Alison20

After referring to this site to answer so many of mine and my husband's questions I thought it was about time I joined. It's been a truly valuable tool in our research. I moved here alone in 1990, as a 23 year old going to see the world! I had secured a visa to visit family in Australia as I had planned on being in the Miami are for only 6 months. But on one fateful Saturday afternoon I crossed paths with my future husband, and we've been together ever since. Had 2 wonderful kids, got my US citizenship and built a house. However I've always been slightly homesick, and never felt like I'm truly 'at home'here in Florida. Culture is a funny thing, as I have more expat English friends than American friends and We celebrate all English traditions. We all talk about how and what we miss about England but am fully aware that the grass is always greener on the other side. Two years ago I received the phone call that my friends and I have been dreading, more now than ever as we've got older. Dad had had a major heart attack. I got on the first plane out, not knowing if he would still be alive when I got there. We had two weeks of hospital visits before he passed away. I stayed on with Mum, surrounded by family for 2 months, and it was then that the reality of how much I missed my family really hit me. Our kids are 19, and 21, and my son is planning on moving to England just as soon as he graduates in December, and my daughter will probably move when she graduates in 2 years after she graduates. Both have dual citizenship. My husband doesn't have much family, and the family has are not close. We've decided that now is a good a time as any to make the move. Our house is sold and we expect to close early July. We are buying a townhouse to live in before we move, and my daughter will stay on with a room mate after we and our son move. My husband has been applying for jobs but has not secured his visa yet. As soon as the house closes we will put in the application on the spouse route with cash savings. I feel that he will not get any interviews until the visa is secured but he's applying for jobs anyway with the back up plan if applying priority if we needed to go sooner. We've done a lot of research on shipping, the visa etc. etc.
I plan on taking a vacation to go look at houses at the end of October, then moving mid December as I want to be in England for Christmas, and this will start our new life.
Family in England think I'm crazy, but there is more to life than sunshine. In fact one of the things I miss about England is the change of season. We live in extreme south Florida, it's hot, unbelievably humid and where mosquitos can be so be bad you don't even want to leave the house! In fact i dread the summers here now. Yes, there are things I'll miss, but i can always come back on vacation. I look forward to posting our visa application progress. Thanks for your support!!

mikelincs

Welcome to BE.

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Rete

Welcome to BE. As a lurker and reader, I'm sure you are aware of the Moving Back To The UK forum Moving back to the UK - British Expats

Most, if not all, of the questions you may have or didn't even think about will be answered there by expats who have already made the transition home.

Glad you are a dual citizen. Makes life for you so much easier when you want to hop on a plane and come and go. Now your husband will have to do the same with obtaining British citizenship.

Wishing you and yours the best of experiences in your return to your home country.

nooks 57

My wife and I are heading back after 30 years in Canada. The winters in Canada are cold and long and there is no way we could plan a retirement here. We do not like the USA so snowbirding is out. There have been some changes to healthcare coverage and university fees as well as the dreaded taxman so it will be interesting to see how you adapt to life in the UK. looking forward to hearing how you are getting on.