Coming home? Are you thinking about it?

statina · 07-09-2018 9:01pm

We came home nearly 3 years ago and never regretted the decision for a second. Like any country, Ireland is what you make of it yourself. Don’t listen to the naysayers, avoid the news and you’ll be grand!

Kevhog1988 · 17-06-2020 1:50pm

Just thought of this thread after reading something id sent to the irish times before.

Im home 3 years and i have to say its the best decision ive ever made but i dont regret any of my time away now.

joxer1988 · 14-12-2020 6:04pm

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Just thought of this thread after reading something id sent to the irish times before.

Im home 3 years and i have to say its the best decision ive ever made but i dont regret any of my time away now.

Hi Kevhog, this sounds ideal. Can you elaborate a little on why? I'm at the stage we're weighing up a return from Canada and looking to hear from other's experiences.

BailMeOut · 14-12-2020 10:03pm

We just passed our 10 year anniversary of moving home and we have zero regrets. With kids, you hit a 'now or never' point to move back and we timed it perfectly. The biggest advice I can give is to consider the move home an opportunity to reset and not necessarily just slip back to where you came from. We choose a town that is quite beautiful and on the sea that we have no connection to but always liked visiting and now our lifestyles and quality of life are I believe so much better than if we settled back to where we originally grew up. We get constant visitors so never a dull moment in our house (until Covid!) and we now have a whole new community of great new friends in our new home town.

I would however never trade the experiences of living and working abroad for 10+ years but really glad to be living back in this beautiful country.

jiminho · 14-01-2021 6:11am

So myself and my family have made the decision to move home to Ireland after 8 years abroad. We’ve already hit road blocks with getting our kids into primary schools as all applications have been accepted in most places for junior infants so we’re looking at 2022 now. What kind of costs should we expect for our return? Of the top of my head I’m thinking of the obvious: moving costs incl flights, rental for at least a year upon our return, furniture, vehicles, down payment for a house....am I missing anything obvious?

votecounts · 14-01-2021 6:19am

jiminho wrote: »

So myself and my family have made the decision to move home to Ireland after 8 years abroad. We’ve already hit road blocks with getting our kids into primary schools as all applications have been accepted in most places for junior infants so we’re looking at 2022 now. What kind of costs should we expect for our return? Of the top of my head I’m thinking of the obvious: moving costs incl flights, rental for at least a year upon our return, furniture, vehicles, down payment for a house....am I missing anything obvious?

health insurance would be a priority,
have you a job lined up
car insurance
good luck with the move, hope it all works out:)

BailMeOut · 14-01-2021 12:03pm

jiminho wrote: »

So myself and my family have made the decision to move home to Ireland after 8 years abroad. We’ve already hit road blocks with getting our kids into primary schools as all applications have been accepted in most places for junior infants so we’re looking at 2022 now. What kind of costs should we expect for our return? Of the top of my head I’m thinking of the obvious: moving costs incl flights, rental for at least a year upon our return, furniture, vehicles, down payment for a house....am I missing anything obvious?

Depending on where you are coming from consider moving 183+ days into the new year (4th July) so you are not tax resident here for your first year back which may save you some money.

Do you have a bank account in Ireland and that's one of the first things you will need to setup and can take some effort when you move here. Also make sure you can seamlessly move money from foreign account to Ireland and if this is a non Euro currency research options to wire money with better FX and fees (fexco are very good).

jiminho · 14-01-2021 9:32pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

Depending on where you are coming from consider moving 183+ days into the new year (4th July) so you are not tax resident here for your first year back which may save you some money.

Do you have a bank account in Ireland and that's one of the first things you will need to setup and can take some effort when you move here. Also make sure you can seamlessly move money from foreign account to Ireland and if this is a non Euro currency research options to wire money with better FX and fees (fexco are very good).

Thanks for the above posts. I’m hoping whatever jobs we get will have some form of health benefits and car insurance yes is a good one to remember as I heard that can be difficult.

Thanks for the tax info, I will keep that in mind. We closed our BOI account a couple of years ago because we kept getting fees and having to transfer money from abroad. In hindsight, I should have just deposited a hundred or two to tie us over for a few years. I’m hoping this won’t cause too many issues opening new accounts.

What would be the best method from a tax, and fee, perspective to transfer money from a non-EU country to Ireland? I’ll check Fexco. Funds would be in the low six figures.

carrotcake · 15-01-2021 9:46am

jiminho wrote: »

What would be the best method from a tax, and fee, perspective to transfer money from a non-EU country to Ireland? I’ll check Fexco. Funds would be in the low six figures.

Have a look at Revolut and TransferWise.

BailMeOut · 15-01-2021 11:59am

carrotcake wrote: »

Have a look at Revolut and TransferWise.

Not sure I would transfer six-figure amounts of money via Revolut! Fexco is Irish based in Kerry and their rates and fees are really competitive.

When you close a bank account in Ireland I think they just make it dormant so you may be able to resurrect it again (I know I was able to re-open an ancient college-era AIB account after 20 years when I got back and am still using it. I'd call BOI and see can they re-open that closed account as that will save you so much hassle when you get back. When open do a small online test wire to make sure no issues and keep good records and you may have to explain the source of this money to revenue.

jiminho · 19-02-2021 6:38am

Following on from my posts above,I have a job offer back in Ireland. It’s a step down in responsibility and the money isn’t as good as I have over here, or what I was hoping for, but the growth potential is higher and is a transfer within the company so it poses less risk. Crunching the numbers, we can make it work, but we’re not going to be as well off as we are over here. You’ll say that sounds silly as most people move abroad to earn more money but the salary offered is lower even then my initial benchmark (or the min I would move for) but having done some further research, it’s within an acceptable range for that position and years of experience. We’re now hit with a dilemma: live a life with fewer money issues and giving our kids everything they need/want or packing our bags and moving home to be closer to family but lowering our expectations with regards material possessions (specifically a house). The pros and cons list weighs heavily in favour of staying but I believe this will put a nail in the coffin for ever moving home. My head says stay but my gut is telling me to move home and just hope we can make it work. So my question is, for families that have made the move from abroad to back in Ireland; any regrets? I can’t help but feel if I don’t take this offer, I’ll look back at this moment on my deathbed as the biggest mistake of my life but in the end, I just want what’s best for my family.

CelticRambler · 19-02-2021 8:44am

Where is "over here", how long were you there, and what ages are the older children?

Money isn't everything, and you might find that you can save in ways that you don't see immediately. Then again "family" isn't everything either, and to pick a very small hole in your post above, we didn't move abroad to earn more (went from modest to considerably less) but for lifestyle values that we felt we couldn't have in either Ireland or the UK.

jester77 · 19-02-2021 8:55am

I wouldn't put so much emphasis on the money, unless you are talking 20 or 30k+ of a difference. Do your kids want to move? What ages are they, how is their English, what about their friends, hobbies, etc. I would put some weight on those things as well when coming to a decision.

sashafierce · 19-02-2021 12:27pm

jiminho wrote: »

I can’t help but feel if I don’t take this offer, I’ll look back at this moment on my deathbed as the biggest mistake of my life but in the end, I just want what’s best for my family.

I think this is your answer....

jiminho · 19-02-2021 3:49pm

jester77 wrote: »

I wouldn't put so much emphasis on the money, unless you are talking 20 or 30k+ of a difference. Do your kids want to move? What ages are they, how is their English, what about their friends, hobbies, etc. I would put some weight on those things as well when coming to a decision.

Answering the above post as well, we’ve been abroad for 10 years and have three kids under 6 and they’re English is fine. The difference in my salary would be about €10k less. Hers wouldn’t change much but the cost of living difference is about 30% more expensive in Dublin, which is where we want to settle.

What experiences have people had moving home?

sashafierce · 19-02-2021 4:42pm

jiminho wrote: »

Answering the above post as well, we’ve been abroad for 10 years and have three kids under 6 and they’re English is fine. The difference in my salary would be about €10k less. Hers wouldn’t change much but the cost of living difference is about 30% more expensive in Dublin, which is where we want to settle.

What experiences have people had moving home?

I moved home 5 years ago and I've been in Dublin since and the only thing in my experience that's more expensive here is my rent however from friends currently in Toronto it appears to have matched or passed it out now.

When i look at the price of things like milk, meat and phone contracts over there I can't believe how much I spent compared to Ireland.

What I miss greatly about Toronto though is the public transport. Luckily I drive to work so its a non issue here for me but christ dublin public transport is awful.

Coming home? Are you thinking about it?

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