Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

I don't think we will get an answer.

Where would you go? What skills do you have?

Where will you go that will have you?
To go to EU you’ll have to earn minimum just under 60k.
I left for EU when Brexit happened and have been away since. It has been amazing for my kids - safer, cleaner, higher standard of living and they are now basically locals. I’ll never be local and the general feeling is that foreigners are less welcome than ever before. I miss the UK.

Honestly why is everyone trying to give OP a hard time??
The UK has horrendous problems with no view of improvement.
My first thought would be good on you OP, go grab life by the balls and give it a good.
A lot of your responses are 'the grass isn't greener", "where do you think your going to go", "can't go there because there was an earth quake" bla bla bla. Why on earth have such a negative mindset?? Why are you so venomously defending the UK??

There are thousands of people that have left the UK and living their dream.
A lot of people in other countries are just happier more content people, people in the UK (evidently by the way respond to this post) are angry, worn down and just pure nasty.
Maybe that's because of the crime they live with, the illegal immigration, poor health care (don't tell me the NHS is good when people have to wait years) , social inequality, weather, underpay, no hope for the future Etc etc.
You should definitely look to leave OP, obviously there will be huge pros and cons but there's a whole world out there and we do not have it good in the UK xx

I moved away from the UK nearly 20 years ago, I love where I live now (quite a lot of the time!) but it’s not paradise and I don’t have a perfect life. There have been ups and downs and plateaus like there would have been if I’d stayed in the UK, and I think anyone who moves abroad with the idea that everything will be easier can only be disappointed.

This. ^ And this thread has brought out predictable bullshine comments about people who voted for Brexit. 🙄

You can't make this shit up! 😂 Every. Fucking. TIME. It's like they're just waiting for an opportunity.

Seriously anti-Brexit people, if you wanna leave the UK, (because its' such a HORRIBLE place 'since Brexit.') no-one is stopping you. But you won't go will you?! NOPE, you won't! You're all talk, and hot air, like most UK bashers/Brexit frothers.

I'm not ruing voting for brexit

I always had the plan to move to France when the DC were off our hands . However the Brexit vote in 2016 messed that idea up. I aware that it is still possible but am still pissed off that it will be so much more difficult to make it happen.

The UK has faults but I think ALL countries do.

I agree that the UK is in a very depressing place. The economy is in structural decline and the combination of high tax and low growth is weighing on living standards. There are no growth industries and the service industries which have supported this country for several decades are quietly dying. The political culture is a depressing choice between of far right post-Brexit boosterism vs limp and incompetent old-fashioned Labour and social cohesion is almost non-existent. I'm worried about the environment our children are growing up in and I would certainly encourage my daughter to take a job opportunity overseas if she had one: probably in Asia.

For all that though, there's still much to love about the UK. I love the people, the landscape, the sense of humour, the cities the food, the culture, music etc. Plus I can't see an immediate alternative. While I do understand the desire to leave, I'm not convinced its any easier anywhere else in the west.

It will come back. Possibly not for a generation and possibly even after I'm gone, but I'm not quite giving up on Blighty.

So much truth here about 'running away'.

The grass is always greener. Until you hit reality and you see new problems you can't comprehend from your position here and now.

the disabled person is a child: they tend to go with parents

CoralOP
'To say that people would be adding to other countries immigration is a bit silly, we are talking about legal migration with visa, desired skills etc.
The problem in the UK is illegal immigration. I don't know anyone who would have a problem with a skilled person from another country contributing and living in the UK on a visa.'
This isn't true CoralOp. Do a google search: 'In 2024, the UK saw both legal and irregular migration, with 1.16 million visas granted for work, study, or family reasons, while 38,784 people were detected arriving by irregular routes, and 79,000 were offered safe and legal routes.' Nigel Farage has done an excellent job of making people believe that all the immigration is illegal. He is a truly skilled populist. When asked what he'd do after ending immigration about all the vacancies in agriculture, care work, the NHS etc he has no real answer.

It is also generally much harder for foreigners than for locals in any given country. So to thrive in another country, you really have to be performing above average in the UK.

Same for me, I’ve posted on these sort of topics before and got a bashing, my life is pretty similar, same sort of life, one son is a graduate and has got a job, another child is just at uni, doing well. All my friends are local and happy with their lot.
i can’t see I would be happier in any other country at the moment, but appreciate this might not be the case for everyone.
the world just seems in turmoil at the moment

A small town in Spain is all I’ll say otherwise it could be outing.

@PostmanPatAlwaysRingsTwice No, she wouldn't be able to get a visa.

I totally agree - but where though? Seriously? Don't know what to advise mine. It is not that easy - mine are fluent in French and German, but in France and Germany, despite being fluent, they are immediately singled out as non-natives, I doubt if they could 'insert themselves' into the culture there, acquire real friends and have a seamless transition to a new life - so many little things they won't be able to pick up on as they did not grow up with those kids' TV, did not go to their schools, etc. Also, I hate to say that European countries are not as kind to foreigners (Brits) as the British - it is felt everywhere - try to get on the French/German/Belgian/Swedish/Finnish council housing list and see what happens - try to rock up at their hospital without insurance, etc., etc. I was entertaining thoughts about mine going to live and work in Zurich because their godmother is Swiss and right-on and liberal - and this right-on and liberal person told me that she would never employ a German, fluent in German, never mind a foreigner fluent in German because 'there two many nuances and she wants to be working with a person brought up in Switzerland, speaking Swiss German (no matter what skin colour or creed, but culturally and linguistically Swiss'.

Sorry, but I had to laugh about the poster who said they would go to France. Meanwhile migrants are queueing up on the beaches to get into dinghies to make the dangerous crossing to England - away from France.

As someone who has worked and lived in many countries over the last seven decades I can assure you that every country has problems - maybe different ones - and you should hear the people who live in them moan about their country going to the dogs.

By all means head for the hills as long as you realise it ain't all sunshine and rainbows in any country. Just go with a positive attitude, or alternatively stay here with a positive attitude. It's the attitude that matters, not the country,

That’s absolutely fine - what town?

From experience, roads, buildings upgraded, new shops, new hospital, Marina. The whole area benefited from being a rather run down small town to a thriving one.

I also think it’s a bit disloyal to piss off when the going gets tough.

For all its faults, the UK has a welfare state / health service that provides when in need. The same isn't true for other countries .

Is that because the place you'd go doesn't have the healthcare facilities or is less accessible for disabled people than the UK is (which could be better itself)?

I have considered it due to wage stagnation, crime and mass migration in the UK, all of which contribute to a reduction in quality of life and less community cohesion compared to when I was younger. I have skills that mean I could get a visa to work anywhere. But when I looked into it I concluded that most of the places I was looking at had similar issues and that life wouldn’t be so much better that it would be worth the upheaval.

The best place for me would probably be Australia. I think the climate is brilliant for quality of life. But they also have mass migration, wild fires, economic issues so I don’t see it being worth the trouble overall. You’re better off moving to a nicer part of the UK if you can.