Reintroductions?

[singingpilgrim]

Hey! I haven't been on this board in years, though I have kept in touch with a few members off of this.

I am American married to an Indian in India. I have been living here for 4.5 years now and we have two children now (a daughter who is 3 and a 6 week old son.) Both were born in India. I was able to take my daughter home to meet her grandparents in the US when she was 18 months old, but that's the only visit back I've had.

I came back here because we are discussing moving again and that's got me thinking about meeting all you when I moved to India. So I wanted to see how you all are. It's just a discussion now. My husband is not happy here and wants to move but we're not sure where to. With the craziness about immigration, racial issues and the crappy health care system I'm not sure moving to the states is the best idea, though I do miss my family. We have been looking at other countries and even possibly other areas of India (we are in the Delhi area now. Horrible pollution, high COL for India, and vicious crimes.) We would love to become digital nomads. My husband works in the financial sector now but has decided to try to seek web design certification and I have always been a writer, though I've barely found time since my daughter was born, and we love the idea of using those talents to make enough we could travel as long as we had internet access. But we are some years away from generating enough income that way for a family of four.

How are you all? I can look at the dates of posts and see this board isn't terribly active anymore, but maybe we could reintroduce ourselves and start talking again?

[jennybee1018]

Morning!!!

I know I am sad that this board has been so quiet! Time to re-activate it :-)

I'm still located in Qatar, it's just me, my husband and our three cats. We're doing well! Nothing too exciting happening over here :-)

Sounds like a move away from India might be right for you, but it can certainly be difficult to figure out where to go! Does your husband's company have any branches elsewhere? Maybe he could transfer, and then move into the web design area? It always easier to move with help from a company, especially for residency visas, etc. It can be tough on your own!

[ohyouknow]

Hello! I have been living in Germany for the past two years. I'm not sure if I really count on this board since I'm stationed here for the military and I'm around a large number of Americans.
But hello anyway!

[mrsukyankee]

You definitely count ohyouknow!

Hi! I'm still here - posting mainly in the CEP, H&G and Makeup boards. Living in London for 13 years. Moving to another country is tough - visas are NOT easy to come by unless you have some seriously necessary skills. Good luck!

And having visited Delhi in March, I get why you want to leave (my H's family is there). It's so much more crowded and dirty and tough to live in than it was even 10 years ago.

[GilliC]

No visa needed to move to Svalbard! And it would probably lend a lot of subject material for writing!

[brainie]

Jun 11, 2017 8:36:02 GMT -5 GilliC said:

No visa needed to move to Svalbard! And it would probably lend a lot of subject material for writing!

...why don't you need a visa for Svalbard?

Anyway, I remember you! Congratulations on your sweet babies. I hope you find somewhere awesome to move to, and the visa part of it isn't too complicated. Is getting a visa to India hard?

[dorothyinAus]

Welcome Back! Things sound quite busy in your house.

I have no advice about where to move from India. It's difficult to move anywhere internationally, especially if you have no sponsorship. It seems immigration is getting tougher all over the world.

[loira]

Welcome back!

I'm still in Canada (moved back after 10-ish years abroad) and H is in the US. We're technically in the process of getting my green card, but are likely going to cancel and just settle here. Healthcare was one of many reasons for this, so I feel you on that. I agree with pps that it's increasingly difficult to move countries without sponsorship - especially once you factor in partners/children.

[GilliC]

Jun 11, 2017 11:05:50 GMT -5 brainie said:

Jun 11, 2017 8:36:02 GMT -5 GilliC said:

No visa needed to move to Svalbard! And it would probably lend a lot of subject material for writing!

...why don't you need a visa for Svalbard?

Anyway, I remember you! Congratulations on your sweet babies. I hope you find somewhere awesome to move to, and the visa part of it isn't too complicated. Is getting a visa to India hard?

It was part of the Svalbard Treaty. Citizens of all countries that have signed the treaty are eligible to live and work there visa-free.

The area was used as a base by a relatively few people from lots of different countries, so when the mineral rights had to be decided, the solution ended up being that Norway governs it, but anyone can live or do business there.

ETA- You are, however, required to have a residence. And considering the scarcity of housing, that could prove equally difficult! Haha!

[pittpurple]

Hiya, I remember you too :-)
DH and I (and our 2 kids) are Americans living in Scotland. We have lived here 11 years, first under a work visa and then we became citizens. It would unfortunately be impossible for us to immigrate now as they've made much tighter restrictions since we were able to come over. It's so hard to move countries so I would definitely think about looking around India as well. My husband is in web design and has worked for his company since we moved here so was sponsored to come (and there were a LOT of hoops to jump through).

Welcome back and congrats on the beautiful babies.

[rupertpenny]

I live in Hong Kong and it is still relatively easy to immigrate here. Tons of finance jobs as well, and relatively easy to sponsor your own visa if you're self employed. But if you're trying to escape HCOL and poor air quality it probably isn't the best place to go.

ETA: there is definitely discrimination against South Asians as well. I think not as bad for expats vs Hong Kong people of Indian descent, but something you may need to consider.

[cattledogkisses]

I'm new-ish to the board. I moved to the Balkans last summer with H and our dog.

[dorothyinAus]

Jun 12, 2017 10:42:58 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I'm new-ish to the board. I moved to the Balkans last summer with H and our dog.

Welcome! Where in the Balkans are you? That's an area of the world I have always wanted to visit, but have never made it.  Are you enjoying the area?  What brought you there?  I'm sure you answered these questions already, so I am sorry for not remembering.

[doctoranda]

Hi! We (me-Dutch, DH-American) just moved back to the U.S. after 7 years in the Netherlands. I am having a few adjustment problems as life was really good there but we decided it was time for new adventures.

[Deleted]

Jun 12, 2017 2:50:33 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Jun 11, 2017 11:05:50 GMT -5 brainie said:

...why don't you need a visa for Svalbard?

Anyway, I remember you! Congratulations on your sweet babies. I hope you find somewhere awesome to move to, and the visa part of it isn't too complicated. Is getting a visa to India hard?

It was part of the Svalbard Treaty. Citizens of all countries that have signed the treaty are eligible to live and work there visa-free.

The area was used as a base by a relatively few people from lots of different countries, so when the mineral rights had to be decided, the solution ended up being that Norway governs it, but anyone can live or do business there.

ETA- You are, however, required to have a residence. And considering the scarcity of housing, that could prove equally difficult! Haha!

Also (having just been there and spoken to locals) you need to have a job. Even if you have a ton of money, you can't just live there. You need to contribute. Also, you cannot retire, give birth or die there.

But other than that, I would LOVE to live there.

Hi everyone! I'm still here in the north of England after 16 years. Yikes!! Nice to see some updates!

[loira]

Jun 13, 2017 6:21:49 GMT -5 @cheshire said:

Jun 12, 2017 2:50:33 GMT -5 GilliC said:

It was part of the Svalbard Treaty. Citizens of all countries that have signed the treaty are eligible to live and work there visa-free.

The area was used as a base by a relatively few people from lots of different countries, so when the mineral rights had to be decided, the solution ended up being that Norway governs it, but anyone can live or do business there.

ETA- You are, however, required to have a residence. And considering the scarcity of housing, that could prove equally difficult! Haha!

Also (having just been there and spoken to locals) you need to have a job. Even if you have a ton of money, you can't just live there. You need to contribute. Also, you cannot retire, give birth or die there.

But other than that, I would LOVE to live there.

Hi everyone! I'm still here in the north of England after 16 years. Yikes!! Nice to see some updates!

I'm curious to know how they plan to punish people who break this rule.

[neeps]

Like jennybee1018 I'm sad the board went quiet. OP I remember you from before. Congratulations on your newest baby. That's exciting.

DH and I have been in the US for 4 years and we're also eager to move. Our timing has been tied to financial incentives with DH's job, but we're very close to that end date and free to move. Not as easy as it used to be for sure!

[origami]

Hi!
I've been living in Seoul for the past 3 years for DH's work. We are repatriating in July and I'm half looking forward to it/half dreading it. I give us 6m before we start looking for some other overseas job. Unfortunately with his company, china is our only likely option but one of my kids has asthma so it's not a good fit. Hoping to find something though. Korea will not give work visas to foreigners without a corporate sponsor. There are self-employment visas for people with certain skills but I don't know how difficult it is to get one. its a lovely country to live in but the language barrier is difficult.

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2017 15:28:42 GMT -5 loira said:

Jun 13, 2017 6:21:49 GMT -5 @cheshire said:

Also (having just been there and spoken to locals) you need to have a job. Even if you have a ton of money, you can't just live there. You need to contribute. Also, you cannot retire, give birth or die there.

But other than that, I would LOVE to live there.

Hi everyone! I'm still here in the north of England after 16 years. Yikes!! Nice to see some updates!

I'm curious to know how they plan to punish people who break this rule.

By death.

To clarify, you can't be buried there - I should have said that. They stopped doing it in the 1940s as those ones are still fresh.

[goodygumdrop]

Hello! I am newish too, I moved from the US to England with my husband in January. So far we like it very much here

[gigem]

Hi! I live in a lusophone country in southern Africa, both DH and I are working here, it has been about 2.5yrs and we'll be here until next summer. I'd love to keep chatting on this board, I do pop in time to time and see if anyone has started up some new threads that I can contribute too. No advice for OP, we move where our company sends us. Paris was our home away from home until we sold our apt there last year but just as well to consider home where we actually live most of the year. I get back to the States about 3x a year and it sometimes overwhelms me but I am constantly a bit homesick even if it has been 7yrs since I left.

[origami]

Jun 14, 2017 14:07:46 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Jun 13, 2017 18:16:24 GMT -5 origami said:

Hi!
I've been living in Seoul for the past 3 years for DH's work. We are repatriating in July and I'm half looking forward to it/half dreading it. I give us 6m before we start looking for some other overseas job. Unfortunately with his company, china is our only likely option but one of my kids has asthma so it's not a good fit. Hoping to find something though. Korea will not give work visas to foreigners without a corporate sponsor. There are self-employment visas for people with certain skills but I don't know how difficult it is to get one. its a lovely country to live in but the language barrier is difficult.

I just repatriated last week and had very mixed feelings about it.  So far it's going fine, I'm super distracted with the logistics of getting resettled into U.S. life.  I've spent way too much time car shopping, am now trying to figure out DH's benefits package (I'm taking time off), and soon have to start looking for a house. 

The main thing I hate so far is getting back into a car.  It was so nice taking public transportation everywhere in London.  I had two road rage incidents just in my first day driving again!

thanks for responding. Hope your car and home shopping go well. Ugh I'm not looking forward to crap/non-existent mass transit either. I'm worried about being bored (after we get settled/moved in). It's such a different lifestyle change for us because expats here are super busy - always going out, throwing parties, doing touristy things. In my home city people would think I was nuts if I wanted to go out on a school night.

[origami]

Jun 14, 2017 19:10:35 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Jun 14, 2017 18:57:22 GMT -5 origami said:

thanks for responding. Hope your car and home shopping go well. Ugh I'm not looking forward to crap/non-existent mass transit either. I'm worried about being bored (after we get settled/moved in). It's such a different lifestyle change for us because expats here are super busy - always going out, throwing parties, doing touristy things. In my home city people would think I was nuts if I wanted to go out on a school night.

Oh dear, sounds like suburbia hell (and I live in suburbia myself).  Hope you find ways to keep yourself entertained.  Personally I'm most happy about the fact that it no longer takes 3 hours to wash a load of laundry, LOL.

yes, suburbia hell, exactly. And lol. I'm excited to have a garbage disposal. Like for real I actually am excited about that.

[Cheesecake]

Hi!
I've been away for too long too. Life with kid and health issues and whatnot.
I'm still in Amsterdam, still have 1 kid (not going to have more) eho just started school, so I might actually have time to hang out again once I finish the 286 loads of laundry I still need to take care of.

[cattledogkisses]

Jun 14, 2017 18:57:22 GMT -5 origami said:

Jun 14, 2017 14:07:46 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

I just repatriated last week and had very mixed feelings about it.  So far it's going fine, I'm super distracted with the logistics of getting resettled into U.S. life.  I've spent way too much time car shopping, am now trying to figure out DH's benefits package (I'm taking time off), and soon have to start looking for a house. 

The main thing I hate so far is getting back into a car.  It was so nice taking public transportation everywhere in London.  I had two road rage incidents just in my first day driving again!

thanks for responding. Hope your car and home shopping go well. Ugh I'm not looking forward to crap/non-existent mass transit either. I'm worried about being bored (after we get settled/moved in). It's such a different lifestyle change for us because expats here are super busy - always going out, throwing parties, doing touristy things. In my home city people would think I was nuts if I wanted to go out on a school night.

I do love this.  We have such active social life here, between the other Americans and the local friends that we've made. 

[cattledogkisses]

Jun 12, 2017 18:10:20 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Jun 12, 2017 10:42:58 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

I'm new-ish to the board. I moved to the Balkans last summer with H and our dog.

Welcome! Where in the Balkans are you? That's an area of the world I have always wanted to visit, but have never made it.  Are you enjoying the area?  What brought you there?  I'm sure you answered these questions already, so I am sorry for not remembering.

We're in one of the former Yugoslav countries.  I can PM you if you want to know exactly where, but since there aren't many Americans here I like to be intentionally vague on the public board.   

We so glad that we've gotten a chance to live here, because it's probably not a part of the world that we would have explored otherwise.  I think a lot of Americans overlook this area, but we're finding that it has so much cool stuff to offer, and is significantly less expensive than most other parts of Europe. 

I think tourism is really going to explode here in another 5-10 years.  We can already see it starting to happen. 

[toutsuite]

Hi all! My Dh, two toddlers, soon to be baby, and I are in Thailand. We've been there for 14 months and will likely be there for another year or two. We are currently in the states now (MA) to have the baby and then will go back after. We love it there. I can't speak too much to the visa stuff because I don't know that much about it, though I can say there is a large southeast community in Bangkok who live and work there legally.

[Shreddingbetty]

I'm a Dutchie who has been in the states longer than my home country. Came here as a college exchange student at the age of 17 and never left. Married with a complicated blended family (I have 2 college grad the step kids and we raised H's 2 nieces, the youngest is a senior in HS, and our DD who just turned 7) although we only have 2 kids left at home. We go back to Europe once a year and will be there all of August this year and I can't wait

[dorothyinAus]

Jun 15, 2017 7:44:15 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

Jun 12, 2017 18:10:20 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Welcome! Where in the Balkans are you? That's an area of the world I have always wanted to visit, but have never made it.  Are you enjoying the area?  What brought you there?  I'm sure you answered these questions already, so I am sorry for not remembering.

We're in one of the former Yugoslav countries.  I can PM you if you want to know exactly where, but since there aren't many Americans here I like to be intentionally vague on the public board.   

We so glad that we've gotten a chance to live here, because it's probably not a part of the world that we would have explored otherwise.  I think a lot of Americans overlook this area, but we're finding that it has so much cool stuff to offer, and is significantly less expensive than most other parts of Europe. 

I think tourism is really going to explode here in another 5-10 years.  We can already see it starting to happen. 

Totally understand.  I have been interested the area since the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo.  In college, my favorite history professor was a Serbian immigrant and I loved her class "Europe Since 1914" which she subtitled "From Sarajevo to Sarajevo."  At the time (1994-95), my mother's grad school research partner was a Croatian immigrant so it was an interesting couple of semesters.

[cattledogkisses]

Jun 15, 2017 22:23:35 GMT -5 dorothyinAus said:

Jun 15, 2017 7:44:15 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

We're in one of the former Yugoslav countries.  I can PM you if you want to know exactly where, but since there aren't many Americans here I like to be intentionally vague on the public board.   

We so glad that we've gotten a chance to live here, because it's probably not a part of the world that we would have explored otherwise.  I think a lot of Americans overlook this area, but we're finding that it has so much cool stuff to offer, and is significantly less expensive than most other parts of Europe. 

I think tourism is really going to explode here in another 5-10 years.  We can already see it starting to happen. 

Totally understand.  I have been interested the area since the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo.  In college, my favorite history professor was a Serbian immigrant and I loved her class "Europe Since 1914" which she subtitled "From Sarajevo to Sarajevo."  At the time (1994-95), my mother's grad school research partner was a Croatian immigrant so it was an interesting couple of semesters.

The history of this region is so complex and fascinating.  I wish it had been covered more when I was in school.