If you wanted to move abroad would your OH?

euronorris

Triggles brings up some good points.

There are so many differences between countries that we don't even think about. I also have to have private medical insurance here, which sets me back around €108 per month!! But, it's not tied to any job, so slightly better in that respect. But, it is another thing to consider when budgeting.

Council Tax here is around €200 per annum for a one bedroom place, so that's better. But private renting is soooooo expensive. Our one bedroom, tiny flat/studio is €925 pm (incl gas & elec)!!! And trust me, that was the best we could find for as cheap as possible (cheaper places available, but......just no! Not livable!).

How about having a look at some expat forums for USA and Aus, and ask some people who have already moved there, about their experiences. You know, how long did it take to sort the paperwork, do you like it there, is it what you expected, if not, why not? etc etc etc

dieselhead

I think it depends what you are trying to get away from, I think that a lot of people find that they actually find they have the same problems in their new location, or at the very least different problems, made worse as they have no support network.

euronorris

dieselhead wrote: »

I think it depends what you are trying to get away from, I think that a lot of people find that they actually find they have the same problems in their new location, or at the very least different problems, made worse as they have no support network.

Not everyone is trying to 'get away' from something though.

It's a new experience, adventure, submission into a different culture etc.

But, you do raise a valid point in that you should assess your reasons for wanting to leave the UK. Make sure you want to do it for the right reasons.

alleycat`

Triggles wrote: »

..but I have had soooo many people say to me "I can't believe you and your DH live here in the UK when you could live in the US"

Welcome to my world (although i'm the equivalent of your husband in this conversation).

I constantly get barracked about why we'd continue to live in the UK over the US (mostly by people who have visited florida and think that this is what the US is all about..).

I don't pretend the US or the UK are better than each other (they both have their positives and negatives) but to be brutally honest your chances of getting a green card are slim to non-existant if you don't have a stack of cash, a very rare sponsorship or have the luxury(?) of marriage to a citizen.

O you might win the green card lottery i guess!

O and don't ever look at property tax in the US either :eek:

gingin_2

alleycat` wrote: »

O you might win the green card lottery i guess!

I am almost certain Brits are not eligible to enter the Green Card lottery, they certainly haven't been the years OH has applied (non UK passport holder) and I haven't been able to. It's all about cultural diversity and there are too many Brits over there already to make us culturally diverse!.

Just to add Gaby, my brother has just tried to emigrate back to the UK from Oz, they lated 8 months before his wife got homesick but they estimate their costs to come over were around £8k. That is flights, furniture removal, furniture storage, shipping of items, temporary accomodation, replacing items they left behind, etc. etc. That's not including paying 6 weeks deposit on house rental plus 1 month in advance, buying and insuring a car. (total cost was about 20k down in the 8 months but they wasted a lot of money on trying to make themselves happy).

I did have a look and being a chef is on the skills shortage list for Oz, so would grant you extra points in your via application which is a plus.

Britishexpats.com is a good site to look at.

pug_in_a_bed

euronorris wrote: »

Not everyone is trying to 'get away' from something though.

It's a new experience, adventure, submission into a different culture etc.

.

a very good point here; i have started to think about the possibliity of moving away with OH as it could actually happen in the next few months and everyone keeps saying what an adventure it would be and what a missed opportunity if i didn't go, never mind the long distance relationship.

We don't have kids etc so no ties to the UK at the moment, still nerve wracking though, I love the idea of living in Norway as so many people I know have been and have such positive things to say about it

Pee

My OH would move anywhere, just so long as he was with me. I on the other hand could only work in an English speaking country and even moving to say Australia would mean requalifying. I did look at Ireland once, but decided it wasn't for me.

How old is your DD? I have friends who have moved countries with children under 11 and I think it's highly beneficial - learn another language, etc. I do think from 11 to 18 you should stay in the same school or at least the same country. (16-18 it might be possible to change without doing any harm, depending on any language issues.)

Have you considered canada? May be easier to move there.

What exactly don't you like about Britain that you feel would be better being abroad? (I mean, think about it, by all means answer it, but just thinking about it will help.) Would you like to do a different job? If so, would there be an option to do a different job here?

Pete*G_4

My wife would love to move abroad, as she was brought up in a RAF household and has lived in Germany, Cyprus, and Scotland (well it's technically a different country!). She would love to go out to Cyprus to live again. I'm not so sure, as I've done a bit of research and living costs are higher than I'd like!

I've got a large number of friends out in New Zealand and in Australia, and we both would love to go out to either Melbourne or to Christchurch. Neither of us are fussy as to which!

All in all, I don't think a disagrement about which country to live in would cause us to go our seperate ways, as there are plenty of other countries that we could compromise and both want to go to

princessl84

We both want to move abroad at some point either the east cost of USA or Oz would prefer Perth as we have family there. My H2B would go any where with me :-)

Hermia

euronorris wrote: »

But, you do raise a valid point in that you should assess your reasons for wanting to leave the UK. Make sure you want to do it for the right reasons.

And also assess your reasons for going to your chosen country. I got sent to the USA to work for 6 months when I was in my twenties. I had a great time, but definitely did not want to move there. There were things that were better than the UK, but other things were worse and some are just the same. Over the years I have had friends tell me they would kill to live in the USA, but when they talk about it it doesn't sound like the real country I worked in, but rather some fantasy. Or they seemed to assume they would magically change into different people if they went abroad.

I definitely think anyone thinking of moving abroad should try and find a way of trying it out without completely burning their bridges. Knowing a country through holidays does not really teach you what it's like to live there. What was interesting about my experience of working in America was that things I thought might be a problem weren't, but other things I had not anticipated were a huge problem. I came away feeling very culturally distant from them.