Pants,

I know it's been a long time hasn't it! This first year back has had it's ups and downs and so it's been difficult for me to post here. Finding my feet more though. I don't know what will happen in the future but I am still glad that I made the move back the the UK - i just wish Brit men were more assertive in asking women out - I had forgotten just how bad at that they can be! :)

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

I'd like to see more people's views on this subject as well. I know according to JAJ we should wait until Paul can go for his citizenship...but doesn't he have to go 3 years from the time he got his conditional greencard? Or is it 3 years from when he arrived into the country to apply for citizenship? We had to wait almost 2 years just to get a conditional greencard I don't think we can wait another 3 years to get his citizenship or more because it takes awhile for them to process the citizenship itself. It's bad enough we have to wait another two years just to get the conditions removed....I hate U.S. immigration. He has 5 kids in the uk aged 15 years old down to 7 years old and that would be way too much time to wait in my eyes. Since my kids' father hasn't been using his parenting time like he's supposed to for the last 2 years and I have full custody it's time for us to move to the UK I believe so at least his kids won't feel like their father has abandoned them (the ex-wife is making him out to be the bad guy since he's moved).

So, the move back for us seems to be the right one but even my husband isn't sure about it because he keeps telling me how much harder it will be to live there because it's more expensive housing wise and they don't pay as well etc...but i'm so used to being broke what would be the difference? lol...ugh..

Carey

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

I arrived in the States in '96 and started the citizenship process in '99 after I had been here 3 years and I also had to have the conditional status removed in '98. I think the reason why I was able to apply after 3 years was because my husband was in the military. If I were you I would ask the INS what the waiting period is before he can start the application process. If I were you I would not leave the US until he has his citizenship.

As for life in England, it really depends on your own individual circumstances and what you want from life. Now that I've been back in the UK for a year I appreciate things that I miss from the US. I love the UK but there is good and bad points anywhere you go. I guess the major one for me for the UK is that house prices especially in London and in Cambridge where I am are just so high that for a person on their own are just so unaffordable and makes me think of returning to the States.

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

I think that some people move back because things aren't working out for them in the US and they believe that a move to the UK will help. This is not a good reason to move becasue you'll probably just encounter the same problems and issues back in the UK. You have to have positive, not negative, reasons to move back. You have to be returning to something and have positive plans, not just running away form the US, for repatriation to truely succeed

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

I think what nun says is correct. Several Brits that I have spoken to that want to go back originally came here with big expectations and wanted it all as soon as they arrived. They had come thinking the streets were paved with gold. Like anywhere, if you go for a vacation it all looks rosey but to live there is very different. On a GC or visa it is hard to switch from job to job - it can also be hard work at first doing the same job here as you did in the UK. The first year in my job here was hard despite having worked some 15 years in the same profession in the UK.

I now firmly believe that the longer you live here the harder it is to make the transition back. The quality of my life here is a lot better than I had in the UK and despite now having a mortgage five times more than my UK mortgage was and two car payments, my husband and I can still take vacations and save. Our house in the UK recently sold and we worked it out that if we sold our house here and didn't have to pay off the mortgage, once converted the money we could take back would not be enough to buy that house back. I know that our salaries would drop back down and of course all the taxes.

I have been back once to the UK since arriving here in 1995 and that was in 1997. I had reservations about my trip and was worried that I would not want to return to the US, but I was wrong. I felt very claustrophobic, the traffic on the M1 did my head in, the attitude of some of the people in the stores was just unbelievable and the biggest thing was how much us Brits moan. When you asked people how they were they would say "o.k. underpaid, sick of the weather", etc etc. I found myself asking my husband "did we moan that bad when we lived here". lolol

The trip was a good one from the point of seeing family and friends, but after the first week I was ready to return.

Before just packing up and going, I would recommend a couple of trips back. Just as the big house, higher salary, nice cars and warm weather are not a reason to stay in the US, more vacation, the NHS and the pub are not reasons to go back.

Good luck to whatever you decide to do.

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

The normal waiting period is 3 years if you are married to a US citizen. You need to be married for three years, and have a green card for 3 years. Time on a nonimmigrant visa does not count, but time on a conditional GC does.

It's 5 years on a GC otherwise.

This should be verified at http://www.cis.gov

Jeremy

Re: Anyone regret moving back to the UK from the US?
 

pubs......ahhhh....and curry...it must be almost worth it? :beer:

Seriously....I've been in USA for 7 years and still have trouble 'letting go of the past', even though its not all that great. Daydream about moving back eventually, but I know reality would be hard.

I lived in Arizona intially for 2 years...quite a culture shock. Have since moved to minnesota which is a better cultural and weather fit for me. Prior to that I was living in the black hole in the southeast of the island called London...many getting sucked under the event horizon forever with enormous mortages and stressful jobs while a few others are spat out into strange places beyond the grey mist of travel zone 6 like Leeds, or the USA in my case.

So going back and trying to continue a career in IT means thames corridor and hideous housing costs (possibly) - unless you move to somewhere like Hull I suppose? But then salarly will be less?
Returning to UK just to enter into a different flavour of the same rat race doesn;t seem wise.

On previous visits back to UK i've noticed I've become more confident and , dare I say it, 'positive' (within reason) and have noticed that rubs off on interactions in the UK.... UK can be quite a social place, just in a very different way than the US in my experience so far.

The 'vibe' of the country is quite different... in some ways a little more 'down to earth' than the US I find.
Is that worth moving for?

Uk visitors to US tend to be quite enamoured with the consumer goods and so forth, but in actual fact the quality of goods in the UK can be higher, and cheaper in some cases - antiques for instance, or basic groceries like bread and , perhaps not surpisingly, fish. I was in buxton derbyshire one time and couldn;t believe the price of some great old furniture in the shops.

My father in law is german and has lived in US for 40 years. I sense he doesn;t like where he is at, but he knows he would not like moving back to germany and probably couldn;t afford it as house prices have stagnated where he lives. I see the ambivalence that I might currently feel can get more pernicious and bitter over the decades --- and the inertia of living in the USA even greater.
Obviously not everyone goes down this path, but I can one has to be careful.

The country you have left changes as well: though some members of my family seem to stay the same! ;-)

My brother sent me a copy of the Idlers "50 crap towns of britain"
its very funny and a great way to clean off the rose tinting and remind youself just how depressing, grubby and dreary some places in the UK are.

As for the chav invasion, not sure if there really is an ever increasing selfcentered lazy underclass over there or not.

Moving back for 6 months to do contract work or something may be a useful experiment.

Whinging: I've had problems with habitualised moaning... in the UK its a normal way to have a conversation or prepare to do something ......."would you like to take a trip to duluth??"......."<whinge>.....bit far......<moan>.....today??..<grumble>.....well i suppose"