Just curious for all those who are from the UK why you are choosing to move to the USA instead of your fiance' moving to join you in the USA.
Mark (Xaos) have talked about him moving here vrs us moving there. The main reason for us is me having kids and it would be hard to uproot them. However, because he makes more at his job than I do at mine, we have also talked about the possibility of us moving there if our co-sponsor falls through.
Why are you guys choosing USA over UK?
And if we would have to switch to trying to move to the UK, is there a good website we can look at and is there an income guideline like there is for the USA?
Thanks!

We chose the US over the UK for a few reasons.. 1st here in the US house prices are a lot lower then the UK so we figured we could get starter here easier then there. 2nd My parents are more supportive then his. 3rd He isn't as close to his family as I am to mine. His parents told him to move here a few years ago where as my mum cries at the thought of me even moving an hour away.


I've looked into the process of moving to the UK I am unsure about with kids but I know that a UK spousal visa doesn't take very long to get and costs over 1000 and theres no interview or medical in most cases. there are certain income guidelines just like the US. but I don't know of any websites.

I know in Kris and I's situation he is moving here as where he currently live he's had a rough go of it finding good work.. but more than that it would be extremely tough for me to get the ok to move both my boys overseas. The boys' dad would um.. have major issues and well.. we figure we can do it this way for a while and when the boys are out of the house we will probably move back over that way.

I am at cross roads carrer wise and earn less than him even after taking into account the exchange rate( i would be shocked if i could sponcer him) . it would be mad him giving up his job he loves with a good wage when i'm planning on leaving mine anyway and wanting to relocate to a city area.

i would have said the quality of living there is more affordable than here for newlyweds establishing a familly home but the los angeles house prices are not that much cheaper

leaving familly would have been hard for both of us so that was not the deciding factor.

Hannah (the UKC)

We've chosen the US because my children's father is here, they're 14, 12, and 5. I would love to live in the UK. For now we'll have to settle with visiting Also the housing costs are so much higher in the UK. Stephen sold his flat in London--it was worth a 5 bedroom home here in Ohio--I couldn't believe it!

We're here because my family is here. Once we have kids we'll go to the uk.

Immigration to the UK is rapidly getting more complicated. A good site to get through it is www.uk-yankee.com.

Hi, we are moving stateside after me living here in the UK for just about a year and a half now. We are leaving because we feel financially we will be better off.
I went through the UK visa process just before I moved over here. I can tell you that at the time, it was a far less complicated procedure. After compiling all of the documents I needed and sending them off to the UK Embassy in NY (that was my closest one) I received my visa in 4 days. You will probably have to actually do the filing online. It cost me £485.00 but I believe it has gone up since then. I don't know how you go about children as mine are in the States with their dad. You do have to prove that you will be self sufficient financially but I don't rememeber having to hit a certain amount of money in some guide.
These links may help you if you decide to go that way. Like I said I dealt with the Embassy in NY and they were fantastic. I emailed them regularly with questions and they always got back to me quickly.

http://www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk/Welcome.htm
This is the website that you file online with...you just follow the links and it should tell you everything you need.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ukreside...fecivilpartner/
That website has some information about spouses staying and getting permission as soon as they arrive but it looks like there are some conditions to be met. You will find it almost at the bottom of the page.


The following is the UK embassy in the States. They were fantastic and I was emailing them constantly to find out if I was following the procedure properly. It also has the list of fees and it looks to be £515.00.
http://www.britainusa.com/visas/index_visa.asp?i=41000

I've been living in the UK for two years and was ready to move back home after 6 months! Neither of us care for the weather here, the cost of living is ridiculous and over all we feel it can be quite depressing. We are much closer to my family & friends and miss the sunny friendly vibe in San Francisco. I miss California in general! Also, both of us have far more potential to earn more money in the US than here in the UK.

Who wants to deal with paying $11 dollars a gallon for gas over in the UK?! and the price is still going to rise according to my Dad over there. Very serious illegal immigrant issues over there. Tax continuously keeps getting higher and higher and higher over there. I really don't get why people would move from here over to the UK, it's like stepping back in time moving to the UK, why would you want to do that? I'm so glad I moved from the UK and found my husband here. If anyone has an opportunity to get out of the UK, I would do so as quickly as possible.

Darren is moving to the States for a couple of reasons. I am established in my career here and make a decent living. My family is here, and I am quite close to my family. He has always wanted to live in the United States, and conversely, I have always wanted to live in the UK. We are keeping our options open in regards to where we will live, but we are seriously considering moving away from FL for the same reasons Lisax wanted to move from the UK...

Alex hasn't finished his further education yet; I have, and I also stand a better chance of finding a reasonably-well paying job in the US than I do where I currently live. I'm also really looking forward to the sunny climes of California. We are both probably equally close to our families in terms of relationships but I live several hours' journey from my parents anyway whereas Alex's family is largely concentrated in the same area. While I do love the UK and would consider moving back here I do find the high taxes quite tough (although I realise that costs balance out in other areas; for example I'm not having to pay for medical insurance here!).

Yeah, in England your most likely not paying for health insurance, unless you go private, but all those huge taxes people are paying over are for the health care system. So not only are you paying for everyone in the UK to get health care, that also includes all the hundreds of thousands probably millions of illegal immigrants who are trying to get free health care as well. So in actual fact it probably is better to have health insurance, reason being with how much your paying in taxes over there.

Even though I moved here, I am close to my family, but I know they are going to visit every year or me and my husband visit there, whichever is easiest, plus the internet and phone, which makes it all easier to keep in contact. My parents though, if they had the opportunity, they would love and would much prefer to live over here in the USA than UK.

Anyone else have family members who would love to move out here? and if they did would you try to help them to move over here?

For us, Mark earns more than I do and there's no way that would change unless I moved away from my family in the country to live in a city. Also he has elderly grandparents whereas my last living grandparent died several years ago. House prices and rent are a lot less where he lives than we could hope to find here. His family are a lot more... clingy... than mine are and would be devastated if he left the country, whereas my Mum would never pull that kind of guilt trip on me and talks instead of looking forward to coming to visit us. As for the rest of my family, I'm only really close to my youngest Uncle and his children and my half sister and her two children... pretty much everyone else I only see at weddings and funerals anyway. If we lived in a different part of the UK I would probably only see my Mum a couple of times a year due to transport costs and lack of time, so it seems more sensible for me to move to the US and just fly my Mum out once a year to visit. I can keep in touch with everyone else via the Internet.

I would definately sponsor my Mum if she wanted to move over in the future, but I doubt she would.

I am just about to finish university and haven't dug my heels into a career yet whereas when Alan left the Army he secured a really great job and has excelled to the point where he can support us both on his salary now. If one of us has to make a fresh start it might as well be me as I have less to give up. He also has a 4 year old son which admittedly lives very far away and he doesn't see as often as he should but it would be less often if he moved here. We're happy with the thought that we could be with him in 8 hours if we really had to be and we hope to have him more involved in our lives once I'm there, his mom would never let him move to the UK so this can only happen if I go there I guess.

As a diabetic I'm very reluctant about moving to the US - just fear of the unknown I guess. I'm sure it will all work out ok but the thought of insurance costing so much and then my prescriptions as well, it scares me quite a bit. My degree is worthless in the US which is very disappointing but we are starting to find ways around it. I will have to pay back my £11000 debt anyway though and I will be earning a US wage so will have to deal with exchange rates and the differences is earning/cost of living. There are lots of things I'm not looking forward to but it makes sense for me to go over there. I love Alan and Nicholas so whatever works for them will work for me.

Bex xxx

Why is your degree worthless? Is it just not recognised as a qualification? I must admit I'm rather relying on my BA to have some worth in the US...

I'm training to be a Chartered Surveyor which is great! Except the whole of my degree has been how to be a surveyor in Europe! The majority of my modules have been on UK/EU law and valuation/management is done totally different in the US. In fact they don't even have many surveyors, they have lots of different people who do the jobs that I would cover here in the UK. Here in the UK if you aren't Chartered you aren't in the race. In the whole of GA I have found 3 Chartered Surveyors lol! There are several international companies in Atlanta that might respect my qualifications a bit more. Am biding my time writing to them though as the whole ... I don't have a degree, I don't have a visa or work permit conversation probably wont go down to well.

They will recognize my degree though and hopefully that will put me in a better position to compete for jobs in other areas maybe. A bit of a bummer to spend 4 years training in something that you wont be able to make full use of but life changes and you gotta change with it.

Lara would move to Scotland in a heartbeat but she can't. We thought and talked about what the best thing to do as we have 4 kids each, damn that would be like the Brady Bunch lol. She has her kids living with her, she's in a nice house, good job with managerial prospects and settled. So its me thats moving over.

Its a decision that we didn't like doing as she doesn't like the idea of me moving away from my kids but life is life and thats love for you. One of us has to make the sacrifice. I will get the kids over from time to time but i know it will be hard at first.

Another pointer is that in the area she lives, company's are screaming for ceramic tilers and pay good money. Ive been doing that for 20 years so im looking forward to the challenge.

Ooh, I understand. If I'd still been working towards becoming a chartered architect I'd be in the same position; as it is I just have my BA in Architecture which is a little more general. I do hope you manage to find work with a company who will recognise your qualifications!

We chose the US for a few reasons:
1. I had already lived there for a year, and therefore knew what to expect, and well as having made my own friends there, versus him just having visited the UK for a few weeks, a couple of times.

2. House prices being a whole lot cheaper.

3. At the time he was more established in his career, and I had just finished university so wasn't going to have to leave my career.

4. Some family issues on his part...he's a very home-y type and while he would be willing to move for me, it would be a lot harder for him, he's never lived anywhere but the town he was born in, whereas I have.

Those were the main reasons for us, but we aren't against ever switching and living in the UK.

We are going to US mainly for economic reasons....we can live on his pension fairly comfortably there but not so much here. We may return to England (or somewhere else in Europe) if he decides to work again in the future, as he really likes it here.

We decided that I would move to the US for a number of reasons.

1. Toby is very patriotic and would not really want to move to the UK if he didnt have to.
2. Toby earns a LOT more money than I do and is easily able to support me, where as I wouldn't be able to guarantee the same
3. I've had some financial issues in the UK, so a clean slate is an excellent thing for me
4. The weather in the UK Sucks!
5. House prices are much cheaper in the US
6. General cost of living in the UK is ridiculous.

I could go on, but I think that's the most of it...

Mercedes is going to Law School in Oregon. When we met that as her plan and, while I am a homebird, I have my education and chosen career and I want her to fulfill her potential too.

After she's done we'll look at the situation again as 3 years is a long time. Actually, it's not ...

We had seemingly good reasons but I wish we'd made the opposite decision.

Basically, I'd just graduated from uni and so we starting out, career wise. Ben has a good job with prospects. That was the reason. Oh and the lower house prices and so on.

But I feel that my degree IS worthless here without Stateside work experience, my family is so much better than his and I'm closer to them than he is to his.... and as it stands I'm hoping we can move back to the UK in 5 years or so.

I'm not really homesick, I've lived overseas before and never really felt at home in the UK after that anyway. I just don't like living in the US... or more specifically, Ohio. And if I'd had any kind of good job there things would have been totally different. Ben would have preferred to move to the UK too.

Barry is moving here as opposed to me moving there for many of the previously stated reasons. First my two younger boys ages 14 and 12 are here and there is no way their dad would let them go...and they don't want to move! Second I own a house and the current housing market is very depressed...so I couldn't sell if I wanted to! I also have a very good job as an RN and would have to study for another test in the UK to be licensed there!

Aside from that...I love England...would seriously consider moving in a few years if all works out....who knows?

Same reasons as mentioned above...I've already got a good job with good career prospects. I'm closer to my family than Nicky is to his. It just made more sense for Nicky to move here than for me to move to the UK in the end. Now he has the opportunity to go to college and start a career for himself. Although we aren't considering buying a home anytime soon (not until I pay off my student loans!) if we do change our minds it is a good time for first time homebuyers in the Chicagoland area.

I found this article on the Telegraph's website. Quite interesting the user comments on this page!

The Telegragh - Why are so many Britons emigrating?

Not exactly sure what a chartered architect but my hubby is an architect & has had no shortage of offers here in America. There are plenty of practices without state certified architects who do designs - they just use a certified one when the drawings are done to check that they are up to code.

Stu's moving here for a lot of the reasons already mentioned.
I have a small child (6 year old) and I have a steady job, pets, etc..
I wouldn't mind moving over there though if I could easily find a job, bring my horses, bring my kid without having to fight the ex-in-laws.
Someday, it would be nice to go over there, I think.

Thats what myself and Lara want to do in the future. She wishes so much to live in the Highlands of Scotland.

Shes sick and tired of the 100mph life style in America. Here where I live is so quiet and everyone is laid back.

One of the things Kris and I plan to do is visit the UK every summer.. so I can get a feel for the area and see where i would feel at home most. He loves Ireland though so we shall see. I figure.. 9 years and the boys will be off to college.. By then we will have a good savings... equity in a home and can look to move. Who knows.. if I can get to the point of an agent and a good enough writing career i won't have to worry about work so much

My fiance (Taiwo) will be coming here, but I would love so much to be able to live in London. I was there for a month just a short while ago, and felt completely in my element there. I was so impressed. Of course the cost of living is so outrageously high, which is the main drawback, but I just enjoyed the "feel" of England. I enjoyed the trains, doubledecker bus rides, running to the stations, walking around sight seeing the royal and historic places. But all in all, I would move to London in a heartbeat.

Just noticing this post. We've been making up silly things to tell the embassy folks in answer to this question.
1. We own a cat and he lives in the US
2. The refrigerators are so tiny in the UK
3. There are no electrical outlets in the UK bathroom which throws off her hair-do routine.
4. She's a millionaire in the US and would only be half of one in the UK.
5. Americans hear the British accent and swoon. Being popular rocks!

Actually he is anxious to live in America. He likes the friendly people and the good customer service he observes. I have a house with no mortgage and he doesn't, so it will be easier to get settled and get on with our lives together. We will visit England several times each year.

god the refrigerators are sooo tiny, I don't know what I would do without the big one we have in our apartment right now and the electrical outlets in the bathroom, so true! lol

4. She's a millionaire in the US and would only be half of one in the UK.
5. Americans hear the British accent and swoon. Being popular rocks!

so true. I've never been so popular!

We're moving to the US so that we can be close to my husband's daughters - at least until they finish school. I hope that we might come back to the UK in 8-10 years for a bit.

The no electrical outlets in the bathroom in the UK is really annoying!

I was going to comment on exactly the same thing! Every time I'm there I have to stand outside the bathroom door at my sister's house with my hair dryer and curling iron and no mirror. Stupid bathrooms.

but you just do it in your bedroom?

My OH complains about the socket situation for his razor

I'm a loser. Even though I now have access to power points a-plenty in the bathroom here in the US, I still dry my hair in another room. Don't even get me started about not being able to switch stuff off at the mains! Bruce is so nervous that I'm going to blow up the house if I leave my hair iron plugged in but not on. Yes, it is switched off, but not on, and still he sees it as a hazard. This also goes for cell phone chargers, but curiously not for his laptop. He knows very well that the current is much weaker, but still, he persists.

I'm a loser married to a neuro!

thats what I had to do back in England!



Even with it plugged in, and turned off, it's still using 40% power, so probably unplugging, may help on the electric bill even if it's only a little bit.

Well, yeah. There's that too. It's just that there's no mirror in my bedroom and the plug's behind the bed. It's just "easier" to stand outside the bathroom door.



That's another thing! My sister follows behind me and turns off the plugs. I don't get it. There's nothing plugged in or on.... what's the worry? Will lightening bolts fly out at random? *GASP* I think I've just solved the mysterious deaths from spontaneous combustion problem!

She probably has OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Sarah and I decided on the US because of the support issues. She would be unable to support both of us over there, whereas I make more than enough for supporting us both. Also, cost of living is amazingly lower - especially here in Ohio. I am looking at buying a brand new 3 bedroom condo for just over $100,000, whereas a small flat over there would cost far more.

We have stated we would like to spend a few years here getting sorted and on track, and then moving back to England. Not sure how that process will go, but that's for another time From what I've read though, it seems the process to get into the UK is easier than to the US.

Or you could move to Oregon ... lol.

Although I am closer to my family in the UK, we made the decision to live in the US mainly due to my husband's work. I was also so tired of watching the UK go "to the dogs" with all the immigration problems, taxes, and left wing spineless government that would have me support all the freeloaders and leeches. Also, the crime rate in London is getting worse and criminals do what they want knowing they will get a smack on the back of the hand for their crime. I go back twice a year to visit family and friends, and family come out twice a year to visit (they love it and we intend to have them relocate here in time). The money issue was also tempting. My cash doubled overnight so that was a bonus. My job here pays 30% more than the same job in the UK which surprised me as I thought my salary may suffer here. My standard of living is higher, I eat out 4 times a week, I am able to drive around without worrying that the gas bill is going to cripple me, I can defend myself and my home in the event of attack, I have fantastic healthcare where a doctor can see me the same day, my employer gives me 6 weeks paid vacation, the weather is lovely, and of course I have hubby.

Haha so you decided to move to the US which has... immigration problems, unemployment problems, is going into a recession and is in the middle of a political debate where it looks like we're screwed whatever happens....

Seriously though, I was kind of sick of all that stuff in the UK too, but remember that the US is certainly not without its problems.

I was thinking the same thing too! The price of gasoline causes no worry and six weeks vacation...where do you live in the US, because it sounds like you moved to some paradise I'm not aware existed!

Though I'm more worried about getting shot at than anything. I think it was a weekend or two ago there were seven shootings on one Saturday night!

The price of gas is still a heck of a lot lower than the UK so Im still not complaining on that one. I lucked out with my employer and the six weeks paid vacation, non contributory comprehensive blue cross blue shield healthcare, and the ability to work from home !! Because the US is sooooo big, immigration, certainly where I live in VA, is not so noticeable as they aren't running out of space yet like the UK. If someone tries to shoot me Im shooting back !! I like the fact that defending yourself isnt a crime here. And today is 75 degrees and sunny !

Do you know how many shootings occur in a US city per year? Worth a look.

America is not all sunshine & SUVs & rainbows.

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

I find it interesting...I guess in VA there must not be as much of influx of immigrants? My neighborhood in Chicago some knowledge of Spanish is essential...most of the signs are in Spanish, and quite a few of the people don't speak a whole lot of English. That is even true for the town I grew up in back in rural Nebraska.

Though to be honest I do like living with so many ethnic options. I wouldn't want to live in a totally whitebread place anymore.

I think where I live in Northern VA, 10 minutes over the bridge to DC, house prices are a bit on the silly side so immigrants probably go to the less expensive areas to find affordable housing. There are lot of parks and open spaces here so you get the impression that its not overcrowded, although it has a high resident rate for government and military. Our crime rate is lower than that of DC and I suspect that is in part due to the fact that firearm possession is legal here, so criminals dont want to take the risk.