mattieuk

<joins for ciggy before eggs drips too far down face>

JET747

Maybe the other countries like Canada are tightening up....so fewer Brits can escape !

JET

spaceace

before leaving the UK, the majority of friends & colleagues I spoke to about our move said they would like to emigrate. Not necessarily to Canada, but a move out of the UK all the same. Was this pre-election blues....maybe.

However, saying it is one thing and actually committing to doing it is another, especially with having financial / family / friend ties in your home land ruling out such a huge upheaval for most people.

Oh, and not to mention the moving and immigration costs and risk of not liking it or not being able to get work etc.

I suspect the Spanish property collapse brought many Brits back home tho?

Alphawolf

I'd have to say IMO a huge reason is the exchange rate combined with falling house prices and difficulty selling houses also, people just aren't buying in our area at the moment. There was an article on Sky news the other day that more people are dipping into their savings to make ends meet, thats def the case for us at the mo but hopefully it will turn round.

Yet we are still braving all this to move next April/May, if the house doesn't sell for what we want we will rent and hopefully get by.

The trades around where I live are struggling now, I'm earning less now than 5 years ago, the VAT rise next year will hit hard.
Everythings going up but earning less, how does that work

paolosmythe

with rats leaving an indebted ship.... it is one thing to want to leave, but it is another to have a country willing to receive you

CanadaJimmy

Thats kind of sad if the theories that people can't leave just because they can't afford it are true. It's also a vicious circle, since the reason people can't afford it is because the UK is such an expensive place to live also compared to other parts of the world.

I mean I really disliked the UK when I left last year, but now I think back and I definitely think going to Canada for a bit has given me perspective, I no longer think the UK is a bad place to live any more. Though it could just be that my memory has faded.

Alphawolf

I think your memory may have faded

No seriously from the people I know most working class families are earning the same or less and everything is getting more expensive, the short term loan guys are taking advantage with their so-called pay day loans at the moment with extortionate interest charges as alot are struggling to make it to payday although its more a case of tightening our belts

99problems

Is it not obvious? Emigrating during a recession is always a higher risk. Not to mention UK sterling exchange rate has tanked against all civilised currencies in the last 2 years. We hope to move next year but will rent until the exchange rate improves and we can stomach changing savings and house sale proceeds to Can $.

Alan2005

Don't know why anyone would want to stay in the UK. What a dump - it's like a third world country now-a-days.

Alphawolf

If only that were true then does that mean countries would give us financial aid?????

Jingsamichty

Historically, emigration has been driven by economic troubles, so that's garbage.

dbd33

While I agree with that, I think there's also a case that the recession and, particularly, the exchange rate, inhibit people from moving from the UK to Canada. I think emigrants to Canada are generally quite well off in the UK, they're not the impoverished masses. In such circumstances, the case for Canada has to be about lifestyle and scenery and other intangibles rather than what I see as being the typical motivation; more stuff. I think it was the ability to buy a humungous house and a boat and an SUV that moved people, now that has gone away people would have to like Canada, not just consumer durables, to be inclined to move.

Alphawolf

Agree with alot of what you've said here DBD but not sure what you term by "well off" although I know you sadi generally.
I wouldn't describe ourselves as well off, we have worked all our lives and saved hard to get in the position to move and now we have to save again and quickly as a drop in work available for me has seen us having to dip into our savings.
The people I have met who have recently emigrated to where we are bound are also working class so by "well off" I would take that to mean that the workshy benefit scroungers of the UK don't qualify

dbd33

"well off" meaning not having been driven off the land. "well off" meaning not fleeing persecution. "well off" meaning not the half starved wretches that built the railroads, Jingsamichty's typical immigrants of the past.

Bali2010

I had a study done for work last yr re. population as I was utility planning.

We had previously been reviewing the reduction in pop due to East Europeans returning home, but this was more than off set by Brits returning to the UK & we still had positive growth.

Spanish property collapse AND the euro generally were big influencing factors.
It is also thought it might be the demographic of those in Spain returning in older age for medical care in the UK.