British Expatriate Network

But it looks like after being in the States for over a year and a half, I'm ready to head back home. It's taken me all this time to admit it to myself, but I miss the UK terribly. My husband is happy to go back there - even though he's American and lived there only for a year and a half, he loved it over there.

So, not sure when we will head back - my husband is about half way through getting his Associates Degree over here so he'll definitely want to finish that first. Plus we will need to save up a LOT of money!

But I do have a few questions that I'd like to post - I hope they don't sound too dumb!

1. Will my husbands Associates Degree count for anything when he gets to the UK? I know he would like to get an Engineering Degree eventually - would his Associates help him to get into that?

2. I have 3 cats - does anyone know if there's a way to get around the 6 month quarantine issue?

3. My husband had a permanent residence visa for the UK - obviously it's no longer valid since he's been out of the UK for over a year. Would this cause any problems for him when applying for another visa?

4. If we ever went back to the States for a visit - am I 'safe' to enter on a mere tourist visa? Do I have to notify the US Embassy at all that I am permanently leaving the States and that I don't need my Green Card anymore?

5. Does anyone have any experience of using Allied Pickfords for transporting stuff back to the UK? I used them to get our stuff out here - we did a shared container thing, although it did take about 4 months for our stuff to get here.

Thanks in advance everyone for any help!

Josie )

Hey Brit-Josie - there are a few people who've just gone back to the UK, and a few of us who are about to leave. I'll try and answer your questions as best I can.

1 - Sure the degree will be worth something. You may need to get it "converted" to a British standard, and whichever University your husband goes to will tell him whether he needs it or not.

2 - Go to your vet as soon as possible and have your 3 cats microchipped (just an injection - nothing crazy). Your vet will know what to do. About 4 weeks after they are chipped they will have to have their blood drawn and sent to a place in Kansas (if I remember right) to have it verified that they don't have rabies - and to assuage the British governments fear that you've got the wrong cat! 6 months to the day that you've done that you can take your cats without putting them into quarantine. I'll tell you what chip is the right one when I get home.

3 - Shouldn't cause him any trouble - he can apply for a new visa up to 3 months before you head back I think. Much easier than coming this way!

4 - You don't need to inform the US that you've left. And you can visit whenever you like.

5 - Dunno about that one.

Thanks mrbungle! Any further info on the cat chipping is truly appreciated! )

Also, how does it feel for you now that you are home? Does it feel strange to be back? Do you regret going back?

Believe me, for me it is SUCH a huge thing for me to admit that I want to return to the UK - up until then I've kind of blocked it all out of my head. But now that my mind is all made up, I'm really ready to go!

I can help with number 5. We used them to ship out quite a lot of boxes when we moved to America and we used them to ship a whole houseful of furniture and stuff back. They took about 3 months to get to America, but because we had a whole container on the way back, it took just 4 1/2 weeks.

They did a great job (well, I think they did - everything is in storage in London at the mo so I haven't checked everything).

And as long as you get the pet passports sorted as Bungle said, you'll have no problems.

p.s. All 3 of my cats have already been microchipped - is there a way to find out at the vets if they have the correct type of chip?

To be honest I dunno - but from reading the rules and guidelines it probably wont matter. The rules are the PETS (Pet Travel Scheme) and you can find the fact sheets here-

http//www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/factsheet.htm

the one you want is number 4 - it doesn't say which chip you need in the fact sheet just that it can be read. I know that in the UK they suggest getting an AVID chip as vets there are using AVID readers. If not, I have to buy a hand scanner that will read the chips - something like $100. If you know what chip you have you can get a scanner and not have to worry about it.

Anyhoo - all the rules and stuff are in the link above.

This seems to be turning into an exodus of British expats.... shock

In respect of the associates degree, I'd do some checking in advance. There is no automatic equivalent of an associates degree in the UK. My wife has a US Bachelors, and we discovered that it was largely worthless in the UK - he Masters would be more useful.

I really don't know where you would find out further info - but I suspect that it would be more difficult that Gavin suggests.

Certainly when I transferred qualifications to the US I met significant resistance which was little more than the parochial - if people didin't recognize it they didn't want to know. I suspect that the same could happen going the other way.

Good Luck.

Thanks Rob, I suspected as much. It probably isn't worth my husband's while finishing off his Associates then apart from for his own personal satisfaction at having completed something. Certainly the extra money would come in handy for us.

I'm not sure about others, but for me, it's the political and religious climate here that has made me re-think things very carefully. Yes, I knew America was very political and Christian before I moved here, but I tell you, until you've lived here and absorbed the biased media here, you have no idea quite how bad it is. Even my American husband says it is getting worse. That, together with the fact that some States are trying (or going) to ban abortion was just the final straw for me. I've had enough - the sooner I get back to rain, country pubs, Tesco sausages and kebab and chips on a Friday night - the better! )

My husband and I had a long chat last night, and we've decided that in 18 months time, we will have enough money saved up to go back. It's quite nice really - we now have a goal to work towards - before that, we were just wandering around aimlessly.

No doubt I will have further questions as I get nearer the time, but for now, thanks for your input everyone!

Perhaps it's just personal experience on my part but I had very little trouble. I converted my degrees through WES and it was never an issue whatsoever.

http://www.wes.org/ewenr/00Nov/index.html

I wouldn't say that, especially given Gavin's experiences. I would start looking into it now though and also find out what information you may need to provide when back in the UK. It will be easier to collect that information whilst you are here than from the UK later.

I'm having a bit of difficulty myself with the old difference in qualifications thing, except i'm trying to get into America......from what I know of associate degrees, they are two years full time at a higher level? That sounds very much like what we have here called a Higher National Diploma (or HND), and is basically the first two years of a degree. Sadly, for most jobs here other than those professions where a BSc is the minimum requirement to practice in the field, most qualifications are meaningless at the moment, we are over-run with graduates who can't find the jobs they want. To make matters worse, there seems to be no justice in the job market in terms of pay, my old boss earns £60k managing a branch of DFS (for those who don't know, its a sofa company), which is a small fortune whilst in the NHS where I am, I earn £18k for working long hours in a desperately short staffed department. There are certainly many things i'll miss when I do move, but the pay isn't one of them....good luck :razz:

....erm, it is the "I wanna go home" forum....

Quite!! :)

We used Allied Pickfords when we moved back in November 2005. They were excellent. Packers in USA were quick, careful and efficient. They wrapped everything and loaded it onto a van to take back to their depot then 'stuffed' the 20' container themselves. In UK everything went like clockwork, office was helpful in arranging delivery and the container and Pickfords men arrived almost together They unpacked, unwrapped and put everything in place withour any problems. No breakages and no problems.
Best part was they were as cheap as anyone.

That's reassuring to know, thanks for the heads up! Did you share a container? Would you mind telling me how much you paid in US dollars? Thanks.