(no subject)

[winterbadger]

Back on January 1st, I made this post, setting this year as the year I was moving to the UK.

I'm establishing a corollary: if it doesn't happen this year, I'm giving up.

I have been working on this for five years. I got *so* close three years ago, when I actually got my HSMP letter.

I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of uncertainty. I'm tired of waiting "one more year". I want to feel as if I'm getting on with my life, not marking time waiting for something to happen.

I've been feeling uprooted for, well, since Chris and I got divorced. And I'm sick of it, sick at heart. I want to put down some roots again, SOMEwhere. If not in the UK, here again, or back in New England.

Comments

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I hate to see you give up, but I can understand your exhaustion with the entire process, your need for stability. I wish I had some advice, but all I can say is I'll support you whatever you decide. Good luck, hon.

[winterbadger]

Thanks, m'dear. On the one hand, what's one more year, if it finally gives me the chance I need? On the other hand, I've been saying "just one more year" for five years now, and often putting off other things that are important to me. Enough is enough.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense, much as it's going to be painful to give up a dream you've had for a while.

I don't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't been able to stay.

[winterbadger]

I don't know what I'd be doing if I hadn't been able to stay.

As the HO has been cutting back and back on the length of stay one can make, it's been severely affecting my decision as to whether to move at all. If it weren't for the post-study work period, I wouldn't contemplate moving at this point.

Given the reduction of the regular Tier 1 visa to two years and the new (since 2007? 2008?) requirement to completely requalify for an extension, I'm not sure I'd take that route even if they didn't keep moving the goalposts just out of reach every year.

Completely uprooting one's life and moving far away is something worthwhile, IMO, to pursue a dream. It's not worth it, to me, if you know to begin with that you're only going to get to stay for a year or two. If I were 20 years younger, it might be a different matter.