crtvak

I wouldnt move here,its so expensive, i am hopefully moving to France,i want to give my children a better healthier life.
Stay in the u.s!!!
The grass isnt always greener!!!
Good luck

Adam2004

Just move!

stafford1954

Hi April

I agree with the previous comment about life here is getting worse by the day and although we have some wonderful culture in the UK it is disappearing faster than the qualified nurses here.

My wife has spent 25 years as a nurse and is slowly becoming the minority in her own hospital with the majority being from the far asia. There are at least 20 VERY qualified nurses heading to Australia and with a child, they would welcome you with open arms and of course there are no lanquage problems.

Britain is a great place to visit but unless you are loaded, however it is not a wonderful place to live anymore as it is frowned upon to be patriotic here. We celebrate July 4th and St Patricks Day (Irish), but not our own St George (April 23rd).

Good Luck in your quest but coming here wouldn't be a problem, so why not come here for three months and see if you like it. I love the States and have travelled a lot over there but its Oz for me and my equity.

Regards

Paul

Pulaski

Yes, it's no longer just London that has crazy house prices. My parents live a long way (by British standards) from London, and their house is quite ordinary - a typical British home (a duplex), and of modest size by American standards (about 1,100 - 1,200 sqft), and yet it is "worth" about three times more than a nurse's or bank clerk's salary would be able to buy (per usual lending criteria for a British mortgage).

veryfunny

All I can say is that if that is what you want go for it.

gsmith1610

Sensible comments!

madscientist

April, I'm an American; I moved to the UK in 2001. I did it the "easy" way...I married a British citizen.

As the others have said, there are several ways for you to come over, but I don't agree that it will be easy. It's easy if you're marrying a British citizen, like I did...immigrating here was a piece of cake for me...but you're in a completely different situation. I would go to the Home Office's website and read the Immigration and Nationality section. It should put you on the right track, and if you have questions, both the Home Office staff in the UK and British Embassy/Consulate staff in the US are more than able to answer any questions you might have. I put together my first application with help from a consulate and it sailed through first time.

Good luck.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/

madscientist

The cost of living is higher than it is in the US, and you will probably earn less than you do in the US. This is especially true in London, the Southeast, and larger cities in the north. If you took a job in the part of England where I live, expect to be paid about £17,000 p.a. The average house price in this county is well over £160,000, though you can still get a 2 up/2 down terraced house for less than £100,000. Expect to pay quite a bit for a car. The good news is that your car insurance probably won't be any more than you paid in the US. The bad news is that gas is over $5 a gallon, and if you live in a terraced house, you might not have anywhere to park it anyway. Unless you have a large amount of savings or equity in property in the US, you probably will not be able to afford to buy a house here for some time. You can get a 100% mortgage at over 4x your income, but I really wouldn't recommend it. It's very unusual here to have an interest rate that is fixed for the life of the mortgage, so your house payments will go up and down along with interest rates. Our house payment has gone up over £100 a month in the last year because the Bank of England has raised interest rates a few times. They're at historic lows, though, and they will only get higher.

Schools here are at least as good as schools in the US. I don't know exactly how they work because I don't have children, but schools have catchment areas and admission to the most popular primary schools is VERY competitive, with house prices being higher the closer you get to the popular schools. Children here wear uniforms to school, which I find refreshing, though they can sometimes be very pricey so you might not save as much on clothing as you think you will. Childcare can be expensive here depending on where you live. A friend of mine had a baby last year; she paid over £100 a week for childcare for her son.

The good news is that you won't have to worry about doctor bills for your son. Books are cheaper here than they are in the US, and many goods are actually quite reasonably priced. Some things, though, are VERY expensive here. Dental care is a trap people fall into because they can't find an NHS dentist. If you can't get on an NHS dentist's books, expect dental care to be quite expensive. Glasses and contact lenses aren't covered by the NHS (though I think they are if you're on benefits, which you won't be) and they can also be quite pricey. CDs and DVDs aren't as expensive as they used to be, nor are white goods. Don't count on a big, American-style fridge, though! They're expensive and many British kitchens simply aren't large enough to accomodate them. Our refridgerator is small enough to fit under the kitchen counter!

Overall, the cost of living here is higher. On the kind of salary you'll probably earn here, you won't pay a higher percentage of your income in income tax than you do in the US...you may actually get off with less...but money will be much tighter than it was in the US. On the other hand, money isn't everything.

madscientist

Escapade, I don't think she's actually entitled to a tax credit for her child since she's not a UK citizen. A friend of mine had a baby last year and they've been told they're not eligible for the tax credit. Neither my friend nor her husband is a UK citizen.

madscientist

We bought our house in the north for £100,000 and it's worth £200,000 after less than three years. Scary, huh?