Moving abroad has made me realise how bloody dire the UK is

[MattHancocksPrivateNurse]

We moved abroad 4 months ago and after the normal wobbles and adjustments I am now shocked at how different (and much better!) life is. We have considerably more spending money despite paying for private school and healthcare (which are much much better than the UK). It’s safer, considerably cleaner, better public services and much better food quality.

already I can’t see us ever going back and already want to explore somewhere new eventually! But if anyone is feeling low and despondent about the uk which we really were and gets an opportunity (or has a transferable job) I would 100000% recommend looking into it.

i wish we had done it 10 years ago tbh. AIBU to never come back bar the odd visit to see family and friends?!

I just don’t recognise the description of the UK as dire 🤷🏻‍♀️ Yes it’s got its problems but so does everywhere, nowhere is perfect. I would bet my house on the OP dashing back to the UK quick smart if trouble flares up again in the ME!

This - slavery - is what you are pretending not to see in your desperation to feather your own nest.

Either that, or you lack any critical thinking skills.

Which is it?

I've been to the airport in Muscat. That was enough for me.

I lived in a different Gulf state and that's exactly how it is. I enjoyed my time there despite all the limitations, but it is very transient, with people coming and going all the time. You are basically a 'guest worker' and are only there at the goodwill of your employer. There is no path to citizenship or even long term residence. Which most people won't want, at least not people from Western countries, but it just underscores how it's never a place you will call home.

That’s true. DH’s niece moved to another European country and was constantly posting about how great new place was and shite the UK was. Until it all went tits up and she slunk back. Suddenly it wasn’t shite when she was wanting a council house, benefits and free NHS treatment.

Your husband could rape you in Oman and not be prosecuted - rape within marriage does not exist there as husbands are considered to have unfettered access to their wives bodies.

There's sexual assault over there too. It's just that women are too scared to report it and won't be taken seriously so there's very little data.

Enjoy your air conditioned dark ages!

The reality is that all Western countries are going through the same problems.

Housing shortages, rising cost of living, stagnant wages, declining public services, tensions over immigration, the threat of AI. You'll find variations on the above pretty much wherever you go, but for so many on this forum, everywhere outside Britain is paradise.

Oman?!
No wonder you hate the UK. You want to live under an Absolute Monarchy!
No doubt everywhere is very clean and women get treated "well".

It's great until your husband loses his health insurance and you've been gone too long outside of the UK to get back on the NHS in a hurry

This ⬆️

Very true. However, if you don't like liberal democracy and a free press, European countries aren't for you!

"Algarve are in the uk" ???

The thing is, although you live in Oman, you haven’t really actually ‘moved to Oman’ as in embracing the life Oman nationals will have. You only enjoy it so much because you’re in a British bubble, enjoying the full benefits of a uk citizen on foreign soil.

That’s totally fine but it isn’t ’moving abroad’ really.

Good for you OP. What’s the health care like, particularly for incurable cancer patients ( like me). My treatment at the famous Christie hospital has been good. Yes they are overwhelmed with an increase in patients, but in the main, the treatment for an incurable aggressive disease, far outweighs my expectations. Is it the same in Oman?

Never mind the slavery, it's cleaner!

Citizenship after 20 years of residency and other requirements.

Sorry to hear you're giving through this, but am glad your treatment is good.
💐

I'm not sure how the "never go back" thing will work for OP. Surely Oman is like the UAE where you are there as long as you are working and then you are out - along with your children once they reach 18. I have a cousin who was reared in Dubai. insofar as he thinks he is from anywhere it is Dubai. Except his parents no longer live there because his dad's job ended and he isn't entitled to live there. it is a strange way to rear children imo - no nationality.

4 months in an expat gated community in/near Muscat on a work visa is a little premature to be making such pronouncements. Give it time. Sexual assault happens everywhere, please don’t assume your daughters are protected from it anywhere. I left the UK almost 20 years ago for a vastly superior quality of life…by the metrics of things money can buy. If that’s what matters to you, you’re in fine company and good luck to you. But it’s absolutely not substitute for the things that truly matter in life. Give serious thought to where you’ll go next because continue like this and whatever people you know in the UK - home of the forum you’ve come to for like-minded company - won’t welcome you home.

You value money over human rights, women's rights, any friends and family back home, a diverse and beautiful countryside and a broadly temperate climate.

Money has never been that important to me that I could leave all that behind and start again somewhere new. I do think it's great to experience living in another country for a while, and would expect some things to be better and some to be worse in any other country. But I can't think of a single country I'd move to for the long term away from my family and friends.

I also value the environment so would not want a lifestyle that involved regular flying every time I wanted to see family/friends.

I am very grateful for my very average British life.

I’ve lived all over the world. Came back to uk 5 years ago. Despite its limitations I’m grateful to be back. Wouldn’t swap it.

Your chickens will come home to roost eventually OP. I agree with the PPs who’ve said to watch how smug you are with friends and family at home. 🤭

Ive lived all over the world as my parents worked for the World Bank. Im 64 and spent a good amount of my adult life abroad as well working and what have you.
Ive never been happier than here in the UK and Im not going abroad again. I love it here.

I think it very much depends on where in the UK and your lifestyle tbh!

I live in NE Scotland, we have lots of outdoor time, I can have a lunchtime sea swim or paddleboard. We regularly see dolphins, seals and wildlife. Winter we are an hour to go skiing.

My community is welcoming, public transport is alright, less then an hour to an airport and we have clean air and good schools.

ME in summer is my idea of hell and likely to be inside a lot to avoid the heat! It's not my cup of tea personally but neither is SE England!