Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Living overseas

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Original poster

COVID-19 can't go home

90 replies

CrystalDeCanter · 18/07/2020 00:06

Thought I'd start a thread for us Internationals who are stuck O/S and unable to get back to the UK for any reason.

I'm in Australia and was due to come back to the UK for a trip in April - all booked in Jan, first time home in almost 3 years.

I consider myself to be really lucky to live where I do, as things are really pretty normal here (for now) and I look at what's happened in the UK in horror. I am just so desperate to get back and see my parents and family. Parents are elderly and I fear they will become ill and I'll be so far away.

2 siblings have had COVID, one was ill in March and one has just tested positive for antibodies, but had no symptoms.

If I could get a flight to London then I would have to quarantine for 2 weeks on my return at a cost of $3,000. Which makes any trip even further out of reach.

Anyone else in the same boat?

OP posts:
sunbunnydownunder · 18/07/2020 01:23

Yeap we are in Australia too, it is a bit surreal as where we are we are pretty much going about our lives as normal. I have felt very far from home but try to compartmentalise I think Christmas is when it will hit me as my parents usually come for an extended stay and its very unlikely they will be able to this year or even next. We are citizens so even if we wanted to go its virtually impossible to get an exemption to travel

LeGrandBleu · 18/07/2020 01:53

Same here. Australians and prisoners on this island. This has made me reevaluate our staying here long term. Do I love Australia to the point of never wanting to leave for a year or more. Am I happy to surrender my freedom like that. I understand the restrictions on entering Australia, but not allowing me to leave? There are measures in place (the 14 day quarantine in hotels) which could be extended with more days at home. So the rich and famous are allowed in and out and even exempted of hotel quarantine but Mrs Nobody is stuck like a convict.

sunbunnydownunder · 18/07/2020 03:43

To be honest I don't have a problem with the strict border controls as we are pretty much back to normal etc.
I would much prefer it to what is happening at home in Ireland where they lock downed and got the numbers right down and they are starting to emerge to a little and its likely to be all ruined by the fact plane loads are flying in from the states and not quarantining at all.

TheAirbender · 18/07/2020 04:06

Yep, in Dubai and theoretically could leave but a) UK quarantine and b) thousands got stuck outside Dubai when the borders closed and are still trying to get back due to various regulations still in place. Many parents haven’t seen their children for months. Can’t risk it but it’s made us reassess being expats and we’ll be moving home next year, recession or no recession! It’s one thing to be far from family with the option to travel anytime, but quite another being stuck thousands of miles away...My mum isn’t well and sometimes I worry that I might not see her again :(

Tinofcurses · 18/07/2020 04:08

I'm in NZ, and we were planning a permanent move back to the UK in April. We're hoping to get there in August now, but we haven't managed to get flights for the dog yet.

The covid situation has made me more keen to be in the UK close to family. We don't see them that often, but we've always known we can hop on a plane and be there within a day or two if we have to. Now it's not so easy they seem very far away.

ReefTeeth · 18/07/2020 04:16

I feel for all the posters on this thread.

I'm Australian and returned 18 months ago. I am so glad to be here but dh is Irish and we were due to spend a month there in June.

As a pp said, it's one thing to live far away from your family when it's 'only' a 24 hour flight away, but not being able to visit at all for however long is quite another.

@sunbunnydownunder a friend's dh who has dual citizenship left Aus for London recently so I assumed you could leave if you had dual citizenship?

LadyB49 · 18/07/2020 04:25

Fami!y member died and cant get back. Devastating.

dontevenblink · 18/07/2020 04:29

It's so hard isn't it. I'm in NZ and my mum was meant to be coming out to see us in September. I won't have seen her for 2 years and we were so excited, but I had to break it to her that it wouldn't happen and she needed to try and get a credit for the flights. I feel awful as she has been on her own throughout lockdown and I know her visit was something she was really looking forward to. Now I'm wondering how many years it will be till we get to meet up. It's made me really think about the distance, and I'm normally fine with it, but then I always knew i had the option of flying to the UK if I needed to. My life is in NZ but I'm feeling the most homesick I ever have.

JustMoved123 · 18/07/2020 04:41

We’re fairly new to Australia and our adult children are in Europe, if it’s more than a year that we are stranded then I think we will leave, I can’t cope with the thought I can’t be with them if they need me. I keep thinking that economically they can’t keep the borders so tightly shut if the rest of the world starts to operate more normally.

Mimishimi · 18/07/2020 04:52

I'm in Australia, don't have any family overseas (dh does) and even I feel totally trapped. DH wanted to go to Ireland at the end of this year and I didn't want to because I wanted to work as we took a long trip this past Christmas. Now that I CAN'T leave I really want to just get out of here.

TheAirbender · 18/07/2020 05:30

It’s the ‘being trapped’ feeling that I struggle with. The UAE has handled covid really well, and looking from the outside in at the UK over the last few months, I’ve often come to the conclusion that I am better off where I am. BUT this isn’t home. For better or worse, the UK IS home and in 12 years away I’ve never felt the pull more strongly to be there.

AgentProvocateur · 18/07/2020 05:40

I’m in the same position as you @TheAirbender. I just don’t know what to do. I’m desperate to go home and see my children, but my mum is elderly. I moved to UAE partly because it was so easy to travel to other places from. But I’m scared to gp anywhere in case I don’t get back in and I’m starting to feel really trapped.

WaffleCash · 18/07/2020 06:02

Both my siblings live in Australia, both were due to visit the UK this year which obviously isn't happening. They're in Melbourne so more restricted than us right now, which is slightly strange.

TheAirbender · 18/07/2020 06:03

Sorry to hear that @AgentProvocateur ! One of the most appealing things about being an expat hear was the ease of getting home...now that has gone 🤷🏻‍♀️

Limpshade · 18/07/2020 06:04

We're in Singapore and while we can leave, as employment pass holders there's really no guarantee we'll be allowed to return. In fact, my employer has said expressly that we should not leave for this reason (I believe they may be already short staffed overall, as several visa applications for incoming employees have been rejected in the last few months).

My family in the UK is generally healthy so I have no immediate worries, but there is the thought of "What if...?" It's been almost two years since our last visit home and looks like it may be another year before we can leave without worrying about the consequences.

TanteRose · 18/07/2020 06:09

@LadyB49

Fami!y member died and cant get back. Devastating.
Sorry to hear that @LadyB49 Flowers

Me too - my dad died and I couldn't get back to the UK (I could have left Japan and dealt with quarantine either end etc but immigration on principle does not let foreign residents return to Japan if they leave)
Will go when the restrictions have lifted (foreign community in Japan are putting pressure on the government to allow re-entry for permanent residents and long-term visa holders)

sunbunnydownunder · 18/07/2020 06:27

@ReefTeeth you can leave if you are dual but it isn't easy. You have to apply for an exemption on compassionate grounds and they are being very selective of what these are. If you are leaving permanently you still have to get an exemption but it is a lot easier.

habibihabibi · 18/07/2020 06:33

I joined DH in Saudi just weeks before everything locked down. Luckily children and I all got here along with our container and pets but I feel dreadfully trapped and isolated. KSA, without being able to escape for a break or fly to see family, is tricky.
I am grateful we are all together as know of many families seperated but it my anxiety is compounding.

totallyyesno · 18/07/2020 06:42

I feel for everyone on this thread who is missing family. We normally go back to the UK now (we are in Italy) but aren't this year. Theoretically we now could but my elderly parents have not seen anyone and are worried about us unknowingly bringing the virus to them. Sad

Afwan · 18/07/2020 06:42

I'm exactly the same boat as you habibi it's the not knowing or having a reasonable timeframe to review restrictions that makes it difficult. Now it's so hot we're naturally indoors anyway. Plus side, we're saving money from not travelling! Whereabouts in KSA are you?

habibihabibi · 18/07/2020 07:10

Afwan I'm in Riyadh. I feel like I'm on Mars, not only the heat but because I don't have bearings or connections.
Remember that series, LOST ?
I wish there were portals in the desert.

2018SoFarSoGreat · 18/07/2020 07:23

I'm in America and have been for almost 40 years. I usually go home at least twice a year.

This is the first time I've felt like I'm trapped. In the past money or vacation time dictated how often I traveled home, now neither are of much value.

I feel myself getting slowly more panicked as the weeks go by.

TheAirbender · 18/07/2020 08:00

Exactly how I feel @2018SoFarSoGreat - steadily increasing panic at not being able to get to family

Outtheforest · 18/07/2020 08:11

I'm currently stuck in East Africa, I could in theory leave as their are flights but I'd have to quarantine for 2 weeks at each end so I'd need 6 weeks off work for a 2 week trip which isn't possible. Flights are also 5x their usual price. I'm feeling similar in that I've always reassured myself about the distance by thinking Its only a 9hour flight I can be home in less than 24 hours door to door. Being completely trapped is very unnerving

Eledamorena · 18/07/2020 08:31

I'm in Thailand. We planned our first trip home for 2 years for this summer, to coincide with taking our youngest home to be introduced to everyone (she was born in May). Even if I was willing to self-isolate in the UK I would risk not being allowed back into Thailand, so we simply can't do it. Family wedding coming up in December (they hope!) and we've said we are very unlikely to make it back for that, either.

I initially hoped to just visit later in the year but I don't think it's realistic. If things calm down and we go and the the situation changes and Thailand closes borders again, we would lose our jobs. It has been made very clear that we travel at our own risk and our companies will not have any sympathy of we get stuck overseas. So I've recently had 'the chat' with my mum that it's likely my youngest will be turned 1 before they meet Sad