Looking Seriously At Leaving US, Where Should I Go???

[vanman]

Vanman I absolutely love the UK, and am strongly thinking of relocating there. The average Joe on the streets seems substantially more educated, and I absolutely love the British sense of humour and music scene where local bands are allowed to flourish (as opposed to the same 10 wiggers being played on every station throughout America where no one knows how to play a guitar anymore). I got satellite radio just for the BBC, although how that arrogant Moyles has overachieved so much is beyond me. As far as the weather, I actually prefer cold to hot all things being equal.

What more can you tell me about the immigration process? Also, do you have any particular areas you can suggest. I've always been a Bolton Wanderer fan in the EPL if that matters . Thanks vanman...

Chris Moyles is a fat twat of that there is no doubt.
What immigration process people just come here and stay.Seriously though i don`t know what the process involves.As for somewhere to live it depends on what you want,flat or house in a town or the countryside?
There`s bad areas and good areas in all major cities.Housing market is pretty steady at the moment,there are rumours of a price crash in the housing market,but that won`t happen IMO,the house builders have got that under control.You can get all the american sport you want on sky tv.

[vanman]

Good for gambling admittedly

But we have a lot of problems as well. A bad recession probably coming our way, ridiculous house prices & a lot of violence on the street.

A few years ago I would not have been worried about walking around my area late at night, but now things have changed with drunk violent youths roaming the streets.

Uk is going down the pan fast (IMO)

Where do you live LG,no problems walking the streets here

[LGBoots]

Where do you live LG,no problems walking the streets here

Portsmouth Especially hard as I am a Saints fan

[Jamie_UK]

I would go to Holland if I was to move, 90% of them speak better English that Americans , nice relaxed laws , nice local bars, pleasant friendly people, weather sucks but no more than the UK.

Dont bother moving here , its full of eastern Europeans ,illegal immigrants, Muslim fanatics, Roma Gypsies , black wannabee gangsters, Pakistani drug dealers, the cost of living is extortionate, we are taxed like **** (no gambling tax though), it will cost you about $400,000 for a small 3 bed house in a decent area and we are governed by PC liberals with nothing better to do than find reasons why we are racist and why we need to do more to help illegal immigrants (and they have no idea how many are here or coming here) .

If I didn't have a child I would cash in my house equity and leave tomorrow.

[vanman]

Portsmouth Especially hard as I am a Saints fan

I thought the south coast was a decent place to live.Not sure about your choice of football team though.

[Skankdog]

Panama for the betting, Colombia for the Women!

[LGBoots]

I would go to Holland if I was to move, 90% of them speak better English that Americans , nice relaxed laws , nice local bars, pleasant friendly people, weather sucks but no more than the UK.

Dont bother moving here , its full of eastern Europeans ,illegal immigrants, Muslim fanatics, Roma Gypsies , black wannabee gangsters, Pakistani drug dealers, the cost of living is extortionate, we are taxed like **** (no gambling tax though), it will cost you about $400,000 for a small 3 bed house in a decent area and we are governed by PC liberals with nothing better to do than find reasons why we are racist and why we need to do more to help illegal immigrants (and they have no idea how many are here or coming here) .

If I didn't have a child I would cash in my house equity and leave tomorrow.

Your spot on with that post Jamie ,agree with you 100%

[Santo]

If I move back to the UK I would live in the countryside somewhere, perhaps Wales, but somewhere fairly remote.

[jjgold]

I guess Australia beautiful too

[mad]

Seeing as that you're a yank, Mexico is an option.

Other than that Australia, i live there, or here. Gambling tax free, legislated and insured, climate = beautiful, beer is cold and chicks are hot.

What else would a fella want?

[jjgold]

I hear all the women in Aussie are nice

[mad]

All DD's

[Willie Bee]

Dont bother moving here , its full of eastern Europeans ,illegal immigrants, Muslim fanatics, Roma Gypsies , black wannabee gangsters, Pakistani drug dealers, the cost of living is extortionate, we are taxed like **** (no gambling tax though), it will cost you about $400,000 for a small 3 bed house in a decent area and we are governed by PC liberals with nothing better to do than find reasons why we are racist and why we need to do more to help illegal immigrants (and they have no idea how many are here or coming here) .

Hmm, change some of the ethnic groups around a bit, restrict gambling and you'd have America. Well, sort of since you'd have to drastically reduce the tax rates and improve the weather, but you get my point.

Despite Jamie's less-than-glowing assessment of the UK, if I had the means I could be quite content in a small Scottish village or maybe in England's Lake District. Other places outside the US that appeal to me are Alberta (maybe around Sylvan Lake, close to the Rockies and just a couple of hours or less to Calgary), Vancouver, Singapore and along the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

[Santo]

Not sure about the Weather, England's not vastly different to New York or Washington State.

[WileOut]

you would be surprised... the resorts in Cuba are amazing. I was there last winter. Had a great time. All inclusive too. I was wasted every night. the place i stayed at was Bresas Guardalavaca

Many of the poorest nations in the world have unbelieveably nice tourist attractions to bring in tourist money. I've been to Jamaica and the place I stayed at was paradise. However 99% of the nation is dirt poor and the people are starving.

[noyb]

I would go to Holland if I was to move, 90% of them speak better English that Americans , nice relaxed laws , nice local bars, pleasant friendly people, weather sucks but no more than the UK.

on the downside: online betting is illegal in holland (altough nobody cares, except most UK bookies unfortunately) and soon you will have to pay 40% tax on your gambling winnings (altough problaby nobody will check). not exactly gamblers' heaven though, i'm actually looking to relocate myself.
on the upside, you can smoke weed all day, if that's your thing.

[Mason]

BB, not sure what kind of ties you have in the US, but I find Europe, Asia, Australia simply too far away from the US for my liking. If I need to go back for whatever reason I can be in Miami in 3 hours. I'd recommend staying in the Caribbean, Mexico, C. or S. America.

Sean gave you some very good answers regarding CR. The part of the city he and I both live in (Almost everyone in the industry really) is filled with people who speak English. Spanish classes are cheap too and you might meet a cute Spanish teacher to boot.

As for real estate my wife and I know the market quite well and dabble in properties. It is indeed the same or many times more expensive to live in the West side of the Central Valley as you pointed out, but your investment is sound and will go no where but up. The housing market in the US is not going to destroy the CR market as many predict, but rather strengthen it IMO.

[betbetter]

Hey Cobra, I've thought about that as well. The only problem is that since Bill 101 was put into effect, the Montreal economy has gone to shit. All of the major corporations have left for the most part, and Toronto has long since become the most populous and booming city in Canada (all due to Montreal just handing it away). Also, when I lived there, the FLQ was bombing English speaking restaurants and establishments left and right. I went back and stayed for a summer a couple of years ago, and I still got the feeling that anti-English and anti-Canadian sentiment was extremely rampant. I do love the idea of a multi-linguistic and cultural place like that being in North America, however, and I'm also a big Habs fan (although Carbonneau is a xenophobic prick who is really partial to French Canadien players)

lol

when was the last time you were here?

FLQ was almost 40 years ago.

beautiful inexpensive place to live.

few senile separatists on their last legs here and there, other than that nobody cares anymore.

economy is just fine.

Habs won't make the playoffs.

[cloudagh]

As far as i`m aware there is no tax on professional gamblers,as for the class system yes it`s still stacked in favour of the rich,but nothing is unobtainable if you really want it regardless of your background it`s just easier with money.

Vanman,
How is the housing cost there? I understand it to be quite expensive compared to the Americas. Obviously no need to live in The City if all you want is a fast internet connection to play sports and casinos all day, so is housing affordable in countryside?

[vanman]

Vanman,
How is the housing cost there? I understand it to be quite expensive compared to the Americas. Obviously no need to live in The City if all you want is a fast internet connection to play sports and casinos all day, so is housing affordable in countryside?

The average house in the UK is 200k,a 4 bed detached by me is about 250k that is in a town,houses in the countryside tend to be a bit more expensive.

[babaoriley]

Not sure about the gambling policies of the following (I've only visited these places), but:
-Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and quite a few people speak English. Also, beautiful brunettes...
-Barcelona, Spain was fantastic (beautiful blondes and brunettes! Las Ramblas is a bustling huge street).
-The Italian Riviera is absolutely gorgeous, quaint, cheap, though may be more of a vacation type spot than a relocation spot
-Vancouver was beautiful
-Monaco, Nice and Cannes were all beautiful and obviously have lavish casinos within range.


As for Amsterdam??? I love to puff on there fine herb when I go, but I can't even imagine living there. One week in Amsterdam is enough for me.

[MrX]

Are you planning on renouncing your US citizenship. Are you aware that you'll still owe taxes on your gambling wins if you don't? Just thought I'd mention that since gambling winnings not being taxed in UK has been mentioned several times here.

It's my understanding that you won't even get the $80k exemption for working abroad on gambling winnings.

[louis]

Latin America (Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico) is a lot cheaper than the UK and Europe, but there is corruption, especially in Mexico. I would stay out of Mexico. It is a dangerous country. The United States is also dangerous, but you have grown up here and know how to deal with it. For example, you know where would be a safe place to live. The dangers in Mexico, and culture of bribing of officials is not something you are use to. Costa Rica and Panama are not modern countries and there are draw backs; the officials there may not know what to make of your "career". I personally would go to the UK. I would definitely visit Panama and/or Costa Rica. I have already been there many times on vacation. Most books located in Costa Rica do not take Costa Ricans, by the way. That is a major reason to not live there, and Panama is very hot.

[operaman]

I am in the same place you are BB. Mexico B.C. sucks. There are many nice things, but crime is OFF the scale down here.
in 7 months I have had my Car stolen and had 6! episodes with the policia. If you have darker skin you might be hassled less though. The male-female relationships are crazy.
Your wife would hate it. The water is undrinkable and there are no sewers.(mostly) I hate putting toilet paper in a waste
basket. Eating down here is problematic if you are use to US
standards of sanitation.

I am thinking about moving to:

Costa Rica
Belize PRO No taxes, beautiful (9.9),
Gamblin ok, English speaking, US dollar,Good banking
,wild mix of people, friendly to gringos

Con HoT!, Bugs, Corruption, women get a bill of sale,
poverty (not in cayes as much), as expensive for
a gringo as US.
Thailand
New Zealand

if others could fill in some pros and cons for the other places
it would help me and bb maybe. Especialy interested in the viability of placing bets at sb down in CR.

[numptie]

Come to Scotland.

Edinburgh.

[20Four7]

Sean: Just out of curiousity what's the cost of living down there? I'm assuming most Costa Ricans don't make the kind of money many North Americans make so I"m just wondering what house pricing, apartment rentals would be. Maybe this is a good look for when I retire in 10 or 15 years from a real job.