Page 5 | Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

Mightymoog · 28/03/2025 17:56

Simonjt · 28/03/2025 17:33

People with disabilities are allowed to choose where they live you know.

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the disabled person is a child: they tend to go with parents

RedToothBrush · 28/03/2025 17:57

Skethylita · 28/03/2025 17:27

From experience, running from something you dislike will make it unlikely you become happier if you are only running towards something else because it is NOT your origin. Emigration to a different country is serious, on a practical, cultural and emotional level. I would know, I've done it twice.

So much to consider:

Language: do you speak it well enough to get by and support yourself? Will you be able to work without proof of this?
Cultural ties: is where you're looking to go vastly different from here? What would you miss? (and "nothing" is a childish answer) I have moved between 3 European countries which are, supposedly, very similar in culture and attitudes and yet each time I found them very different from each other, and a huge culture shock when I found that things just didn't work the way I was used to. How warm people are upon meeting you, how quickly friendships form, how formal work places are, what the buerocracy is like.
Safety net: will you cope without one? No family to help, no friends close at hand?
Financial: can you actually afford to move? Can you afford to sustain yourself while you look for work? Will you be allowed to? What restrictions are there? Not many countries allow benefits until you have lived, contributed, become resident, and even gained citizenship in many cases.
Practical: what rights will you lose? The right to free healthcare? The right to vote in elections? The right to walk alone?
Education: if you have children, how will they cope with different demands?
How will you cope with xenophobia? It's everywhere, in every country. How will you like being looked at as "not belonging", a "bloody foreigner", an outsider, and all the other prejudice you will face? Because you will face it.

And as someone who still has friends and family all across the world, many countries struggle with all that is a bit shit in the UK. High crime levels, lack of safety, lack of money, both public and i people's pockets... it's really not rosy out there right now. The whole world is unstable.

So much truth here about 'running away'.

The grass is always greener. Until you hit reality and you see new problems you can't comprehend from your position here and now.

Thepeopleversuswork · 28/03/2025 17:58

I agree that the UK is in a very depressing place. The economy is in structural decline and the combination of high tax and low growth is weighing on living standards. There are no growth industries and the service industries which have supported this country for several decades are quietly dying. The political culture is a depressing choice between of far right post-Brexit boosterism vs limp and incompetent old-fashioned Labour and social cohesion is almost non-existent. I'm worried about the environment our children are growing up in and I would certainly encourage my daughter to take a job opportunity overseas if she had one: probably in Asia.

For all that though, there's still much to love about the UK. I love the people, the landscape, the sense of humour, the cities the food, the culture, music etc. Plus I can't see an immediate alternative. While I do understand the desire to leave, I'm not convinced its any easier anywhere else in the west.

It will come back. Possibly not for a generation and possibly even after I'm gone, but I'm not quite giving up on Blighty.

Oistinemup · 28/03/2025 17:58

I always had the plan to move to France when the DC were off our hands . However the Brexit vote in 2016 messed that idea up. I aware that it is still possible but am still pissed off that it will be so much more difficult to make it happen.

The UK has faults but I think ALL countries do.

Mightymoog · 28/03/2025 17:59

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I'm not ruing voting for brexit

BatchCookBabe · 28/03/2025 18:00

flyingbuttress43 · 28/03/2025 17:51

Sorry, but I had to laugh about the poster who said they would go to France. Meanwhile migrants are queueing up on the beaches to get into dinghies to make the dangerous crossing to England - away from France.

As someone who has worked and lived in many countries over the last seven decades I can assure you that every country has problems - maybe different ones - and you should hear the people who live in them moan about their country going to the dogs.

By all means head for the hills as long as you realise it ain't all sunshine and rainbows in any country. Just go with a positive attitude, or alternatively stay here with a positive attitude. It's the attitude that matters, not the country,

This. ^ And this thread has brought out predictable bullshine comments about people who voted for Brexit. 🙄

You can't make this shit up! 😂 Every. Fucking. TIME. It's like they're just waiting for an opportunity.

Seriously anti-Brexit people, if you wanna leave the UK, (because its' such a HORRIBLE place 'since Brexit.') no-one is stopping you. But you won't go will you?! NOPE, you won't! You're all talk, and hot air, like most UK bashers/Brexit frothers.

NoraLuka · 28/03/2025 18:01

I moved away from the UK nearly 20 years ago, I love where I live now (quite a lot of the time!) but it’s not paradise and I don’t have a perfect life. There have been ups and downs and plateaus like there would have been if I’d stayed in the UK, and I think anyone who moves abroad with the idea that everything will be easier can only be disappointed.

CoralOP · 28/03/2025 18:01

Honestly why is everyone trying to give OP a hard time??
The UK has horrendous problems with no view of improvement.
My first thought would be good on you OP, go grab life by the balls and give it a good.
A lot of your responses are 'the grass isn't greener", "where do you think your going to go", "can't go there because there was an earth quake" bla bla bla. Why on earth have such a negative mindset?? Why are you so venomously defending the UK??

There are thousands of people that have left the UK and living their dream.
A lot of people in other countries are just happier more content people, people in the UK (evidently by the way respond to this post) are angry, worn down and just pure nasty.
Maybe that's because of the crime they live with, the illegal immigration, poor health care (don't tell me the NHS is good when people have to wait years) , social inequality, weather, underpay, no hope for the future Etc etc.
You should definitely look to leave OP, obviously there will be huge pros and cons but there's a whole world out there and we do not have it good in the UK xx

MaggieBsBoat · 28/03/2025 18:01

Where will you go that will have you?
To go to EU you’ll have to earn minimum just under 60k.
I left for EU when Brexit happened and have been away since. It has been amazing for my kids - safer, cleaner, higher standard of living and they are now basically locals. I’ll never be local and the general feeling is that foreigners are less welcome than ever before. I miss the UK.

Wolfpa · 28/03/2025 18:02

Where would you go? What skills do you have?

Lentilweaver · 28/03/2025 18:02

Wolfpa · 28/03/2025 18:02

Where would you go? What skills do you have?

I don't think we will get an answer.

Mightymoog · 28/03/2025 18:02

Oistinemup · 28/03/2025 17:58

I always had the plan to move to France when the DC were off our hands . However the Brexit vote in 2016 messed that idea up. I aware that it is still possible but am still pissed off that it will be so much more difficult to make it happen.

The UK has faults but I think ALL countries do.

why is it so much more difficult?
I just had a quick look in case things have changed but it appears you just need a visa, proof of funds and health insrance.
Are there further things?

DaphneduM · 28/03/2025 18:03

@Bignanna Lol - ok!!!! Do you understand what the words 'deprived area' means? There are also many social challenges in the nearby City too. But my husband volunteers at a historic visitor attraction and meets people from all over the world who absolutely wax lyrical about the beauty and history of our country.

I'm old enough to believe that you absolutely get out what you put in - look for the negative and of course you'll find it, look for the positives and you'll find them too! We won't be heading abroad any time soon!

BatchCookBabe · 28/03/2025 18:03

Lentilweaver · 28/03/2025 18:02

I don't think we will get an answer.

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Me neither.

Parker231 · 28/03/2025 18:04

BatchCookBabe · 28/03/2025 18:00

This. ^ And this thread has brought out predictable bullshine comments about people who voted for Brexit. 🙄

You can't make this shit up! 😂 Every. Fucking. TIME. It's like they're just waiting for an opportunity.

Seriously anti-Brexit people, if you wanna leave the UK, (because its' such a HORRIBLE place 'since Brexit.') no-one is stopping you. But you won't go will you?! NOPE, you won't! You're all talk, and hot air, like most UK bashers/Brexit frothers.

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We have left because of Brexit as have others on this thread.

Mightymoog · 28/03/2025 18:04

MaggieBsBoat · 28/03/2025 18:01

Where will you go that will have you?
To go to EU you’ll have to earn minimum just under 60k.
I left for EU when Brexit happened and have been away since. It has been amazing for my kids - safer, cleaner, higher standard of living and they are now basically locals. I’ll never be local and the general feeling is that foreigners are less welcome than ever before. I miss the UK.

that sounds tough, are you coming back when the kids have left home?
What prompted the move in the first place?

Ubertomusic · 28/03/2025 18:04

WonderingWanda · 28/03/2025 17:17

I don't agree with all these doom laden posts about the UK going downhill.

Most similar countries who industrialised at the same are seeing the same economic struggles that's true but if you look at our standard of living its still incredibly high. Of course there are some places where things might appear more shiny and new like Dubai but there's always a catch such as human rights inequality, exploitation and discrimination. There are lots of positives about the UK and if the press weren't so intent on clickbait headlines we might learn more about all the good things which are happening here all the time too.

The UK standard of living is incredibly shit for a "developed" country 😂

Mightymoog · 28/03/2025 18:06

Parker231 · 28/03/2025 18:04

We have left because of Brexit as have others on this thread.

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so you were having a reasonably decent life in the Uk and when you heard the Brexit result you decided to leave for another country?
Can I ask why?

BatchCookBabe · 28/03/2025 18:06

Parker231 · 28/03/2025 18:04

We have left because of Brexit as have others on this thread.

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Good for you! 🏅 Most Brexit whingers haven't left the UK though. And never will.

TeapotTitties · 28/03/2025 18:07

What's with all the pointless threads lately where OP's deliberately miss out crucial information?

Missohnoyoubetterdont · 28/03/2025 18:07

I think this is one of these threads designed to cause a bun fight. OP was never going to come back, just lit the blue touch paper and retired to safety. 😂 No one cares if you go, U.K is overcrowded as it is. Grass always seems greener elsewhere but it’s not.

Talkinpeace · 28/03/2025 18:10

Several friends' adult kids have moved BACK from Dubai and Abu Dhabi
so that their kids get a proper social life and schooling.

The UK has its issues, but so does everywhere.

Firsttimecommentor · 28/03/2025 18:11

HonoraBridge · 28/03/2025 16:31

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 would love to know what is going down hill that affects you? I see these posts often and statements from people and I wondered if it’s actually things that people have been affected by or just news headlines people see. Not saying that for yourself.
What makes you want to leave? X

Parker231 · 28/03/2025 18:12

Mightymoog · 28/03/2025 18:06

so you were having a reasonably decent life in the Uk and when you heard the Brexit result you decided to leave for another country?
Can I ask why?

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We’re not British and didn’t want to live in a country outside the EU.

Life was good in the Uk (and prior to that in Belgium) but it’s better now we have moved.

Angelil · 28/03/2025 18:12

I left in 2008 to live with my French husband. We then left France for the Netherlands for work purposes in 2017 and our aim is to return to France at the very least for retirement if not before. We will never return to live in the U.K. So I don’t think you are being unreasonable, OP.