Let’s say I live in the US as a US citizen and that I’m retired. I’ve decided I want to live out the rest of my life in the UK, assuming they will put up with me. My grandfather emigrated to the US from England 100 years ago, but that’s the only connection to the UK I have.
Can I apply for a long term visa and move to the UK with the intent to become a citizen? I have no intention of working there and I have enough money to live comfortably the rest of my life. I wouldn’t draw a old person’s pension, and I don’t expect to have free health care from just moving there.
Would I have to pay taxes on the money I brought into the UK to live on? What about interest earned on the savings while living in the UK?
How likely is it that I would be granted permission to move to the UK and live there permanently?
I think you’d have difficulty getting in. The UK used to offer a retired person’s visa, but they stopped offering them about 10 years ago. If you go there for work or study there are various routes by which you may be able to parlay that up, in time, to long-term residence, but if you’re already retired I don’t think that’s a viable option. Family links can help, but having one grandfather born in the UK is not a sufficient link.
If you do get in as a long-term resident, then you’ll be a resident for tax purposes, and liable to UK income tax on your world-wide income and gains, whether or not you remit them to the UK. Relief may be available under double-taxation agreeements between the UK and the countries where the income and gains arise. But there would be no tax or levy on assets, accrued savings etc transferred to the UK.
As a legal permanent resident you would qualify for NHS hospital treatment.
UDS summed things up pretty well. A couple of things to add:
You won’t get any kind of “break” on being allowed to reside in the UK by saying that you won’t use the NHS. If you are allowed to stay, you will get NHS healthcare.
Taxes will be complicated. The US (unlike other countries) requires its citizens to continue to file returns and pay US federal taxes on all income, wherever sourced, wherever in the world you live. The UK (like most other countries) requires residents to pay UK tax on all income, wherever sourced, when you are living in the UK. So you will be filling out two different tax returns, with completely different rules, and even different tax years (the UK runs to 4th April), on each of which you have to declare all of your income & gains. There is a UK-US tax treaty to prevent double taxation, but you still have to fill out both tax returns and then claim back the double tax under arcane rules.
While the official government websites are useful, they lack the kind of information you get from expatriates.
For example in some countries what you do is continually renew 6 month tourist visas–and just have to go in and out of a neighboring country every 6 months.
There is an ancestry visa for the U.K. If one of your grandparents was a British citizen but it only applies to commonwealth citizens. Sorry us citizens that’s what you get for that whole tea party thing ( the original one I mean ). Also it’s for people that intend to work there, not for retirees so not useful for you anyway.
But I’d have to add you would be absolutly bonkers to move from somewhere else to retire in the U.K. unless you had some family reason to do so. It’s cold, wet and grey for two thirds of the year and stupidly expensive. ( dual citizen who has lived in the U.K. So I’m allowed to diss it )
I won’t dispute the weather, but it’s not stupidly expensive any longer. Remember that £1 was worth over $2 a decade ago, and is now $1.25, that’s a huge move for a major currency pair. Living outside London and the SE can halve the cost of living; and for a retired person, the free health service may represent a substantial saving.
There’s a wide variation in estimates of purchasing power parity for the exchange rate, but I’d say the subjective PPP for a retired person living in an mid-range part of the country (outside of the expensive cities, outside of badly impoverished regions) is probably about even between UK and US at 1.25. It’s not cheaper to live there, but sterling has gone from wildly overvalued to about fair now.
I wonder if there is a British Overseas Territory with the advantages of living in the UK (the NHS for one) but offers better weather and at the same time isn’t deadly dull.
And serious biting insects, and poisonous things like snakes and ivy (yes we do have addres but they are quite rare), and no guns, and the NHS, and no guns, and, if you are homesick you can see all your favourite TV programmes and eat a big mac any time you like.
Hell - we even speak, more or less, the same language.
But, as said above, we don’t really want retired Americans coming over here for the free health care. Try Canada…
As far as why anyone would want to leave the US to move to the UK, some of us are closet anglophiles. I have visited the UK many times, for both business and pleasure. I can imagine myself living there. My wife is not so sure.
This guy says if a grandparent was born in the UK, you can get a 5-year visa to work there, then get citizenship… but only from Commonwealth countries.
Also find this:
I assume if granddad came over 100 years ago you may or may not meet this criteria. If it’s your mother’s dad, well, sh*t happens.
My grandfather emigrated to the US from England 100 years ago, but that’s the only connection to the UK I have.