# USA v UK



## southsidesilver (Jul 25, 2013)

My first post on the forum, so please be nice !
I have gained a lot of great views from reading posts.

My Wife & I have had no visa problems , we applied for the UK visa it all worked out, we applied for my US visa and it all worked out.

I'm from the UK and my wife from the USA. We both now live in Los Angeles on what i would consider a pretty poor salary.

Me - $37000 USD a year
Wife - $42000 USD A year

You might be shocked to know we live in a great 2010 built apartment and have a very decent lifestyle in california on what i see is a low wage, though others might think its decent. Most people we know earn 50 +.

The reason for my post is i simply need some advice.

We had been living the uk for 2 years on a spousal Visa, towards the end of my wife's visa she had decided she wanted to move back to california, she before it expired i was able to get my visa for the USA and we moved out here and her UK visa expired. We are coming up to the point where i need to renew my permanent residency and were having second thoughts about living in the US, we are in the position where we have over 85000 pounds in savings and could apply for the UK visa again and move back to the UK.

My first question is, if you have previously held the UK spousal visa and it has expired and you apply again after a few years, would that cause problems ? There are no criminal convictions or anything.

The other thing we can't decide on is will life be any better in the UK, when we left the UK was fine, we also had pretty poor salary's there also.

I have a small pros / cons list and basically wanted to find out if people have had the same decision to make based on the these facts.

We do love to travel and the US time off really eats at us here. We predict if we moved back to the uk we might be in the salary range of 15 - 20.000 GBP per year.

US PROS
Great weather in California
Much better pay than in the UK
We could buy a house and settle with the money we saved
We have a dog and never seem to have a problem finding somewhere we can live with one

US CONS
Expensive healthcare
Poor time off (3 weeks at present 17 days)
Poor work contracts that favor the company, not the worker

UK PROS
Cheaper / free healthcare
Much more holiday time (4weeks min - 6 weeks) / Cheaper flights
Better work contracts 
Cheaper Food

UK CONS
Terrible weather , i had 24 years of this
Hard to Buy a house / rent with a dog
Lower pay compared to US jobs

So thats essentially my list and what i have to decide on.

So we just can't decide if living the US is better or living in the UK, i know im probably in a situation where i sound like i'm spoilt, but this will be our final move and choice and we will fully settle at either.

Would be great for some feedback from everyone.

Thank you and Regards,


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## southsidesilver (Jul 25, 2013)

I would also point out that in the US we are settled and have nothing in the UK.

We would have to start all over again from the Bottom in the UK and buy all our furniture again as we did when we arrived in the USA.

We would have no car and would need to also buy one.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2013)

The previous visa expiring has no bearing on a new application though you do know about the new rules for income & employment on return? 

I'd choose the UK even though the wages are lower because of the security & employment rights, free health care and longer holidays. But then I've never lived in the USA so.....


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## southsidesilver (Jul 25, 2013)

_shel said:


> The previous visa expiring has no bearing on a new application though you do know about the new rules for income & employment on return?


I think i have it right, as we both reside in the USA, and neither of us have a job offer / letter inviting us back.

We would really have no choice but to meet the Savings requirement. We have had over 80000 GBP in a savings account for the last year. We would just have to show financial statements along with the usual visa documentation.

Please let me if i'm Wrong.

I do love the free healthcare and extra time off, but we are stuck where if we move back to lower wages, could we even afford to travel to many places with the lack of money,

I based it off getting a low paid 15000 GBP salary

Per month take home after take

1080 (Ish)

- 400 Rent (my half of the 800)
- 60 - 70 Council tax (my half)
-30 Water
-30 Gas & electric
-15 Broadband
-35 Mobile Phone
-150 per month food shopping (300 total between us)

leaves me with around 350 pounds per month for enjoyment.
Thats not including a car, but i could live without one for a while.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Your tally does not include necessities such as clothes winter/summer, shoes, hair cuts, household items, replacements from lap tops to towels, savings, insurances, ...


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2013)

Eeeek £15,000 is a low wage, what is it you do? BUT on that wage you would be entitled to some top ups with the tax credits or housing benefit. Not for your wife of course but you can claim so long as you declare her. Check your benefit entitlement - Turn2us

£800 rent, where is you will be living? 

Yes you can apply for the visa based on savings, you would need to show proof that they are yours and have been untouched for about 6 months I think. As UK visa questions on here Britain Expat Forum for Expats Living in the UK - Expat Forum For People Moving Overseas And Living Abroad

What about your US costs, what are they per month. do you have a reasonable amount left each month for saving, travel etc?


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## southsidesilver (Jul 25, 2013)

_shel said:


> Eeeek £15,000 is a low wage, what is it you do? BUT on that wage you would be entitled to some top ups with the tax credits or housing benefit. Not for your wife of course but you can claim so long as you declare her.
> 
> £800 rent, where is you will be living?
> 
> ...


800 pounds a month rent would be living in a 1 bedroom flat in bristol , i used to live in clifton and thats around what i paid + council tax on top. We could probably find somewhere for 675 per month + council tax if we really tired, it won't be great, but it will work.

15.000 thousand is very low agreed, i work in IT, i guess i look on the worst side and imagine that for example i could not get a job straight away in my IT field and i would have to work a low end job for a while until i found the right work on if i could survive.

In the US my IT job pays pretty bad compared to what others earn, but its not high end IT. im basically desk top support and IT admin, so nothing amazing.

Im pretty much left with double on what i would earn in the UK. 

The money is not that much of an issue i guess. Im probably asking one of those impossible questions, where we did'nt really enjoy living the UK anymore due to the weather mainly, but we went away a lot which made it better. We got out of the UK and while we enjoy california we really miss having time off and not feeling like its a bad thing taking time off from our companies.

As its been two years , we left mid 2011, we just are not sure if we returned to the UK would be hate it again after a while or would it get better, or do we stay here and work work work work and get paid more for it .

I also never aware you could get housing benefit in the UK for being paid that sort of wage.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

You are 2/3 of the way to US citizenship. Have you considered that?


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## southsidesilver (Jul 25, 2013)

twostep said:


> You are 2/3 of the way to US citizenship. Have you considered that?


If i became a US citizen , would i have to surrender my UK passport complete ? 

If i did not that could work, We could stay here until that happens and then move to the UK and if we don't like it , we could just move back again.

I think i would be done with international moves after that point, this would be my 4th move.

UK to Australia back to UK then to USA


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

You can keep both citizenships.


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## mamasue (Oct 7, 2008)

southsidesilver said:


> If i became a US citizen , would i have to surrender my UK passport complete ?



No I was born in the UK and am a naturalised US citizen.
You can have dual citizenships....I've got 2 passports....Leaving and entering the US with my blue (US)passport, and entering the UK on my red(UK) passport.

It's well worth getting US citizenship if you can....then there are absolutely no time constraints for being out of the country.


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## southsidesilver (Jul 25, 2013)

mamasue said:


> No I was born in the UK and am a naturalised US citizen.
> You can have dual citizenships....I've got 2 passports....Leaving and entering the US with my blue (US)passport, and entering the UK on my red(UK) passport.
> 
> It's well worth getting US citizenship if you can....then there are absolutely no time constraints for being out of the country.


I think you guys have hit the nail on the head here. We never knew that citizenship could be obtained so soon (3 years) , i think we were under the impression it was a 10 year thing.

This puts us in a much better situation where we don't have to stress out anymore, we think we might just stay for another year, apply for my US citizenship wait for all that to be done, and then see how we feel then. If we are still not sure we will give moving to the UK a try and if we find we don't like it again after a few years we could always head back to the US without any worries.

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice, it really opened my eyes.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

mamasue said:


> Leaving and entering the US with my blue (US)passport, and entering the UK on my red(UK) passport.


The U.S. does not have exit passport control, so the "leaving" part doesn't apply.

Oddly enough it's legal for a U.K. citizen to enter the U.K. with another country's passport. Not necessarily a good idea since the line is longer for U.S. passport holders, but it's legal. It is against U.S. law for U.S. citizens to enter the U.S. with anything except a U.S. passport or, if applicable, a U.S. passport card, with narrow exceptions (such as military deployments).


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