Complicated extended family moving back question

Hi =)
as you see from my postcount I am the cliched 'long-term reader hardly ever posting type person'. However, /ahem I do have a complexy type question I wonder if someone can help with.

My situation is this:

I am the UK citizen married to a US citizen and we live in the UK. My husband has ILR.
I have 3 children from my first marriage, they are all UK citizens and currently aged 9,8 and 6. they are not related biologically to my US husband, he is their step-father.  My husband and I also have 1 child between us who is 2. She is a dual national UK/US.
In addition my dependant parents live with us, both UK citizens and only related to my US husband by marriage.

My question is this - if we wanted to upsticks and go to the US to live - all 8 of us - could we do so? And my further question is is there any point at which this becomes a bigger problem e.g. if my children get past a certain age or get married or something. The reason for the further question is that we are trying to plan 5 - 15 years ahead and don't want to suddenly find that if we leave it say 11 years rather than 10 that it suddenly becomes much more difficult.

Any help gratefully accepted!

Thanks

Melly

I am not certain about all of your questions but I can offer a couple of pieces of the puzzle:

The magic age when it becomes more difficult is 21 for the US (18 as we discovered for the UK...one of my kids had to come on a student visa instead of a dependent), but longer if they are a full-time student.

Check carefully about your parents. I know there are some compassionate type issues but if they are dependent enough for those then it can take a very long time to bring extended family into the US. Remember too that there is no national insurance...so???

A final consideration is that unlike the UK, the US has very strict income/asset requirements based upon family size. You can sheck the actual numbers online, but in general it is 125% above the poverty line. When we were thinking about bringing my husband over that was over $40K for a family of six. You should take that into consideration when making your plans, but remember the actual $ amount will change each year.

Hope any of that helps...I know how hard it is to make a move with extended family.

As Terri has said, 21 is the time when children 'age out' - they must be permanent residents by then or leave the country.

You will need the permission of the children's father in order for them to move to the US.

Your parents, on the other hand, will likely not be eligible for any visa until you, yourself, are a naturalized US citizen and then you can petition for them.

Oops...I forgot that you needed the father's permission.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I can see we need to get to grips with some fairly tricky planning and a few variables. Hmmm

Melly

Yeah sorry to burst the bubble but the US immigration isn't as family friendly as the UK. It takes much longer and is very stressful. In the end it was easier to bring me and four kids to my husband than it was to bring one Brit to the US.