I'm selling the majority of my stuff and prepping my condo for sale. I expect my employer to go out of business soon and I have to leave the USA once that happens (my work permit is non-transferable and the green card application didn't work out).
Well, it would totally suck if we were carrying any unsecured debt. Luckily we live below our means so we have (some) money banked.
So I'm considering taking the family for a 6 month world tour (while I'm still young enough to handle it)... if we're frugal we might be able to stretch it out to a full year.
Guess I better put "get homeschool materials" on my todo list eh?
Do it. My parents took me (and my siblings) out of school at age 14 for four months in Asia (three months in China, rest of the time in Thailand, Malaysia, HK) and it was a great experience. Already had an appreciation of it but grew up with a massive appreciation of travelling to new places and seeing different parts of our planet. Will always be thankful for my parents having done that for us.
Have been back to China twice since, Thailand a few more times, etc.
My parents are totally opposite, I have only visited two states of my country (excluding the state where I live i.e. the awesomest gujarat). So now I totally lack any enthusiasm for traveling.
But I hadn't realized it till you pointed your enthusiasm out. Umm... don't know whether to thank you or hate you from my guts.
Truly and emphatically awesome. What a great way to make the most of a bad situation. I think it'll be great for your kids – they'll learn so much in the process.
The same thing, basically, happened to a guy I know from the UK. He had lived here for years and was working on an application for permanent residency, but now he's no longer in the USA because of issues with his employer and visa.
I had a H1b but just about maxed it out so now I hold a TN1 (I'm Canadian).
The upside of the TN is that I can (in theory) get an unlimited number of them and there is no cap on how many can be issued in a year.
The downside is that if I step off of US soil I immediately lose it and have to apply for a new one at the border when I attempt to re-enter. Should the INS agent dislike me for any reason (or for no reason), s/he can deny my application and deny me entry to the US. I would have no recourse if that happened... which makes crossing the border kind of stressfull (so I don't do it anymore).
I'm on a TN too. It's transferrable as far as I know because I've just done it (well I guess they just issue you a new one). I know the nightmare at the border fairly intimately. I always get secondary inspections. The second last time I got this whole giant grilling, with the officer threatening to not let me in. The last time the office said "I don't know why you're in here (secondary inspection), is there something you want from us?"
