r/BritishExpats

Hello everyone, question for the people who have experience or knowledge in such situations. I have a dual citizenship, British and an Arab country, I have the full right to work in the Uk and what no. I did my bachelors and masters (engineering) from the Arab country. Don’t get me wrong the education I got is at one for the best unis in the region, but I have been applying for jobs in the UK recently and no luck so far, anyone knows if my foreign education plays a “negative” role in my application process ?

Hi, I was born and raised in the UK until I moved to the US 4 years ago.

I want to study pharmacy in the UK and I am planning on moving back permanently in June next year.

About my situation:

• We did not move to the US because of a work visa.
• I have visited only once since moving.
• I still have close family in the UK (my dad's side)
• My mother has a mortgaged house in the UK that she is renting out. Those tenants are leaving and my mom might come with me back to the UK.
• In that house we have a shed with many of our old things in it (could this be proof of the move being only temporary?)
• I have bills in my name (like paying off my phone and my dad added me to one of his utility bills).
• I have a UK passport.

EDIT: I have a UK bank account!! Ive had the bank account for 6 years now.

EDIT 2: Guys. I am NOT trying to take anything away from UK students. It is just a question. education can get expensive and I just wanted to save as much money as I can. In no way will me possibly getting home fees affect any UK students. It was not my choice to move to the USA and I've always wanted to return. 

I’m in my 20s I have part time job and finished uni and obviously the job industry is difficult in the UK so I am potentially thinking of moving abroad. Sport is what I want to go into but again that is difficult but I am thinking of either going Hong Kong or Canada for sport but then there is also an option to do real estate in Dubai. I am trying to figure out my options, but what advice would you give to someone who is wanting to move abroad that you wish you received and is it worth it?

Apologies if it is actually simple but after a lot of homework done I am still completely stumped on the following aspect after I relocated this tax year to non-UK address:

1. I should and apparently can change my main address & correspondence address to my new non-UK address (no longer own a home in UK) on their online portal,

2. BUT the SA109 form for tax residence is only possible to file for previous tax year - therefore, I can only file it after this tax year. Everything says it must be filed "when" I move out of the UK but this is impossible - as it refers always to previous tax year and it makes sense due to numerous residency tests.

So... having filed my self-assessment for previous tax year, can I just change address on their portal (so that it matches what private pension admins and other institutions have) then let them know about tax residence aspects much later i.e. in the next tax year via SA109?

Thank you, as it has been doing my head in and keep circling re-re-reading all the relevant materials.

Hello!

I'm in a bit of a weird situation and I wanted to see if anyone here has been in a similar situation. I'm living abroad with my husband who is not English and does not currently have any visa for the UK. My son is a British citizen, as am I. To get my husband a visa I would need to come to the UK, work for 6 months and get him on a spouse visa which I have done before and was accepted (we lived there for 2.5 years before making the silly decision to move back to his home country).

I'm now at a point where I just need to get out but I don't want to affect my son. I don't have much savings at the moment and don't have family that I can stay with/rely on for childcare.

Of course his father can look after him whilst I work and set us up but I just really wanted to see if there was any possible way I could make it work where I could bring him with me.

Between long waiting lists for childcare and housing and then also being somewhat tied to London (so that I can get a job that meets the financial requirements for the spouse visa easier), it all just feels like I'm going to need to either give up or leave my son here for a long period of time.

If anyone has gone through anything similar, I'm looking for anything to help, advice or options I can look at.

Thank you so much for reading!

I’m looking for someone to assist me with my UK visa application. If you provide this service, please get in touch. I’m happy to pay for professional assistance.

Was the process easy?

Also for those with stocks and shares (ISAs and GI investment accounts) was it a problem you moved away from the U.K.

I’m a Brit thinking of semi retiring abroad. Just see a lot of hurdles and red tape.

Hello! Not sure if this has been answered before.

I’m a British national, born in the UK. My wife is a Spanish national, born in Spain. We got married in Spain and our marriage certificate is in Spanish. My son was born in Bilbao 2023 and his birth certificate is in Spanish. He’s only held a Spanish passport.

When we’ve gone to UK, he’s entered on his Spanish passport with the ETA visa but now the UK requires him to enter the UK on a British passport as a dual national.

I need to apply for his UK passport and have seen that the Spanish government can issue his birth certificate and our marriage certificate in multilingual format (certificado plurilingüe)

Will the UK accept these certificates or do I need to get his birth certificate and my marriage certificate translated into English by a certified translator?

TIA

For context, I have dual British and American citizenship and am currently living in Spain and have been for the past 9 years (I've actually never stepped foot in the UK). My US passport is valid, my British one isn't and has been sent (along with other documents) to get a renewal. Me and my friends have been planning a trip to London from the 22nd to the 28th and the documents have *just* arrived to the UK, making me worry that it won't arrive on time for my trip. My question is, how viable would it be for me to get an ETA with my American passport despite being a UK citizen. Would there be some kind of penalty, would they somehow figure out, etc? I've been considering getting an emergency travel document but it appears to be only one way and I'm not entirely willing to cash out 125 pounds. I'm completely aware it all has been abysmal planning on my part but I just wanna see if there might be a viable solution.

I’m completely incapable of this decision. I’ve been in Vancouver 10+ years. For years I’ve wanted to move back to the UK. I’ve always had a reason to stay and been happy with that at times, but I’ve repeatedly circled back to that idea. ive been unemployed 9 months now and have been slowly preparing myself for the move emotionally, mentally, and practically. Recently i got offered a job there and started making plans.

And then out of nowhere, I got a job offer where in Vancouver that pays significantly more money and would seriously improve my financial situation, one of the reasons I’ve struggled here.

Now I feel completely stuck.

The UK job:

• Lower salary
• better work-life balance (35 hour weeks, generous holidays)
• Supportive company culture
• The actual move I’ve been thinking about for years
• Feels like a change

The Canada job:

• Much higher pay (roughly ~$25k CAD more take-home per year)
• No relocation stress
• Stability and financial breathing room
• potentially higher pressure day-to-day
• Keeps me where I’ve struggled a bit emotionally for years

Now it feels like I’ve been pulled back into uncertainty at the last second. I also feel a lot of guilt and anxiety around the practical side, like moving my cat internationally, starting over socially, and potentially living with family for a while. But at the same time, I’m scared I’ll stay where I am forever and always wonder what would’ve happened if I had just gone.

On paper the higher paying job looks like the “responsible” choice. But emotionally, the UK move feels like something I’ve wanted for so long that I’m scared of losing it. And I am just stuck with this, so people who have no skin in the game, what should I do?

Hi everyone, I had a baby in the UK on the 28/02/2026 and my PR got approved on the 05/03/2026.

My baby and myself were both pretty unwell when she was born so I didn’t have time to add her to my visa before it got approved.

The waiting time for a child visa 101 seems extremely long and I have to arrive in Australia before it would be approved.

Can I take my baby over on a visitor visa (651) and then apply for an onshore child visa (802) when I get there?

Has anyone else done this? If so, how did it go?

Thanks!

Culture, food, weather, traditions and general day to day life are what make Spain such a comfortable life that’s hard to say goodbye to.

But Britain will always be home and there’s always the pull of being closer to family and friends, as well as the job market.

Would you ever move back? Or are you a Brit who lived in Spain and came back, and what was your experience?

Hi, I debating on whether to take a risk and move to Canada or stay here . Briefly:
I got over 8 years of hospitality experience, 4 in management, currently working as Beverage Manager earning a bit over £46k/year so a pretty stable income, but starting to not enjoy that much .
I got until end of July to activate my IEC visa , was one of my dreams to move to Canada but I was on and off about as all I hear is jobs are a joke , takes months to find a job , or not being paid enough, etc.
Not sure what to do , I don’t have much savings either so if I move there and doesn’t work out I will probably ending up back here, what would you do in my situation?

If you moved for reasons other than family (i.e. your spouse being a Canadian, etc.), then may I ask what attracted you to Canada and were/are you really happier there vs. in the UK?

What do you miss most about life in the UK?

(I can't imagine Brits being happy living in North America lol.)

Anyone made this same move and did you regret it?

For context we are a young family living in the south of Spain. I’m British but lived here for close to a decade.

I suppose it’s always something that’s been in the back of my mind. It’ll be much more complex for my husband due to Brexit but we’re willing to jump through the necessary hoops to make it work. Our child will be eligible for a British passport.

At a time when so many are trying to leave the UK for a better life abroad, am I out of my mind thinking of returning? I miss my family, friends, familiar language and humour, and possibilities for career progression.

My family and I would like to move to Dubai within the next 5 years or so. We have two kids. We have about 200k gbp available to put down on a property, and would like to see if we can mortgage the rest. I understand there are payment plans however a mortgage would give us more time which would make finances much easier for us as we will have a lot of expenses to move. Can anyone recommend where to start off from? I have seen HSBC have a application available online however I’m worried if I apply through one and get rejected then continue to get rejected through others? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

I currently have dual citizenship with Canada and UK. Just found out on the weekend that I need my British passport to be able to enter which expired in 2025. I have a trip home booked for 22nd July.

I immediately started a passport application and sent off the relevant documents on 21st June via xpressport.

Does anyone have any recent experience of passport renewal times? My documents expected delivery is now 30th June, which is making me nervous....

I don't know if this sort of post should go here, but I genuinely love sharing my story cause many people back home asked me to.

I wished I hadn't come to Nepal, genuinely.

I came to Nepal for the first time from Southampton in 2011.

Kathmandu's Airport, man. Nothing like Heathrow. Crowded, there's no freaking system, people are everywhere (of course, Heathrow is on its arse, too), but Kathmandu's airport was different, and then you step outside, and it just hits you.

See, I came from a super privileged fam, and this sort of trip was just garbage to me. There was a shitty smell. Garbage heaped along the roads. Stray dogs cutting through traffic that had no logic to it whatsoever. I remember thinking, why did my parents bring me here. I genuinely wished I were back home.

We drove to Bhaktapur. My mum's family home, a mud farmhouse with actual mud walls, a garden out front that somehow made the whole place feel calm. I'd seen pictures of houses like this from the albums my great-grandfather had from Nepal. Actually, he was originally from Nepal. But standing inside such a house in reality, smelling the mud, seeing the garden, that was different. That was real.

And then the people came. My grandparents, two uncles, two aunts, cousins, relatives, I couldn't name yet. Everywhere. All of them were looking at me like I'd done something remarkable just by showing up. This happens a lot, still, if you go to rural parts of Nepal, you are an alien kind. Not just Nepal, it happens everywhere on earth, you ain't gotta be alien. But Nepal was never racist, it still ain't.

That's Nepal's hospitality, I know that now. But at 11, I didn't know what to do with it. A British kid from Southampton, slightly overwhelmed, still not sure why the roads outside made no sense, and these people are treating me like I matter. Like my being there meant something to them.

The food wasn't a shock; we'd eaten Nepali food back home plenty of times. But eating it there, in that house, with all those people around, it just hit different.

I stayed one week. Flew back to Southampton, thinking Nepal was somewhere you visited once and that was that.

I had no idea.

The people don't have much to give, right, that's what you think when you first see it. But they have so much love that you genuinely can't bear it sometimes. That took me a while to understand. Now I can't unknow it.

I now reside in Kathmandu. I have not fully left Southampton, but Nepal has become my home. I have got 3 businesses out here (2 travel, and 1 content). I will share more stories from my experience here in future posts.

Thanks for reading.