Moving back after being away

[jjjnnnnnrrssss]

DP and I moved to Toronto in 2018 from London. He has an IEC visa and I am a citizen, grew up in Canada but moved to UK in my early 20s (almost 30 now). Can answer questions about that process. His visa expires this year and we're currently trying to decide if we move back to London or stay in Canada.

His job has gone well here and while I am still the main income earner, we're much more closely matched in salary now than we were in UK. Financially, Toronto has been good for us. I had about £5k in savings when we left, he had about £2k and now we have $40k CDN combined (almost £24k). But I am fairly sure this is largely because we no longer go on holiday or go out to the pub. Rent, bills, groceries are about same price here.

We have very few friends here and I am very lonely. I also hate my job as my career doesn't exist in the same way here. If we stay I will probably go back to school and start a new career.

The plan was always to move back to London but since the election and the passing of the Brexit bill I wonder if we should wait to see what happens first. I am super worried that things will be very hard and bad for a long time. DP has keep calm and carry on attitude; he's lonely too but job is going well so that helps. I just want to have friends again, save for a house (pipe dream in London, I know) and get my career back on track. Also I miss taking time off from work. 3 weeks is not enough (I had 30 days at my last job in UK. Charity sector).

Can’t answer your question but super homesick so I feel your pain. Except we’ve been here nearly 8 years. Brexit has shat all over our plans but, despite being hardened remainders, at least now it’s moving forward so hopefully within the year the lag of the land will be a little clearer

Can’t really offer advice, but agree it is very difficult to make friends over here. I would probably think about moving back but financially I’m much better off now.

Simple, both apply for jobs back in the U.K., then you can weigh the pros and cons. You can compare salaries and housing prices. Brexit is a little irrelevant here

Irrelevant for some but not others.

I guess it's not irrelevant if you worked in research and then lost your job as they cut the EU grants! Not me but someone I know.

Anyway, back to the main subject. There's always going to be pros and cons. Are you definitely not going to be lonely here too? The grass can always seem greener.

@Toomanygerbils DP is seeing if he can transfer to the London office, but the process has been slow. London companies basically won't hire people who don't live in the UK so I can't apply until I'm back, but I know what my salary will be there and I'm not worried about things in that regard. There were 300 postings for my career last week in London so it's ok right now in terms of availability of jobs too.

Housing prices are too high no matter what, but if we can keep saving and if our careers go well maybe eventually we can buy. Rent in London is high so we can afford to mortgage payments, it's just getting the deposit together (and getting a mortgage based on our combined income).

My main concerns with Brexit is price of goods rising. I wish I knew how much, I would be more comfortable knowing if my weekly shop will go up by £5 or £20. It may not go up at all, but we don't know.
There are other things but this is the biggest factor.

@minesagin37 Definitely know the grass is always greener feeling! That's partly why we moved to Toronto in the first place, and I thought Canada's slightly more extroverted nature would mean making friends would be easier. All our friends from London still live in London, and we're still in touch so I imagine our social life will continue to how it was before we left (it was good, smallish but close group; always open to having friends of friends come along on nights out, birthday parties etc) - no one is having babies yet so there's still time for fun. 2020/2021 will be wedding season though.