Menu
Expat.com

Should we move back to the UK, currently in the USA.

Last activity 08 January 2018 by Cynic

Post new topic

Frogger33

Hoping for some help with a huge decision........ As a family of four, we moved to Phoenix USA six years ago.  It took a while to settle but after a couple of years were fully adapted and have moved again within the States.  Recently we have had the opportunity to move back to the London area of the UK with a salary we could only have dreamed of.  However, we all love the ‘free’ feeling we have in the US and the amount of sunshine we encounter each day. The children are 8 and 11 and I was wondering what facilities and opportunities there are for tweens/teenagers.  Asking anyone who has lived aboard and moved back as to how they felt once they actually moved back to reside in England.  Should we return or stay? Thank you.

SimCityAT

Firstly welcome to the Forum :)

What you ask is the million dollar question ;)

I'm not sure if you have been back to the UK on holidays while you have been living in the USA. I've lived out of the UK for coming up to 9 years. For my sins I have been back to the UK for trips back. I can honestly say it's not the country I once new and to be quite frank, I never want to go back.

Public transport was always expensive, but is just crazy now. The cost of living is quite high compared to other countries. Then there are the strikes with trains etc...

Will be interesting see what others say. But I am happy enough where I am in my new country (Austria)

Frogger33

Thank you Sim City.  Yes we have ben back for trips and to be honest I was a tad bored.  I know that sounds terrible but we have a very outdoor life here.  I am just interested to see what others who have been away found the move back home.

Cynic

I've lived in the UK and abroad (including the US/Canada) on and off for most of my life.  Except for the weather (that said, as my old drill sergeant used to scream in my ear, "you're not made of sugar, you won't dissolve in the rain"), at the end of the day, it's what you make of it.  The only thing I miss from CONUS is the open skies.

The Maxican Viking

If it has only been 6 years then I would move back given the following conditions:
Is the job being offered fairly Brexit proof?
Did you take US citizenship?

I ask the first question because that is where it is headed, if the job being offered Brexit proof (or relatively so) then by all means come on home! You will miss Mexican food and the clear skies but you won't miss the lack of education or provincial populations, that is for sure.

I ask the second for some very good reasons that most who emigrate to the US don't know or don't think much of until it is too late: take US citizenship and they will tax you for the rest of your lives no matter where you live, it is a citizenship based tax system.
If you have already taken US citizenship it will cost you $2350 per family member to renounce and get your lives back from the US.

If you have not taken US citizenship and have a fairly Brexit proof job waiting at a salary you never dreamed of come on home and take up a better standard of living with greater opportunities for upward mobility for your children.

I myself am an American that left the US and now lives in the UK, I find that I actually have more freedoms here than I did there, there is the nice illusion of freedom in the US, they talk it up quite a bit, but in practice it is not really up to the rhetoric they play at.

Guestposter8974

I've lived in the US all my life.  I am a UK citizen by descent and I'm thinking of moving to Manchester in the spring.  I'm gay and don't want to be a second class citizen anymore.  I also want to explore Europe and there are so many cheap flights from the UK.  Since I've been researching I've found so much I want to see in the UK as well as Europe.  A car would be optional and my huge health insurance bill would disappear, saving $1,000 month.

Cynic

Hi Steve,

The UK is no panacea for all the nasty things that are inflicted on gay people and I suspect you may find it very much like the US (without the rednecks).  Assuming you are also a US citizen, you will still be liable to be assessed for US federal and state taxes, even while living abroad; which means at the very least, you still have to make your annual declaration.

With regards to Health Insurance; the only requirement is to be legally resident in the UK, so assuming you have a UK passport, you'll have no problem there.  If once you live here, you're planning on travelling outside the UK, you may have a problem because my experience is that the EU EHIC system is practically useless and you will still need Healthcare Travel Insurance (with restrictions placed on pre-existing conditions - i.e. no cover).

Articles to help you in your expat project in England

All of England's guide articles