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 spent 26 years in the country I grew up in, 17 years in England and 16 years where I am now. England was my least favourite place although there were lots of good things about it and I made some wonderful friends. My three children were born there but have had such better lives since they left. I genuinely don’t understand why British people seem to think that they have such a great education system as most of the British people I know I consider to be quite poorly educated although they would say they come from “nice” areas. I also feel really sad for the lovely kids I knew as children who have ended up with very limited choices as adults, again from “nice” area and families. If you have options to live elsewhere I would definitely take them.

Where is everyone going?

Unfortunately Brexit has made this idea a whole lot trickier!

We are also leaving in 3 years and would have already but for dc in exam years. EU friends are also drifting back. Was talking this weekend with a French couple (our dc are friends at school) they are both NHS doctors and they have a similar time frame to us.

We opened a EU bank account this summer and moved a bunch of money across, of course with the pound crashing, I wish we’d moved more.

Better the devil you know...

Go for it

Where will you go?

Germany

Switzerland most likely for us, Germany in second place, France third.

I left at the beginning of this year, due to brexit. I wish I had left earlier for my kids sake, they were both pretty miserable in England, and have completely changed for the better since we left. We all feel much more free and lighter. I don't think I realised just how miserable life in England was until we left, even though I didn't even grow up there so I knew what life elsewhere was like too.

Sweden in my case.

I think any young people who have the means should definitely look for opportunity elsewhere.

Unless you have a skillset that's in demand or you're prepared to retrain, you're probably BU, especially if you're asking strangers on the internet. If you're regularly getting contacted by headhunters then of course you'd be mad not to explore the packages on offer.

I’m in the US and was debating a move back to England due to the shift to extreme right politics, but not with the current financial saga in the UK and the NHS in dire straits. So, for now, I will remain in the frying pan.

Seen a lot of people hanging around in jobs that weren't happy for years. Same with relationships.

Ultimately for me it is best to take positive action and move on with your life.

If you are unhappy here it is better to channel your energy into doing something postive (moving abroad) than stay here feeling miserable.

It may work out, it may not. But at least you will know that you tried.

I'm not convinced that there is any other country that is a utopia though.

We want to go too. Making plans

Exactly. Can you speak another language? Do you have the skills and qualifications another country is looking for? How old are you? Do you have an existing medical condition and how much money do you have ?.

The favourite destination is Australia but you have to meet the criteria also about half of those who wave goodbye return and have to start all over again. I've known a few friends who struggled and had to come back. It wasn't so easy when they got home either.

It was relatively straightforward for me as I have a professional medical qualification so I signed up with an agency and did a couple of years overseas, just for the experience, but I was ever so glad to come home. I'm also fluent in French and qualify for dual nationality but wild horses wouldn't get me on the EuroStar.

I'd do some research first.

I'm waiting for one of my pets to die (wee fucker looks set to live forever out of pure spite) and then I'm off somewhere hot and sunny. Thank fuck my work is highly portable.

I lived abroad as a child and never intended to spend my entire adult life in this hole green and pleasant land. Unfortunately despite the Irish surname, it's only my great grandparents on both sides who were actually Irish so I don't qualify for Irishness by descent.

I'm too old to do this now, but if I was 30 years younger I think I'd be heading for Holland.

Wow so much negativity on this post. Go for it OP. I moved to Switzerland in 2020. You don't realize that there is a better life out there until you move, UK now seems like a third world country, nothing works there - healthcare, transport. Just a mess. Our quality of life is greatly improved and we had great jobs in the UK. Here you pay less tax, wages are higher. Sure cost of living is higher but its manageable. All new build properties are energy efficient, we have low bills. Incredible healthcare, and one of the biggest factors that keeps me here - NHS is not fit for purpose, its a disgrace. Better social security sysytem here, if you lose your job/get fired whatever the reason, you can claim unemployment benefit which is a maximum of 10000 swiss francs per month for up to 18m/2years. You're looked after! Not like the UK. There are better ways of doing things out there, better lifestyles. Ignore the haters. I was in the UK last week and everyone was bloody miserable.

I utter the very words 'I don't want to live in this country anymore' the other day.

We were always heading for France long term (DH native) and I think we'll aim for a lot faster.

I honestly hate what's become of this country. I grew up in the 90s/2000s when there was so much hope. Of course there was still so much wrong with the world but there was a real optimism that progress was being made, that the drift was in the right direction. Apart from gay marriage, I can't think of a single step in the right direction that's been made since the Tories took power.

I'd love to go but not well set up for it - young children, no second languages, no in-demand skills. Both DH and I have very middling professional jobs in HE. Of course if it weren't for fucking Brexit we could have just upped sticks and tried our luck in any number of civilised countries. But now we'll have to make a case for ourselves and frankly i think we'd be hard to sell. I do have a friend with a similar background who has moved to the Netherlands though - need to have a serious chat with her about how she managed it! If we're going to do it would probably be wise to do it before the kids are at secondary school.

The next GE (whenever it comes) will be the clincher for me. If we get the Tories again we are utterly, utterly fucked. Even with the best possible outcome even a brilliant government would struggle to turn this train wreck around now but my hope for the best would be given a shot in the arm if these crooks were given a drubbing. Right now I am grimly of the opinion that we currently have the government the majority of the country richly deserve, given the way they've been voting for the past 12 years and given Brexit.

You're assuming that everyone living in the UK has never lived in any other country. Every single one has its positives and negatives.

I've mentioned to our teens it is an option for them in their futures.

It's something previous generations of our family have had some people do.

However all places have problems - it's just what they are and how they could affect them also pointed out it's not as easy as rocking up and staying as there are often criteria to meet and it will often take time and work.

My family it's been previous Canada, NZ, Aus, S Africa - DH had work colleges relocate to US and Europe and know some friends do Aus and Canada which took them years.

DH and I have moved around the UK - it's not all equal - some areas are better than others and NHS isn't a uniform service - but I don't think we'd leave UK now - we've got through bad years before.

Try looking at the expat fb pages..
Half the UK immigrants in France are doing a demi tour. The ones that remain seem to be retired & financially secure, living in their little Anglo expat bubble.
I would love to leave France.
So.... the grass is always greener

I'm already gone. And as much as I love the British people, aspects of our culture, and miss my family, I won't be back in the near future. I can't justify lowering my quality of life. My uncle has been diagnosed with cancer and is now on month 4 waiting for an appointment just to discuss the next steps. Here in Germany, I'd be cancer free by now (uncle just needs to decide whether to get the organ taken out or frozen). Likewise, my mum has been waiting for an operation for 2 years, again, I would've had it 20 months ago. Not to mention free higher education, good public transport, the cheap nursery fees and high child benefit / money for me to stay at home and watch my children whilst they're young.

I worry about my family and friends a lot and really hope something changes soon for the UK. I don't blame people for leaving but it's such a shame that some feeling like they have to.