Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

Well, they’re happy enough to make use of the improvements, and we were welcomed there as part of the community, and invited to take part in such things as fiestas etc.

As a public sector employee how the fuck are you supporting me? I’m an AHP working full time in the NHS. My job is highly skilled, technical as well as physical and crucial to healthcare. My salary is ok but I could move into a non clinical role with a med tech company & earn a fair bit more. But I enjoy my role & am there for my patients. If we all left chasing the money the NHS would be fucked.
Your comments are so insulting to teachers, health care staff and others. Just because our wages come from tax receipts doesn't mean we don’t earn every last penny. Our pension contributions have increased a lot over the years I now pay 11% of my salary. We had a pay freeze in the 2010s for a good few years & lower than inflation rises many years since. I claim no benefits now & only ever had child benefit (dc are over 18 now).I’m supporting myself & contributing to tax receipts too.

On this thread, it seems that many people who have, or are going to, move to another country are originally from elsewhere, have a spouse from another country and/or already have friends and family in another country. I’d like to hear more about the motivation to move away for a couple or family who are born and bred Brits

Oh that's bad. I really hope they managed ok going forward.

For many countries (from personal experience) you have to have a job to go to, proof of savings, prove you can speak the language, take a medical, pay for health insurance etc - all fine in my opinion. As opposed to few requirements for those coming here legally

Which are those "many countries"?

The UK currently has some of the strictest work visa conditions in the world, including minimum salary requirements, the NHS surcharge, and a language test, especially since Brexit because "We don't want to hear people speaking foreign on the bus". I'm not aware of a single EU country, for example, that imposes a language test for obtaining or renewing a residency visa — just as well for the tens of thousands of Brits who can't get much beyond ordering a beer after 10 or more years in Spain or France.

God, Brits are so weird about emigration. Just go, if you can legally live and work somewhere else. Go because you fancy trying something new. Go because the world contains more places than the one you grew up in.

What you absolutely don’t need to do is have to convince yourself that the UK is in some kind of terminal decline in order to justifying going to live somewhere else. Or that other, unspecified places are ‘better’.

Fair enough if you’re unhappy. But to describe the UK as a place where you get no reward for hard work is wrong. It’s also pretty ignorant of places where people do genuinely get no reward for hard work, like the sweatshops where they make many our phones, clothes and toys, and the building sites of countries we then go on holidays and shopping trips to in places that used to be deserts.

I work hard, and I get rewarded.

I think that because I know people who have experienced that.

I'd like to know where some of these countries are!

I'm stuck here due to DC in secondary school. I'll support them leaving when they grow up if they'd like to.

The UK is a dead zone, no ambition, no reward for hard work, a bankrupt mess.

In this unsettled world where we already have a lively trade war and increasing numbers of regional and proxy wars around the globe - including in Europe - it’s also a good idea for potential migrants to choose a country whose government (or authorities, if it’s not a democracy) will look after you as well as their own citizens.

Even better, choose a country which is an ally of the UK where reciprocal deals for citizens might be struck - eg repatriation etc. Or a country where you can obtain or buy citizenship, quickly.

Even then, keep in mind that local, community responses to bad situations may put you at the bottom of their lists because you’re a foreigner.

Don’t underestimate the obligations of a government to its citizens, and how foreign workers and residents will be treated, if push comes to shove.

We wouldn't be less welcome here as we get older,I don't understand why you would think that? There's quite a few retired Westerners here including Brits and they have a great life rubbing along with locals and expats alike. Cost wise,housing is much cheaper than in UK and of a far higher standard and as residents we would be able to continue to rent or even buy if we choose. Regarding health issues the Government health services are superb and plentiful and waiting times for GP's,consultant appointments are at the very most 24hrs and that would be only if the consultant you needed to see was on a day off. Surgery etc is pretty immediate and aftercare is excellent. Whilst not entirely free, to see a GP costs the equivalent of around 14GBP and this covers any prescriptions,ongoing appointments relating to the same health condition etc. Dental care is similar.Food costs are resonable and local fruit/veg/fish.chicken etc is cheaper than uk so our money goes much further here.

We're getting peace, quiet, countryside, low crime levels, way less traffic, better weather, healthcare that outperforms the NHS and very cheap housing. Taxes will be a little higher, and there'll be a contribution to healthcare costs, but that's literally a small price to pay

@Helterskelterthroughtheday which country is this, please?

I’m sure it’s great living there whilst you are comparatively wealthy. Retiring there, however, while your health declines and potentially your wealth, and you may (will…) find yourself considerably less welcome there, and not entitled to help if you return to the UK after years as a non-resident citizen.

I live in the ME in one of the Gulf States and have been here for eleven years. We are seriously considering retiring here as the standard of living,healthcare,social life etc is so far above the UK it's just not comparable. I love this beautiful little Island with all my heart and am overwhelmed daily by the warmth and kindness of the locals many of whom have become firm friends. We have a practically non existent crime rate and the law of the land is heavily based on British principles so no scary nonsense like in the UAE. I would be very sad to go back to UK.

I think the grass is seldom really greener on the other side. I don’t think anywhere in the world is particularly stable atm, so I would not be inclined to move somewhere where I have no citizenship just because it appears welcoming for now. It will in all likelihood only appear that way for as long as you have no personal bad luck and the country has no political regime or negative economic change. If you did have to come back to the UK in a rush, because things went wrong in a country where you were no longer welcome, you may also find you have made your situation far worse here than it would have been if you hadn’t left in pursuit of the mythical green grass in the first place. Moving in search of novelty is one thing, but thinking you are escaping a sinking ship is another.

Too many people move to areas they don’t know well, aren’t fluent in the language or understand the culture.

We chose a country we knew well, we spoke the language and already had friends and family there.

100% agree. People always romanticise what life will be like in another country. But, once you live there, all the same day-to-day problems exist. With the additional problem of navigating them as a recent immigrant, which is extremely difficult, even if you speak the language.

In Spain, so many Brits moved there because they were tempted by the lifestyle they’d had on holiday. They bought remote cortijos (rural cottages) with romantic dreams of doing them up. But it’s not summer all year round. In February, it’s grey and the roads are treacherous with rain. It’s more like North Wales. You have to drive down windy roads for 30 mins just to buy bread and milk. Remote homes are cheap because they’re not connected to the electrical grid or water system, which costs a fortune and lots of red tape to sort out. Or poorly built with expensive maintenance problems. Savings get swallowed up.

People are isolated and can’t make local friends, as the only people to talk to are older neighbours, who speak very strong dialects and don’t have a great deal of conversation. There’s a growing problem of people who moved there when they retired at 60 getting old and one partner getting sick and dying, leaving the other living alone, struggling to drive and in need of care, with no family to look after them, and unable to speak in Spanish to local care services or medical staff.

Some people say they moved abroad because they’re fed up with immigrants in the UK, who don’t integrate. It’s lost on them that they’re immigrants who don’t integrate, can’t speak the language properly and instead stick to the immigrant British community.

Even in towns and cities, there are many of the same problems as the UK. Housing is shockingly expensive. People are fed up with politicians tinkering with fundamentally flawed systems. Youth unemployment is unbelievably high - nudging 50% in some areas - even for graduates. Inequality and poverty are common. Lots of younger people emigrate or are considering it.

Which countries are you considering, @HonoraBridge? I know New Zealand is conditional residency for NZ$ 3 million!! Presumably some others are more doable.

Talking to a retired lady the other day. She came back from Australia because she couldn’t afford live there (leaving her daughter and family there). Cost of living problems are occurring everywhere. She said she has a much better life here.

I wish people would put the relevant information in the first post. OP is considering an investment visa. That's a whole different discussion.
Where to?

I suspect the native locals don't have the same rosy eyed view as you.

We're leaving the UK in a couple of weeks. I've no regrets, which is surprising me tbh! In fact I can't wait. We've lived with a foot in each country for a few years so know what we're moving to.

We're getting peace, quiet, countryside, low crime levels, way less traffic, better weather, healthcare that outperforms the NHS and very cheap housing. Taxes will be a little higher, and there'll be a contribution to healthcare costs, but that's literally a small price to pay.

I moved to the U.K. in 2000 as a young adult so all my adult live was here and my career although interchangeable would suffer if I moved abroad. My kids school is here , friends , family etc . When I moved it was a land of opportunity, people were nicer too . When I traveled back to other European countries I could actually see a better quality of life in the U.K. back then . At the moment it’s the opposite, while other countries developed to better working conditions more family time and quality of life the U.K. seems to be going the opposite , wages are stagnant , people are feeling it so blame anyone , I never felt as much xenophobia before , work values are getting closer to USA ones with less free time more work focused , people’s value is measured in productivity and earnings instead of focused on social value as family time . It’s the the U.K. forgot what is important .
A couple if years ago I would have considered the U.K. my forever home , I moved to Scotland to get some shelter from the awful xenophobic attitudes from the south but I do worry it’s climbing up here . And for the first time I consider moving elsewhere .

My eldest is leaving we’ve strongly encouraged our DS to get transferable skills, we’ve both lived overseas, if it was t for elderly parents we’d consider it.

I’m a troll because i don’t agree with you and challenged you and you don’t like being challenged. Nigel Farage tactics there. He does the exact same thing when he’s uncomfortable about being challenged, just refuses to answer and blame shifts 🤣. It’s very predictable and quite funny 🤣