It was 10 years before I first returned home.  I should not have waited that long.  Sure there were complications: money, school, fear of not getting visa again, job, etc.  But it was shocking when I saw my mum and dad after a decade at the airport.  They had gotten so much older.  So my suggestion to others, make a valiant effort to go home as often as you can.  After all, there is nothing more important than family.