An American told me how lucky we were to have all those countries just a short flight away. More so for most of you. Was a far point.
As someone who lived in various country’s for prolonged periods of time, I can honestly say that the U.K. in general is a lovely place to live, certain things are better organised in other country’s, but on many other fronts we are doing really well, and in the end things are averaging out nicely, what then becomes important is your social life with friends and family, missing them is the hardest part, but making new friends is also a pleasure, what we can’t change is the effing weather, if we had a Mediterranean climate here, then it would be the place to be, as that is not going to happen I can wel see us moving to Aussie land at some point, I am sure I get used to it’s scary animal kingdom, so USA, why not, give it a go for a few years, if it is not for you, wrap it up and try something else, you only live once, so make the most of it!
Something I'd like to do one day maybe.....new Zealand I would say first then the us but the amount of firearms scares the shit out of me I'll be honest... The other thing is work....if you were to...your literally on your own...quite scary in itself which is probably the same thing that stops me doing it...
I lived in Florida for eleven years and loved it. I found Americans, on the whole, to have much the same goals and ethics as us. They are also among the most generous and hospitable people I have ever met. We only seem to hear the negatives over here as they do about us.Id be interested to know what visa you will apply for as its an absolute mine field.
By residency visa I assume you mean green card. Not easy and if your serious about going you best start your research. I dont want want to piss on your chips cos I would absolutely encourage you to give it a go but Green cards are the holy grail and just as rare. If you have some cash investment visas are the easiest way. Unless you have kids or parents who are US citizens be prepared to spend a lot of time and money on your application. If you do get there youll love it and I wish you all the best.
Basically this Visa the way I understand it means that a family member will vouch and support us up to 125% of the poverty line. To be fair my wife especially should be able to get somewhere with some kind of company sponsorship with what she does for a living. My cousin is a stock broker and has a lot of financial contacts for her. My uncle owns a fair few companies in nyc and has offered me employment until I get sorted.
Take a trip to New York and have a drive around. Your council will suddenly seem more than awesome. I know I'm making what may seem very general comments about the USA and yes I have met many lovely people in the USA but IME, in the commercial world, they talk complete and utter shite and have no substance to what they say and do. I prefer dealing with people that "do" and not those that just like to talk about it. And a lot of Americans just like to talk about doing things whilst trying to work out how they can screw you over without doing anything. And that last comment is based on personal experience that cost our company over £250k in legal costs to counter such underhand tactics. I would never say to anyone don't do what you want to do. But the USA IMO and IME is not the land of milk and honey that people think it is.
@El Toro Your experience is almost certainly at a different (social and financial) level to mine. I was a small business owner and associated with mostly Americans at that same level. I found them to be as honest and hard working as those at an equivalent level in the UK. To my mind we have our share of twats and wasters here. Like folks the world over the vast majority of Americans just want to get on with their lives in a decent way. AS an aside I found that if you live a little of the tourist trail, as a Limey you are elevated to an almost celebrity status. PS totally agree with your last sentence
There are pro's and cons to any country. Same as any argument or decision. One big thing against moving to the States though...most of the roads are straight. That's bad. Very boring. As a result, when I went to do 'The Tail of the Dragon' otherwise known as Deals Gap on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, which is 318 bends in 11 miles, most of the riders had no idea how to take a bend. They just wobbled round in the middle of the road. But if you'd spent your life on big relatively straight roads you wouldn't know how to do bend after bend, would you. Got to think about what the riding is going to be like out there.
