To ask where would be an option to move to?

Just to add a point to consider with regard to Australia if you/your kids have any disabilities or ALN. This can make getting a visa more difficult, and the pathway to permanent residency is not so easy - obviously affected by the severity of any disability/ALN. They seem to be quite strict on this point. Basically you will have to cover all disability/ALN related costs, which can add up to a lot if it involves regular SLT and OT etc. Services can also be patchy/thin on the ground, but this is also true in the UK ime. Just something to keep in mind if relevant to your family.

Good luck & let us know where you decide to move to!

I don’t believe she’s unlikely to find that at all tbh.

I’ve lived in Europe, the UK and the US. I don’t currently live in the UK and have no intention to do so again, given that I do indeed have a better quality of life outside of it.

Certainly agree with your point about significantly higher wages making this more realistic, with the proviso of COL and taxes not also being relatively higher.

From that point of view a PPs suggestion of Australia is pretty good, since medical professionals are relatively well paid there compared to here, and private school fees are considerably cheaper on average. Only OP knows if it is too far from friends and family though - and if they like the climate. Ime distance from "home" is often the breaking factor for emigration from UK to Australia. However, many stay long term and are happy.

This sounds quite doable (from career and language perspective), and is quite a well trodden path for UK doctors in recent years. It seems that pay and working conditions are much better in this sector in Oz. A GP local to us moved his family over there and they had a good time, but decide to come back after about three years because they missed home and extended family etc. Lots of people emigrate permanently though too. Housing is expensive, but if you have a much higher income that should not be a problem. My cousin who recently moved back to the UK from OZ said COL is lower here for groceries etc in her experience, so a bit different to PPs view. Private school fees are much cheaper, unless you want a very exclusive education. Most schools are Australian Curriculum, but a few offer iGCSEs and A-Levels. However, if you are not planning on returning there's no need to follow a UK curriculum.

Do make sure to understand what extra costs you will have as temporary (initially anyway) visa holders and how long this lasts. Lots of things (such as education) are not automatically free during that period, even though you are paying taxes. Or it certainly was the case until recently - I have family who moved there. Some of whom also moved back recently for climate, family and cultural reasons. It's a heck of a long way away, but no problem if you are not going to miss family and friends. My parents actually emigrated there in the early 1970s, but ultimately came back because my mum missed home and her family - much to my dad's ongoing disappointment! He actually returned on his own for 6 weeks when I was four years old to keep his visa open. They never moved back, but I spent my whole early childhood nervous that we would be taken to the other side of the world tbh. Not the best feeling for children to have imo. However, it is much cheaper and easier to stay in touch nowadays with voice and video calls, even if a hug from grandma is a 24 hour journey (and expensive flight ticket) away.

The other plus is that the AusDollar has tanked recently against the GBP, so this would make it easier to fund set-up costs.

As do I. I hold multiple citizenships and have emigrated twice. I also speak three languages fluently (well, technically six, but I group four together as Serbo-Croatian).

Op said that she has an Irish passport, but I don’t believe she shared what passports her husband and children hold. I stand corrected on the Dubai point.

I didn’t say that the generous packages of old are readily handed out, but that OP and her husband are the ones in the position to know whether they can secure one (or if such a package is even necessary for emigration to be possible). Based on what OP has said, they do already know that they are able to emigrate and are going to. She wasn’t asking about whether emigration was possible for her family, she was asking those who have experience of this what destinations they would recommend.

“It does not make life any cheaper when you get there though, which seems to be the crux of OPs problem (especially private/international school fees).”

No, but a significantly higher wage and competitive taxation can make those things much more affordable.

I agree with posters saying that you are unlikely to be better quality of life in a different European country (if you can get there). All pretty similar to UK as Violinist64 says. Uk gets a bad rep on mumsnet but I don’t think the people saying it have lived abroad. uk and europe do have advantages of quality education (world leading unis), vibrant culture, arts and history.

Australia is probably a good quality of life if you don’t mind daily managing the skin cancer risk for your kids and the reality of rarely seeing Europe (or friends here) again. It’s very far away.

Australia, 100%.

I would say to think, think, think again and then think some more. I would be wary of moving to another European country as they are mostly in a similar state with similar problems to the UK. Australia is very expensive. The one country l would try in your position is Singapore. There are still good opportunities there.

OP has not said that they previously lived abroad on an expat package, and respectfully, if she had a good idea of the possibilities she would not be asking MN or AI.

She said that her DH had previously worked in Dubai for five years. We do not know what his package was at the time. From her comment it seems that she has not lived there. Many foreigners work in other countries on local contracts, without the benefit of expat packages, or with minimal extras. Most companies will only pay for DC private education and a whole family move for a very senior or highly specialised role which would otherwise be impossible to fill. I am by no means saying that these positions are not out there, just pointing out that they are rare.

Regarding EU citizenship, OP has already stated that she has the right to Irish citizenship, but does not seem to hold it at the moment. I do not know what the case is with DH. However yes, this does open up more possibilities because of lower immigration hurdles in the EU and EEA and Switzerland for EU passport holders. It does not make life any cheaper when you get there though, which seems to be the crux of OPs problem (especially private/international school fees).

I have lived and worked abroad on both local and expat-package contracts (Europe and East Asia). I speak three languages to native level, am fluent in another two and can get by in one more. I am also a dual national. So I feel I have some experience to base my comments upon.

I live in Sydney and the cost of living is miles cheaper than London. BUT that is partly because we bought our house 12 years ago and now have almost paid off the mortgage. People are right - housing is pricy although there are plenty of 4/5 bedroom houses in Sydney for around $3-4million (£1.5-2) if you’re prepared to live within 45 mins of the city (which are all very nice areas!).

But day to day, everything is cheaper. Groceries, our rates (council tax) is around £300 a quarter. Our electricity bill averages over the year £5 per day and that includes heating, cooling, and water heating. Public transport is cheap (about £2 for a ticket from the outskirts to the city, a journey of 45 mins) and reliable.

Plenty of things to do are free, the beach, bush walks etc. Museums are cheap. Eating out costs around half that of the U.K. The equivalent of a pub meal for a family of 4 with soft drinks would be around £60-70.

Tax is higher (47% is the top rate) but you begrudge it less because it’s easy to get a Dr appt that day, the streets feel safe, schools are good, whether private or state. You do pay for a Dr appt (unless on a low income) but it’s about £12 I think. You don’t pay for children’s appointments.

Plenty of Drs here work in both private and public as well and there are great hospitals all over.

so in conclusion I would say the downsides are: the cost of buying a house and the fact that we’re a 24 hour flight from the U.K. Flights back have gone up now as well. We are also a long way from Europe and it would be nice to do those little trips over to other cities. To leave Aus you’re on a flight for over 6 hours to get anywhere. You do get used to it though and then your kids will do things like refer to an 8 hour flight to America from the U.K. as “pretty short”.

I would say everything else is a plus.

I've lived in NZ. Cost of housing anywhere nice is insane. COL is really high. There's always issues with the "brain drain" ie Young people moving abroad because of lack of opportunity.

Beautiful country but considering what you aren't happy with in the UK I think it's unlikely to suit.

Her husband is a medical specialist and they’ve previously lived abroad on an expat package. I’m sure they’ve already got a good idea as to what is available to them.

Additionally, the family already speaks French and German, which suggests they may already be EU citizens. If so then considerably more doors are open to them.

The OP is not HNW!

She is having trouble stretching a top 1% PAYE salary (so over £165k per annum) to cover her family's living costs. They spend everything they have and cannot amass capital by the tone of her posts. Tbh, with OP's requirements (including private school for DC), realistically the DH would need to get an amazing expat package to cover all that. Those kinds of packages are as rare as hen's teeth nowadays. The pickings were already getting slimmer when we went to East Asia 20 years ago, I guess it's even harder now.

Realistically any safe developed country with a good choice of international schools is probably going to be out of reach financially speaking, especially if she has more than 1 child. It sounds like they would need two incomes to run their lifestyle in most developed countries.

Not necessarily.

It depends on a number of factors, including the level of need, the type of visa, and whether or not someone is able to be self sufficient rather than rely on the state to provide for them.

OP says her children have additional needs so I think the family may have difficulty in getting visas to move to certain places eg Australia & Canada; I know my friend’s sister in law had issues.

All countries do of course have their issues, but that doesn’t change the fact that the grass can absolutely be greener elsewhere. It depends very much on the individual. Person A loving the UK and having a higher quality of life there doesn’t mean that person B has to feel the same, and that’s okay.

The outflow of higher net worth individuals from the UK has been greater than the inflow on a yearly basis from
2016, and it’s only accelerated. If people didn’t have better options out there then this wouldn’t be the case.

There are actually lot of countries are looking to attract highly educated processionals, particularly if they have a higher net worth.

it might be worth looking at this to determine which countries are more financially attractive for you:

taxfoundation.org/research/all/global/2025-international-tax-competitiveness-index/

We moved away for a while (Ireland). All countries have their issues and it did help as it made us more sure we wanted to be in England.
I think surely, you are just living beyond your means? High mortgage, private school, private healthcare, you clearly cannot stretch to all that!
As for saying you live in a nice area, you don’t. The situations you have described as happening near you don’t happen where I live for example.
I have a few friends who moved to Australia. Several have come back. It didn’t offer them the lifestyle they anticipated.
Just think really, really carefully.

If your kids also speak some German and you have a right to live in the EU then Germany is a good bet. My DB has been very happy living there for the last 30 years, his kids are trilingual and have had a good education (one in a state STEM school as his is gifted, the other in private international school). It’s not a perfect place to live but it would be okay for you I think.

You could keep your house in the UK and rent it out.

I have every sympathy with you, OP. We wee not in your position but completely understand middle class and rich wanting to leave the UK

Toronto, Canada

If you can't afford it, he's not the 1%

I don't understand why you're not working OP. your children are in private school and are interested in politics, so presumably not little, but then you say childcare costs are more than your salary as a teacher. Surely the only childcare you'd need is for the odd week where your school holidays don't line up with your children's? If you were working then you'd be able to absorb extra costs.

Thinking sideways OP how about somewhere like Malta or gibralter if you want lower tax , better weather and language won’t be an issue even in a medical role - I mean personally I like Sweden, Denmark and Netherlands for all kinds of reasons , better lifestyle ‘in my opinion’ but yes it’s high taxation - balanced up better services I feel and somewhat balanced by very reasonable childcare if you had pre schoolers , no NI and no council tax- Germany if you choose the right areas similar way of working too - although you do pay for healthcare, as you do in Netherlands - although I’m personally not keen in Germany on most things shutting about 3 on Saturdays till Monday morning ( but that’s a quirk of mine I guess)