To be seriously considering leaving this country?

[User135644]

I've lived here all my life l, have all my family and friends here but I feel desperate to get out now.

Brexit was national self harm in itself (and has made it harder to leave) but I am done with Tory island. They have destroyed everything over the last 12 years.

Had it now. Country heading for collapse.

I have always thought of expat as something temporary.

When we lived abroad we were temporary. At some point we knew we would be moving on or moving back to the UK. However in our time abroad we did send DCs to the local school, learn the language etc.

Moving abroad is hugely challenging. You discover that everything you have ever known about being a grown up is wrong. From opening a bank account to buying a car. From school to work to celebrations. Everything is different.

It is a good experience though.

Expat and immigrant are two different things. I'm an immigrant, I don't know any of my friends in Australia that call themselves expats.

People who spend their retirement abroad would never refer to themselves as immigrants. They are "expats".

You will also not like calling your Mum up and saying that you've lost your job or that you're unwell or that you want to go home so your conversations can end up trying to put a positive spin on things. You will have grandparents begging for photos of your children. You will try to ensure that everyone back home thinks that you're doing well

I really relate to this 😣

yes, I know expat and immigrant don’t mean the exact same thing. One means “move permanently” and the other means “live in a country that is not their native country”. A eg highly mobile and skilled younger person who moves to the UK for a job in tech and will leave again in 2 years fits the description of expat more than a 70+ retiree who is likely to die in Marbella after enjoying their golden years there. The latter fits the description of an immigrant.

definition is not the reason why these terms are used how they are. You’re being disingenuous. Immigrant is seen as a dirty word; Someone that came here (wherever ‘here’ is) to steal your job, your council house and overload the NHS. It has nothing to do with whether one is a retiree or not (and would be wrong anyway - see above). Even if it did, do feel free to check the examples in the thread and let me know that only retirees have used “expat”.

It is hugely challenging but also enriching, I think what you say about discovering that what you’ve known as a grown up is wrong/different ways to do things is a big part of why it is enriching.

it is so both for the person and the place where they move to (the economic benefits, to begin with). And the latter is the reason why it enerves me so much, as an expat in the UK (from a non European country, 15+ years in the UK, now in my 30s), that a large part of the population has allowed themselves to be convinced (and vote accordingly) that we’re bad people with bad intentions and generally bad seeds.
I could’ve spent my whole working life thus far in my home country, contributing to society, paying taxes, etc, there. I did it here. And still I got so much of the “go back to your country” (explicit or implicit), or seen as less, or treated as some exotic bird, somehow, in one way or another.

As I posed upthread, DH currently recruiting, and the majority of the applicants are not white/British. In fact, we had a chat last night, and he just realised, which is fab, because it just shows how it really doesn't matter, as he's never really thought about it, that out of his current team of 20, only 2 are white/British. I love London, it's such a diverse city.

that’s great, that your husband feels and behaves this way, and that it really doesn’t matter… where he works or when he’s recruiting.

I once was shortlisting for a vacancy, with someone who is white (I’m also white). This colleague really liked a candidate, until seeing that the candidate had a degree from the University of Nigeria…. Such a sudden change of heart and opinion, I wonder why.

OP YANBU, along as uou don't complain about people from other countries seeing in the UK and if you learn the language of wherever you go.

Based ok the rest of the thread.

The problem is not someone earning £150 a year its that Liz and her cronies chose a lazy indiscriminate policy. I would save you efforts for the energy companie or those that made phenomenal profits out of covid etc

45p in the £ tax is too high

Expats are white and desirable. End of.

The grass is not always greener.
Scratch below the surface in most countries and you won't like what you see, especially if you are not white or 'properly' white...

This government lacks, intelligence, morals or a backbone. Standing your ground when wrong shows weakness not courage.

As long as they pay taxes the wealthy are entitled to complain about taxes and spend to their heart's content. As far as I am concerned They don't have to justify either to anyone.

If people were more in touch with their unconscious bias we may have had a different PM. Not saying he was a great choice but would have been better than what we have.

Yes i liked living in London and especially now when i visit from the sticks, its a real melting pot isn't it?

I've looked, and no ones stopping you.

What is he offering as salary though? DH 's industry is notorious for recruiting workers from abroad, particularly India but also Italy and Spain, because they will work for considerably less annual salary than experienced British workers. Because they have less options. Often language and other difficulties mean that they don't always do as good a job. He's not in London so you will have a slightly different market there, but it is has definitely happened to DH. There is no way that with 25 years of industry experience and a good degree that he is going to work for 35k pa.

Likewise, he worked in Switzerland for a while for around 80k at the time, and quickly realised that Swiss workers were being paid nearer 100k or more for the same job in the same company!

an intelligent and insightful comment.

But seriously, if you want the best for the UK (do you?) then encouraging the brightest, the well off and most employable to fuck off probably isn't your brightest idea is it?

I keep seeing ‘hard work’, ‘sacrifice’ used as a justification for huge wealth.

Do you genuinely think the rest of us don’t ‘work hard’ or ‘sacrifice’?! What’s the definition of ‘work hard’ or is it not REALLY hard if it doesn’t command a huge wage? How does that fit in with people born into money? Have they ‘worked hard’.

Me and DH Both work for the police. I guess as our pay isn’t very high, and we’ve not has a real pay rise since the lovely Tories got in, we don’t ‘work hard’ enough.

Emergencies generally require an emergency department, don’t they? We don’t have private EDs, and if you need an ambulance PDQ you get the nearest one, because, we’ll, it’s an emergency right? I’m also lost as to how you can manage to check those involved in your care have not been trained on NHS money, particularly when you’re ill enough to be classed as an emergency.

Very strange.

As I posed upthread, DH currently recruiting, and the majority of the applicants are not white/British. In fact, we had a chat last night, and he just realised, which is fab, because it just shows how it really doesn't matter, as he's never really thought about it, that out of his current team of 20, only 2 are white/British. I love London, it's such a diverse city.

I live in a rural town in NZ - most people recruiting here could say the same thing. It's not just London which is diverse you know.

It is not really better anywhere else.
Where I am affordable doctors are in short supply.
Health ins is expensive, If no insurance, costs are very steep. Dentistry is astronomical.
Flights are eyewatering and service is poor.
Our government seems to be blindly floundering
Food is already way more expensive than UK (like grapes are 12 quid a kilo/basic supermarket cheese 8 quid a kilo) and most things have gone up between 20 and 30 pct in about 3 months. Every time I go to the supermarket everything has risen.
My electricity costs have jumped 50pct.
But for some reason the news outlets are not reporting on it, like they do in UK.

It is not really better anywhere else

Of course it is, some of us visit family in other countries and can see it for ourselves. The UK has got multiple economic problems than just expensive food.

It is not really better anywhere else.

Well, depending on what you’re after it is.

In terms of healthcare and economic stability there are certainly better countries to be in.

It is though.
I spent 3 weeks in Germany this summer. I got off the plane at Manchester airport, came out of the terminal, took a look around and thought “nope”

It is not really better anywhere else

Surely that depends on where you are. You aren't living in ALL the different countries are you?

Thank you for summing up so well one of the reasons we want to leave

You want to leave because no one is stopping you?

I think @Hoppinggreen is referring to the increased dickishness in our society @DuckBilledFattypus.

One of the reasons I want to leave is indeed the level of dickishness in our society

Good one ;

But really what do people want don’t go blah blah. People are focusing on their own lives. People leave and arrive every day it doesn’t need to be this big deal

Just go and enjoy, don’t look back.