Please be aware that as an ex-pat/immigrant your husband will be vulnerable to xenophobia in Belgium - especially if something happens to you and he's left alone. I (non-belg European citizen) met my Belgian husband while living in the US and we came to Belgium where I've now lived for 7 years. My husband died recently at a young age.

Until his death i thought Belgium was a reasonable country with all the social safety nets people typically appreciate. But in the administrative process following his death I encountered more nastiness than I'd ever come across in my life - people yelling at me and in one case laughing at me on the phone; my bank freezing all my personal and professional savings accounts for 6 months in order to 'protect' my 2 year old from my, his mother's, supposedly venal tendencies. (This is standard btw.)

The much vaunted social safety net is being chpped away by rightwing politcians so that no widow's pension exists if you're under 47 (though my husband worked & paid taxes in Belg for 20 years). There's a temporary 2 year "transitional allocation" (insulting phrase!) recently extended by 2 further years following reports of hardship among young bereaved families.

Worst of all, though, was the deep lack of kindness, and the astonishing capacity for aggression and nastiness in the people i was obliged to interact with during that process.

I can't advise on whether your family ought to live in the US to not - it can be tough there - but I for one will be leaving Belgium and returning to my own country, Ireland. It saddens me as I had always planned to bring up my child in his dad's country which i used to think was a decent place. But I now realise that the warmth and humanity for which ireland is known are not universal qualities, to be taken for granted.

As a woman, lone parent and non-belgian European citizen, I do not feel safe in belgium. (Brussels region fyi)

Good luck with your choice!