Which countries are worth considering if we leave the UK?

[Camarthen67912]

It's got to the point where, by the end of August this year, we will pretty much be the only ones of our friend group left in the UK, and it's got us wondering if we should be leaving too!

I just wondered if there's any places we hadn't thought of but that might be worth looking into.

DH's cousin is moving to Malta next month which was somewhere we hadn't really considered. Thailand apparently has a very good scheme as well, and two of my uni friends are in Sri Lanka. Another school friend is moving to Canada soon. Cyprus is another place I've heard people rave about too.

We're fairly open to suggestions, but I can't say Dubai/Abu Dhabi/Oman especially appeals.

Please don’t lump Oman in with the likes of Dubai!

I think it rather depends on where you can get residency. If you have dcs, where there is a school system you are happy with. Languages? Employment?

Are you planning to live an ex-pat lifestyle or try to integrate, speak the language fluently etc?

It’s a pretty vague question, much will depend on the person, the work opportunities, the likelihood of visas, the cost of living, the language and what cultural aspects are important to you.

I was talking geographically

What are you looking for in life and what if anything is currently/in the future keeping you here?

I’d say this depends on where you can get a residency permit, work and, if applicable, good schools.

Why do you want to leave and what are you looking for?

Residency not so much an issue - DH works for a large company with offices all over the world, and I can also apply for digital nomad visas in a lot of countries. If we found somewhere we really loved, we could find a way to live there if only for a couple of years.

Schools - probably international. But we would learn the language (I speak fluent spanish, my DH speaks fluent french and spanish). We would very much integrate so don't need to be near lots of "british" people for instance

Yep surely your decision will primarily be based on where you can get work/a visa?

your friends may have the right jobs/finances/heritage, you may struggle if you don’t.

i am looking at Spain or France, but i have an EU passport so that is simple compared to the time and expense needed for a visa elsewhere.

The thing I’d think about wherever you went is climate change, weather and education systems. Also of course cost of living. Canada comes up a lot and I’ve had relatives achieve a huge amount of success moving to Vancouver and Toronto.

Ireland. Same language. Plenty of opportunity although it is an expensive place to live. Nice people, great educational standards. If you have a British passport there is no need to worry about residency in an EU country, that's because of the Common Travel Area agreement, and I'm sure you know about that.

It has its ups and downs, and is not a perfect place to live, where is?, but I know from friends who live there that QOL is very good once you have settled and have decent financial resources behind you.

As others what do you need or want in your new country and where will you actually be able to go and buy property if you want to. And yes schools employment if relevant and are foreigners welcomed. And how stable is the country politically, geographically and weather wise.

In terms of what we're looking for:

• somewhere we'd have more disposable income
• sunshine/warmth
• safety for our children
• opportunities in the future for our children (so good youth employment etc)

Why do you want to move though? You say your friends have left, but being as you will have to make new friends if you move, you may as well make new friends here.

Why are your children not safe in the U.K.? Every country has violence/crime to some degree.

You need to narrow down which countries want common or garden Brits as immigrants.

Some more than others. It very much depends where you are.

How old are the children?
Any step kids to consider?

Did you post about this before, your husband has a sister or cousin or something in Hamburg and was pestering you to move there until she upped and moved to Malta?

What do your children want to do - is it fair to uproot them for a few years? It’s all very well to say you’ll learn the language but if DV goes to a predominantly foreign language school it’s inevitable that they will fall behind and struggle socially.

And just because DHs company has offices all around the world doesn’t necessarily mean he can just move there.

It sounds like you just want to move for the sake of it and haven’t thought it through at all.

The op seems to be missing why you want to move. Just because friends have doesn’t mean you have to. The grass isn’t always greener. Do you actually want to go or is it be because friends have, you feel you should. I think this really depends on education systems and ages of children and being able to speak the language is a big factor.

I don't think visas are as easy as you think.

Africa is a very good option

I had a friend who moved to Portugal with her 2 children post divorce and seemed happy. How about that?

Yet another one of these bizarre threads where a disenchanted Brit seems to think that the world is their oyster.