r/backtoindia

hi im new, how hard is it to move back after 5 years, will it be easy for my kids, one are sophomore here and one is a senior,

We're a family of 4 kids 7 and 2. We mainly decide to move because I wanted to be there for my mom as Dad passed away recently. I feel responsible to share responsibility of household with my brother who unfortunately is not that level headed. Also I wanted to try something different than 9-5 and I felt with corpus I have that is possible after few years in India. Other reasons are I feel grounding kids in Indian culture roots will be better for them and selfishly even for me. There are other minor factors like house help and sense of belonging too feels like we could have better life indoors in India.

Now other than obvious infrastructure systemic issues in India which will take a toll. My worry is just that kids could have more rough and uncessary competitive upbringing which will take a toll on then and also even after all that they will most likely return back for undergrad and cycle will continue or have to make peace with that. And I think I can but just looking for advice as our current world revolves around them. Other factor is my wife is been extremely negative as the move actually started happening and us selling our house also was emotional toll. She is valid in her concerns about havjng more judgement less freedom.but social media and her mind is also amplifying it I feel some therapy will help for both of us. I'm wrestling with these concerns and all I can hope for is things don't turn out as bad as they seem. I feel I have to give India a shot and not keep living the same life which I feel was not fulfilling to me. I was never depressed or anything but life has to be less ordinary. Anyway all i was looking for was some shared experiences to calm my own nerves. First post so be kind:)

Hi desis

Anyone who moved from Germany to Hyderabad?

Every annual holiday is an emotional time with In laws asking our family to return.

I worked in IT and work culture puts me off at Hyderabad.

Please guide and thank you!

Looking to connect with grads or professionals returning to India from UK ? My PSW expires next year. I need to plan my exit. Anyone in same boat ?

I've noticed many people mention that joining a multinational company or Big 4 in India can eventually lead to opportunities in Europe through internal mobility.

For those who've actually experienced it:

• How many years did it take?
• Which company and industry were you in?
• Which country did you move to?
• Was the transfer easy or highly competitive?
• Did you need the local language?
• Was your salary adjusted significantly?
• Looking back, would you still choose the same route?

It would be great to hear real experiences instead of assumptions.

hello, any advise to keep joint bank accounts or solo individual US bank accounts before return.

savings or checking account(US banks) better to keep after r2i

any disadvantage of joint US accounts in india for tax purpose and reporting purpose Since india does not have married joint filing option.

what banks are best for returning people. And should we keep savings account or checking account.

I currently live in Canada and I am a Canadian citizen. Expecting first baby in late July/early August. Baby going to be born in India as it will be Canadian citizen through father.

I literally have only 15k USD in liquid savings and 40k CAD in Canadian retirement plan. Wife has one house and one plot in her name in Mysore. No other savings or investments 😥.

Mother passed away in 2022 and father living alone in apartment surrounded by some friends in the same apartment complex in Bengaluru, India. One elder brother who is settled in the USA and got green card there.

I wanted to move to India to be with my father, but didn't get any good opportunity to justify my move. I work in the airline industry and have 10 years experience in air cargo industry.

Now, I have a job offer from USA for $115k per annum. I have never gone past 100k salary in my entire north American life.

Now I am in a fix. I don't know what to do. Should I take the offer? Or try for options closer to home (middle east) or in India.

Please share your thoughts and opinions.

I've been lurking in this group because I'm currently at a crossroads in life. I've had a comfortable life in the UK for the last six years. It's not luxurious, but it's comfortable: my wife and I have modest IT jobs, a small three-bedroom house, and our first child is on the way.

I visit India every year to see my parents, who live alone in my hometown. I grew up in a nuclear family, and we don't have many relatives nearby because everyone moved to other states for work. We barely meet anymore, not even once a year. My sister has settled in Australia and is unlikely to return.

Whenever I see my parents, now 67 and 60, I feel selfish for leaving them to grow old alone. I always promise them that I'll come back when they need me. At those moments, it feels like my comfortable life abroad isn't worth it, and I convince myself that I'll return to India in a few years.

But every time I visit India, I feel the chaos has only increased. The UK has its own problems, and it's much more crowded than the US, but things are still structured and organised. Millions of cars flow through motorways and roundabouts with remarkable order, so traffic rarely comes to a standstill. In India, even in my Tier 2 hometown, an evening walk feels stressful because I'm constantly worried about being hit by a careless driver.

That leaves me wondering whether I'd actually be happier after returning.

I know many R2I folks recommend living in large gated communities with every amenity, but I honestly don't think I'll be able to afford that. As a frontend engineer, I'm a decent coder but nowhere near FAANG level. I've looked at the market and believe I'd earn around ₹40 LPA at best in Bangalore. My wife, who's in manual QA, would probably struggle to get ₹20 LPA, likely in a WITCH company. Add the 4 to 5 day office commute that many companies now require, and the stress only grows.

With that income, a premium society is out of reach. By the time I return, I'll own a small two-bedroom flat in Bangalore with the mortgage paid off, but it's still a fairly ordinary society with just a gym and a small play area. Step outside, and the chaos of Bangalore begins.

Unlike many friends in the US, I wasn't able to build substantial savings because UK salaries are much lower while the cost of living remains high. Now that we have a child on the way, schooling and healthcare become major expenses in India. In the UK, every child has access to good education and healthcare regardless of family income. In India, I wouldn't be able to afford an IB school on our income.

So now it feels like I have to choose between my parents' future and my child's future, and I genuinely don't know what the right answer is. My son would have access to excellent public education and a more stable upbringing in the UK, whereas in India he'd face a far more competitive and unequal system.

Sometimes I feel this is simply the price I pay for clean air.

This is mostly just a rant and me venting because I was feeling quite heavy today. I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through a similar dilemma or had to make this decision.

I have been working in Ireland & uk for 4 years and I am planning on moving back to India in the next 6 months. I have been out of indian job market the whole time, so I request for a reality check from the experienced because I keep going back and forth on this.

Background:

• MSc from TCD. About 4 years experience.
• Currently on the founding team of a small B2B SaaS in ecom reg tech (£20 Mil Valuation), as product owner and product manager (small company, so the two blur).
• I own the backlog and roadmap, ship features, ran 5 country integrations, work with 2 dev teams daily, comfortable with sql & system design. A-CSPO and AWS Solutions Architect certified.
• I am also the point of contact for 5 enterprise clients plus around 30 SMBs. I run onboarding, understand their business, and upsell and cross sell, but with no sales quota. I brought in 4 partnerships and 2 are doing well.

I actually like product work. My hesitation is the Indian market. From the outside it looks like the strong product roles expect an iim or a proper tech degree, and I have neither.

I am torn between aiming for product (PO / PM) and account management, the farming kind, not cold hunting (I have zero experience chasing new logos). I do have equal liking and interest in Account Management.

To start, I need roughly 1.3L in hand per month atleast as am the sole earner in the family.

1. With this profile, would you qualify me to pivot to account management / customer success?
2. Honestly, any directional advise would be considered gold. Please slap me hard with any thoughts you have!

48M/43F, kids: 2 high schoolers. We are planning for a 2032 return after our older one graduates and planning to send the younger one to India to pursue MBBS in 2030. Feedback on our plans based on below portfolio?

US Portfolio:

401K- $950K
Cash- $200K
Investments (RH/IBKR/Public): $460K
RSU: $400K
Home Equity: $475K (planning to pay off by 2028 which will take the equity to ~$700K)

India Portfolio:

3 Paid off 3 bedroom Apartments in Hyderabad (Miyapur; Secunderabad; Narsing)
15Cr cash planning to invest partial in SWP
6acrs farm land
3 land parcels outskirts of Hyd; future city
Gold/Silver: 3Cr

I am 30 year old married with a PR and a corpus of 1.3 crore. My wife is currently in Mumbai with stable job and in process of getting PR. I want to move back to live with parents and enjoy the warmth of extended family. But the issue is that my parents in Mumbai have 1 bhk apartment. So here are few options I am considering, assuming when I move back, I get close to 30LPA :

1. Move now: We will need to rent a 2 bhk and with rent received from 1 bhk, we can keep saving until we can buy a 2bhk apartment but then we won’t have savings for kids in future
2. Move in April 2027 ( coming back after applying citizenship ): same as option 1 but net corpus might increase to 1.7 crore
3. Move after 2 years: Slightly more corpus but hassle of wife switching country twice and career impact. While also probability of differing opinions on returning back
4. Move after 5 years: much more corpus but same issue of career re-stabilization and difference in opinion of returning back.

I am just exhausted thinking about it and really tired. Would appreciate clear perspectives

Might not be a popular situation, but I'm curious if folks having GC spend substantial amount of time (like months) in India? For education or personal stuff.

I had heard GC has some clauses.

I graduated with a degree in accounting and finance in Canada (Ontario province), I couldn't find a job in Canada for a year with my PGWP despite having 1.5 years of co-op and internship work experience, so I decided to move back to India. I live in Chennai at the moment and can't find a job here either, applying all over the place in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai. Even my contacts are no use, nobody seems to be able to help. I have my CFA level 1 and I'm doing Level 2, does anyone have any advice on how to get a foothold in this job market?

Hi all! I (34,F) moved back to Noida after spending around 11 years in the US. I am planning to host a meetup for like-minded NRI returnees. Please comment if you are interested in learning more. Thanks !

Hi guys,

I am 32M, planning to move back from the US in Dec 2026. I had a few questions regarding my financial situation.

Savings - $55k
Stocks - $53k
401k - $13k

1. I came in Aug 2019, and have been to India twice for around 90 days total. Would I qualify for RNOR status? In my calculations I do. Want to confirm it though.
2. I have started moving my savings to my NRE account (\~$12k). Is it fine tax wise both in India and US if I send all my savings chunk wise before I move out? If not, what would you guys suggest?
3. I am planning to sell my Stocks latest by end of 2027. If I qualify for RNOR, would that be fine?
4. Since my 401k is relatively small, I was thinking to sell it with the 10% penalty rather than to take the hassle of managing it from India. Any suggestions on this?
5. Any other tax information that I need to keep in mind before/after I move back to India?

Thank you guys in advance!

Please explain like I’m 5. I’m returning to India soon and my fidelity account requires OTP to login. I understand that I need to port to Tello or Google voice. Which is better? Do you just buy a cheap plan and that’s all? Do you have to let the representative know that you’re in India now? I have an iPhone with T Mobile eSIM right now. I plan to put an Indian eSIM in the phone. Is that possible? How do y’all pay off your monthly phone bills?

Please explain how you would to a technologically challenged person. I appreciate all the help and advice.

Edit: Thanks everyone for the responses so far. I realized I left out some important context.

I’m planning to move back to India permanently after living in the US for a few years.

Here’s what I currently have:

• Bank of America checking account
• Patelco Credit Union account
• SoFi student loan (I’ll still be paying this from India)
• US credit cards

I’m trying to figure out what makes the most sense long term.

1. Should I keep my US mobile number active? Is it needed for bank logins, OTPs, SoFi, etc., or have people been able to switch everything to an international number?
2. Is it worth keeping my Bank of America account open indefinitely?
3. Would it be easier to use Patelco Credit Union instead of BoA for transferring money from India to make my SoFi payments?
4. Are there any other US accounts or services you wish you had kept active after moving abroad?

I’d love to hear from people who have actually moved back to India (or another country) and continued managing US finances. Anything you wish you had known before leaving?

Thanks!

I came to the US for my Master’s and graduated last year. I started my first full-time job about 4 months ago, and my H-1B was just picked this year.

Despite that, I’ve decided to move back to India permanently in about 3 months. I know this is a pretty unconventional decision, but my family business back home is going through a difficult period and I want to be there to help. I’m fortunate that I’ll be able to earn enough to comfortably continue paying my SoFi student loan EMIs from India, so I’m not looking for ways to avoid repayment.

My main goal is to make sure I don’t miss anything before I leave.

Current checklist:

• Sell my car.
• Keep a US bank account open.
• Keep a US phone number for OTPs.
• Continue paying my SoFi loan from India.

What else should I take care of before leaving permanently?

Especially if you’ve been in a similar situation:

• Did you keep your US credit cards?
• Did you keep Bank of America, or is Patelco Credit Union enough?
• Anything related to taxes, banking, or SoFi that I should know?
• Anything you wish you had done before leaving the US for good?

Really appreciate all the advice so far.

Favour-> Wanted Someone to bring me something from there. Its just 330 grams.