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.

Friends daughter is very happy in Singapore.

if you speak Spanish, then South America seems the obvious choice outside Spain.

Some people do have choices. Not everyone is restricted to one place if they don't want to be.

Bermuda

Sure. I've lived in several countries myself. But I've never posted on the internet asking 'Which country should I move to?' because friends had moved on, and I had some utopian idea about some other country that would be delighted to offer me and my DH a visa, provide sunshine, child safety, a higher disposable income and good job opportunities for my children?

In fairness, this poster speaks more languages than the usual people who post this, but doesn't in fact appear to be focusing particularly on countries where she/her DH speak the language.

Thailand and Sri Lanka do not have good youth employment.

Beware the grass being greener. Every country will have things about it that will not be great. From disagreeable wildlife, to weather systems that are far more extreme. House prices may be far higher in some places than expected.
And ease of travel. We are lucky in being virtually smack bang in the middle. Live in any of the extremes and travelling to some places becomes very hard indeed.
I suppose what I mean is be realistic. It is easy to look at somewhere sunny and think it would be better than here. And here at the moment is crap. In all sorts of ways. Choose wisely. From money to attitudes to things we take for granted but might be very different elsewhere.
And last and not least at all is the exchange rate. If paid here how would it work out wherever you are going.

You need to consider the future for your children.

And yourself before you move. Friend 1 moved from GB (with 3 children 2 in school. First to US then Hong Kong, then Washington. His wife sacrificed her career, the children were totally confused educationally. Both parents were UK graduates their children ended up non graduates. Friends 2 left UK for Europe. Wife had to sacrifice her career. Family returned to UK when children were teens. Education totally at sea. Both couples ended up divorced. Both husbands remarried. Both wives didn't and ended up in poverty. So you need to consider whether you are already self sufficiently financially, if not could you work abroad? Could you cope financially if the marriage ends? What plans are needed for your children's education if you leave the UK system?

When you say safety for your children what are you considering are the major risks your children face?

Often people mean crime, but your children face a far higher risk from road traffic collision so you should factor that into your calculations en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate?wprov=sfla1

I think instead of asking on here which countries are best, I'd be looking at which countries I think I can get a visa for, and then narrow down from there.

As you both speak Spanish, maybe looking at available visas for Spain would be a good idea. But note youth unemployment is bad to worse everywhere (except for the Netherlands).

Somewhere they like immigrants more than here!

You need to consider the passports you have, the skills you have and the restrictions. Eg in Europe my understanding is that first they consider nationals, then other EU nationals and lastly non Eu nationals. So it’s much harder to get a job.
in other areas you need an employer to sponsor a visa.
That’s your first thing to do.

Ooh and of course any languages you speak. Unless the office language is English.

• somewhere we'd have more disposable income

Egypt, seriously, you'd have loads disp. income there, and the sunshine/warmth. I bet the safety for kids indices are good, too.

• safety for our children

Do you want to elaborate, safe in what way? Unicef child happiness index most rates Denmark, Netherlands & France. You'll only get lots of sun in France. France is not known for high disposable income, though. Portugal has sun and high happiness & maybe lower cost of living. Language is like Spanish.

• opportunities in the future for our children (so good youth employment etc)

Qatar is a high income country with very low youth unemployment. They have sun, at least.

Research a few countries ypu can speak the language. Youth employment is high throughout most of Europe, friends I France ans Australia complaining about lack of opportunities and col, so do your research- we've lived abroad.... be ready to have private health wherever you go. Factor in education costs for kids- will they want to return to UK in future? If so enable them to compete by giving them a proper education- research international schools- not always the best quality.

You haven’t mentioned healthcare. Will become more important to you if one of you gets ill, when you’re older, if you or your children want to have a child at some point.

Anywhere in France or Spain, for example, is likely to have far superior provision to the UK but you’ll need to check your rights of access to the state heath care and if it’s limited to emergencies, what the cost and quality of the alternative private provision is.

Personally, I think having access to decent healthcare is a good reason to emigrate. I’m considering it !

Canada, or New Zealand

Interesting re Australia. Half the graduates I know are loving life there in cities such as Melbourne and Brisbane and finding work opportunities plentiful and well paid.

The grass isn't always greener OP...

• Remember that countries with hot weather are now even hotter due to climate change and it can be hard to get used to that
• Even if you work for remotely for British or international companies you will still need to learn the language to deal with life admin, healthcare and so on
• Visas are not that easy to get in many desirable countries.

Basically do your research, spend time holidaying in the country (including in the winter) first to make sure that you would be able to live there permanently and don't expect anywhere to be magically problem free.

I have lived in France, the USA and the UK. I still would choose the UK over anywhere else.

Errr you shouldn’t be moving somewhere just because you are unhappy with your life in the uk! You need to want to move somewhere specific first- there needs to be a big pull factor. I get that you’re not happy here but there will be many things that are problematic abroad.

Things to consider…. Violent crime, risk of local conflict, cost of living, climate change related risks and exposure to extreme weather, economic uncertainty and risk. Annoying local bureaucracy

There are many things that the UK has that are of high importance, when you look at the whole experience, that many countries don’t have. Efficient bureaucracy and fair legal system, public realm and facilities are generally good, ability to walk and take public transport, public safety is high, low level of corruption, freedom of personal expression and free press, arts and culture embedded into society. Excellent education system. It’s also the 4th largest economy in the world and is pretty robust economically compared to many other places.

We are an island that hasn’t been successfully invaded for nearly 1000 years. We are not at high risk of conflict or war in neighbouring countries. We will never see movements of refugees across our borders like Greece has seen.

We do not suffer very extreme weather events and we will be less impacted by climate change heating the world up (we will still be impacted though).

All of this needs to be weighed up.

Australia.

It's absolutely gorgeous! Couldn't quite believe how much I fell in love with it, tbh. It's like the world is black and white, but Australia is in technicolour.

Roughly where abouts in Ireland, out of interest?

COL in Canada is not great at the moment - it's a wonderful place to live, but jeepers you should see my grocery bill (just for 2 of us)