... What worries me and My family.... At 40 we have no debt (house and cars paid off) and I would say a very good quality of life. I am not going to go into the reasons for WAnting to leave my sun-drenched country that birthed me..but what concerns us is 1. Primarily the ability to find a good school that the girls can fit into and find themselves relatively up to speed (we start school later than in Ireland) 2. Finding an attractive House that can accommodate 2 labs outside of dublin...but within in commuting distance 3. I would lie if I didn't say I WAs con ...

... You will feel down and you will at some point feel like it is too difficult. You will forget the reasons you came to Ireland, when people start telling you negatively that you were mad for moving back. At the same time, we forgot all of the issues we had in the US with childcare, healthcare and the shabby unhealthy standard of living we had. My job in Ireland fell apart and the same day I WAs offered a job in the US. We had said once we were back in the US that we would surely end up back in Ireland and that next time we would do it properly. And we did! Li ...

Thank you, Kevin. This is very important information, and I appreciate your sharing. I am 70 years old with a nasty Medicare situation. Bottom line: Have you ever heard of IRMAA? Neither had I. Don't ask. Senator Dianne Feinstein's staff had EVERYTHING worked out . . . I thought. Anyway, I will withdraw from Part B, Part D, and Supplemental Plan F, retaining Part A. Due to timing issues around extricating myself from IRMAA and starting IE insurance, I am going with Cigna Global. My sister has an insurance broker's license in CA. She said just get something in place and switch to something less expensive once I get to IE. If the US government were to try to encourage people to leave the country, the IRMAA would surely be effective. Many have written editorials about health care in the US. It seems to me that we can do better in IE and probably other countries. Medicare advocacy efforts to add dental, vision, hearing, and compression garments for lymphedema patients have gone up/down but, most recent attempt, only hearing made it to the bill passed by the House. We shall see what happens in the Senate. THANK YOU for your message. I truly appreciate reading about some light at the end of the Medicare tunnel. Onward! Pat Egan

... a 12-hour journey across the Atlantic. I thus broke up travel plans, as follows: Domestic: United Airlines charged $125 pet fee to book flight, nonstop, from SMF>EWR. Motel 6 offers pet-friendly lodging near EWR. International: Delta booked my cat, in-cabin, and provided dimensions for pet carrier as required for the air CRAFT type. I returned to my reservations and found NOTHING about my cat, etc. When I called Delta, a note had been added to my reservation that NO IN-CABIN travel allowed for my cat. Cancelled entire reservation, with promise to write ...

... City of Minneapolis Police Dept, State of MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and the FBI. Requests for the FBI and MN BCA required submitting electronic fingerprinting. So, I submitted all three reports that indicated that I had no criminal history or outstanding WArrants, etc. with the Stamp 0 documents. For health declaration, I had my annual physical and asked my Dr. to write a letter indicating that I WAs healthy, had no underlying conditions and I had completed my Covid vaccinations. I bought health insurance before I moved to Ireland as ...

@laneiger Thanks, Lori. I WAs just concerned with any possible delays (due to Covid and previous lockdowns/restrictions) in getting the initial Stamp 0 approval. Sounds like you're response time from the INIS WAs less than 90 days but that WAs in 2019, so not sure what the timing is now post-Covid??? I suspect that timelines and timing with Gov't processes may be an unknown for now. As a result, my initial thought WAs to apply this summer with an anticipated move to Ireland in late Oct. I'll be selling my House here in U.S., so that is going to take some t ...

All, First off what a relief to find this forum over the weekend. Your wisdom has been a comfort. After a couple of decades in the USA, I am thinking my next move is to go back to Ireland. I am not yet at retirement age but would love to see if anyone has guidance on financial planning as I rent in SF but would like to get a House in Ireland when I return and the mortgage requirements seem onerous to say the least so would love to talk to someone who has made the move home and who made their financial means in the USA. Guidance on what I can start to do in USA before I make the move home and I know it is frowned upon but am willing to dip into my retirement to make Irish re-entry easier. So if anyone knows someone who is knowledgeable about US retirement/pensions and making the move home I would be grateful. Thanks to Liam I know about the TaxExpats site which I will need and I hope to do consulting when I am home and be EU-based for that. I just read the post of driving license so that will be another adventure indeed! Lots to think about! Thanks all.

... can always post the info on this site in case others may be interested. Just curious, where in the US did you move from and what drew you to Co Kerry to reside in? One final question, the INIS website recommends providing proof of income for 6 months, so did you follow that guideline? I'm a little unsure about timing and selling my House, etc. So, if I retire in March 2021, then I should WAit until Sept 2021 to show 6 months of my income during retirement (know that it must equate to matching the annual 50,000 euro min requirement). Am I understanding t ...

... hit we were still in our home and stayed here. We won't be doing anything but planning until it is safe to travel (and any country will let Americans in.) We aren't really interested in seeing the sites. This will be our 6th or 7th trip over which includes Marseille for 16 months (and having our 1st child), Firenze for a year (the most expensive of our life) with our two kids who were 9 & 4 at the time, and a 6 month move to Exeter. Only a short move as our then 13 yr. old son had to get back to his U.S. school to play on the basketball team. We wou ...

Hi John I reached out to a past contributor on the site. He is a Managing Director of a moving company based in Ireland. I think you will find his answer to your question quite useful. I'll post it below here. Let me know if you WAnt me to put you in touch. ~Liam --- Buying a container and shipping it as user owner is certainly possible. If he WAnts that option there should be no reason why he can’t find a mover or a freight company to co-ordinate that for him. After clearance on this side, we (potentially we) would arrange haulage from the port with a ...