r/BritishExpats

Hi all,

I've backed myself into a corner a little with the new rules regarding Great Britain and ETAs. I'm British but moved to Sweden and have a Swedish passport. My mother was recently diagnosed with cancer so after reading the changes, I quickly applied for a British passport which arrived recently and we thought everything was good, until I did some digging and realised that my children, despite never having been registered in England, also qualify as having right to abode and therefore can't officially get ETAs. But we fly to England in 4 weeks, so I don't have enough time to get them English passports.

Does anyone have experience with this? My plan was initially that my Swedish wife would get an ETA together with our two kids (who both have Nationality: Swedish on their passports and nothing else), and we would all travel together on the same booking. Now I'm worried that either the airline or passport control will see a British man travelling with children with the same surname and assume that they are British children with invalid ETAs.

Has anyone here travelled to Great Britain with a British passport but with dual nationality kids on other passports? Will anyone care, or am I overthinking everything and freaking out for nothing?

I'm originally from the UK and have lived in Australia with my partner for over 6 years. We came when I was 22. We travelled the whole country for the first 2 years before settling in Sydney and one of us was able to get a job that could lead us both to PR. For the first 3 years I was pretty adamant that I always wanted to go home eventually and always missed it. But after building a life in Sydney and visiting the UK again, it started to feel like we were making the right decision. I became more certain that this was the life we wanted and that we’d do whatever we could to stay.

Fast forward to this past year and we have been in limbo, on bridging visas, waiting for our PR approval - its been complicated and we don't really have 100% certainty that it will even be approved (long story). The stress of the unknown has gotten to me so much and my anxiety has been the worst it's ever been this year. I've also been having panic attacks.

I've found myself reflecting and the homesickness has become overwhelming. I miss my family so much and feel that its getting harder as my parents get older. Other family and friends are starting to settle and have kids and I just can't help but feel like we're missing out on everything. My partner and I have a great relationship and we are very close to their family in the UK too. However, I know they don't struggle with homesickness as much as I do and that they would be quite happy to continue living in Australia. We have spoken about this and I know it is a decision we would make together, but I'm just feeling very conflicted.

Any advice? Does it get any easier or worse? If you asked me a year ago, I felt the complete opposite.

Been here 19 years with a temporary 18 months back in UK ending the same day in 2016 the country chose to brexit, i just want to hear if you are for or against what is happening? Im not hear to start a fight, but last nights votes gave me the ick. And my politicians are the Dutch, and Mark Rutte ( our tony blair)

Been here about 6 months (Florida) and I absolutely love it here. People are lovely and the weather is obviously so much better than England. Grass is same, but way way greener.

😀🇺🇸🇬🇧

Looking for some advice on a complex timing situation. My husband (33M) and I (30F) are currently in the middle of selling our first home and purchasing a new forever home in the UK. We expect to complete in June/July. We are borrowing an additional amount on top of porting our current mortgage to fund the upgrade. For this reason, we’re sticking with our current lender Halifax.

However, I’ve just been offered a fantastic career opportunity in Spain. I’d be employed by a Spanish company as a highly skilled worker and eligible for Beckham’s Law tax benefits. Whilst the job is a perm role, we would likely move for 2–3 years starting this summer, then return to the UK to live in the house we are currently buying.

We want to proceed with the purchase so the house is waiting for us when we return, with plans to rent it out in the meantime to cover the mortgage.

Unhelpfully, we need to decide by Friday and our contact at Halifax is on annual leave till Thursday + it’s a bank holiday today. Obviously we’ll try and speak with someone else in the interim but questions we want advice on ASAP:

1. Would Halifax allow us to complete on a residential mortgage if we aren't moving in immediately? Or will they see this as a "Buy-to-Let" and change the terms (higher rates/deposit)?
2. Has anyone successfully bypassed "Consent to Let" requirements to live there 6 months for a work relocation?
3. Will we be hit with the 2% non-resident SDLT surcharge if we aren't in the UK for 183 days after completion?

Has anyone done this "simultaneous purchase and relocation"? Are we better off cancelling our current purchase and renting our current property? Appreciate any advice or insights.

For people moving in and out of the UK, records continuity can break fast. You leave behind a GP who knows your full history and land somewhere new where you are essentially starting from zero.

I am curious how experienced movers in this community have handled it. Did you get a summary letter from your last GP? Did you keep digital copies of key reports? Or did you just wing it and hope nothing serious came up in the first few months?

I am asking this because I am from the WellArrive team and we are building an app specifically to keep your medical history portable and readable by any doctor anywhere. The app takes your existing records and produces a clean summary any new doctor can use without you having to piece things together on the spot.

We would love honest feedback from people who have genuinely been through this. If you are willing to spend few minutes testing the current flow and telling us what we are missing, comment below.

Note: Please do not share personal medical details in comments.

Hello! My husband is a British national who moved to Portugal when we got married. He kept his house in the UK as we visit often his side of the family and his parent are old and need assistance. All our holidays are spent in the UK, so we use the house at least 4 times a year. However, the insurance company sent aetter saying that they won't insure the house anymore as he is a UE resident. We can't find an insurance company that will insure our house there! This doesn't seem right. It's his property, he has been paying taxes and water/electricity bills, he is a British national and every week someone from the family checks on the house to make sure everything is fine. I never heard of anything like this happening in my country (Portugal). Is this right? What can we do? Thank you in advance for your time!

As a child of expat parents, I completed most of my schooling in English international schools abroad in Asia and Africa, followed by three years of university in the UK. Even though I’m a native French speaker, I barely use it anymore outside of talking to my family. Since I rarely go back to France, my entire personality has basically moved into English—it’s where I feel most like "me," so I consider myself near-native.

Since Brexit, I’ve spent five years working across different EU countries. People who just visit these places usually say there’s no language barrier, but when you actually live here, you start to feel a subtle one. Most people in continental Europe have great English, but it’s often stuck at a "functional" level. When it comes to the deeper stuff—the banter, the dry humor, and the implicit meanings—it usually falls short. You’ll often hear them say, "I’m funnier in my own language."

Sometimes I have to even dumb down my english a bit to be understood quicker. I think it’s because they developed their personalities in their native tongue and only picked up English in their late teens to early 20s. They can communicate, but they can’t always get their true vibe across. I’ve noticed a consistent pattern where I just have way more chemistry with native speakers. There’s a level of spontaneity and wit there that’s hard to find otherwise. It did happen a few rare times with near native speakers but it’s only because they somehow rejected their original culture like me and grew up outside of their native country.

I’m trying to figure out if I’m just over-romanticising my time in the UK or if this is a genuine social hurdle. To any Brits living abroad: how would you compare the chemistry you have with native English speakers versus non-natives? Do you feel that same "spark" is missing?

📢📢📢For anyone who moved from the UK to the US…

⁉️ What’s one mistake you made before leaving that you wish you could go back and fix?

📌 We’re relocating soon as a family and trying to avoid those “why didn’t we do this earlier” moments.

✅️💡 Open to anything — big or small (banking, packing, documents, kids, healthcare, etc.)

Appreciate any honest insights 🙏

#BritsInUSA #UKExpats #UKtoAmerica #MovingToAmerica #UKtoGeorgia #GeorgiaUSA #ForsythCounty #BritishAbroad #FromUKtoUSA#MovingAbroad #RelocatingToUSA #UKtoUSA #ExpatLife #ExpatJourney #FamilyMove #NewBeginnings #LifeAbroad #InternationalMove #GlobalFamily