An Irish family has been abruptly woken from their American dream as they are forced to leave the United States because of their status and lack of employment.

Liz and her husband Brendan (not their real names) have lived in New York for several years. In fact, Liz has spent more than half of her life in America, but now it's time to return to Ireland.

"The dream we had of growing old in this country is gone," Liz told the Irish Voice last week.

"I always had a picture in my head of us living the rest of our lives here with the kids coming and going, but that picture is gone now. I have to move on and be realistic for my family's sake," she said.

Both Liz and Brendan are in legal limbo. They have no permanent status, no green cards and no visas. They have been living in the shadows for many years, and they are fed up of it.

Liz came to the United States from the west of Ireland when she was a teenager to get ahead.

"I came here young because at the time everyone in Ireland was emigrating (in the 80s) so I felt it was the right thing to do, get a head start," said Liz.

"I saw my cousins leave for England, everyone was leaving. It was the done thing, really."

Although thrown in the deep end and finding it difficult to settle into high school in the United States, Liz did her best. She knew it was necessary to get a good grounding so she could eventually be successful. She stayed with distant relatives who became like parents to her.

"My cousins offered to put me through school, so I said yes," she says.

Liz, now mother to three American citizen children, received a student visa when she first came to the United States. Then she started college and received another two visas.

After completing her education, Liz got a job in human resources and was granted a work visa.

Finally, Liz ran out of visas about 10 years ago, but by this time she had met Brendan, who was undocumented, and wasn't ready to return to Ireland.

"I was very happy here. I'd spent a lot of my life here and although I spent many years homesick for Ireland, I knew that I wanted to be in New York," said Liz.

"I'd try my best to get my visa renewed again, but I just couldn't. I met with several immigration lawyers and contacted local immigration centers, but nothing came out of it."

Liz, in her late thirties, hasn't been home in over seven years. Her eldest child has been to Ireland once, but the other two have never had the opportunity to meet their cousins. This saddens Liz, and she can't take much more of it.

After years of deliberating about the big move home, Liz and Brendan, who hails from the midwest of Ireland, have decided to pack their life into a container and ship it all back home.

"I can't do it anymore. I can't keep looking over my shoulder all the time," Liz says.

"We are living in fear that something will go wrong or that something will catch up with us, and to be honest, it's no way to live," Liz adds. "Enough is enough."

Brendan, who is in the construction industry, has had very little work for the past few months and the couple has been eating into their life savings, savings they hoped to keep for retirement.

"It's just all getting to a head now," said Liz. "Aside from the lack of work here, we are missing important family occasions, the kids are growing up fast and if we wait any longer they will be too old to settle in Ireland."

When asked about the prospect of moving home to Ireland, a country where jobs in the construction industry are few and far between, Liz said it didn't matter.

"Our families are there for support and there is help from the government there. We can't get anything here, even though we have been paying taxes," she said.

Although warned by friends against moving back to Ireland, especially in the current economic climate, Liz said their minds are made up. They have done research into the schools in the west of Ireland, she has been online looking at homes to rent, and they have set their sights on moving back in the summer.

"Yes, we know it will be a big change for us but what else can we do at this stage?" she adds.

The only way Liz, Brendan and their children would consider staying in the United States is if they could get some kind of visa but, said Liz, that door has already been closed in their face.

"The only option we were given is to wait until our children are 21 and then they could sponsor us," she said. "That is a route we are definitely not going down. It's too long."

In preparation for the move home, Liz has spoken to the children about their new home in Ireland. She said they are responding positively about the move.

"They are taking it much better than me," she said.

"Brendan and I are going to find this extremely tough. This has been our home for so long and it will break our hearts to leave, but at this stage we are left with little choice.

"I keep having bouts of crying. It's a very emotional decision. When I think about it, I get upset. Even just thinking about leaving our house here, the home where we have created so many memories with the kids.

"But, realistically, when I look at the big picture, I see us living in Ireland," she adds.

After spending a year trying to make the best decision possible, Liz said it was Christmas in New York that finally got them to their decision.

"It was so hard this Christmas. We sat down and finally decided to make the move," Liz said.

Now Liz and Brendan are concentrating on making an Irish dream of their own and hoping that life will be as good to them in Ireland as it has been here up to recently.

"We will be positive," said Liz.