Do you regret moving abroad?

[Flumux]

Do you think life would have been better in the UK?

We love London but hate paying an effective 50% tax rate. So we are looking at doing a few years in Cayman.

It should be good experience professionally but may be seen as a slight step back in terms of quality.

No regrets. 11 years in Dublin and now 17 years in Portugal. I might move back to Ireland one day but would never live in the U.K. again

@OptimismvsRealism LOL the NHS isn’t helping anyone at the moment no matter where you live. Can’t see anyone benefitting from coming back to use a broken system with years of waiting lists and substandard care

Well the millions of people currently receiving billions of pounds of treatment might disagree. It is a big problem, financially.

It is such an odd, hyperbolic and spoilt attitude to suggest that the NHS isn't actually excellent. Of course there are serious problems with it but there's a reason people come back when they get sick and old.

We moved to France (from London), initially for a year but decided to stay. The older children are nostalgic about the UK (especially their primary school) but I enjoy living here. My husband is French but had been in the UK for 20 years and had UK citizenship. The public services are much better. Taxes are fairly high but we actually pay less tax here than we would in the UK because we had a third child after we moved here. (Big tax break with no 3 here.) Youngest is now at an excellent municipal crèche which costs a small fraction of anything comparable in the UK.

@OptimismvsRealism I almost died because of NHS neglect and failed care so no, I don’t think I’m spoiled, nor do I think it’s excellent. It’s patchy at best.

You're being very nieve here.

I know of two different people that live abroad and are registered at their families GP.

One of those is receiving great care from our NHS despite not living here for 14 years. The countries they're in you have to pay for medical care, or just pretty much die!

Yeah exactly

And it might be a bit better if we weren't funding millions of pounds of treatment for people who don't pay anything...

Absolutely no regrets, though we didn't move to pay less tax - we moved to experience a different way of life. We pay more tax now but such an investment in great health care, transport, schools etc. Can't see us coming back.

I have zero regrets. I very much enjoyed my ten years in London, but I found it very hard work once I had a baby, so we moved to Cork. Ireland was great too, but eventually the recession and the weather made us consider our options, so we moved to Australia. My only regret is we didn't move here sooner! Where we live is beautiful, and our quality of life is fantastic. Like another poster I also have survivor guilt, as my family and friends tell me about what the UK is like now. I Of course I miss my friends and family, but life here is just better for us.

I would move home in a heartbeat. In Australia with a shite quality of life because everything is so expensive, can't do anything, go anywhere, and have no extended family.

I've been on Germany for 6 years and have no intention of moving back to the UK.

I pay a lot of tax here, but I can see what I get for it!

If I want a doctor's appointment it's usually same day.
My daughter has 14 kids in her class and holiday childcare was 6€ per day over half term.
The road are well maintained.
There are multiple lovely well-kept green spaces and playgrounds.
I'll spend my summer at our local open-air pool.

Overall no regrets, had occasional bouts of homesickness but got over that. After many years here I still count my blessings and appreciate the way of life and excellent services. Tax on the surface higher but many, many other benefits offset that so definitely overall better off.

I'm in spain. Currently undergoing cancer treatment. I'm receiving care that isnt yet even available on the NHS. State healthcare is vastly superior here than in the UK. It's a silly commmet to think we would all be flocking back when we age! I do however agree that if you had moved to America et al then that could well be a factor

Incredibly short sighted.

The reason one works is to give themselves and their family a better life. If you work 100 hour weeks to try to build a better financial position for your family but the government takes 45% in effective tax rate and your skills mean you can work anywhere, then why would you waste time in the U.K.?

Many skilled workers may choose to only do 5-10 years in those type of high paying, but demanding / super stressful jobs that is horrible on your mental health.

Public services are terrible compared to many places with similar levels of tax, so this small group who are paying for services on behalf of everyone else.

So not only to be you pay high tax, you then use private healthcare, private schools, but only can pay a fraction of what everyone else can pay into their pension tax free due to the new tapering rules.

At a point, you feel like an idiot sticking around here to give the government what could be life changing amounts of money otherwise.

People vote with their feet...

That's why a Germany like insurance system would be better where you lose the right to use if you stop paying, but U.K. public is obsessed with a completely free at point of use NHS no matter the implications!

Strictly speaking if you're not normally resident in the UK you are not entitled to non-emergency NHS treatment -- but they rarely check.

Focusing only on tax is short sighted. You have to weigh up taxes AND services. I pay less tax here in the USA, but I pay more for services like health care. Expats to some other countries can get caught out badly by not calculating that.

It’s fine if everything in your life is smooth sailing. But if stuff happens eg illness, a disabled child, marriage breakdown - it can be very difficult without extended family support.

No regrets and we moved for similar reasons stated here. We are paying a lot of tax and it is expensive but I can see where my money is going, the sun shines, the DC are thriving at their state schools and I can access healthcare as and when needed. I agree with a previous posted - there is a real brain drain out of the UK at the moment - people who have options can see the writing on the wall. I’ll always love the UK but became very depressed by what is has become and see little evidence to suggest improvements are on the way - in fact my money is on it getting a lot worse.

Agree it makes you feel better if you can see something for tax, but all we see are hospitals falling down, 10 hour waits in A&E, huge potholes in the road and frankly all seem broken.

The brain drain is huge and especially the last year. Never seen anything like it but the ones I see have gone planned it for at least 12 months. Frighteningly I see even more in the planning stage currently.

This country cannot afford to keep losing its brightest and best like it is doing. Tragic

That's really interesting. If you feel like sharing, what care is it that is available in Spain and not on the NHS? Obviously only answer this if you feel happy to!

(I had cancer treatment myself on the NHS recently and had to wait several weeks initially during which time my cancer definitely grew. Once treatment started, most of it was very good though incl various chemos and targeted therapies etc.).

Best wishes to you, I hope your treatment is successful, if possible.

I don't regret it but I'm experiencing a wave of homesickness after a trip home recently. I desperately miss the history, the landscape (though not the weather!) and the architecture. Just spent a week walking round London and it was bliss.

That said - we live in the US (Midwest) and the standard of living we have is so much higher than it would be in the UK. My kids go to absolutely outstanding state schools (NASA recently worked with the high school science kids!) and our healthcare is exceptional. One of my kids had surgery at one of the best hospitals in the world and our out-of-pocket expenses were minimal.

Sometimes I think that once my youngest goes to college we could split our time between the UK and the US, but I certainly wouldn't move the kids there. I think I'd be doing them a great disservice.

Similar to candyisdandy really

We're in Canada and the standard of living is awesome, especially for kids. It'd be a disservice to them to move to the UK

I live in the Cayman Islands, and have been here (from UK) for over 16 years.

My kids are 12 and 10 (both born and raised here).

I'm happy to answer questions, please feel free to message me.

I lived abroad for 5 years, no regrets…..you can always come back. I’m currently looking at positions overseas again after 10 years back in the U.K.
Tax in the U.K. and the whole system does not work for earners over 100k.