Would you relocate to the US if you had the chance (with a stable job and visa)?

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c0pypiza@reddit

Yes of course.

You always have the chance to come back if you don't find it your cup of tea. If you turned it down and don't go you don't really have the right to criticise it without living through it and consider the tradeoffs first hand.

Yes there's no healthcare included (which is a bit of a stretch already because if you're employed your employer will cover you) but I will always take the chance to experience life, especially with the much higher pay.

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AndrewHinds67@reddit

I've got a friend who lives in San Diego. I used to work with him on the railway in the 80s. He moved over there years ago but he couldn't come back now.

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c0pypiza@reddit

Couldn't come back as in what? Too settled in? Or he likes it?

Of course when I say trying it out, don't sell everything you've got in the UK if it works for you financially. Keep at least something for a while, so that if it doesn't work out, you can always just resign and come back.

And you shouldn't really sell up everything unless you have a green card or US citizenship because there's always a chance you'll have to leave at some point against your will.

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AndrewHinds67@reddit

It's because he's now a naturalised citizen and there's nothing here for him. I met up with him in December and he seems to have a fairly good life over there, regardless of the current state of affairs. He said he'll just have to make the best of it whilst he can.

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c0pypiza@reddit

Yeah, so that's my point. Your friend liked it to the point that they're staying there even if they still have the opportunity to come back. Good thing for us in the UK is that we allow dual citizenship - you don't have to burn bridges and always have the option to come back even if you're going to get citizenship.

Don't want to generalise and I get it about their politics and guns and everything - it's one thing to criticise those things legitimately but it's another thing to look down on everything they have (to the point I don't know whether people are just coping because they haven't had this chance) - there's something that's truly better over there.

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AndrewHinds67@reddit

He's in his late 50s like me. Leaving everything behind to start again in the UK would be somewhat more difficult.

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escapingfromelba@reddit

I'd say yes and know that people who've done it.

Frankly lots of what we hear here is gross hyperbole just as yanks get told that London is under sharia law by people monetising news/clicks, and lapped up by those who love having their notions confirmed for them.

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xxx654@reddit

I agree with the hyperbole. Most people live normal lives and it can be a great place.

But, having done it myself, it wasn’t for me. Too expensive, car dependency, job insecurity were big negatives. I earned 50% more than I did here and my disposable income didn’t go as far.

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No-Championship9542@reddit

I find Texas far, far cheaper than South East England.

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xxx654@reddit

Fair but not a place I want to live.

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No-Championship9542@reddit

I really like it, it's kind of my ideal society, also as an Englishman you are minor nobility there

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ben_jamin_h@reddit

Jesus Christ no.

That's like asking if you'd move to Germany in 1938 if you had the chance.

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escapingfromelba@reddit

Jesus, that is quite some hyperbole.

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cgknight1@reddit

I've done it and would not do it again when compared to working in Europe.

I had a similar experience to u/xxx654 - the job insecurity means people behave in very odd ways. If you are the boss, people are generally terrified of giving you honest advice because you might not like it and fire them. The hussle culture they have is driven by fear.

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Minimum_Possibility6@reddit

Not lived but been over there for a few work trips

Honestly nope.

Nice in small doses, but the lack of walkable infrastructure, the poor driving standards, the ass backwards banking makes it a nightmare.

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Evil_Martin@reddit

Absolutely not, I work for a global company, big office in Houston and I went out for a month to work and test the waters for a relocation, I just knew in days that this was not the place for me. Hated the car centric lifestyle, there was a mass shooting in a local mall while I was there, didn’t enjoy the food and bar culture either. Even tho’ it would have been a big pay increase, it just wasn’t for me or my family.

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AndrewHinds67@reddit

Not a chance. Why would I want to move to the USA where healthcare is expensive and insurance-based? There are Christian fundamentalists and gun fanatics everywhere? Where censorship of books is rampant? Even though my girlfriend is American, the USA is the last place I'd want to live.

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MoosesHuman@reddit

Nope, not a chance.

I have a green card, I've just let it expire though because of the current situation over there.

I lived there 6 years, made a lot of money and had good friends, but workplaces were pretty toxic. I lived in Florida and I do like sun but I missed the mountains and the walks and just being outside. Plus I got really fat, as a default it's fat, you have to actually try really hard to not gain weight. As soon as I got pregnant I moved back to the UK, that was kind of because of the school system there, and the fear of my kid getting shot.

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maceion@reddit

I , a UK Native, white &very sun-burnable, lived and worked in Canada for a USA firm. I sometimes spend spells of up to 8 or so weeks in the USA. I talked with a lot of folk , mainly dark skinned USA folk ('brown folk' to me). When asked if I had spoken to the 'black folk' I said no, there are no 'black folk' in the hotel, the USA white who asked was astonished. I corrected him. I had worked with and served with 'King's African Rifles' soldiers who were 'black' (not 'brown') so I knew and respected folk who were very dark, some were Nile-otic; so tall, small wasted, elegant figures who could walk and run fast. Black folk to me were worthy of my respect.

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TransatlanticMadame@reddit

Nope, never going back to the US. Life is way better in the UK.

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Honest-Cover9513@reddit

Agreed.

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yubnubster@reddit

No, I don't think so. There are definitely positives, particularly if you live somewhere with access to lots of wilderness/national parks etc.. Obviously housing is cheaper and more spacious and wages are higher. There are lots of things I like about the US, there are some great cities, with unique culture and things to do, see and eat... but probably not enough to live there.

On the negatives a lot of the cheaper housing is in depressing endless suberbs (not that we don't have depressing housing estates), wages, at least according to some Americans, don't necessarily translate into a better standard of living, and a chunk of those higher wages is accounted for by way more hours worked and less vacation time. I like living, sorry. Working conditions/culture/hours worked just don't appeal to me at all. I don't want to feel I'm working every hour god sends, only to be fired at a whim and lose my health insurance along with it.

Then there's the petty controls over people's behaviour, some of it cultural (don't park outside my house), but some of it enforced (the increase of HMOs for example. Screw someone monitoring the length of my grass - that's not freedom).

There's definitely scenarios where I could live in the US, but they mainly involve me being rich enough not to work, and living somewhere beautiful, ideally somewhere with mountains, trees and ocean, so mostly unrealistic scenarios.

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MountainMuffin1980@reddit

Christ no. There's nothing appealing about it. The UK has issues but I've never once had the worry in my mind about my kid getting shot in his school, or getting completely fucked over if I need an ambulance, or treatment for cancer not covered by my health insurance etcetc.

Having said that. If I could do it for a year I might as I'd like to visit a bunch of their theme parks.

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Lessarocks@reddit

Never. Imagine the constant worry about what would happen if you lost your job and could no longer afford health insurance. I’ve hung around the medical subs on here for a long time and some of the stories are heartbreaking. No job is so stable that you’ll never lose it. Especially these days with the world in such turmoil.

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Logical_fallacy10@reddit

There are plus and minuses with everything. Plus - you are allowed to have a gun and defend your home and yourself with any force you desire - at least in Florida. The accent is way cooler People seems more positive and direct. Minus - you work more hours

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Kapika96@reddit

Hahaha, no. Seems like a terrible place to live!

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ProtectionGlass8110@reddit

Not in a million years

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Constant-Pound7254@reddit

I just moved back to the UK after being in the US for way too long. Every day, minor occurrences remind me how stressful life is in the US. I'm surprised when I cross the road and a car stops for me, coz in the US that same person would try to run me over at a zebra crossing, sometimes with a smile on their face. A higher income means nothing when everything is ridiculously expensive. The same bag of potatoes that cost £1 here cost me £4 over there. I'd joked that it costs £50 just to leave the house. The UK isn't perfect, but being able to go about my day without a fear of getting shot or detained is a feeling I took for granted. You couldn't pay me enough to live there again.

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Fine_Analyst_4408@reddit

No, I just wouldn't be comfortable at the thought that anyone could be carrying a gun.

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NLFG@reddit

Absolutely not

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Specialist_Emu7274@reddit

I probably would not permanently but would like to temporarily, not sure I could cope with the political climate long term. I have been to Cuba recently though, so I have no idea if I would even be able to.

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dwair@reddit

No. I have live all over Europe, Africa and the Middle East over the last 50 years, enjoy living in different places. I have the opportunity if I wanted to take it to relocate to the US if I wanted to but it's never been somewhere that interests me in any way. At the moment given their current politics its a very hard no.

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sockhead99@reddit

absolutely not. For many, many, many reasons.

Now Canada on the other hand.... We have looked and seriously considered it, one stumbling block is our professions would mean we would need to be in or very near to a major city and house prices are absolutely mental.

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noodlyman@reddit

Absolutely not. Healthcare, guns, Christian extremism, trump, republicans.

I used to want to go and visit national parks, deserts, the Rockies etc on holiday. But I seem to have lost the urge to do even that.

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HamsterEagle@reddit

I know 3 people who have done this, but it’s not for me. Regardless as to how bat shit the country is, I wouldn’t want to put an ocean between us and our family. The kids are all well settled and happy in their schools with their friends, my parents aren’t getting any younger and I want us and the kids to be able to spend time with them whilst we can.

The people I know who have made the move seem to have a good life, but it’s just not a move that interests me. If it was moving somewhere a few hours away by plane maybe but definitely not the US.

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trmetroidmaniac@reddit

Might grind for a few years to rack up some dough and come back.

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spoo4brains@reddit

What is with all these US spam threads today?

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thedudeabides-12@reddit

If it was to somewhere warm all year round like California/ San Diego there's no way I could turn it down..

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Asleep_Dark_6343@reddit

Having visited a few times, I can safely say I’d rather cut my own foot off with a rusty butter knife.

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Spike_Milligoon@reddit

No - one look at my socials and I’d be ICE’d out into a swamp jail

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PuzzleheadedCarob921@reddit

This is a pretty silly question with very obvious answers.

No chance.

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MiddleAgedDread123@reddit

Absolutely no chance. The country is bonkers.

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prustage@reddit

I have had the chance on a number of occasions and have always refused it.

I have visited the USA loads of times, even spent a month there once, been to both coasts, the Midwest, 11 states but no way would I ever want to live there. And this has nothing to do with health care, college education etc, - all these things can be adapted to. Its not even about the current political situation - this will eventually change. But what will not change is the basic mythos of American society.

Sorry, we may speak the same language, but the similarity ends there. There is a massive cultural difference that I could never adapt to and would never want to.

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Unusual_Sherbert2671@reddit

I had an offer but chose Saudi Arabia instead.

I just wanted to most money, didn't care where I lived.

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feetflatontheground@reddit

A resounding 'no' from me.

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BeaumarchaisApu@reddit

Would easily get a visa in my area of work. Would likely at least double my salary. Have been on three long visits to the US in the past.

Absolutely no chance would I even consider moving there. Same thoughts as to moving to anywhere in the middle-east, just no chance despite the potential financial upsides.

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GlumAd9856@reddit

If it was somewhere where the weather was warmer all year round, and I was guaranteed to have a better income/housing situation - I would honestly consider it. I had to move away from my home town anyway and don't have a lot of friends/ties here, so it would be less difficult for me to make the move. I'm sure that I would get homesick for some things - maybe football, cask ale, pubs. But I reckon I could adapt.

The political stuff doesn't bother me - the US is a big place and politicians/movements come and go. Who know, 4 years from now the US could have a more liberal government than here in the UK!

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2c0@reddit

Maybe for a weekend trip to apocalypseland once the dust settles.

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Inevitable_Bid8719@reddit

Yes, absolutely. the healthcare system is leaving me to rot here, at least as an american I could get a tool to control my own life's end easily. My income would not matter, no kids, hate insurance, only biggie is I dont/ cant drive- which seems like a genuine problem there

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Fanjo_mcclanjo@reddit

Not a chance. I like being able to go about my business without being shot at and im just not really into opulence and greed either so I wouldn't be a good cultural fit.

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Harrry-Otter@reddit

I’d consider it, but realistically the only parts of the U.S. I’d actually want to live in would mean I’d have to be earning an astronomical amount.

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xxx654@reddit

No. It’s not even about the current situation in the White House.

I worked in a well paid role in a very nice part of Northern California when it was a much calmer political atmosphere. The cost of living was outrageous, jobs insecurity was a big thing for many of my colleagues, the commute was brutal, next to nothing was walkable.

I loved the weather, I had plenty of nice colleagues, but I prefer European cities and infrastructure. The much reviled 15 minute cities are actually a pleasure to live in after all.

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musicallymotivated93@reddit

Absolutely, and I really can't emphasise this enough, fucking not.

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Yeanes@reddit

Nope. The big cities are too expensive. I don't drive, which means I couldn't live in the suburbs (which by the way are horrid). If I lost my job I'd lose healthcare. No. I would rather make much less money in the UK or Europe than a lot of money in the US

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