Why did you decide to make the move to the USA and not the other way?

[lizaanne 0]

We originally planned for me to move to England. I was spending my time on UKYankee.com, and learning everything I could about moving my entire life there, including my cat. Then one day he just had it with the chavs and other things (he lived in Sheffield) and out of the blue said he wanted to come here instead. I nearly had a stroke!!! I guess I didn't realize how really hard it was going to be on me to leave everything until he said he wanted to come here instead.

But it made more sense. I had the long standing job with a good salary, I own a home and a car. I'm 13 years older and more established. So I found this site (which saved my life and sanity) and the rest is history!

So glad now that we are here, I really do not think I could have thrived in England. Even if I am about to count the hours till we can go back and spend two weeks in London soon! :-)

~Liza

[jennie ann 15]

Both of us love living abroad and are very adaptable, so it really just came down to what made the most sense in terms of future plans and financial issues. It wasn't a very tough decision though. He's not very attached to England (he likes London a lot but has had enough of living there after five years) or to his family, and we both wanted to live in San Francisco. My mom is really supportive and is willing to help us financially until we get on our feet (probably the biggest factor, practically speaking – I do have a job here, but I don't make enough to support us both comfortably). He only had university commitments at the time – a one-year master's program in England – and is done with that now. His next goal is to apply for a PhD program, and he really wants to do that at a US university anyway, so it's likely that he would have come here eventually.

It's still very possible that we will live in another country later on, but we thought that if we don't want to be facing immigration issues our entire lives, it would be best to get married and get his green card here first. And we both love San Francisco, so it works out!

[DiZZyLoX 114]

My fiancee has a house, two dogs and is an accountant, so she'd need to do some re-training to stay in the same field if she moved here instead of me to the UK. Along with that, our combined salaries would barely reach an apartment here, let alone a house with room for the dogs.

On the flip side, there's a chance I could continue working remotely for my existing UK employer after moving to the US, otherwise I start again over there. I sold my apartment here in 2009, and am currently living back with my parents, so there's not as much upheaval from this end.

As previously mentioned by others, once I have US citizenship, we may choose to come to the UK until my fiancee (wife, by then) could eventually obtain UK citizenship.

My fiance is considering working remotely for the UK based company, too. Have you found any information on it? We've been searching everywhere but can't find anything concrete on the legality of it all

[DiZZyLoX 114]

Although it would be easy enough for me to transfer to London (my job has a branch in London), FI wanted the chance to live near the ocean and hot sunny climate of Florida. I can't say I can blame him. It's absolutely beautiful here. Hoping I will get the chance to live in England, too, one day!

[rallybug 17]

My fiance is considering working remotely for the UK based company, too. Have you found any information on it? We've been searching everywhere but can't find anything concrete on the legality of it all

It was starting to look a bit dodgy when looking into the ins and outs of working remotely while living in the US before getting EAD, so the boss and I have come to an agreement over a parting of the ways (he was a little worried about the time difference) but when I speak to him even now, he still umms and aahhs

So, come August/September, I'll be a house-husband until I work out what to do

[dealradh 4]

I moved to the UK to be with him (was there for 3 years) and financially - we can do SO much better in the US (OC, California).

We both have decent, salaried jobs but London is far too expensive. We'd never be able to save to buy a house / flat in Central London, and wouldn't want to move out in to the suburbs.

And the weather.

Sunshine in California is grand ;-)

Housing was one of the major factors in our decision, too.

We're both pretty much at the start of our adult lives - this is our first marriage, we're both in our mid 20s, in work but neither of us in any fantastic career, no kids or dependents - and we weighed up the pros and cons of me moving to the US, or her moving to the UK.

I have no real gripe with the UK, I live in a very nice place in North West England with plenty to do, but the cold, stark fact is that the US offers a far more amenable environment to get started as a little family. Where I live, we'd be looking at the thick end of £100,000 to get ourselves into a postage stamp of a terraced house in a ropey neighbourhood. Just saving for the deposit would take us a very long time.

Meanwhile in Indiana, it's no housing utopia, but places are a lot more realistically priced for a new family starting out - you can get a modest two-bedroom detached place with a little garden for about £30-50,000. Other essentials like petrol and energy are slightly lower, too, which always helps. (But some things are a lot more - try and get internet access for £15 a month in America!)

Aside from financial concerns, I really don't have that much keeping me in the UK. My work in radio is unstable, poorly-paid, bad conditions (no holidays, no sick, no notice) and makes a Saturday job at Poundland look like a glittering career, so I have no real qualms ditching that even if it takes me a little while to find work in America.

I was cynical when I first went over there, but having been back and forth for a few months, I'm really starting to warm to it. I like how you can generally drive down the road in rural Indiana without some tool in a BMW six inches from the back of your car, for instance. And sitting out at night with a drink watching the stars is wonderful.

It's a very big life decision, but I'm hoping I've made the right one.

[paulinespens 3]

Housing was one of the major factors in our decision, too.

We're both pretty much at the start of our adult lives - this is our first marriage, we're both in our mid 20s, in work but neither of us in any fantastic career, no kids or dependents - and we weighed up the pros and cons of me moving to the US, or her moving to the UK.

I have no real gripe with the UK, I live in a very nice place in North West England with plenty to do, but the cold, stark fact is that the US offers a far more amenable environment to get started as a little family. Where I live, we'd be looking at the thick end of £100,000 to get ourselves into a postage stamp of a terraced house in a ropey neighbourhood. Just saving for the deposit would take us a very long time.

Meanwhile in Indiana, it's no housing utopia, but places are a lot more realistically priced for a new family starting out - you can get a modest two-bedroom detached place with a little garden for about £30-50,000. Other essentials like petrol and energy are slightly lower, too, which always helps. (But some things are a lot more - try and get internet access for £15 a month in America!)

Aside from financial concerns, I really don't have that much keeping me in the UK. My work in radio is unstable, poorly-paid, bad conditions (no holidays, no sick, no notice) and makes a Saturday job at Poundland look like a glittering career, so I have no real qualms ditching that even if it takes me a little while to find work in America.

I was cynical when I first went over there, but having been back and forth for a few months, I'm really starting to warm to it. I like how you can generally drive down the road in rural Indiana without some tool in a BMW six inches from the back of your car, for instance. And sitting out at night with a drink watching the stars is wonderful.

It's a very big life decision, but I'm hoping I've made the right one.

Im with you on the housing situation. Im from the North West of England (Wirral) we closed on our first house last Friday. There is no way I would of been able too get a house in Englands. As you said your looking at a 100k for a two up two down terraced house with out a garden. I paid half of that for a detached 3 bedroonm house with a nice size front and back garden and its nice.

Theres a few things I miss about England but there is no away im coming back.

[Ironman140 45]

Comes down to $$$ . I would actual prefer to live there and will move if I could ever find decent paying work there. But for now the money is still in the USA

[Ellesse 11]

Love this topic.

For us, it came down to one thing really: my fiance has a son who he did not want to leave, and I'd think less of him if he did. This is something he made very clear when we first met, so I knew it was one area which wasn't up for discussion. We have talked since, and moving to the UK may be something we'd consider in the longer term if necessary (once his son is an adult) but we'll wait and see what happens.

Like some people who post on this forum, I have itchy feet and have travelled quite a lot, so don't mind travelling/living somewhere new. It's starting to sink in that I won't be in the UK for much longer and, honestly, the one thing that concerns me is leaving my parents. I don't have a place of my own (I rent) or anything I can't leave apart from them, and I know I'll miss them lots.

On the plus side, as some others have said, the idea of buying a place here in the UK would be beyond me on my own, and I don't know how easy it would be for him to work here (as it's not something we need to consider at the moment). I work in the healthcare sector and, from what I've researched, it looks like I could work once I have my green card and would be earning quite a bit more than I do here. So, really, from a practical (I'm beginning to hate that word) point of view, going over to the US makes sense for a whole raft of reasons.

L

Edited July 3, 2011 by Ellesse

[william_wallace 8]

I only moved to the US for one reason, the wives kids. They were at the age it would have been a bad move to take them to the UK.

My wife used to live in Europe and about 20 other States(father was in the Air-Force) She loves the Scottish culture and European life. I suppose I'm quite lucky where I'm from as there is very little crime, housing is very affordable, the way of life in the Scottish Highland is very unique and in my eyes, the best country in the world by far.

So I'm pretty sure when the kids grow and move out we will move back to Scotland. I do miss it very much, I don't have anything against the USA but this country isn't for me(maybe it's the deep south or the economy was at It's highest when I moved here)

Plus my wife is sick to death on what direction America is going. We get a lot of encouragement from her family and friends that a move to Europe is far better for us. I think also age is a factor to us, If we do move back, we will be in that 50 age bracket and we just want peace and quiet in our lives.

[Robert&Karen 264]

She has always wanted to live in America, and I went there a few times for a month each and was not too keen on $11 a gallon gas, 20% sales tax, and a few other details.

[Mike&Rach 0]

I don't have a permanent job, he has a bigger family and we would have a lot of support over there. I also have a friend there too and he has no one here. I didn't want us to struggle and I think if he came here there would be more of a risk we would.

[wee carrington 33]

Well, I am the USC who moved to the UK to marry and live with my husband. Reason being, he was planning on going back to Uni to get qualifications and he could go to school for free here. Also, I'm a small town girl and the idea of living abroad was exciting to me.

Our intention was always to move back to the US, though. I have a large family and I want to raise my children in the United States. My husband LOVES America (always has since he was a "wee boy") and is planning on becoming an American citizen- something that is very important to him and touches me.

That said, I do have a great affection for the British. I have, fortunately, always been treated well for the 3 1/2 years I've been here. My in-laws are wonderful and have been very kind and supportive and I've made some wonderful friends. I am very pleased that I was able to live in my husbands home town, grow from the experience of living abroad and share a facet of his life that I might have otherwise known little of. Oh! and discover JAFFA CAKES (they have yard-long boxes of them right now at Tesco- !!)

We are ready to come home now!!!

(Keeping my fingers crossed that our interview date will be in the mail in the next week or so)

[RachC 0]

My boy gets nearly treble what I earn, he has the career the flat and the cat over there and i'm just working in retail and want to get out of it and out of my town. it's the better of the moves! Plus we did try to get my boy over here but the social workers council do not make it easy for non UK social workers to apply if they don't have their degree certificates!

[qwerty1974 11]

For us it just made sense. My fiance (USC) has childrren in the States and a thriving practice...I'm a postgrad student (or will be) so it made much more sense for me to uproot than to ask him to risk his career and to not see so much of his daughters, they are adults but only young adults and it seemed an unfair thing to ask him to do. Right now though, I'd be with him anywhere given half the chance!!!