london better than us? (home, living in, gangs)

[goodburger]

i mean im moving away from the varrio because i dont want them to follow how i lived. i was just asking if you guys would accept a banger trying to be good

[Hengist]

Do you have reason to be confident you meet the necessary entry requirements?

[goodburger]

your just TRYNA give me a hard time huh

[Bob-666]

If you are looking for a fresh start, you would do better to focus on US cities and forget London. You can't go to live there without a work permit and you won't get one without a college degree.

[Hengist]

Originally Posted by goodburger

your just TRYNA give me a hard time huh

By asking just about the most relevant and useful question for someone with your aspirations?

[westtexas28]

Hi

I might be able to help answer your question - well Give my view anyway

I was born and raised in London, Born in Greenwich Southeast London and grew up in a little part of London called Charlton - best known now for the millenium dome & the only place in London with a street actually called the "Village"

And was a Police Officer in various parts of London for 10 years , Central London the wealthy, tourist part & More recently South London (Peckham) to be exact

This area is a little shady , large gangs , gun crime , robbery etc etc

The area where I grew up was nice , little parks outdoor swimming pool called the lido , we do get sun sometimes but when I went to visit my parents not that long ago it has changed and not for the better , gangs and crime are creeping in and most the shops are closing down so not a good situation

I moved out of London when I was 20 to move to Kent county which is more peaceful and more country

I think maybe you can compare parts of london to Boston or NYC in the respect there are starbuks on every corner and high rise buildings but it is a city with a lot of history and I dont think you can say that London is better than the US as the question is too general

There are some really nice places in London by the river and grat bars etc but then threre are some hell holes which you want to avoid

Anyway my own personl veiw is that I relocated to TX why I like the weather and big open spaces , i have been to other places in the US but just felt at home in the South

Having said that I have never been to CA so cant compare if that is better than London but I have watched the Hills on MTV and E- News so does that count lol

Hope this helps

[goodburger]

thank you westtexas your probably the most helpful, i was wondering about why your name is "westtexas" when you talked about london but then i kept reading lol. not to beleive in stereotypes i kinda thought london was either nice polite people that i could learn from or snotty punks that have that "rich guy laugh". so ill check out central london if i can find it on the google maps and im done checking this id rather deal with american jackass'

[Obrero]

You will also find London VERY expensive compared even to expensive parts of CA or NYC.

[njf63]

Hello gb,

I'll take your question at face value and accept that you genuinely want to move to London for the sake of your family. Good for you

Well, we're a big 21st century city, so we do have guns, gangs and crackhouses (just like CA), but London is big enough for you to stay away from all that trouble if you don't go looking for it. Also, how you look won't be a factor in where you can live - London neighborhoods are racially mixed, so you can fit in anywhere no matter what shade you are.

And the simple fact is that in pretty much every London neighborhood you can live your life without anyone getting in your face so long as you:

- stay on the right side of the law
- work for your living
- raise your kids right
- get along with your immediate neighbors

just like millions of us already here, from 140+ countries across the world (no exaggeration - check it out !), already do on a daily basis. If you're up for that, you'll be very welcome.

BUT, one of the other posters did make a good point. The immigration rules have gotten WAY tougher in recent years, so it will repay your time to do some research into what you would need to do to be allowed to settle in the UK.

AND the city is horribly expensive. I don't know how big your family is, but a 4-bedroomed house in an OK neighborhood's gonna run out at $1500 bucks a month minimum, while the average salary here is about $40,000 a year...

Your actual salary will depend on the job you get of course - the more qualifications you have, the higher it will be ! And on that point, do check out equivalency - some US diplomas are NOT recognised in Europe.

So, the bottom line is, yes: London is a fine place to live if you can get in, and afford to stay...!

[njf63]

Thanks to another poster on this forum, I found the following link:

UK Border Agency | Home Page

which should tell you whether you have a chance of living and working in the UK.