I have been doing quite some research on this forum and beyond in an attempt to find a good place for me and my fiancée to emigrate to. We are a young couple in our mid 20s that finished university a couple of months ago. She is a trained physiotherapist and I have a science bachelor’s in environmental science. She has some field-specific work experience, me not so much.
We are from Gothenburg, Sweden but we are currently living in Perth, Australia. The reasons that we are trying to escape Sweden are among others socialism, bad climate, not much to do, vague culture, homogenous people (outside the ghettos in the larger cities) and so forth.
We are down to earth, outdoorsy, traditional/conservative, family-oriented, easy-going sort of people. We are not big on drinking, partying, night life and such. Furthermore, we are not career focused and see our jobs are necessary to uphold a decent lifestyle. But we do not regard it very high and are not too big on material stuff. What we do like is sports, outdoor activities, culture, movies & music, to travel and explore and so forth. We do like the English language and would like to live in an English-speaking country that would provide us with a larger quantity of opportunities to have a better lifestyle and life satisfaction.
We are considering United Kingdom (in particular the east coast and medium sized “historical towns” like Rochester, Lincoln and Durham), Canada (in particular Ontario and the Ottawa region) and Australia (in particular Perth, where we currently reside). Most other English-speaking countries are not interesting for us for cultural, economic, geographical and so forth reasons. We don’t see that New Zealand could offer something that Australia could not, same for Ireland towards UK. The US is a bit tricky as it does have a wide variety of climate, political – and cultural diversity and good economical possibilities. But it is too risky considering the guns and lack of social security, so we are not considering it. It is almost impossible to obtain a green card anyway.
So, between Canada, UK and Australia who has the best:
Job opportunities/economy
Scenery/landscape/outdoor opportunities
Work-life balance/income compared to costs
Climate
Housing/housing opportunities
Visa opportunities/future prospects
Family oriented/family friendly
State benefits/social benefits
Education/healthcare
We could see ourselves in all three countries on way or another, so it is a bit difficult to choose which one to really try out. UK should be the most natural destination as it’s the closest and as it now stands the easiest for us to stay in. But I’ve heard bad things about the economy (cost of things compared to low salaries), the climate (lack of seasons, snow and sunshine), bad housing and all the confusion with Brexit. What worries me about Canada is too much political correctness, too harsh winters, lack of culture and lack of social security. As we’re already in Australia on a working holiday visa we’re considering trying our luck here. But it is very difficult for us to find job within our fields of study and also very difficult to gain a visa to stay permanently. It is also very far from family, very high cost of living and a bit materialistic society.
Most of these are just fears and not necessarily facts. There are a LOT of things we like with all three countries which is why we are considering them as our future home.
WHAT DO YOU THINK, WHICH ONE WOULD SUIT US THE BEST? Thanks