We are a married couple with 2 children (age 8 and 5) and over the years have become depressed with living in Scotland - beautiful scenery, not so good wearing thermals for 7 months of the year ;-) This year we have been looking at the immigration process for both the US and Australia, and wow, it's a minefield. There are plus/minus points for both these options and looking at other peoples opinions on these forums is a real eye-opener. My husband works in IT and has a Masters Degree, with 12 years experience in his field, so looking at the employment side of things, either place the employment prospects seem reasonably good, however he is 40 now and we are aware that age can go against you in the immigration process. I am a stay-at-home mum, so employment is not an issue for me. However, with 2 young children to consider, there are so many things that we have to think about. Obviously the education system in America and Australia will be different to here in the UK, but we are also looking long term, what sort of prospects are there for the children in the future? What about crime rate etc? And of course, as I mentioned earlier, the weather. Another reason for leaving the UK, we are looking for somewhere with a somewhat warmer/drier climate. I would be interested to hear different opinions, but great to hear from anyone who has lived in both the US and Australia and how do the two compare, eg, salaries, cost of living, education, job prospects.

Try looking back through old posts, most people go through the same dilemma's, and I think you'll find a lot of your questions have been asked and answered before. Beware though....... ensure you read between the lines as a lot of posts become slanging matches between the Australia's great/crap crowd, but on the whole the information is very good.

Thanks for that, will go back and look at some of the old posts. Have noticed, even looking at some of the current posts that there are so many people with complete opposite opinions on the same subject whether it be areas to live, education, employement etc. Where this is normal in day-to-day life it's not so helpful when you are making a life changing decision -so thanks for the word of warning!

Hi, with regards to the U.S, are you sure you can get a Visa? I say this because we we are similar to you with regards to husbands work/education credentials and we stood no chance of working there unless we were sponsored by a U.S company which a) is very difficult and b) creates it's own problems. Unless one of you holds a passport from a country which is eligible to apply under the Green Card (D.V) Lottery (which we did and weren't sucessful!). Sorry, I don't mean to be a doommonger, it's just I wasted many hours thinking we could go to the U.S when we couldn't.

Have you thought about New Zealand? Geat place to bring up kids. IMHO.

Honestly, we have no idea if we can get a visa for the US. At the moment we are looking at the different options and your reply is very helpful. As you say, it would appear that you have to get sponsorship from a US employer which I don't imagine will be very easy, and also because of the time it takes, what employer would be willing to wait that long? I notice from your post that you are heading to the land of OZ, other than the visa problem with the US, what made you decide on Australia? Initially my husband was looking at Australia because of the work prospects, but I have to admit going all that distance scares the living daylights out of me. I think I'd love the place when I got there but there's those old problems of parents left behind in the UK. I don't want to sound morbid, but I keep thinking that neither set of parents are getting any younger, and also, we are taking their precious grandchildren away. Oh, I know life's too short, but guilt is a terrible thing. How did you decide where to go in Australia, was it based on jobs, school, weather? Also, looking at other posts the costs of travelling to Australia (thinking about family visiting if we did move or even just going on holiday to suss out the place) seem to be absurd. So much to think about!!

Hi, The U.S is such a difficult one and to be perfectly honest it is very unlikely that you would get sponsorship from a U.S company and if you did it still does not guarantee you a Green Card at the end of it. I set my heart on Canada for a long time until we had to face up to the fact that job wise it was a no-no, I still would go there at the drop of a hat if the right job came along which realistically isn't going to happen. Husband is a Java .net consultant and Sydney has plenty of jobs there for him. We are lucky that he is from New Zealand and so we do not have to land with a visa. My brother lives in Sydney with my little niece and his wife and husband's family (who I love!) are a reasonable flight away in Auckland. We have also had a lot of friends move to that side of the world.

I always compose a mental list of pro's and con's for staying and going and like you the only positive to staying in the U.K is to be there to support my parents. I feel awful at the fact that they will have no children or grandchildren in the U.K but at least my brother and I will be living in the same city which should make visiting easier and we are both hoping they might sell up, downsize and be able to spend part of the year in Oz.

With regards to Oz, we are going for the lifestyle. Husband leaves the house at 7am and gets home at 8-8.30pm, he now also stays overnight in London once a week because he is so exhausted. We can live fairly centrally to the city in Sydney and hopefully cut his commuting time down to 1/3 of what it is now. He is also a workaholic and enjoys his work so a change of career in order to move to a different country/city is not really an option. The work hours will be as long as they are now. Schools for us will come first, we have a good idea of where we want to live based on the fact that there is a fantastic High school that I would like my children to attend. My children are only 2 and 6 but I hear that a lot of the primary schools are very good. All I hope for is a bit of sunshine and to be able to sit down at the end of the day with the kids splashing in the pool and the husband and I have a glass of wine and a barbie. In the U.K it is such an unrealistic dream but in Oz it is possible at least!

Good luck, I hope you receive some more answers to your questions or if I can help in any way then just ask.

Eligibility for GC Lottery is primarily based on birthplace not citizenship.

With respect, it would be a better use of your time and energy to find out the answer to this question before investigating the U.S. option any further.

Yes, you're absolutely right, however, getting an answer to that question is not as easy as it seems. Where visas to Australia are based on a points system if you have the necessary skills etc, it does not work like that in the US. You can have all the qualifications in the world and still not get a visa, there is a cap on how many visas are granted each year for immigrants from different countries, so although there is 140,000 or so visas granted each year, it could be that only 10,000 of them go to UK applicants. Basically, you have to get a US employer to sponsor you, and even then there is no guarantee you have succeeded in getting a green card, whether you have a job offer or not.
My husband's first choice was to go to Australia, it was my suggestion to try for the US, as I said before, leaving parents behind is a big issue. I'm ashamed to admit, that although I'm married with children I still only live 5 miles away from my parents. The opportunites for us as a family in Australia would be so much better from what I've read, but was wondering how other people deal with leaving family behind, and do you get over the homesick feeling after a certain period of time.

I can empathise with you on the parent front, i was quite close to my parents we lived 30 miles away and usually saw them a couple of times a week, then we moved away and they took it very hard, but it was only when we were away from them that I realised how much they impacted on our lives and it wasn't all positive. We then decided to move to Australia and although they knew there was no way we would move back to where they were they still managed to be negative and at times downright nasty about our move. They have visited us here and it wasn't easy, they are now in their 80s and very negative. My brother is moving over here in 3 weeks time and this will leave them on their own and we feel we have to try and get them over too as left there on their own they will just give up and die, but to be honest the thought of them living around the corner and having their selfishness landed on me again fills me with dread, which in turn makes me feel guilty as hell.

I don't know how we are going to get round the problem, they are old and will likely die alone and thats not a good feeling, but hard though it is we have to live our own lives and there is no way that i would sacrifice the great life my family has here to go back for the sake of my parents.

In short, you have to do what is going to be best for you, you just have to find a way of living with the consequences and it's not always that easy. A lot of how you feel about it will depend on how they react, if they are happy for you and see it as a positive thing for you it will make it a lot easier, if on the other hand they make insinuations that you have been dragged kicking and screaming round the world by your other half, as mine have said about me and are currently saying about my brother, then it gets a little harder

Good luck with whichever new life you decide on, make the most of the oppertunity.

Lynn

Thanks Lynn, you've been very honest there about your feelings and I do appreciate it. It sort of sums up all that I am feeling just now too. Part of me wants to just up sticks and go, and give my kids a better quality of life and better opportunities. But the other side of me feels guilty about leaving my parents behind, as like you said, they will grow old and die alone. I have a brother, but he stays almost 300 miles away from my parents, so it's not like he can just pop in weekly and see how they are. I have a pretty good idea how my parents will react when we tell them we are thinking of moving. No, we haven't been brave enough to do that yet, think there is so much we have to sort out in our own heads first before we tell anyone. Needless to say we haven't even discussed it with the kids, don't want to be cruel here but at 8 and 5 I don't think they should have a part in making this kind of decision. Obviously there happiness is always going to be our first priority but I think at their age, they haven't formed any lasting bonds with other kids and would settle and make new friends easily. Yes, I think my parents would resent my husband, thinking he's dragging me half way across the world, and as for them retiring where we are, I just don't see that happening. My god, we went to the US on holiday this year, and after speaking to me on my return, I then get an email from my mother, all typed in capital letters (just for effect) telling me that you only enjoy these places because it's a holiday, it would not be like that living there. So, does that gives you the feeling my family would react like yours did...yes.

Even when my brother was going to be moving to England they were not exactly supportive, but knew he had to go for job prospects. As if it's not hard enough. Presumably from what you are saying in your post, your move to Australia has been a very positive thing, and you are happy and settled. Is life there really so different from living in the UK?
One thing I've noticed reading other peoples topics is the education the kids get over there is supposed to be excellent. My youngest has just started school this year, and my son was already at school, and I have to say, I'm not exactly jumping through hoops about the curriculum over here. The amount of homework they get is terrible (yes even the 5 year old!), which makes me wonder what on earth they are actually doing in school. Life style I imagine would be the biggest draw for people to go to Australia, living a more outdoor life, as opposed to living here with the central heating on most of the year. It's good to hear how other people feel about things and how their move has had both good and bad things, it's nice to get a balanced view of how it really is to emigrate.

Hi Cazmil

I've sent you an email. Your situation had similarities to ours a few years ago, so I thought I'd drop you a line.

Hope to hear back from you sometime

Rudi
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