Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

[HonoraBridge]

I love the UK in many ways but it has been going downhill for at least 20 years and it feels as if the speed of the decline is accelerating. I no longer see a happy, or particularly safe, future here. For the first time in my life, I am very seriously thinking about leaving the UK and that feeling gets stronger day by day. When I mention this to friends, many are feeling the same way. YANBU - you are right to think seriously about leaving the UK. YABU - the UK is a still a great country to live in and you are being unreasonable to want to leave.

Housing unaffordable, lack of housing, tent cities all over the place, full of trash and drugs.

Opioid epidemic, fentanyl is killing addicts regularly.

Rising crime (see, drug problems.)

Public education is rather shit, worse than the UK for sure. My kids in high school academic English had the teacher read the novels to them - this is not uncommon. Science teaching is marginally better, math not so much, humanities are completely lame. Some get out of this problem by putting their kids in IB schools if they are available which means living in the right place.

Serious issues with the medical system, you will likely be on a wait list for a GP and may well never get off it. Treatment for minor issues, or even major ones, means trying to find a walk in clinic or ER visit, with no follow up. Increasing instances of deaths in ERs of people waiting to be seen. Long waits for procedures.

Programs and such for kids with special needs are uneven and variable.

Media climate is very flat compared to the UK, there are very few major newspapers so the variety of takes that happens in the UK media isn't available, and it shows in the political discourse.

Rising prices generally, especially food. Wages are flat.

Because I don’t agree with you, I’m trolling am I? Hmm, I thought you lot were all for free speech 😜

I haven’t misquoted anything, it’s you doing the misquoting, you’re shutting me down because you don’t like being challenged. Fair enough, that’s par for the course, isn’t it? 🤣

You can be skilled and still not allowed to move to another country because they already have enough people with your skills.

Post brexit is not as easy as just deciding you want to live somewhere else (in Europe)/France… there’s quite a lot of hoops you will have to jump through!!! Proof of earnings, savings, employment contract, French language etc etc. I’ve lived in France for 15 years and I’m not sure I would make the effort now tbh with the various requirements! x

Kindly - this is not just where you live. It’s everywhere! Clearly you cannot hire someone illegally that goes without saying. But I’m assuming the OP is not asking advise about illegal immigration! Not was I offering any under those circumstances. I have lived in 5 different counties so far and none of those have been illegal- all done with the correct paperwork. My experience, as I said above, as it’s the only thing I can draw from is that if you have the right skills and or/investments as the OP implied then it’s possible. And can be very beneficial depending on personal circumstances.

How am I supposed to know what race you are behind a screen of an anonymous forum? I obviously said ‘’you lot’’ meaning anti immigrant types. Don’t be ridiculous. Clearly I’m not bigotted by the rest of my comments 🤣

I’m a troll because i don’t agree with you and challenged you and you don’t like being challenged. Nigel Farage tactics there. He does the exact same thing when he’s uncomfortable about being challenged, just refuses to answer and blame shifts 🤣. It’s very predictable and quite funny 🤣

My eldest is leaving we’ve strongly encouraged our DS to get transferable skills, we’ve both lived overseas, if it was t for elderly parents we’d consider it.

I moved to the U.K. in 2000 as a young adult so all my adult live was here and my career although interchangeable would suffer if I moved abroad. My kids school is here , friends , family etc . When I moved it was a land of opportunity, people were nicer too . When I traveled back to other European countries I could actually see a better quality of life in the U.K. back then . At the moment it’s the opposite, while other countries developed to better working conditions more family time and quality of life the U.K. seems to be going the opposite , wages are stagnant , people are feeling it so blame anyone , I never felt as much xenophobia before , work values are getting closer to USA ones with less free time more work focused , people’s value is measured in productivity and earnings instead of focused on social value as family time . It’s the the U.K. forgot what is important .
A couple if years ago I would have considered the U.K. my forever home , I moved to Scotland to get some shelter from the awful xenophobic attitudes from the south but I do worry it’s climbing up here . And for the first time I consider moving elsewhere .

We're leaving the UK in a couple of weeks. I've no regrets, which is surprising me tbh! In fact I can't wait. We've lived with a foot in each country for a few years so know what we're moving to.

We're getting peace, quiet, countryside, low crime levels, way less traffic, better weather, healthcare that outperforms the NHS and very cheap housing. Taxes will be a little higher, and there'll be a contribution to healthcare costs, but that's literally a small price to pay.

I suspect the native locals don't have the same rosy eyed view as you.

I wish people would put the relevant information in the first post. OP is considering an investment visa. That's a whole different discussion.
Where to?

Talking to a retired lady the other day. She came back from Australia because she couldn’t afford live there (leaving her daughter and family there). Cost of living problems are occurring everywhere. She said she has a much better life here.

Which countries are you considering, @HonoraBridge? I know New Zealand is conditional residency for NZ$ 3 million!! Presumably some others are more doable.

100% agree. People always romanticise what life will be like in another country. But, once you live there, all the same day-to-day problems exist. With the additional problem of navigating them as a recent immigrant, which is extremely difficult, even if you speak the language.

In Spain, so many Brits moved there because they were tempted by the lifestyle they’d had on holiday. They bought remote cortijos (rural cottages) with romantic dreams of doing them up. But it’s not summer all year round. In February, it’s grey and the roads are treacherous with rain. It’s more like North Wales. You have to drive down windy roads for 30 mins just to buy bread and milk. Remote homes are cheap because they’re not connected to the electrical grid or water system, which costs a fortune and lots of red tape to sort out. Or poorly built with expensive maintenance problems. Savings get swallowed up.

People are isolated and can’t make local friends, as the only people to talk to are older neighbours, who speak very strong dialects and don’t have a great deal of conversation. There’s a growing problem of people who moved there when they retired at 60 getting old and one partner getting sick and dying, leaving the other living alone, struggling to drive and in need of care, with no family to look after them, and unable to speak in Spanish to local care services or medical staff.

Some people say they moved abroad because they’re fed up with immigrants in the UK, who don’t integrate. It’s lost on them that they’re immigrants who don’t integrate, can’t speak the language properly and instead stick to the immigrant British community.

Even in towns and cities, there are many of the same problems as the UK. Housing is shockingly expensive. People are fed up with politicians tinkering with fundamentally flawed systems. Youth unemployment is unbelievably high - nudging 50% in some areas - even for graduates. Inequality and poverty are common. Lots of younger people emigrate or are considering it.

Too many people move to areas they don’t know well, aren’t fluent in the language or understand the culture.

We chose a country we knew well, we spoke the language and already had friends and family there.

I think the grass is seldom really greener on the other side. I don’t think anywhere in the world is particularly stable atm, so I would not be inclined to move somewhere where I have no citizenship just because it appears welcoming for now. It will in all likelihood only appear that way for as long as you have no personal bad luck and the country has no political regime or negative economic change. If you did have to come back to the UK in a rush, because things went wrong in a country where you were no longer welcome, you may also find you have made your situation far worse here than it would have been if you hadn’t left in pursuit of the mythical green grass in the first place. Moving in search of novelty is one thing, but thinking you are escaping a sinking ship is another.

I live in the ME in one of the Gulf States and have been here for eleven years. We are seriously considering retiring here as the standard of living,healthcare,social life etc is so far above the UK it's just not comparable. I love this beautiful little Island with all my heart and am overwhelmed daily by the warmth and kindness of the locals many of whom have become firm friends. We have a practically non existent crime rate and the law of the land is heavily based on British principles so no scary nonsense like in the UAE. I would be very sad to go back to UK.

I’m sure it’s great living there whilst you are comparatively wealthy. Retiring there, however, while your health declines and potentially your wealth, and you may (will…) find yourself considerably less welcome there, and not entitled to help if you return to the UK after years as a non-resident citizen.

We're getting peace, quiet, countryside, low crime levels, way less traffic, better weather, healthcare that outperforms the NHS and very cheap housing. Taxes will be a little higher, and there'll be a contribution to healthcare costs, but that's literally a small price to pay

@Helterskelterthroughtheday which country is this, please?