COVID-19 can't go home

[CrystalDeCanter]

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?

Hello everyone, I feel for you all.

I agree that for most of the time the 'distance' doesn't really feel real. I know I can get home if I need to and I can keep in touch easily enough. Now our options have been taken away the distance feels awful.

Someone mentioned UK quarantine up thread - is that mandatory now? Can we quarantine at someones home or are you holed up in a hotel like here? I do love Australia but it does seem to be very keen to turn into a isolated state very willingly.

TanteRose and LadyB49 I am so sorry for you both, what terrible terrible circumstances. for you both.

@CrystalDeCanter my understanding is that you can quarantine at home but away from others. Probably best to check thoughas it changes a lot!

@TanteRose and @LadyB49 I am so so sorry for your losses, I can’t begin to imagine how that must feel.

We’re USA, we can go and come back again as we’re LTR but decided beginning of the summer not to and now wish we had, even if it had meant just staying in an air bnb with a garden all summer. I got a gig that means we’ve put off going but it’s all remote so now trying to figure out if the kids and I can still go if we’re allowed to quarantine with my parents BUT we’re coming from a hotspot and I don’t feel like it’s the socially responsible thing to do....

We haven’t seen my parents since Christmas, my nieces and nephew since last summer. So grateful my DBro came out for a flying visit in January. I suppose I’m taking it week by week really.

If it weren’t for this job I’d have gone by now but I’m a freelancer and it’s stupid to turn down work at the moment. I can only do it from the U.K. if I can quarantine with someone who can take over from 5pm so I can work on PST

On the other hand, I’ve been petitioning for a while for us to move home, I’m trying to think and hope for that happening next summer (applied for citizenship so we can’t go right now otherwise we would) in which case I’m enjoying our summer here as our last....but when I think of us not going home next summer I go into a massive panic worrying I’ll never leave here

I was supposed to be in the UK in May for my Mum's 90th but was unable to go, as flights cancelled. Had another flight for early October which has also been cancelled and now have one at the end of October. My flight is via Doha, which means two weeks quarantine in UK and then another two weeks on return to NZ.

I am an only child and usually see her 2 or 3 times a year and I am really worried when I will be able to get home. It is all very sad but I understand why the regulations are in force but it is very tough.

Whilst I’m geographically closer to home (Ireland for me) than most of you it still feels like I could be in Australia because I can’t go home either. Trust me, it’s not any easier being physically closer.

Switzerland is fully back to normal but there are no flights from Geneva to Dublin yet. I own my own business so could technically do the 14 day quarantine but DH can’t so I’d have to leave him here which I don’t want to do either.

My dd came home to visit in October from China where she's been working for last 2 years - originally had flights back booked end of January ....she's still here with no news of when visa centres will be processing non Chinese national's visas ( her original visa granted in January has now expired) she's been teaching online since February but since July her hours have been cut and she's only being paid 1/5th of her salary....she's still got her apartment in China but has no access to her salary as it's paid into Chinese bank and she can't transfer funds to UK account...she's extremely frustrated and her mental health is suffering
Although I'm glad she's safe with us I realise she needs to return to her independent life- she's not lived at home for last 8 years and she's finding it tough being stuck at home with us 24/7 as I'm shielding

I'm the other way round from most of you. Wales is overseas for me. I'm American and was due to fly over for 4 weeks this summer, as we do most years. All of my family leave in areas which keep turning into hotspots and it seems too risky to go. I'm really missing my family and my country. I've lived in Britain for 19 years, but not being able to go back to my home country is making me feel less British than ever for some reason!

Fingers crossed for all of us that there is a vaccine soon!

Hey, I'm another Brit in Aus. I was supposed to go home in May but obviously haven't. I'm really starting to struggle with not being able to get back. I had a baby last year and my family have only spent a couple of weeks with him. Im grateful to be in a safe place as in WA we have almost no Covid but i am starting to wonder how long they can keep the borders closed for.

@GalesThisMorning sounds like you’re in similar situation to me - you can go home but the restrictions make you feel like you shouldn’t? As a citizen you would be able to fly into America and I can fly between the two as well, we’d just have to quarantine. The flights now though are so expensive unless you do a transfer (or two?!) which just seems to increase the risk?

Dh was stuck in China. He could leave, but could not return as the border has been closed to non nationals since 27th March. We were all on holiday in Australia in January and could not get home to China.dh spent 6 weeks in HK and then got back and after packing everything he left two weeks ago to join us in the uk. We were due to relocate this summer anyway, but leaving dh to pack on his own was not the plan!
My friends in China are stuck there as if you leave you cannot get back.

I'm in the US, but parents and siblings in the U.K.

I was meant to be visiting in April, but the flights were cancelled. Both of my parents have medical conditions so even if flights are available I wouldn't risk travelling to see them. Where I am over here isn't too bad, relatively, for the US but you can't guarantee the medical condition of other people on a plane.

I have no idea when I'll be able to get back over to see people. My citizenship application is in limbo, my interview was cancelled the week before I was due to have it, so that adds another complication.

Sympathy to all of those who have lost a family member and been unable to get back home.

seems alot of us are in that kind of situation @IJumpedAboardAPirateShip I could fly to the UK where I'm a citizen and return here where I have residency but I'd have to quarantine for 2 weeks on each end and I just can't take that much time off work. My company are pretty chilled and would probably give it to me unpaid but I can't afford that + the extortionate flights + 4 weeks in a hotel to quarantine.

My mother's stuck in Australia - she's been trying to sort and pack her house of nearly fifty years for the last four since my father died, and we'd all hoped that last summer was the last she would have to cope with. She's got health problems that make her high risk, so just when she could reasonably fly who knows. My sister and I have both made homes in the UK and she just wants to be back. We are feeling terribly conflicted between it's better for her there, and not being able to help.

I'm due to move back to Australia in November but with all the flight cancellations, there is no guarantee that I will even get on board.

@CrystalDeCanter
Dh was allowed to quarantine at home with us. We were allowed to go out as normal so pretty pointless really. He had to submit details of where he would quarantine, but nobody checked that he was here, not even a phone call. It was a very different experience from his two weeks quarantine in China in March.

I have same problem as OP but problem would be getting to USA (where I grew up & elderly parents are).

I really feel for all the posters on here. I have been lucky; I was in Scandinavia, should have been there for 3 years but have barely done a year. Loved it, but things were starting to look bad by the end of January and come February I got out, just as they locked down (before the UK did). I had a feeling this was going to be no ordinary time and an overriding conviction I had to get out. The family thought I was mad but in hindsight, it was a miracle. Those I left behind were trapped with no work, no access to money, residency revoked but they couldn't go anywhere obviously.

I'd barely got into the UK and my stuff arrived a week later (they said 3 weeks but they hurried through, they must have known...) and we locked down here. Barely started a new job and was furloughed.

Being overseas was so exciting but not in a pandemic. I suddenly felt very far away from home and from the safety net of the NHS, furlough pay, UC and all the rest which I had no access to out there. I know there are many things wrong with the UK but so many things right with it too, I have a better appreciation of my home country now.

@CrystalDeCanter - you don't have to quarantine in the UK if arriving from Australia.

My parents managed to fly from Australia back to UK in June - no entertainment on the flights and no hot drinks (tea/coffee etc.) mind!

I'm in the UK, but family (and heart) are in NZ. We were supposed to fly home - on the 17th of July actually, for the first time in two years. But our flights were cancelled. And if they started charging for quarantine, it would be $12,000 for the family. . .

Now, realistically, it's going to be at last another two years before we can go. . .

I see @Outtheforest yes totally understand that. I’m fortunate that I’d be able to continue working remotely (albeit on PST!)

Havent' seen my sister and her family for 2 years. We were due to go out at Christmas, but that was cancelled in April. Then, she planned to come over in June 2021, but that now doesn't look possible either. It's looking like Christmas 2021 at the earliest for us now :-(

We are in the USA going back for the summer for the first time in two years, except we aren't.
Our visas are up for renewal and new directives are coming out every week ( not really but it feels like that) Our immigration lawyer has told us not to leave the country. We would have to quarantine in the UK and I don't think we would be allowed back in the USA due to Covid anyway.
So spending the summer in a hot city, with civil unrest awaiting Covid test results for dc.
This isn't the summer I had planned.

We are in Thailand and supposed to be moving to another Asian country on August 1. Obviously not going to happen as the borders are still closed. Waiting to see what happens with our jobs and the dcs schooling. We go from being hugely stressed, to being grateful of our current circumstances and trying to enjoy being stuck in Thailand.
Dh and I are from different countries and alternate summers home. Not going to my home country has been hard. It will mean that I won't be able to go home for 3 years - the longest I have ever been away in my 19 years of living overseas.
Sorry for everyone having a tough time right now.

I'm returning to the UK after 15 years in Australia. I'm a temporary visa holder and the government pretty much threw us under a bus.

I'm selling my car this week and will fly out as soon as I can. I agree with the PP, we were left incredibly vulnerable being non-citizens and there will be much more support and a safety net in being at home.

It was also very worrying not being able to help mum, especially when all of the supermarket delivery slots were full and she had to self-isolate.

I'm looking forward to being home.