Twinkle0927

Nearly everything is better in Washington than the U.K.? Please elaborate. I get 17 days paid time off a year that I have to use for sickness AND holidays. I had 6 weeks for holidays and 4 weeks for sickness in the U.K. I have epilepsy and I've already been admitted to hospital here because of it. The bill for my 2 days in the ICU and the rest of the week on the ward was probably more than you earn in a year. How you'll miss the NHS. My husband doesn't get any paid time off apart from public holidays. It's things are more expensive here. I'm paying more than double for internet than I was in the U.K. but there I had 100 Mbps and here I'm lucky if I get 12. I live in the mountains here but I wasn't in a big city in the U.K. Our car insurance is more expensive. The roads and bridges are in a terrible state of disrepair and we have recently been told that there is no money in the school budget for seat belts on school buses despite some horrific crashes where the buses tipped over on mountain passes and the kids were thrown about.

Our violent crime rate is higher than the U.K.

Sure there are plenty of good things about living in WA but you'll need to take the rose-tinted glasses off.

scrubbedexpat099

Do you have the money to study in the US, you have A Levels presumably.

leepne

From reading his post, I believe he has Math, Science and English GCSE.

mikelincs

I really suspect that the study, work or investment route are closed to him, leaving the marriage route the only one.

LondonSquirrel

If the OP can get into university in the UK (may need to complete a foundation course or A levels) perhaps for something like American Studies, he might find a degree with a year abroad, or term abroad, in the US. Thus he could spend some time across the pond but funded by UK student loans.

tom169

My advice is to visit on the VWP, marry, and have her petition you for a CR-1.

You enter the USA, start at a community college and attain a GED and go from there.

Danny2312

Oh no I know that I just was confused about moving as you have to agree to leave at the end.

Danny2312

You had 6 weeks holiday?!? How I only get around 20 days. Did you have health insurance? Because you pay the exact same amount if not more through tax for the nhs than most health insurance in the USA. I pay about $55 in total for just around 15mbps when my girlfriend gets 45mbps for around the same price. I’m not sure about car insurance but to be honest I think anything is better than my almost $2000 insurance. The road is the uk or at least where I live are so horrible there are potholes everywhere the amount of crashes I’ve almost had because I had to swerve away from a pothole. Every uk bus doesn’t have seatbelts unless it is a school bus but even then when they’re double deckers (which they always are) they never have them. The U.S. crime rate is not that bad if you take the population into account. Just last month there has been almost 1000 crimes in a 1 mile radius of my town in one month we have had gangs come up from London to my town to kill people one of my old friends from school is now facing 16 years in jail because he didn’t call the police as he was too scared to as they would come for him, he’s now called a murderer by the news because he’s the only one old enough to have his name given out, the killers are only about 15-17. I’m so scared of living in the uk. Yeah I was scared about the guns in the us but at least those are regulated in the uk you can buy a knife anywhere. Those are my reasons I have many more but this is getting too long. I know the US has some crappy sides to it but I’ve weighed the odds and I think life will be so much better.

Danny2312

Okay I think that’ll have to be it. I’ll try to see if college is an option as it is way to early to marry we’ve only met once so far and like another post said I need to get out of the honeymoon phase so I can see clearly and not to just throw myself in and regret it later.

mikelincs

Guns are not that regulated in the US, you can go to a gun shop, buy one and sign up for it and take it away. Knoves are on sale everywhere, in the UK guns are heavily regulated, more so than most other countries, and the sale of knives is also somewhat regulated, certain types of knives are just illegal. People will get around the rules and regulations wherever you live, but I feel much safer in the UK than I would in the US

scrubbedexpat099

My personal experience has been the opposite.

YMMV

aless02

I had to laugh at "Because you pay the exact same amount if not more through tax for the nhs than most health insurance in the USA".

Granted I only earn a token amount as a part-time work-at-home freelancer, but I paid £0 tax and £65 in NI contributions. Maybe as household we lose grand total of £2600 for the whole year and that covers 2 adults, 2 kids. And that's ALL tax. The US has no tax-free threshold to benefit lower earners such as bartenders and freelance photographers ;-)

I get the jist that health insurance will cost us *minimum* $5000pa in premiums, plus God knows how much more in co-pays/deductibles/etc. That's JUST health.

The US might be better for you in some ways, but definitely NOT in health provisions.

tom169

The fact is that for anyone who's earning top money in the UK they will pay more for their health. This is because tax and NI are a %. Here, I pay a flat amount for health insurance at my employer regardless of my income.

ian-mstm

Sure - but that's 4 or so years down the road... and if you get married to a USC and apply to adjust your status, then you don't have to leave.


Hmm... it sounds simply like you want to get away from where you are... and the only reason you're considering the US is because of the girlfriend.

Ian

Rete

Some professions and the length of your employment will increase your holiday allowances. I'm an American but worked in the legal profession as a paralegal and an administrative assistant. I had 4 weeks annual vacation, 10 holidays and 12 sick personal days per year. That is far from the norm for the US which is usually 1 week per year for the first three years and then you graduate to 2 weeks. Now if you have a degree and a profession, all that increases.

That might be true. I wouldn't know but I'm sure there is no high deductible to be met before your healthcare kicks in and no co-pays for every doctor's visit under the NHS.

She's overpaying.

You are all of 18 and a male. Your auto insurance in the US will $2000 every six months.

And you have only been driven around on a select few roads. Good roads, without pot holes, are not the norm in the US unless it is the highway.

I rode buses in New York all my life. None of them have seat belts. Not even the tour double deckers in Manhattan.

And this doesn't happen every hour in the US? Your glasses are rose tinted. Read a little more and expand your knowledge of the US for outside of the Washington State area.