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.

I don’t disagree with the problems you raise, but the rot goes deeper even than that. Fundamentally the globalised market economy run for the benefit of making the rich who own the earth itself ever richer cannot support the large number of people here.

On that we agree - globalisation has been very damaging for workers. I forgot to add in net zero which has left the UK with energy prices 5 x higher than the USA. This is a disaster for everyone but particularly the less well off.

The OP is talking about emigrating with "a certain level of investment". For most EU countries that means about £0.5m I think. With that level to invest, I think you'll be fine whether in UK or elsewhere. Ultimately you can make that money grow wherever you are and have no reason to leave the UK.

Sorry folks but I’m bored now. Can we get back to telling the OP that she is BU?

@scorpiogirlyeven your own private island would have issues 😂

For France you need access to around €22k, that's all

Per annum.

Link to the 22k per annum French programme? Seems crazy if true.

For a long stay visa in France you need just under €22k pa minimum income. For a work visa it’s around €31k.

So you’d need investment of min 750k if not working.

That depends on your age doesn't it. They don't ask for predicted income over an extended period, just that you have enough money to not be a burden on the state coming in regularly. You don't have to have 500k or 750k in investments/savings in order to get a visa.

@hydriotaphia it is true.

It depends whether you’re working or not. If your working you need 31k pa

If you’re not working you need a minimum income of ~ 22k pa (42k for a couple). You need to prove of income to get a visa.

If you only wanted to stay for a couple of years say you’d need to show you had savings to cover your income for your stay - so 2 years x minimum wage ~ 22k pa = 44k.

Globalisation hasn’t been damaging for all workers. It has helped hugely to raise living standards in Asia. If people are agreeing that the only way out of the mess is for all countries in the world to co-operate to get us out of the shithole caused by most of the wealth and power being held in a small number of private hands, out of the reach of the vast majority of global citizens whether or not they live in democratic countries, then they should stop arguing that globalisation is the problem, rather than that the concentration of the world’s wealth and power into a tiny number of malevolent hands is the problem.

So - do people think countries should co-operate more or less? Be more global or more insular? Do we really think that if countries cease to even attempt to co-operate globally on climate change, mass migration, quality of life for all humans on the planet, etc, that these problems will go away? Or are they secretly yearning for a return to the historical status quo of regular warfare, epidemic and famine in every country of the world? I can see why the US might find that appealing, given that its wealth is founded on the massive financial profit it made from WW1 and WW2, but I really don’t see the benefit in that to Europe or to democracy.

And if immigrants really are pouring unsustainably into the US and Europe, there are reasons for that which are not fixed by pretending those reasons don’t exist and don’t affect us if we don’t want them to, and that all we need to do is tell the immigrants we don’t want to piss off, or to fly them home - or possibly, eventually, just shoot them.

People come here for the freebies (& soft justice system!).
Haven't you noticed!!?!

Absolutely go for it. I moved back a few years ago after seven years abroad. I’d seriously forgotten how dismal it is here. Looking to leave asap.

I lived in Bangkok for many years and can confirm life was “sooooo” much better there. I moved back here for different job opportunities, but will eventually move back. Fantasy world? Where else have you lived that makes you think these are just rose tinted spectacles?

So people, I have a dilemma and need some advice. I rent a flat above a shop and the shop owner is my landlady. I've lived here for about 2 years and everything has been great. Over the last couple of months however, I have noticed that said business are using my bins for disposal of their rubbish. On one occasion they had filled up my recycling bin with there waste and left no room for mine. The other day was bin collection day but I didn't put my bins out as they were only half full. I noticed out the window that one of the employees had put my bins out so that they could dispose of some large cardboard boxes and once my bins had been emptied, they had placed more of there waste from the business in the bottom of my bin. I'm actually furious about it, they have Never asked me if it's OK and because my landlady owns the shop I feel like they think they have a right. I don't want to upset my landlady for obvious reasons but at the same time I'm furious and want to say something. What would you do and what would you say? Please help, it's causing me so much frustration and anger. Thankyou in advance for any help X

Start your own thread, might get more answers.

I think the worst thing about the U.K. for me is the feeling of isolation. And the cost to get anywhere else

I have lived in other countries in the EU. I have dual nationality. UK and EU passport.

In the EU, you feel so much more connected to other countries.

When i lived in Milan, Italy, I could get a very cheap train up to Switzerland at the weekend. I believe the train was about 30 euro return, or less

I also remember that flights between EU countries were so much more cheaper, than flights from the UK to the EU

Now, I am back working in the UK for a while.

I feel trapped and isolated here. We are so far from anywhere else and it is difficult to get anywhere else.

I remember getting a flight from italy to spain for 40 euro.

I looked at flight prices from london gatwick to spain and they were showing as 300 pounds, one way!

The eurostar to France - i looked it up, it is also showing as 350 pounds! So there is no hopping over to france for a weekend on a train - as it would not be worth the huge price

The feeling of real isolation in the UK, is what makes me unhappy here.

The other thing that I find diffcult about England, in my opinion, that a lot of people can be rude and unfriendly here.

It probably stems from how isolated the country is.

In other countries in the EU, where people are much more connected with each other, people are much more friendly. As they are used to being very connected.

I don't understand this post.

The UK is one of the best connected countries in Europe, home to one of the world's busiest airports and with several other major international airports.

To read your posts, you'd swear this was North Korea!

How on earth is it the best connected.

It is an island!

How on earth could it be the best connected country in europe.

You can get extremeley cheap and quick trains between mainland European ountries.

There is ONLY one train that connects the UK with the rest of Europe, and that one train (Eurostar) is extremely expensive. I was shocked at the price of it.

Flights out of of the Uk are also very expensive.

So tell me, how is the UK well connected to other countries by land and air?

How on earth is it the best connected.
It is an island!

I'm not sure if you've heard of this thing known as air travel? It's by far the most popular means of international travel. Has been for a while now.

Not to mention that there's quite literally a whole world out there outside Europe, and Britain is very well connected to the US, Australia and beyond.

Flights out of of the Uk are also very expensive.

Are you just making stuff up?

Why would the country which has more international air traffic than anywhere else in Europe have more expensive flights?

"I am not sure if you have heard of this thing called air travel".

How pompous of you.

Seeing as I mentioned air travel in my post, you could probably deduce, that I have heard about it.

Lets talk about train travel. Do you agree that otber countries in Europe are better connected by train, than the U.K. is?

The other thing that makes the U.K. extremely isolated, is Brexit.