United States vs Australia (sales, health insurance, houses)

[analyticalkeys]

Honestly, don't base your decision off this poll. Go to both countries and figure it out.. that's a big leap to make, moving to another country. You also need to see if you're able to get a citizenship, and all that.

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by analyticalkeys

Honestly, don't base your decision off this poll. Go to both countries and figure it out.. that's a big leap to make, moving to another country. You also need to see if you're able to get a citizenship, and all that.

The poll does gives me some idea, whats people also think is best.
Australia, i don't think we will have a problem coz my dad phoned up asking what we need to move there etc and coz we have family out there for longer then 10 years its easyer to get visas and stuff.
The crime we have been told is 40% less then UK, but don't know about the US for its crime etc and i think thats what puts my family off.

[grmike]

Australia and the US provide similar opportunities and have similar drawbacks. they both regularly rank very low when it comes to press freedom, and have problems when it comes to abuse of power by government officials, racism. US has most prisoners of any country in the world, 47 million people with a criminal record (this mostly has to do with tougher laws, ambiguous law enforcement), Australia has higher taxes, universal healthcare which makes a big difference at a time when good jobs are hard to come by.

America's image has taken a hit the last decade even though many other developed countries have similar problems.
It's understood that Australia is one of the 5 best countries to live in but I'm going to go with the underrated country US.

[analyticalkeys]

Originally Posted by FuzzyFoxx

The poll does gives me some idea, whats people also think is best.
Australia, i don't think we will have a problem coz my dad phoned up asking what we need to move there etc and coz we have family out there for longer then 10 years its easyer to get visas and stuff.
The crime we have been told is 40% less then UK, but don't know about the US for its crime etc and i think thats what puts my family off.

Crime in USA is very dependent on where you move to, so you have to figure that out first, before you can start researching.

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by analyticalkeys

Crime in USA is very dependent on where you move to, so you have to figure that out first, before you can start researching.

I know there is alot of states, but can you name any that is good?
Anyone else that can tell me any good states aswell is welcome.

[Bugmommy]

I am American and my husband is Australian. Our children have dual citizenship and we have lived in the US, UK, and Australia, so I'm fairly familiar with the issue In the UK we lived in London (Wimbledon area) in Australia we lived in Sydney (Mosman area) and in the US (Atlanta, Chicago, and Charlotte).

I loved living in the UK. I love to travel and I liked the diversity you could find due to the number of expats. However, its crowded and expensive so not ideal for small children. The public transport was difficult with two little ones on a day to day basis. I got tired of asking strangers to help me with the pram.

Australia is beautiful and easier with small children. However, its veerrry expensive to live anywhere close to the stuff that makes it so desirable (i.e. the city, beaches, etc.). Household goods were actually more expensive than in the UK and food and general COL were similar. My husband has a very good job with a good company and unless we were willing to have me go back to work or live in a shoe box we wouldn't be able to live anywhere in Sydney that I liked.

We moved back to the US about 6 months ago. Life is just easy here, particularly in the SE. I can drive to the grocery store and put both my children in the trolley made for 2 and still have room for a weeks worth of groceries. And they'll even load them all for me in my car. Things are open every day of the week, many 24 hours. I don't have to stock up before the 12 bank holidays. I have real bedrooms for everyone in my house (not a closet posing as a bedroom - speaking of which bedrooms have closets) and a guest room. I have excellent private healthcare that my DH's co. pays most of, although I know this isn't the situation for everyone. Do I wish there was more cultural and get a little frustrated with some ignorant comments? Sure, but in larger cities its pretty easy to find other expats, well traveled Americans, etc. I love Atlanta, DC is a bit pricier but lovely, and Chicago (well, at least during the summer months). If I didn't have children, I probably would have happily continued living in the UK forever.

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by Bugmommy

I am American and my husband is Australian. Our children have dual citizenship and we have lived in the US, UK, and Australia, so I'm fairly familiar with the issue In the UK we lived in London (Wimbledon area) in Australia we lived in Sydney (Mosman area) and in the US (Atlanta, Chicago, and Charlotte).

I loved living in the UK. I love to travel and I liked the diversity you could find due to the number of expats. However, its crowded and expensive so not ideal for small children. The public transport was difficult with two little ones on a day to day basis. I got tired of asking strangers to help me with the pram.

Australia is beautiful and easier with small children. However, its veerrry expensive to live anywhere close to the stuff that makes it so desirable (i.e. the city, beaches, etc.). Household goods were actually more expensive than in the UK and food and general COL were similar. My husband has a very good job with a good company and unless we were willing to have me go back to work or live in a shoe box we wouldn't be able to live anywhere in Sydney that I liked.

We moved back to the US about 6 months ago. Life is just easy here, particularly in the SE. I can drive to the grocery store and put both my children in the trolley made for 2 and still have room for a weeks worth of groceries. And they'll even load them all for me in my car. Things are open every day of the week, many 24 hours. I don't have to stock up before the 12 bank holidays. I have real bedrooms for everyone in my house (not a closet posing as a bedroom - speaking of which bedrooms have closets) and a guest room. I have excellent private healthcare that my DH's co. pays most of, although I know this isn't the situation for everyone. Do I wish there was more cultural and get a little frustrated with some ignorant comments? Sure, but in larger cities its pretty easy to find other expats, well traveled Americans, etc. I love Atlanta, DC is a bit pricier but lovely, and Chicago (well, at least during the summer months). If I didn't have children, I probably would have happily continued living in the UK forever.

Wow, thanks for your post.
So how long you lived in the US, AU and UK?
Also you said about visas... how easy is it to get one for the US and AU?
Also, what is the heathcare like in the US and AU? and any other information in which is helpful.

[NihonKitty]

^ US has the worst healthcare system out of all the developed countries in the world. But if you can afford it then the quality is good. Australia as far as i know has universal healthcare.

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by NihonKitty

^ US has the worst healthcare system out of all the developed countries in the world. But if you can afford it then the quality is good. Australia as far as i know has universal healthcare.

Why is the heathcare not good?
Here in the UK, i would not say the heathcare is good as i know coz my nan was not looked after right and almost costed her life.

[NihonKitty]

I have no idea about the UK system or how it ranks but australias system ranks much better than the US. The US ranks dead last in this study out of the top 18 developed countries.
France best, US worst in preventable death ranking | Reuters

France, japan, and australia were the top 3 in that order. USA was last.

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.

By the way the number one cause of bankruptcy in the USA is healthcare costs. That is a fact sadly, that healthcare system in the US is so bad it bankrupts the most out of anything else in america.