Expat returning back to the UK

JDuplio · 2021-11-27T07:31:47+00:00

Hi All, I have been living outside of the UK for 10 years and after the Pandemic we have decided it is time to move back home to be close to family and for our children to grow up with their cousins and experience the British seasons and nature. Obviously 10 years outside of the UK is a very long time, so we are feeling very nervous and with family and friends spread all over now, we do not have an idea where to move to and wondering how people firstly; managed such a BIG move back (finding a property, school) and settling back in after such a long time away. Any tips or advice would be amazing. Thank you in advance :) xx

Mydogisagentleman · 27/11/2021 07:48

We did similar, returned to the uk after 14 years away.
I wanted to be near my family, DH was happy to go along with me.
We found a place to rent in the catchment area of a decent school, shipped a lot of our belongings over and moved.
DD started at school, me and DH found jobs and we bought a house a couple of years later

Twasacceptableinthe80s · 27/11/2021 08:08

We did it four years ago and I was petrified! We similarly had people spread all over, so literally got a map out! We found looking for places with a USP that we could use to sell it to the kids (who had spent almost all their lives only ever visiting the UK on holiday) was a good place to start. We bought our house (by the beach in a bustling tourist town) on a summer day trip (which on reflection may be been a bit of a rash gamble!), then moved back in the winter. Kids started at school almost straight away abd we treated it all as just thr hext step in our big adventure. Totally settled now 😁.

InTheLabyrinth · 27/11/2021 08:30

Two ways to go, imo.
Either find a job, and then look for where you want to life round there.
Or decide where you want to live, and start job hunting.
Getting a rental property currently round here (I don't know about the rest of the uk) is crazy.

butterflyfox · 27/11/2021 09:11

I did exactly this. After 18 years away. You also might want to consider choosing a reasonably bustly international place ( I did not think we would fit in in a pretty village where no one else has ever left home). 2. Close enough to a major airport to make it easier to visit international friends or them visit you. 3 somewhere where you at likely to find commutable work if you need to work. I came over for a couple of long weekends as a tourist and stayed in a couple of different places One just felt “right”. Best thing I ever did. But do not underestimate the adjustment of returning. I have moved a lot internationally and the move home was the most challenging. Because you look and sound like a local you don’t get forgiveness when you don’t understand basic things that changed since you left like how to buy a bus ticket. It also can be harder to make friendships as people in more settled communities may already have their tribes compares to the fluid Expat world. Schools help a lot. But you can’t underestimate how brilliant it is being back. Completing one tax return. Only having one currency in your wallet Everything in English. Good luck

Original poster

JDuplio · 27/11/2021 14:36

Thank you all, this has been really insightful :)

OP posts:

friskybivalves · 27/11/2021 15:58

@butterflyfox

I did exactly this. After 18 years away. You also might want to consider choosing a reasonably bustly international place ( I did not think we would fit in in a pretty village where no one else has ever left home). 2. Close enough to a major airport to make it easier to visit international friends or them visit you. 3 somewhere where you at likely to find commutable work if you need to work. I came over for a couple of long weekends as a tourist and stayed in a couple of different places One just felt “right”. Best thing I ever did. But do not underestimate the adjustment of returning. I have moved a lot internationally and the move home was the most challenging. Because you look and sound like a local you don’t get forgiveness when you don’t understand basic things that changed since you left like how to buy a bus ticket. It also can be harder to make friendships as people in more settled communities may already have their tribes compares to the fluid Expat world. Schools help a lot. But you can’t underestimate how brilliant it is being back. Completing one tax return. Only having one currency in your wallet Everything in English. Good luck

Couldn't agree more! Moved back after umpteen years away living in quite different cultures yet unexpectedly found myself being chastised for not having an oyster card, and in tears and feeling most lost in sainsburys...

ShanghaiDiva · 27/11/2021 18:25

We moved back last year after 25 years overseas.
It was slightly easier for us as we decided to retire early so were not tied to a particular area due to work. We moved to be relatively close to elderly parents. My dd started back in year 10 and we chose a private school as it seemed for state schools you will be allocated to somewhere that has a space. School which was most likely for dd had a recent ofsted report of ‘requires improvement’ which we did not want for crucial gcse years.
Setting back was hard as dd had never lived in the uk, but her school was brilliant. I volunteer at a charity shop and community cafe and have made some friends that way and they were pretty flexible about my lack of UK references!

DebsNewhaven · 28/11/2021 03:22

This was me 3 months ago moving from Dubai to London. So many reasons for worry, doubt, and frustration over the move as having been away from the UK for 12 years, the idea of where to relocate to was proving stressful. Thankfully we came across whereshome through a friend who she'd used for both finding her location and her end to end relocation to Surrey. We didn't use their concierge services but did spend hours on their website which was brilliant for us finding everything we wanted in a location. Definitely worth checking out.