Anyone moved from the UK to to the US? How did it go?

[grannyinapram]

Looking at holidays online, not that we will ever go but I was just wondering what it would be like if we actually moved. Any one have any experience? is it all its cracked up to be?

I lived there full time for a year and have visited often...been round most of the country.
I absolutely love it (obviously some states/places more than others).
I always wanted to live there permanently, but now I am not sure. I think I am more risk averse as I get older. We have a safety net in the UK which just doesn't exist there. Also, outside of the big cities, you may be shocked at how different attitudes and culture is to that in the UK.
I think, if you're doing well, the standard of living is much better there, but if you fall on hard times it is a very different story.

We lived in the Midwest for three years a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. I would have loved to stay longer, but not sure if we would have wanted to make the move permanent. There are huge differences between the US and the UK. I still yearn for the mountains and lakes though, I felt more at home in the landscapes of the US than I have ever felt anywhere in the UK.

Like the PP said, our quality of life was much better in the US but I would worry about the consequences of financial knocks in a way we don't in the UK.

It totally depends where you're going tbh: the US is vast and the economy/culture/job opportunities in one state could a million miles away from another.

You would find, for example, living in rural Kentucky to be a world away from New York or Los Angeles.

I lived in California for two years. I loved some elements of it: I loved the city I lived in. Some aspects of the culture are hard to deal with. I had a ball out there but I don't think I'd have wanted to settle permanently.

I'd think quite carefully about your political stance at the moment and how that chimes with there: America is hugely divided and almost at war with itself after the Trump era: if you are living in a pro-Trump state at the moment with anti-Trump views you might life and making friends quite difficult.

Also there's no real economic safety net there and no free healthcare: if you have chronic conditions of any kind and don't have shit-hot insurance I'd think very carefully about whether you could afford to get sick out there.

Whereabouts were you thinking of going?

I love to but unfortunately that is not what my life has offered. If I had the chance I'd be off.

I’ve lived for a year split between NYC and Philadelphia. I loved it, and to be honest didn’t find it hugely different to London. Anticipating that I’ll live in Detroit for a bit in the near future, which I suspect will be hugely different.

I don’t think there’s any one experience of living in the US. Living in NYC is completely different to living in Nashville, or Detroit. And living in any of those places is completely different to living in NY, Tennessee or Michigan but in a small town or more rural location. (Though I suppose that’s the same as anywhere - somebody moving to the UK would find living in London very different to living in Bradford and both worlds apart from a village in the Welsh valleys.) Broadly, I find Americans wherever they’re from to have a more positive outlook about a lot of things. I like that people feel proud of their country and that it’s a great place to live. I find most Americans also pretty honest about their country’s shortcomings,

There’s much more of a financial and social safety net than many non-Americans think, I’m always surprised when people claim there isn’t one. It’s different to what we’re used to in the UK and it’s possible to fall through the cracks, but ending up destitute is not something I’d personally ever feel concerned about.

I’m here now in a Southern state and wanting back to the UK. Only been here 18 months but I’m so homesick!

Not found politics a problem. Plenty other things to talk about with the other families and neighbors.
So much choice of restaurants!
You do have to drive everywhere, no public transport available. The only buses I’ve seen the whole time I’ve been here are the yellow school buses.
Scared of having a hefty hospital bill and I’ve not even been to the dentist yet. Hubby did and got a massive bill.

Our house is huge and we have a pool which is a great novelty. But not more important than hopefully getting home to family and friends one day.
I’d much rather save the US for holidays.
Hubby wants to stay though so I need to convince him!

Following. We currently live in the Midlands, UK. Have never lived anywhere else. My husbands employers want him to transfer to head up some factories in minnisota and winsconson. We have 2 kids. I don't know anything about the places apart from that they are cold in winter!!! Any advise would be gratefully recieved as we don't know what to do!

I moved 12 years ago to play football in college and I never left. I live in Oklahoma and love it here. Better quality of life.

Moved here in 2016. Would not move back to the UK but I’m married to an American and our life is now here.
Do you have a valid path to a visa? Just because you want to live here doesn’t mean you can. Work visas are very limited and restricted to certain skill sets. Company transfers are more viable but they are not necessarily permanent.

The majority of immigrants come here through family and this is by far the easiest route and the most popular.

I could talk for hours about life here but there’s not much point if you don’t have a route to a visa to come. It’s also a huge country with huge differences between states. My life here on the west coast bears no resemblance at all to life on the east coast, in the Deep South, in the Midwest, in Hawaii, etc. That would be like asking someone who lives in Spain what it’s like to live in Scotland just because they are both in Europe.

This is my dream, but with no family there it’s virtually impossible.

@JKW36

Following. We currently live in the Midlands, UK. Have never lived anywhere else. My husbands employers want him to transfer to head up some factories in minnisota and winsconson. We have 2 kids. I don't know anything about the places apart from that they are cold in winter!!! Any advise would be gratefully recieved as we don't know what to do!

First find out which state you will be living in - Minnesota or Wisconsin. They are different. Think of the US as 50 countries linked together. Once you know which location, you can then look at costs of living, etc. Would this be an L-1 visa? If so, find out if the company are planning to make it permanent or not with the sponsorship (or lack of) green cards. If it’s only going to be temporary, is it worth uprooting your whole family? Or is a temporary thing exactly what you want?

Find out what relocation package they are offering. Don’t be wowed by a higher salary than the UK and think you’ll be rich. The cost of living is much higher here. I see a lot of threads on here and other forums where people feel they’ve hit the jackpot because they are being offered a salary that’s 30% more than in the UK, for example. But that’s not that great.

As BritWife says, it’s not all that easy to relocate to the US in terms of getting a visa, so unless you have a clear route it’s likely to remain a pipe dream.

I’ve lived in the US twice, once in a huge city and once very rurally. Funnily enough these places were both in the same state but worlds apart. I always thought I’d end up raising kids there but we had the opportunity to do so and decided against it. It’s hard to explain why. There’s something about the US - and I have felt this in all the places I’ve travelled, across over a dozen states and a huge range of cities and towns of various political affiliations - that just makes me really homesick for Europe. On paper, a permanent relocation made perfect sense but my gut feel was no. DH was disappointed at the time but since he has seen my family over there being torn apart by politics as well as other recent political and social happenings he understands my point of view.

Good luck getting a visa, we were meant to emigrate in the summer but trump pulled the plug on all new visas (we were in the queue), we now have an appointment for a visa which isn’t until august and that was booked months ago! There is still a ban on non immigrant visas so all this is assuming that this is lifted by august. There is a MASSIVE backlog at the embassy. I honestly can’t see us moving for a couple of years!!

I felt more at home in the landscapes of the US than I have ever felt anywhere in the UK.

Oh yes I so agree with this! The openness... I also love how well protected the national parks are and how there’s a really good sense of leave no trace.
And I can completely understand why so many Americans never leave their country. The lakes, mountains, beaches... the natural beauty is beyond stunning and so varied.

I've lived here since 2014, recently got my GC. Love it and would never consider moving back to the UK. My lifestyle is significantly better.....higher wage, better weather, more space for outdoor lifestyle. I live in a progressive, safe major city. Yes, health care is expensive but you get what you pay for, the standard of care and treatment is high. Overall I've found the people to be friendly and welcoming.

Lived here since my mid 20s. Moved here for graduate school. Already dating DH who is American and who was in med school. We live on the East Coast. I love it here except when it gets very cold. We both have good jobs, a nice house (I live in a very expensive city though), kids go to an excellent public/state school.

I lived there temporarily in my early twenties. I had a blast! However I never wanted to live there forever. Quality of life is lower there than in the U.K., I’d say. Things like my friend had a baby and was back in the office after about two weeks (or something crazy). Everyone works crazy hours with few holidays. No NHS. Houses are MASSIVE, as a general rule. So are cars. Public transport between major cities is very good and on the whole quite cheap so you can explore a lot. Trains, even overnight ones, are comfy. Greyhound buses are full of life (bit scary but great for people watching and having good stories when you survive!).

On the plus side, it’s a beautiful and diverse country and I still love going to the USA on holiday! There’s lots of culture and each state is different and that’s quite exciting. I made a lot of friends and enjoyed talking to different people (people where ever in the world you go are just brilliant, i think!).

I love Philadelphia, New York and New Orleans. Orlando is one of the weirdest places I’ve ever been. Hated LA but have fond memories of snogging a nice man on the beach in San Diego. I found it fascinating that there were signs up when I went to the cinema saying no guns. The food portion sizes are crazy, and things like technology and clothing is a lot cheaper than UK. I love the USA and can’t wait to go back when we can travel again.

Well, I moved the other way (US to UK) and have never looked back! The varied seasons and landscape is nice, but people are generally much more rude, the politics is awful and god help you if you get ill. I find it interesting to visit now, but relieved when I get back on the plane to go home. Generally though, life is much better for us in the UK. Dh is self-employed, which would be really tricky in the US, and my career is much better paid with much more job security in the UK. I'm junior in my career and making as much as the quite senior people I trained under in the US. Cost of living in terms of housing is cheaper in many parts of the US (just not big cities where I lived), but property not a good investment. I was looking at my family home where I grew up the other day. My mum sold it in 2004. It's 2021, and it's worth less than what she sold it for!

That said, I think traveling in the US is very different to living there. Dh loved it when he first visited to see me. But then after he got to spend more time there and actually meet and talk to people (one of the guys he worked with got cancer and lost his house to pay for his treatment), he was grateful we weren't planning to settle in the US. Besides that it's also really hard to get a visa, even if you're married to a citizen.

Even just from the few replies on this thread you can see how varied a place it is. People are posting on here giving their experiences which are completely different to mine. So, to answer the question what it’s like to live here is very difficult. No one can speak for the entire country. I love where we live. I would hate to live in Florida, for example.

@mindutopia

Well, I moved the other way (US to UK) and have never looked back! The varied seasons and landscape is nice, but people are generally much more rude, the politics is awful and god help you if you get ill. I find it interesting to visit now, but relieved when I get back on the plane to go home. Generally though, life is much better for us in the UK. Dh is self-employed, which would be really tricky in the US, and my career is much better paid with much more job security in the UK. I'm junior in my career and making as much as the quite senior people I trained under in the US. Cost of living in terms of housing is cheaper in many parts of the US (just not big cities where I lived), but property not a good investment. I was looking at my family home where I grew up the other day. My mum sold it in 2004. It's 2021, and it's worth less than what she sold it for!

That said, I think traveling in the US is very different to living there. Dh loved it when he first visited to see me. But then after he got to spend more time there and actually meet and talk to people (one of the guys he worked with got cancer and lost his house to pay for his treatment), he was grateful we weren't planning to settle in the US. Besides that it's also really hard to get a visa, even if you're married to a citizen.

Really hard to get a visa if you’re married to a US citizen? Assuming you have no major criminal history, are not certified insane, and have not previously been banned (and even those things can be overcome with a waiver of ineligibility), the IR-/CR-1 visa is a doddle. Time-consuming? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Tedious? Yes. Difficult? Absolutely not. There isn’t even a numerical cap on IR visa categories and spouse visas are one of the only categories that have been unaffected by COVID restrictions.

My sister lived there for a year for work, and she hates it. Hated the culture, the politics, the food - I thought she'd manage okay because she's always been one to love travel, but she couldn't wait to get home. One thing that stuck out to her and she mentioned a lot was the casual sexism - obviously we have that in the UK too, but apparently they're much more open with it over there. She stayed in NY and Chicago.

I've got two American friends - one has moved here permanently and won't even visit. The other still lives in the US and is desperate to leave.

Obviously, these aren't my personal experiences but I'm in no rush to move there!

We're British and brought up in Britain but we lived the Los Angeles for a long time, more than ten years. We all loved it there and still speak of LA as 'home'.

I worked in the US for a number of years as an ER nurse - got to know a lot about gunshot wounds. I loved my time there and met some lovely people and made many friends. But they have their problems too. I knew friends who had a $100000 medical bill . It virtually ruined their life. I also had problems with every type of security being armed , even at the supermarket. School had a panic room and armoured glass front doors. As I said, I loved my time there but I was glad to come home. Same for Australia. Great country, pity about the racism.

It was always a dream of mine to live in the US, and I moved when I was 18. I spent nearly 10 years there and loved it, however it’s definitely not the dream everyone thinks and now I’m older and a bit wiser I can honestly say I’d never move back.

I was in the south, so had wonderful weather with a few hurricanes thrown in. I was always surrounded by optimism and self belief, however now I’m distanced from it it seems like a crazy notion haha or maybe us Brits are just a bit more miserable and realistic 😉

Lifestyle was cheaper in some ways, more expensive in others. Having to pay for medical insurance, having little choice but to have a car because where I lived there was little to no public transport. The expectation to have new cars, for instance, something so ridiculous - people were mildly disgusted when I bought a used car because “everyone just got a new one on finance” for example. I was looked down on for it because I didn’t want to spent hundreds a month in finance when I could just buy used in cash which is so normal here. Lack of job security, unless you get tenure you can almost be fired for no reason with little warning. Going from a place where you pass probation and get a permanent job this was crazy. Imagine working somewhere for 10 years and then getting 2 weeks notice and that’s it.

There was more to do, people seemed to do more outside of work than here. Rather than just going to bars there was an expectation for regularly eating dinner out, going to attractions etc.

I’m in my thirties now and my DC was born back in the UK. I’m honestly not sure how I could have ever sent him to school there. My ex’s DNs regularly went through shooter/intruder drills, or experienced false alarms. I don’t know how people can think that’s normal and acceptable. It would fill me with dread putting my child in school there (and yes I know in theory The risk is still small) I had friends who refused to go to the movies after the shootings, I lived just a few miles from where the Orlando shooting happened. It’s scary.

The visas were a whole other battle and expense. I only got mine because of my ex but even that wasn’t easy, straightforward or cheap. There were people who paid tens of thousands of pounds for visas to start up businesses there and then As that visa didn’t lead to a green card, their children aged out of the Visa and had to be sent home to the UK at 18/21 and leave their family behind until they could get their own visa (which isn’t easy)

It really was a wonderful time of my life and I’m glad that I did it though.