Wanting to leave the UK

[Forlimeswan]

Looking for any advice really. Me and my husband want to leave the UK and start a new life with our two kids 3 and 6. We arnt 100% sure on where yet, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have all been in our chats but we are very open to other places. My husband is in the royal Navy, and will have completed his full service in 2 and half's years ( this is when we plan on moving ).He is a Chief PO Engineer and is very good at his Job I am a fully qualified and registered Pharmacy ACT. I think we would be fine in terms of Jobs, but really want to know if anyone has experiance or knoe if country's will help you get a job first and support you moving there. Any advice on people who have moved and how they went about it. We have already moved due to my husband's career so I know what its like to not have family and friends near by so it wouldn't really change anything for us. We both want to give our kids a better life. We have plenty of time to choose where we want to move to but thought I would ask here for advice 🥰

My advice is dont move permantly to another place first, without first going on holiday to places you plan to stay. You may have made a bad idea. This is my opinion, do what you think is best.

No advice but you might not get many responses because you have posted this on the UK travel board.
I'd suggest asking if Mumsnet will move it to the Living Overseas board and you might get more responses.

My advice is to be realistic about your time frames. Visa processing times in Australia can be upwards of 2-5 years depending on the visa (can't speak for Canada & NZ).

Have you ever been to any of these countries? If not that is your first step you may hate it and then what.

We moved to Australia 17 years ago, at that time our visa took 2 years (quick) and we had visited all of the major cities. Good job we did, as the one we were supposed to move to we really did not like.

Its an expensive, emotionally draining, physically exhausting thing to uproot your life. My best advice is to be realistic and consider your options carefully.

I’m going to be honest OP , I think you have to think seriously about what a better life actually means to you - I have a lovely friend out in Australia - with primary school aged kids - are they living in somewhere they would have picked - nope, not even close — she is lucky she does see her parents nearly every year because her parents are well enough off and of an age when they can still travel

i also have close family in Oz - went out there around 1980 - all 4 kids are now early 50s to 62 - none have done exceptionally well , just got by, nothing they couldn’t have done in UK -

yes they’ve had a lot more sun - but they’ve still had divorces, redundancies, housing issues , health issues etc

im all for adventures and living outside UK - have done it myself , and we are looking at it again ( early 60s) but I would go with an open mind and not the idea that it’s necessarily a better life, often just a different life - and if you have kids and it all goes wrong there’s a big chance you will be stuck there for a good while , so please bear that in mind - no one ever thinks it will go wrong or the relationship not work out -

Thank you everyone for your feedback. It isnt a decision we are taking lighly. We are originally from Scotland ( currently in England ) and although Scotland is a beautiful country the weather can be extremely dull, and you get less for your money in both England and Scotland although I do believe England is definitely more expensive. Once my husband leaves the Navy regardless of where we go we have to start over as we currently live in Married quarters and wouldnt want to live here long term anyway.This is why we are considering the move as a new adventure for our family. In terms of a better life I guess I mean better weather that opens up more opportunity to get out and about... and more of a family focused work live. As much as I love the UK the life style is more work sleep repeat till you can save for a holiday mentality that I don't really want for my children.

Kind regards

Go for it while your kids are young enough. I know of 2 families who have emigrated to Australia. One loves it. The mum in the other family is struggling with how different it is and the distance from family. For that reason, and the heat, I think I’d choose Canada but it could be expensive there.