ptholt

i'd agree totally about the states, but only two problems.

For all the brothers in arms spirit we share with the states were just about the only country that can't get in the country unless you have serious wedge behind you.

current economic state means very few are getting in on work visas unless your highly skilled/qualified.

marty_t3

Uncle Buck,

I would agree about Florida (cuz I grew up in Boca Raton in Palm Beach) but i don't have the required 6 figure bank account and 4 Phds to get me a visa.

Think i'll stick to somewhere a little easier to get into for now.

gareth123

In California you can barely hear Tony Blair

Gareth - expat.

marty_t3

Gareth,

You're just making me jealous now

ptholt

hey gareth how about a scoobynet group buy on h1b work visa's with you as the sponsor then

marty_t3

I was working in North Carolina a few years ago for a few weeks but i had a 6 month work visa. I was sitting in the hire car outside the airport at the end of the 2 weeks seriously contemplating not getting the return flight and becoming an illegal immigrant. The worst that would have happened is that i'd get thrown out of the counrty at the end of the 6 months. I'm starting to think i made the wrong decision by getting on plane.

ptholt

only catch with that being if you are caught you can't even go back to the states for a holiday for i think its 5 or is it 7 years??? its some silly time.

Many moons ago there used to be a loophole for Irish IT contractors to stay longer, but a few (including a friend of mine) go caught trying to get nito the USA on it and was threatened with being sent home and not allowed back AT ALL for a long time..

Echo

Thought of Holland? Great people, they all talk English, it's more like a chilled out UK with nice continental food and drink :-) Not too far to go either!

:-)

andym172

My parents have discussed emigrating and these were the destinations they looked at:

- Bermuda - the island's pretty small and there may not be enough employment prospects for you but it is one of the most beautiful places on earth...

- Southern France - go on holiday around St Tropez and you'll convince your girlfriend to move there within minutes. A flight to Nice and then on to St Tropez airport only takes 3 hours. Property inland is relatively inexpensive.

- New Zealand - has everything we have over here but better...

- Portugal - very very poor country but a beautiful one at that. Head towards Quinta do Lago and you'll forget the UK ever existed

marty_t3

Claudius,

I don't have any particular area or country in mind. I just figure that not only will i be better off financially, but i'll have a better standard of living. Basically i'm sick to death of this country and it's politics of screwing over the honest hard working folk.

What about employment opportunities (i'm in IT and process engineering)? How much would i be paying for decent rented accomodation? How do salaries compare? To be honest i'd rather live in spain but i reckon i can learn to speak french pretty quickly so it's probably my best bet.

Biggest hurdle i can see is talking the g/f round

edited cuz questions already answered.

[Edited by marty_t3 - 1/9/2003 11:32:38 AM]

Claudius

I can see what you mean. It's the same thing here, though, but not as bad.

If you work in IT, you can make a lot of money. A friend of mine works as a server security manager / consultant and makes £4000 a month. He's 24.

You pay around one month worth of salary a year; the French taxation scheme is a little complicated: you pay so much of a % from £8000 a year to £12000 a year, then so much of a % from £12000 to £15000 and so worth. Works out about a months worth of salary as tax per year for a single person, maybe one and a half months if you really make a lot.

There's a major technology "town" here called Sophia Antipolis, close to Vallauris which is in between Cannes and Nice. IBM, Texas Instruments and the like are there. I dont know much about IT, but you could try searching the web about that "technopole" as they call it here and check what companies are there. They gave all companies that moved there a tax exemption for several years (not the employees, though ) so there are quite a few.

Lots of fit women here

[Edited by Claudius - 1/9/2003 11:40:41 AM]

Bajie

Please don't take this the wrong way

B U T

If you emigrate, are YOU prepared to live and integrate with the people [locals] around you?

I've lived and worked off-shore on and off since 1996.
Think its great but there are issues getting to know people, finding your way around etc.
Its not as easy as getting on a train/plane/automobile renting a house getting a job and whoopie.
The people there will have issues with their governments, same as we do, and you'll see them - first hand in some cases.
Choose your country then start reading their local papers [on-line] to see what their feelings are on some of the issues you want to disassociate yourself from here.

Lived in *****, nice accommodation, local drug dealers doing their thing just around the corner. Didn't show that in the job description!

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

Again, I'm not having a go, just trying to add another perspective.

[Edited by Bajie - 1/9/2003 12:11:38 PM]

WRX SEE

Didn't mean to discourage you at all...I think it's an excellent idea to consider all options - several European countries including the UK have gone completely overboard with their policies and anyone staying there and not doing anything about it shouldn't complain.

Ok...let's take the most important aspect you just mentioned - cars
Given - the UK is bloody expensive for insurance and pretty bad for fuel as well. However, in some countries insurance might be cheaper, but new cars are insanely expensive (e.g. Holland, Denmark, Cyprus have new car registration tax of 40-50%), fuel the same price as the UK and road tax pretty horrendous as well. Etc. Consider why you see so few nice cars in these places. My point being that the situation may look better somewhere else in first instance but might not be. Don't move based on the impressions you get from just 2 weeks' holiday somewhere - anywhere seem brilliant then.

Make sure that you're not moving for just 1 aspect of life being better - you will be in for a major disappointment. The more reasons you have for moving to a new location, the more chances you will have of liking it.

Personally, I have lived in a number of different European countries over the last 5 years - and every place has its own pros and cons. Typically the pros and cons tend to even out pretty well.

Have a look on the web - there are loads of websites where you will find countrymen who will have gone before you. Find out what their experiences are - especially relating to the location you are contemplating moving to. You will then have a much better idea of the situation you are likely to encounter.


Editted out the usual typos

[Edited by WRX SEE - 1/9/2003 12:33:16 PM]

marty_t3

Cheers for the info Claudius...

I'm seriously looking into it now. I assumed there was a lot more red tape to get through. Looks like all i need to do is get myself a job over there then start packing well.... after i do a bit more research of course


[Edited by marty_t3 - 1/9/2003 3:04:33 PM]

unclebuck

good thought...

they like a bit of imaginative design in housing too.

what are prices like there??

The thing is though, the weather is as crap as ours, and it is almost as crowded....

Not far away enough!!... methinks



[Edited by unclebuck - 1/9/2003 10:38:44 PM]