Moving abroad... where?

[Fatmamslim]

We are considering relocating abroad for a few years. Honestly I haven't done any thinking or research beyond these initial thoughts because I can't quite pin where, and I know each location will require its own heavy research. Honestly we just need a change.

I'd like to maybe do Finland, Or new Zealand maybe. Somewhere known for good quality of life, good health care and education.

We are a family of 4. One preteen and one under10. The preteen is holding us back in exploring further because moving during senior school years feels hugely disruptive, but if we wait for him to be finished the younger one will have started and I don't think we'll ever go...

Has anyone here move abroad.. did you end up staying? Did you come back? What was hardest about it all?

@Fatmamslim we did 20 months in Copenhagen precwithdrawal agreement in 2020 - but no kids at home to consider- we couldn't do it now- wouldn't qualify - came back for work/ family reasons but would do it again- possibly Spain

I can't advise about where but until your DD is in year 10 she can move. Living abroad would be such a fantastic adventure. Don't leave it much later though

What about a family gap year instead? That way your preteen can go back to old friends again after a year out? You can spend the year travelling as a family. Could you afford that?

just in the interest of sharing things to consider - this thread illustrates one of the challenges of taking secondary students overseas, ie the potential of losing home student status if they aren't resident in UK for three years prior to Uni www.mumsnet.com/Talk/living_overseas/4882246-losing-home-student-status

I get moving pre teens is a big upheaval even within UK but there would be no visa issues, no language issues, no school system issues or uni fee issues. Personally I'd recommend a whimsical evening with a glass of wine pondering if you could live anywhere in the UK where would it be. Not as exciting as perhaps Barbados, Spain or NZ but it would be a change.

Something to think about beyond the practicalities already mentioned is what your DH would do? Many trades require licensing or certification according to local standards or requirements. It's worth looking into whether there are conversion courses available, labour shortages sometimes mean there's support available for key trades

If your DH can't work, please please don't underestimate the impact of him becoming effectively an isolated stay at home dad. It's a huge change and definitely not easy to deal with

OP, I moved to Spain with zero Spanish. Had to learn fast mind you to deal with bureaucracy.

And you'll find that many of these countries study English and therefore will have some English to help you get by as you learn.

I'm always surprised by people who chime in to say you must know the language. Did all the immigrants throughout history know the language before they moved? No they didn't. But they soon learned and learned fast!

I understand what you mean about life feeling samey. But OP i lived and worked abroad in 3 countries over 10 years and it becomes samey there too. Yiu still have to go to work, deal with bills, commute, work, etc. It sounds exotic and wonderful (and IS) but it usually ends up being the day to day grind somewhere else. And maybe with the added stress of not being able to speak a language, understand the nuances of how things are done locally as well.

I also want my children to experience life in another country so i get that also. But you might be right maybe you are really looking for more travel and more adventures.

I wouldn't throw away the idea of moving abroad, but do think about where and make some visits and holidays there to see how you feel.

this is a great idea also.

Well, the mass emigrants of the past were frequently driven to leave their countries of origin by extreme poverty and/or war/oppression, and were prepared to be exploited economically by working for peanuts in basic manual jobs that required minimal language skills, often with other emigrants from the same place, once they arrived at their destination.

The OP is not poor, says she can work anywhere, and is contemplating emigration because her life is ‘samey’. Very different.

Finland do a try it out for 6 months visa (can’t remember the exact wording), i think theres one school in Helsinki that does the state Finnish school experience entirely in English.

You said you can work anywhere. But - your employer may have a tax problem if an employee is constant abroad.

We are Germans and DD was 12 when the Brexit vote came. We thought long and hard and decided to stay in the UK as it would been a huge upheaval to move her despite being fluent bi-lingual. While there would be enough international schools for her to go to in the locations we looked at, it wouldn't have been ideal.

I do understand the wish to relocate, I regularly think that if not for DD, we would have made the move by now. And we may do it when she is out of uni, depending a lot on other circumstances now. But first we looked at our life here and made changes.

Yes, dontcestimate that if you use nomad visa your partner 'may' not be able to work and if he doesn't do a remote job it would be you that the application was in the name of. However if it's a shortage trade in that country then you may be able to do on his name, places like NZ and Oz are good for that- EU less so , as they still have lots of Eastern Europeans working there

Cyprus? English is spoken widely, Private schools are taught in English though follow Baccalaureate rather than GCSE/A level route. Very good social life for adults and kids. Wherever you choose you need an English speaking education for your older child and your younger child will need two years to be fluent enough to work comfortably in a second language. Their social language with friends comes before sufficient fluency to understand all lessons , if that makes sense.

You could consider Malaysia - a nomad visa is available, cost of living is cheap, weather is great and English is very widely spoken.

Good grief! 😂

You’ll need a job that gives a residence visa for moving to a EU country. If that’s possible then definitely go for it.

We moved to aus - best thing we ever done. No intention of going back five years in but we know a lot who ping pong (there's a Fb group - ping pong Poms)

It can be tough some days missing family etc but we are lucky a lot are willing to visit us and we can go back every few years too.

we have a good quality of life.

We are strongly considering Spain. DS is 1.5 so it feels like a good time to go, before he's in the school system. My Spanish is okay, DH's isn't great but he learns fast, DS knows a few words.

The visa situation isn't as easy as it sounds, though; even with the new visas. It may be if you intend to sell up, as you can get a golden visa if you can afford a £350k property without a mortgage. Otherwise there's quite a few hoops to jump through around proving stability of income, letters from employers around tax contributions, why you need to do the job from Spain, why in that case a Spanish person isn't being hired...

Personally we also have some concerns about whether DS would find getting work there okay, with the youth unemployment rates, but we're a long way from that. It might be worth more research for you, as you'd be significantly closer; and potentially also miss out on your child qualifying for home fees at uni, so they'd have to get up to speed in Spanish quite quickly for university. I studied for a year in Spain, and my modules were supposed to be in English, but 75% of them were in Spanish and it was hard going 😅

New Zealand is on my list of places I'd love to consider, but DH isn't so keen. He's got older family here, and although we've seen them once in four years, I think he finds the idea of being far away if they needed us challenging.

If you want good quality education/health, do NOT go to NZ. Lowest levels of literacy and numeracy in the OECD, and if you need healthcare you're looking at a 2 week wait to see a gp or a minimum of 16+ hours waiting in a&e. Go to a Scandinavian country if those are your priorities.

I was thinking this also - OP could you take a year out and travel with your children? Possibly you could work remotely as well if possible. One year out of school for them wouldn't be too bad, and they could learn a lot about other cultures, you could visit museums/ historical sites.

It sounds like financially you would be ok, given you have plenty of savings. It might scratch the itch for a while and then you and your husband could continue planning for a move abroad when the kids are older.

I think you sound in a great position to do it, especially if you treat it initially as a gap year as suggested by PP. Most digital nomad visas last that long anyway. Your preteen is old enough to be involved in the decision - my 12 year old definitely would, but we did it when she was younger.
If you have a house in the UK it also helps if you rent it out so you know you have somewhere to come back to.
Nothing wrong with wanting a bit of adventure, loads of people do it!

I wouldn't put it as starkly as this. On summer measures NZ ranks above the UK on education and the teachers I speak to say it's better here. But it's not good. The UK has had austerity since 2010. NZ seems to have had it since 1984 and it shows. It's really hasn't been the paradise it's made out to be for about fifty years.

2018 Pisa scores - UK 1511, NZ 1508. No where near the bottom.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/pisa-scores-by-country

Having been back there last year, no where near a two week wait to see a GP, nor 16 hours in the A&E. Having had to use them extensively at the time!

Husband has just returned from spending nine weeks in hospitals at his dying mother's bedside. Again, no where near those waits, excellent care, clean, non-crumbling facilities.

@Trixie239 Scandinavia not an easy option post Brexit. Certainly if you work for yourself- we did it pre Brexit and came back- they are playing very hard ball