Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

What's the point of GCSE's in your situation?

I mean, yes, they will get some recognition from high school and it is finishing what you started, but what's the long-term goal of your kids' education? University in the USA? Uni in the UK? Vocational education in the UK? Jobs in the US or UK? Are you unsure?

On a general level, moving freshman year of high school is common. Moving at 16 (Junior year) is much more rare. If there is no need for the GCSEs, I'd really look at coming over now.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

I retired after 25 years in US. Wife is US. Originally from UK. Stayed for family reasons. I’m not trying to offend anyone here….but… I feel…the US is a divided country, trumpeters (republicans) on one side, democrats on the other. Massive wealth distribution, high housing costs in many states, school shootings, crippling healthcare costs. Affordable Care Act is an option but Republicans are always trying to scuttle this.
Some of my friends tell me the UK has gone to hell, so I can understand (somewhat) why you might like to move. We just moved to Portugal. It’s safe, affordable, good healthcare, worth looking into if only for your kids being safe to walk to schools. Wee moved from Portland where they now have a serial killer, not captured that has killed t least 6 young women. I could never go back to the US.
Again, not trying to offend anyone. I wish you luck. Research is your friend.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

It's all relative though and you'll find that eventually all countries have problems and it's more down to location within the country/personal situation & sometimes luck. Not everywhere in the UK is hell:-) just like not everywhere in the US will be bad. The problems that are hitting other European countries are slowly reaching Portugal and you see it in certain parts where wealthy foreigners are also seen as a threat because housing is unaffordable for locals on a local salary. Posted this a while ago and these things also happen in Portugal https://www.cmjornal.pt/portugal/det...al-em-baleizao
It's no different in Ireland now and the problems I had seen 20 years ago in the UK or Germany are slowly arriving and people are no so longer open to refugees/it's becoming more divided. Personally I would also take Portugal over the US because my pension would just go further and I have freedom of movement in the EU, but for young people trying to make a living it's also a different story. I personally hate cities, reality is that teenagers that want American culture will probably find Vile Verde a tough place to be;). I can understand your point though.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

As a Native American I can’t disagree with any of your points. Thru luck and hard work I have solved all the problems you mentioned except the possibility of getting shot. Be careful in Portugal as the natives may be getting restless. There is a severe housing and cost of living crisis there due to many factors but one of the biggest is influx of rich foreigners.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Just make sure you return here on the right side of the wealth divide

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Thanks for that...glad you found what you want in Portugal. It's not an option for us given the school fees we'd have to pay. Being American by birth and culture, totally get the US is in a shot show right now. No extra research needed! But it's my shit show, where as the UK is just a shit show I somehow unwillingly adopted.It's also financially falling off a cliff. And here where are in Central London ain't all that safe...actually a lot of London isn't safe anymore. Stabbings, rapes, thefts. It's all daily stuff. But yes, Portugal is lovely. Just not attainable for us right now. Good luck xx

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

my experience is I moved to the US when my kids were 12 and 14 in June 2018. My 14 year old went straight into high school grade 9. He just about 'coped' but I feel he lost out having no opportunity to get prior high school credits and I think he would have performed far better with a higher gpa had he not have spent the first couple of years adjusting and trying to play catch up. The year my daughter gained in middle school was hugely beneficial and put her in a much stronger position entering high school.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Go for it! As the 14 yr would be starting high school, it's exactly the right time to move. My daughter missed her freshman year and still managed to graduate early, but she didn't get all the GPA points she would have got if she had started as a freshman. I think girls in particular are much more resilient at that age. My son, who moved over when he was nearly 13, didn't cope well. Our youngest daughter who was nearly 11, coped the best and most people think she is a natural-born Texan, so she loves confounding people by saying she is Scottish! They are all in their 30s now. My eldest would like to return to the UK, but she has a child who is very resistant to change plus being an only child. My other 2 are happy to stay put.
Your kids have the advantage of having an American parent who knows the ins and outs of American school life. I bet it hasn't changed that much since you left.
As to the person, mentioning that the country is broken, no more so than the UK and lots of other countries. I know from my point of view, once you have fallen out of love with a place, it's time to move on if you can, which is exactly what we will do in 2024. I don't dislike the US, but it's not home.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

I was in a similar boat until I realized that the US is not the same place it was 10 years ago. And your mileage may vary in the UK— it is a “large” place to live despite the relatively small size sq ft wise. The grass is not always greener as I have come to learn.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Care to elaborate on what you mean? I 100% hear that the US is not what it was 5,10,20 years ago. Keen to hear your experience in what makes you say the grass isn't greener.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Please excuse me for taking your post slightly out of context. .... One of the best, most insightful pieces of advice that my mother has ever given me was "you can never go back". She said it in the context of her own life experience, moving from Hull to Sheffield, and then about 10 years later, to Gloucester, a city that she disliked, and was quite vocal about, at least among family at home. Although she was only talking about moving within the UK, the fact is that the place you left has "moved on", that the people you knew have also moved on, either their lives changing, getting married or having children, or changing jobs or interests, or also moving away. And so she came to realise (thanks to discussions with me :o) that Gloucester was perhaps the best place to be, and that ripping up her roots and moving elsewhere, where at most she knew one or two people, wasn't the best idea. (I think my parents dodged a bullet anyway as they were considering a move to Norwich where my sister had "settled", but within a few years she had moved to the outskirts of London, then a couple of years later to France, and 7 years after that, to Pennsylvannia, which would likely have led to my parents being left "stranded" in Norwich. My sister did eventually return to the UK, but now lives in Cheshire, with plans to move to Devon, so living in Norwich wouldn't help our parents at all.)

And that applies equally if not more so for international moves. Even if you move back to the same place, the environment (people, services, politics, etc.) around may have changed so much that it might as well be somewhere you have never lived before. So the problem that afflicts many people (there are more than a few threads here on BE on the subject), is that they go "back" to the UK only to find that "back" isn't what they remember, and that the "back" that they remember probably doesn't even really exist except in their memory, so they re-emigrate back to where they emigrated to the first time.

And that ultimately can be one of the great curses of the expat - they don't really settle where they emigrate to, but they are equally unsettled if they return home. I think I fall into that situation myself - I am happy enough where I am now living (NC), and I am certainly not homesick, but I really don't "fit in" here either. I have a good life, with many good things, some of which I would never have had had I stayed in the UK, but no matter all that, I am still not "a regular American", and even after 20 years here, I never will be. But I also know that I could never go back to the UK and fit in there either. Every time I visit the UK the place feels more alien to me, so I already know that I could never be happy if I returned there to live. So here I am, a square-ish peg in a square hole, I don't quite fit here, but I certainly wouldn't fit in the UK either, and the only other alternative would be for me to go somewhere else, but that would likely be less of a fit than either NC or the UK.

So here I remain, life is good, and I am fairly happy. I am sure that my life is far better than for most people, and honeslty, I think that is good enough. :)

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

:amen:


:goodpost:

I moved between the north and south in the US several years ago. I was back north for two weeks at the end of June and while I long to move back, I now realize that to do so doesn't mean I will have the same life I had when I originally lived there. It has changed, but not changed, if you can understand that. I guess the truth is I have changed. You can go back, but it is never home again.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

That too! :nod:

I am not the person I was 20 years ago, but then nobody ever is.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Picking out the purely Educational aspect - being a parent of a child who moved right after GCSE's to the USA at age 16. My recommendation would be that the easiest time to move for your children is now. The GCSE structure is insanely different to the USA and causes a real headache on trying to integrate them with the correct GPA and credits half way through High School. It's very doable - we did it and she is now studying for her Masters - but it's a pain for everyone involved that can be avoided the sooner you move, and having the option to do it before High School starts would be the best outcome.

The younger child it won't matter so much.
I will leave better placed people to discuss the Visa and financial situations.

Re: Now or in 2 years?
 

Politics, climate & nature, religion, gun violence, mental health, insane gap between haves and have nots.