Considerations for an Oversea Move?

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I'm currently working as an 'IT technician' (lowly tech support position) in the southern United States, but I am considering a move to the U.K. to be with a significant other. What's the best way to gather information like the U.K. technology job market, immigration laws, cost of living, housing arrangements, and of course, how I would move my belongings? Sites like this would be most helpful." While the link that is provided is fairly comprehensive, other sources of information, both referential and anecdotal would be appreciated.

Comments

Escape artist

[Diet Rapture]

Lots of info at Escape Artist.

Ask /.

[Wrexen]

While the link that is provided is fairly comprehensive, other sources of information, both referential and anecdotal would be appreciated

And since this is Ask Slashdot after all, let's just throw "wild speculation and unfounded rumors" in the mix

Karma.Burn(3);

Moving from the U.S. to the U.K.

[Mordant]

is a move in the wrong direction, pal. Confiscatory taxes, grossly over-regulated work environment - and that's -if- you can get a work-permit. It's very, very difficult for foreign nationals to get work-permits in the U.K., especially in the high-tech field.

Moving

[isorox]

I live in the UK, and my parents have just moved to greece. I'm also researching where I can move to escape the oppresive police state that labour have us in.

Moving your belongings though
1) Forget your car, sell it. We drive on the left over here, and have right hand drive cars, not left hand.
2) TV. It might work, but I doubt it. We use Pal. Get one over here. 28" widescreens are from £300 ($450) up. DVD players about £90 up ($140). Sky TV (multichannel) or cable arround the £40($60) per month charge. ADSL/Cable arround £30 ($45)pm.

Make sure you get a region free dvd player otherwise your region 1 disks wont work in our region 2 players.

Digital terrestial TV is taking off here too.

Your Computer will work, but SWITCH THE VOLTAGE before you plug in! We use 230VAC, not 110. You'll need new power cables.

Try this one too
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/ 06/19 17250&mode=nested&tid=99

culture shock

[gruntvald]

I would assume you've visited the place already, but if you haven't, you'll need to. Despite a similar language, culturally it's chalk & cheese. I lived there all my life and found it oppressive. I prefer the US considerably.

the hardest part

[wompser]

I'm currently considering something similar. The hardest part I've found is finding the right job. Why would a company look into canidates from overseas when there are so many availible locally? Definatly not easier to interview non-local canidates. So do you just take that leap of faith, spend a bunch of money to move there and then look for something when you land?

As I recall from when I lived in Germany as a high school student, in order to keep his work visa, my dad had to go into immigration and basically prove that he was the only one qualified to do his job. (i.e. no German could do the job that he was doing, therefore he was not competing with German citizens for the position he was doing) Is this common in European Countries?

Cost of living varies drastically

[Tomah4wk]

As a uk resident, i know that the cost of living varies hugely across the country. The north and west of england (including wales and scotland) are fairly reasonable, but the south east (where the jobs are) is VERY expensive. In your sort of job you wouldnt even be able to consider owning a property in or around the London area. If you look at the bbc's website (www.bbc.co.uk/news) there have been many stories in the press recently about this.
Hope this helps a little, and good luck with your significant other :)
Tom

How to move your stuff:

[PD]

Turn all of it into something easier to carry, such as money. A garage sale is your best bet, or even E-bay. If you're sentimental about a 900 lb. antique wardrobe or something like that, then give it to a dear friend or relative who will keep it for you. When you get to England, you can turn all that money back into all the stuff that you want.

the biggest adjustment....

[kevin lyda]

i think the hardest part for me in moving from the usa to europe is the exposure to new ideas like democracy, real political debate and political representation for those on the left (no, not democrats or american liberals - they're called center right).

Experiences

[yamla]

My experiences... ship the stuff you are planning to need in the foreign country as early as possible. They may claim six weeks for it to arrive but when we moved from England to Canada, it took more than six months.

Take as little as possible. Forget most of your electronics. Forget anything big, like chairs or tables or the like. Ideally, you'd take a few items of clothing, a laptop, and some music CD's, buy pretty much the rest when you get there. Forget about taking your car. You likely will stop driving, anyway, once you get there.

Cost of living in England is expensive. Make sure you have a job and make sure you have somewhere to live. Rent may be several times higher than you are currently paying... four to eight times more than you currently pay if you will be living in or around London, 2 - 4 times more elsewhere in England. Do not even think of going if you do not have a job lined up already.

Get used to the rain. Be willing to accept that people tend to be much more grumpy in England (at least, compared to Canada). A friend of mine who tried moving to England described people as 'angry f*king c*nts' in England and she's not far off the mark.

Return Ticket

[MountainLogic]

Be sure to ask for a return tickst ;-)

How about non-european countries?

[HyperbolicParabaloid]

I lived in China for a year while in college, and my wife grew up in Arabia (her New Yorker father worked for the oil company there). We would love to spend some time over seas with our kids, but perhaps in an Asian or African country.
Anybody have any experience/ideas for working in the rest of the world?

Work Permits hard to get

[Danious]

If you're looking to go under the Work Permit system, you can almost forget about it. For a start, there's no Green Card or visa category allowing you to enter the country to look for work or move between jobs as you feel like it. The Work Permit is for a specific job offered at a specific employer at a specific location for a specific duration. Due to the downturn, the IT Contractors Association have recently convinced the government to tighten the fast-track regulations. Where as there used to be a generic list of job descriptions that qualified for automatic approval, it's now a hard-and-fast list of specific, top-end skills that the job must require before it gets approved. Otherwise, you have to go the long way round of proving that there's no-one in the whole of the UK and Europe who can do the job. I've yet to find an employer willing to spend the time and money when they can have their pick from off the street. The one ray of hope is the latest list still has "Network Specialist, NT/2K/UNIX", but this is more at a design and consulting level, not so much the admin level. You need either an IT degree, any degree plus 1 years experience, or 3 years experience. Full details at the work permits website. Note: currently Work Permits are free if the employer applies directly, but there are unscrupulous agencies out there who try to charge the employer an extra GBP2000 to do it for them, which tends to scare them away.

You only need 1 job site in the UK, JobServe, as everyone advertises there. Be warned, though, the downturn has made for lean pickings.

You can find the regulations for joining significant others at the Home Office, friends have done it and it does take time. You have to apply from outside the country. You can only join your partner and work if you are legally married, if you are unmarried but there is a legal reason you can't marry (i.e. previous marriage and not yet divorced), or if you are engaged to be married within 6 months (but then you can't work until you are). After 2 years together, you can apply for permanent status.

Of course, if you happen to be qualified as a teacher or a nurse, they will pay for you to go there... The down side being the schools and health system are the scummy pits of hell, far, far worse than any call-centre or help desk you've ever been enslaved by.

Move memories, not things!

[bluGill]

Take some photos of the US, your house, your yard, all the things you have, along with neighbors. People live a different life in Europe, and you won't be able to live the standard American life even if you want to. (there are good and bad points on both sides) You might however be able to find some advanatges to life over here that you can introduce to them. For the most part though take pictures. When I was in europe they were shocked to learn I just bought a house on one acre of land, and didn't consider that much at all, I wished I had pictures to show them how I lived.

Don't forget pictures of people. You won't get to see your nephew much anymore, so you have to live with pictures and letters. Remember professionals can often get better pictures of famious objects than you can, so make your pictures personal in nature. "This was my house in the US" is intereting. "This is the biggest building in my state, but I've never been in it" is not intereting. (IF you worked there it would be)

Sell as much as you can, ship the rest. You might love that table you have in the dining room, but if it is too big to fit in your UK apartment what good is shipping it? (I don't know the UK, so this is just an example). Give things away too. You can buy the basic needs of life anywhere.

The rule should be setimental value first, and avoid shipping the rest.

I hate to say this, but please make sure you are serious about the relationship. You would hate to get there, break up after a few weeks, and discover everything about the UK no annoys you because it reminds you of the failed relationship. (If you are even allowed to stay) This is personal, any only you can be sure.