If you had the chance to move to the USA right now, would you?

[HiddenGiraffes]

Context is it's a major city we've lived in before and liked, and we're currently in London, and like the area we live too. Some family in both countries.

I'm just curious if, given the opportunity to get out of the UK right now, people would consider the US a superior alternative.

I am not sure that being in a democrat heavy state necessarily is the out that you might think.

The prolife lobby make it really hard for doctors to train in performing abortions which makes them harder to access, abortion clinics even in democratic states are still picketed etc . No matter where you live in the US if you need a late termination for medical reasons, it's very hard to access.

Same really for guns - some states have more restrictions but the lack of those restrictions in other states mean many are circulating.

Nope. The guns, the politics, the shocking employment rights for maternity, paid leave etc. Nothing appeals to me for living there. Holidays maybe for the landscapes but that's it.

Some of its true tbh, though newly expensive UK groceries are still less expensive than US groceries.

Personally, no, because I just got back to the UK after more than a decade abroad and not ready to move again, but I wouldn’t mind moving to the US per se ( depends where though- I like DC from what I’ve seen of it). I think these decisions can only be made on a personal basis because all countries have good and bad things and the trick is choosing a country where the bad things aren’t that relevant to you. Like if you move to Spain with young kids then 33% youth unemployment probably isn’t that much of a factor in your decision, whereas a Spanish person with teenagers is probably quite worried about it.

No way.
My sons are young black men. America is not somewhere I would take them to live.

Permanently or for a contract?

Kids? Ages?

Family being parents or more distant family?

both have job offers?

Would you be able to keep your home in the U.K. or is it a sell up & go one way kind of plan?

sorry, too much to consider to just say yes or no! But no kids/young kids probably yes if I could keep my house here, or have a house there I could sell to buy another here.

Coming up exam age kids, no.
unable to afford to move back here, no.

but still lots to consider...

That would be a deciding factor for me too. I've only got girls, they're not actually white but they're very white passing.

No way! I've a friend who done that and then got cancer...she lost everything paying for the treatment. That's without the other reasons. I travelled across America and no way want to live there.

The current political majority in a state at this minute is a very tenuous thing to base a whole life move on. As we've seen before, things can literally change over night.

But well for you if you haven't considered that a significant risk or had a condition that maxes out your insurance - can you guarantee those things won't change for the next five, ten or 15 years? Because if you can't, then I wouldn't take the risk; too easy to fall into a shit situation and much harder to dig back out of.

Maybe but only if the job package meant my standard of living went right up. And not forever. I'd love to live there for a year or two. I'd love to travel in USA more widely. And I have fallen out of love with UK after years of Tory heartless decimation. But i'd never make USA my permanent home.

I have friends who moved back from US to a UK house about 1/5 the size of what they had over there but say they are happier here for so many reasons.

There are plenty of places I would live in the US. And plenty I wouldn't. Same as UK. In your circs I would reach out to local expat FB groups and ask there. You'll get a more balanced view.

My abiding memory of Washing DC is of being in McDonalds and a toothless drug addict coming in and hassling me for money. I wouldn't dream of living there. Mind you I wouldn't live in London again either.

You're right, there's risk. I guess my feeling is that life in the UK is increasingly risky too, and I don't actually know where I think is a better prospect for the next decade. There's some really solid arguments against both options, and also I know day-to-day life will be perfectly nice in both places, at least for the time being.

I have lived in both places and overall prefer the UK. The USA is wonderful if you have lots of money, it is the best place to be if you are rich but the worst place to be if you are poor. The healthcare is either first class or non existent. I have a friend with kidney problems and no health insurance what that means is every now and then she has to be taken to the Emergency Room. They stabilise her and ideally would hand her over to the renal team for follow up. Due to there being no insurance after she is stable they discharge her until the next time. She also gets a bill which she can't pay for the Emergency Room.

Yes. I would worry about the racism that they would encounter.

It's not an opinion that some states are banning abortion, and kids are being shot dead at school. Those are facts.

I’m from California originally, OP. Sounds like it’s a move to Baltimore? I’d never leave London for Baltimore, personally. I wouldn’t return to the States for my own personal reasons (I hate the drive everywhere lifestyle with a passion and the cities that do offer good public transport are shit at the moment. NYC is sliding backwards into Mayor Koch days).

But you’re you, with different needs and different priorities than anyone else on this thread. And despite my negative opinions about America, I firmly believe that you can carve out an incredibly happy and good life in most places if you work it right and put in the effort to make it happen. Everywhere has its positives… even Baltimore.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Hell no

Even I had won the lottery.

And I've lived there before.

Probably not but I guess depends where and only if I could have my tubes tied first as well as vasectomy for DH. Would need amazing pay and benefits too.

I've just seen you have daughters. Absolutely no fucking way would I go in your position. Say after a year your job says actually we need to send you to a different state - where neither you nor your girls have any body autonomy and experience an ectopic pregnancy, a pregnancy that cannot continue for medical reasons or need access to an abortion. What do you do then? Would the move be worth it? A democrat state is no guarantee. It doesn't offer the protection one would think it does.

God no. I've never been, and it's not especially high on my list of possible holiday destinations, never mind as a place to live. The health care and gun laws alone would be enough to put me off. Aside from that, there's no particular pluses that come to mind either. I have no desire to move away from the UK, even with all is flaws.

No. If you had kids I guess you could consider boarding back in the UK or elsewhere safer.

Not Baltimore (though I like Baltimore!) a neighbourhood just over the border from DC, so still basically DC.

SF is actually the other possible option but we have no family there, about two friends, only my husband has ever visited and as far as I can tell housing costs are insane. My friend who lives in SoCal says it's the best city in the country and has great schools, though. Do you have any thoughts?

100% no. Cost of health care, racism, guns and ban on abortion plus the fact that Trump will get back in and back it even worse imo. spent some time off the beaten track in florida and could not believe how openly racist the community there was.