Would you consider emigrating if the recession gets really bad here in the UK?

madmalteaser

This is the choice my parents made during the last recession. We moved to Malta after selling the house. They made the move only to find they were both too old to take out a mortgage they could afford and now live in rented accomodation - granted the rent is a hell of a lot cheaper than here in the UK and they have no official contract so can stay there as long as they like but I do think they wish they'd been able to afford to buy something.

Still, they have a much better quality of life over there now and I chose to come back to the UK where I feel I have a better life. Whether things will change with this recession I don't know, but emigrating is not a choice I would make having done it once before.

baby_boomer

Why would you leave the best country in the world unless you wanted more sun?

swingjune

Quote taken from another forum, interesting advice to those intend to emigrate (in this case, OZ) ............

List One: Things that are good about my life at the moment (and things I will REALLY miss when I no longer have them).

List Two: Things I expect Australia will give me (don’t be vague by listing things such as “a better life for my children”) try and be specific as possible.
Next step is simple.

Put the list side by side and if list two is not significantly longer than list one, don’t commit to a move.

There is one exception to the rule. If you have more money than sense then make the move anyway because it’s easy to go back if things don’t work out.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=577424

Generali

swingjune wrote: »

Quote taken from another forum, interesting advice to those intend to emigrate (in this case, OZ) ............

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=577424

I tried to look dispassionately at the cases for and against moving to Aus. In the end it was so massively obvious that there was a better life for us over here that we had to make the move.

JonnyBravo

jinkssick wrote: »

Things I hate:
-The lack of culture

You're having a laugh aren't you? Lack of culture? The UK? I'm genuinely incredulous at this.

jinkssick wrote: »

-The lack of a get up and dance culture, people too afraid to express their feelings and only seem to come out of their shells at family parties or Xmas

Agreed by and large but it more depends on your circle of friends etc surely?

jinkssick wrote: »

-The lack of 'nice food', the staple diet is potato and most meals revolve around it

I find myself incredulous again!! You're joking? You mean you can't find pasta? Rice? Eh? Surely you're free to cook what you wish and whilst eating out I'd say it's now harder to find a potato dish than a rice or pasta dish!

jinkssick wrote: »

-The weather, oh the weather

Yep. I guess it's a marmite moment. My sister emigrated to Aus and a large factor in her move was the weather. I love it. Love the changing seasons etc.

jinkssick wrote: »

-The need to own the newest latest gadgets or phones

Who? You or others? Why do you care what others percieve they need,?Annoying it may be but hardly so annoying as to need to leave the country.

jinkssick wrote: »

-the billions that seem to live of state handouts, getting £166.74 a week for around 10 or 12 different reasons.

100% agree. Far too few genuine cases. Far too many spongers.

jinkssick wrote: »

-The hoodie culture, the youth that do not want to educate and would rather follow their parents on these state hands outs

Yep. The same group as above.

jinkssick wrote: »

-Crime is getting more frequent and a lot more violent

Not so sure about frequency but agree on the violence. i guess it comes down to are you lucky enough to live in a "nicer" area now? I see little of it in a provincial city in the Midlands but if you live in some of the more deprived areas I'd imagine it can dominate ones life.

jinkssick wrote: »

-Prices are sky rocketing and it seems things dont improve, including transport

Well prices are about to/have already stop(ped) rocketing. Transport is getting worse everywhere.... don't think theres a single large country which has cracked it is there?

gelato_cat

I've given up the opportunity to live and work in Canada to stay here.

As other posters have mentioned, it takes a long time to get a Skilled Worker visa for Canada. I applied in 2003 and got the visa in 2005. At the time I wanted to move as I was saving like mad and wanted to get onto the property ladder, but couldn't. I was in my mid-20s and have family there and wanted a bit of adventure.

Fast-forward five years and I've now got almost £100k in the bank in a market where house prices are dropping. Over the past five years I've also experienced the pain of redundancy (and statutory redundancy pay) but now have a secure job as a civil servant. I'm also in a long-term relationship.

With all that in mind, I've decided not to move to Canada - I'm staying here and buying a house with my boyfriend. So things are now looking better for me than they were when things were apparently booming economy-wise here.

I'm sure there will be moments when I wonder what would have happened if I'd made the move to Canada, but I figure it's not going anywhere and I can still visit the place... if I do want to move in the future I can look at applying again.

Suze

drc wrote: »

I'm wondering if a lot of people are going to be leaving the UK in the next few years? If job prospects are bad and we face either deflation or inflation won't quality of life in the UK become pretty awful. Its been reported that the UK economy is going to be one of the worst affected with a long, drawn out recession. Also, if the pounds becomes worth less and less it will be harder to leave since you will have to pay more to move as other currencies gain strength. The UK will start to look less and less attractive with its high taxes, rubbish interest rates, bad quality of life compared to many other western countries and bad weather to boot. So, would you consider emigrating if things get a lot worse?

treliac

dkmax wrote: »

A quarter of a million people leave every year. If it wasn't for them leaving the net population growth would be horrendous so I suppose we that remain should be thankful.

Some are presumably people returning to their native countries.

Of the rest, presumably they are, in the main, those taking wealth, skills and other assets of benefit to their host countries - people we can least afford to lose.

treliac

jinkssick wrote: »

Was born abroad but have lived a long time here, theres many things I love but decided to base my thoughts on what I hate.

Things I hate:
-The lack of culture
-The lack of a get up and dance culture, people too afraid to express their feelings and only seem to come out of their shells at family parties or Xmas
-The lack of 'nice food', the staple diet is potato and most meals revolve around it
-The weather, oh the weather
-The need to own the newest latest gadgets or phones
-the billions that seem to live of state handouts, getting £166.74 a week for around 10 or 12 different reasons.
-The hoodie culture, the youth that do not want to educate and would rather follow their parents on these state hands outs
-Crime is getting more frequent and a lot more violent
-Prices are sky rocketing and it seems things dont improve, including transport

Such a long and heartfelt list begs the question, 'why do you stay?'

fc123

Generali wrote: »

I tried to look dispassionately at the cases for and against moving to Aus. In the end it was so massively obvious that there was a better life for us over here that we had to make the move.

The main difference for you though is that your OH is Aus, so you have family in 2 places.
You are no longer near your family but she is now living with hers.

BTW, Hope it's all working out well.

treliac

Just seen your amended signature fc. S'pose it's because your name doesn't sound at all flowery or girly. Interesting how ingrained are our stereotypical assumptions.