To think leaving UK is the best Option now

[LeavinUK]

We are thinking of leaving UK now to move to Dubai or USA. We have two young children who are in nursery, not in School yet and one will start school next year.
The reasons are the state of UK. Looking at the state of NHS, the waits are so long if you ever have to go to A&E, you can access better healthcare of you have insurance in any other country. Another reason is the ever increasing tax, we both work full time and I have the potential to earn six figures but I am staying at a flexible job to earn under 6 figures and I am forced to not get a promotion or switching to High paying jobs by the fact that I won't be eligible for 30 funded hours of Childcare which I I think is very unfair on hard working people who want to progress in career while having young children. UK doesn't feels like a family friendly country overall.
We also don't feel safe now going out to city centre etc which have become a ghost town and so much of illegal immigrants loitering around and so much increase in crimes.
Our friends who moved to Dubai are able to afford full time house help, nanny and a driver while earning similar to ourselves. While, here we are struggling with young kids and paying huge taxes. I have family in USA who are earning big bucks and paying much less taxes and being able to save and invest better for retirement while we will be working till 68 potentially 70 which is totally insane.
AIBU to feel leaving UK is the best option now and have you made a move or considering moving?

I want a wider reaching nhs, safer streets, better public services, subsidised childcare and low taxes.

Lol.

The cost of health insurance in the USA is crazy.

Many people move to the middle east for the lower taxes, higher standards of living and the low cost of labour. Full time nannies, cleaners, housekeepers - what's not to love?

Well there's quite a lot not to love but if the above are your priorities you'll probably fit right in.

This 100%. By all means leave for a better life but don't think either of those places are the answer

'I emigrated because there were too many immigrants'.

Lol, ok then.

It’s different, OP is white. She will be a much loved expat, living in an expat community… all the while moaning about immigrants not assimilating.

Private health cover here isn't the same as in other countries. Many private hospitals throughout the country don't have accident and emergency apartments and some don't have ICU or high dependency wards. They work alongside the NHS and not in complete isolation. When I was due to have complicated gynae surgery I couldn't have it privately because the chance of being blue lighted to a NHS hospital was too high. The NHS being a shit show still impacts even those who have private health care in the UK.

Indeed. Many people from very poor countries are available as cheap domestic labour.

Private healthcare doesn’t work for certain procedures, chronic ongoing conditions or emergencies - if you have a stroke in certain areas, for example, you better hope that it’s between 9 and 5 on a week day if you’d like the recommended time critical treatment. We need to stop pretending that the NHS works - it really doesn’t in an awful lot of cases.

If you earn enough, the US - some states more than others - is probably a good place to live. And you can always come back. Dubai - if white and well off - again probably a good quality of life, aside from the heat, but there’s a reason you’ll be able to secure staff at low cost and you need to think about the moral implications of that.

This x 💯

What do you mean be "siege"? What are we under siege from?

We will be only making the move after we get job offers there. We work in tech industry where salaries are high especially in Dubai and California.
Feel free to mock as much as you like but most city centres are becoming ghost towns now and really rough dodgy looking men loitering around and I have never felt safe going alone with young DC even on day times. There have been reports of such men following women and attempts of rape etc.

Dunno. Barbarian tribes? The armies of Genghis Khan?

Yes, the ironic juxtaposition of the 'wants' with "low taxes".

So...do you actually think it's safer in the USA? Is it because you can live in a compound and carry a gun?

I’d take my chances here. Couldn’t have paid us enough to have taken our kids to the US.

Yes you should go. You sound like you'd fit in nicely in both places right now.

You're kidding yourself if you believe life for women is better in the middle east or USA

😂

Off you pop, then.

I have lived abroad previously and would consider living abroad again, but I wouldn't ever move to avoid tax!

I certainly wouldn't consider a move to Dubai or to Trump's USA under any circumstances.

Each to their own, I guess.

Of course, there are no dodgy men in the US.

Just look at the bloody Whitehouse.

And you want great public services but low taxes. How does that work then? 😆

I empathise OP - although, a friend just came back from Dubai, as it wasn’t it was all cracked up to be apparently.

I agree the UK feels on a downward trajectory, and if you’re paying a lot of tax the lifestyle you get / services received don’t really add up.

I think a lot of younger adults are hitting their ‘high earning’ years with small kids and their lifestyle looks nothing like you’d expect. I am surrounded by people in this camp in the South East, technically very high paying jobs but once they’ve paid their huge tax bill, a huge mortgage on a fairly modest house and childcare - there isn’t much left.

I blame:

• freezing of tax thresholds meaning
• removal of childcare hours while making it more generous for everyone else
• silly cost of housing meaning even ‘top 1%’ earners are feeling hard done by

Removing childcare help from high earners is completely radicalising every professional adult I know with young kids. It’s the most monumental F you from the state.

Exactly! Just sounds a bit thick, so do leave by all means and enjoy one of those two utopias.

I have thought about leaving the UK because I feel politically homeless here. I feel like powerless to affect change. I have no problems paying high tax if I see social change as a result of my high taxes but it seems like social change is on a downwards spiral.

The idea of living in a place with low crime rates like Dubai is appealing but im opposed to the fundamental ideologies of the culture.