Iceland.Ireland,Austria

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Not an AIBU but here for the traffic ….
Looking for advice…

In the order listed above is the safest countries to live .

Few years back (not sure how many ) I had an inkling iceland was the place to be if the UK got any worse.

I know many people are looking to leave the UK my dilemma is I don’t think I can if I choose too at the moment.

So me …. own business but not something I can transfer and convince Iceland (for example ) to let me in sadly .

Looking to retrain over the next 2/3 years decsisons on what keep changing due to the state of the Uk.

Does anyone have any advice on which route I should be taking with securing my future .

What would you / should I train in and at what level ?
I know what I would be doing if I was choosing to stay in the UK forever but i feel I need to make decisions that open doors to other countries.

Anyone else with this thought process ?

If your reason for wanting to leave the UK is the cost of living and politics, and the three countries you’ve named have been picked based on how safe they are, wouldn’t you be better off drawing up a short list of countries you’d be prepared to move to, do some research on that country’s particular problems (because they all have them) and then, when you’ve narrowed it down, have a look at what occupations they need and whether you need to retrain as a nurse or a plumber.

Personally, I think you’d be insane to move anywhere else at the moment. The world is in total upheaval, America, China and Russia are like three school kids who need to be separated from each other, everything everywhere is going up in price, and there’s not a country in the world that doesn’t have serious problems. Even New Zealand is not the total paradise it looks like from here (although, fair play, it is a stunningly beautiful country). Why would you move when current instability means that everything in that country could change overnight and the UK would be better off?

Haha Thankyou. .No plan as yet for the marriage option.

The first point is really as much understanding as I had on it .

I’ve heard that calling Sweden or Denmark ‘one of the Norwegian countries’ is a sure-fire way of getting awarded a work visa!

I'm Irish and I can't disagree that the weather isn't great but jeez it's practically paradise compared to Iceland
https://www.climechart.com/en/climate-compare/reykjavik/iceland/dublin/ireland

You can forget Austria.
For one thing the COL here is also sky high. There's a lot of discontent. The government shenannigans are ridiculous. There's a lot of far-right sentiment which is unpleasant.
Even before Brexit it was hard to get a decent job if German isn't your first language. Even things like working in a shop are difficult because a lot (probably most) insist on people having the necessary qualifications which school leavers will have gained by doing an apprenticeship and attending vocational school.
Post-Brexit you'll need a visa and a previous poster has written in detail about that and that poster is exactly right about the process.
You haven't got a cat in hell's chance of making it in Austria.

And then even if you did, by some kind of miracle, get a visa and a job and move to Austria and speak perfect German, it's hard to integrate because the people are very insular, even though they are on the whole nice people.
I've been here for years now and I became an Austrian and I have a very nice life but I came long before Brexit when you could just show up, as I did, start out cleaning toilets in a bar and then set up your own business. That isn't possible any more.

As for your "Norwegian countries". Good luck with that. You're not off to a very good start if you are calling them that.

The Irish volcanoes are anything but impressive though.

My oldest son is studying at Uni of Iceland MSc and def if staying other than as a student, he would need to learn Icelandic for residency afaik

I’ve always loved my country but I believe there has had been a massive decline in the UK and i believe you would have to be blind to not see that

Do you understand some of the problems in France and Italy right now? Nobody is disagreeing that we’ve gone downhill a bit in recent years, but I think maybe you should do a bit more research or even watch a bit of tv because you don’t seem to know much about what’s going on in the world at the moment.

@WilfredsPies you have mentioned a lot of what I feel .
I just didn’t want to get too political . The world is bonkers and if I was to get really over thinking ( trying not to ) then I’d be choosing somewhere less likely to be involved in war .

I mentioned Iceland as I believed for a long time it keeps its self away from all the nonsense . ( not choosing for the weather clearly )
Never had an inkling of any sort for Austria. .
Ireland is lovely with many good points but wouldn’t leave where I am for there. .

Now I am not saying I will ever leave .
I am however about to retrain and the first year can lead me in a few directions .
I was really just trying to open as many doors with which ever degree I choose. .

Googled the safest countries to live before I posted and based on a few factors . I decided to type the top three, Iceland scores 1, Ireland 2 Austria 3

Just a coincidence I had an interest in Iceland .
A Thing that has changed is I use to love the snow now I prefer the very hot sun. 😁

The Giant’s Causeway is rather lovely. Though admittedly a bit disappointing on the whole spewing lava stuff.

Don't think you would find any of those have a cheaper COL and your earning power would be relatively lower. Do you have an EU passport? DH had his wallet picked in Austria, so not necessarily less crime.

I feel mainly perplexed that you would ever consider a degree - your writing seems all over the place and erratic?
How old are you OP and is English your second language?

Once again I never said I was choosing France or Italy. (That would have been for a more sunny climate . Before Brexit and before the Ukraine invasion.

This would not be my choice of safest countries to live.

I am not stupid Thankyou .
I read a lot on subjects that are of interest to me and are of importance .

I know the difference between a Warm climate and a cold one funnily enough.

I’ve tried to keep this as non political as possible.
Came here to see what posters thought were best options career wise and door openers to a different way of living.

"Austria might be ‘safe’ for the Austrians, but right-wingers will see you as an undesirable foreigner nonetheless."

@LadyGreySpillsTheTea Well said, this is very true. If you are white British, speak German fluently and do "something" for the community, such as voluntary work the right-wingers will accept you in time but will say you're an exception and not like the other foreigners.
If you're not white, or you're from Eastern Europe or your German is a bit sketchy or you're not a Christian you will be seen as an undesirable foreigner.

I've been in Austria nearly 2 decades. I've become an Austrian. If I had to choose again, knowing what I know now, I think I would have gone somewhere else.

Not being unkind but your grammar is less than perfect OP, are you sure languages are your thing? How old are you?

COL in Ireland and Iceland is huge.
Austria is beautiful but you wouldn't go there for the sun.

As if loads of Brits don't fantasize about moving abroad 😂

@Waterlilysunset original post wasn’t written as best it could have been no.
I’ve been multi tasking while trying to stand my ground here with nit pickers but been here long enough to not be upset by it.

A bold assumption I don’t have a degree ?
Numbers are my thing and written English wasn’t my best subject. Can you tell .
I can read though and very well would you believe.
Can’t all be good at everything .

OP I think you are perhaps not explaining what you want. I think at the crux of it you want to know what skills would help you if you decided to emigrate??

As a PP said the wisest thing to do is start with the places you would like to live and check the skills shortage list for each country to see if there is a common theme.
Failing that the following are normally in demand areas
Engineering, particularly with a transition related theme
Healthcare inc dentistry
Teaching English as a foreign language

I didn’t call you stupid. If I’d wanted to call you stupid, I would have. But you don’t seem to be reading up on things that will impact your future choices. And it was you who mentioned France and Italy. I didn’t just magic them out of thin air.

The world is bonkers and if I was to get really over thinking (trying not to ) then I’d be choosing somewhere less likely to be involved in war So we’re quite possibly on the brink of WW3 and you’re thinking Iceland, which is right between Greenland, where Trump wants to set up his various military bases, and Russia, where Putin is making noises about the other countries he’d quite like to invade once he’s got Ukraine. Interesting choice.

I think you need to forget about European countries. There’s not a degree out there that is going to get you a job ahead of all the EU citizens who can already speak the language.

Okay so you’re good at maths, that’s good. What’s your current degree in? Can you use that?

Sorry my written English is not up to the level of MN tonight .
I really thought the daily mail had me on the right path then i realised maybe not , so I’ve been sitting her watching tv now .
what else should I do ?
Learn geography? As I thought Iceland was in the sunny south and France and even Austria were part of Asia. .silly me
I mean I’ve always loved ski ing in puerto rico .

@Waterlilysunset For god sake stop looking for drama .

If you want to retrain to be able to emigrate, you should look at the occupations listed for critical skills work permits for the countries you're interested in, so you can get an idea of what makes you an attrative immigrant. Then you can study nursing, physio, statistics or whatever appeals most to you.

I wish I'd done this when I was younger - midwives for example seem to be in demand in so many countries, not so politics grads.