United States vs Australia (cheap apartment, unemployment, transfer)

[minibrings]

quality of schools would depend on the school district. some are better than others.. this is the same as in Oz, Canada and the U..
there are several rankings of Unis.. including the one above, The Times of London, Shanghai Jiao Tong.. but I take them with a grain of salt..
My uni in Oz went from 101 to 64 to the 90s in a spate of 3 years.. makes you wonder

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by minibrings

quality of schools would depend on the school district. some are better than others.. this is the same as in Oz, Canada and the U..
there are several rankings of Unis.. including the one above, The Times of London, Shanghai Jiao Tong.. but I take them with a grain of salt..
My uni in Oz went from 101 to 64 to the 90s in a spate of 3 years.. makes you wonder

Yea, thats pretty good ranking.
I guess its about looking up what are the better schools.

[w1ngzer0]

I know this does not sound nice, but do not move for any family member. Family members come and go, parents come and go. The question is if you move to Australia would you enjoy living there if your mother died? What about the United States, after your kids are gone, would you enjoy living there?

I would stay in the UK for the school system for your kids. Once they're done with school, then move wherever.

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by w1ngzer0

I know this does not sound nice, but do not move for any family member. Family members come and go, parents come and go. The question is if you move to Australia would you enjoy living there if your mother died? What about the United States, after your kids are gone, would you enjoy living there?

I would stay in the UK for the school system for your kids. Once they're done with school, then move wherever.

Well, i would move on from the UK, but im unsure leaving my family coz i think they are having second thoughts about moving to them places... so i don't know what to do.

[MarcNZ]

Before getting too concerned about where to move, I would suggest making sure you can move. That may end up making the decision for you. The US immigration process is A LOT more difficult than the Australian immigration process. It would be a shame to get your hopes up about America if you can't legally move there anyway. Sorry to be blunt, but I think it would be better to find out sooner rather than later. If you have an immediate family member who is a US citizen or you have very specialist skills (i.e. PhD in a desirable field, or high level management in a large international company) then the US is a great option. If this is not the case, then Australia will be a much more realistic option (and a pretty nice place too ).

[FuzzyFoxx]

Originally Posted by MarcNZ

Before getting too concerned about where to move, I would suggest making sure you can move. That may end up making the decision for you. The US immigration process is A LOT more difficult than the Australian immigration process. It would be a shame to get your hopes up about America if you can't legally move there anyway. Sorry to be blunt, but I think it would be better to find out sooner rather than later. If you have an immediate family member who is a US citizen or you have very specialist skills (i.e. PhD in a desirable field, or high level management in a large international company) then the US is a great option. If this is not the case, then Australia will be a much more realistic option (and a pretty nice place too ).

The thing is with the US immigration process, i think you have to pay a fee even if you don't get it? If so is there any other ways to find out?
Also, i don't have any skills, been in childcare and retail and been working my way up in retail very well.

[MarcNZ]

Originally Posted by FuzzyFoxx

The thing is with the US immigration process, i think you have to pay a fee even if you don't get it? If so is there any other ways to find out?
Also, i don't have any skills, been in childcare and retail and been working my way up in retail very well.

If you're young enough (30 and under) you may want to consider a working holiday visa to Australia which lets you legally work for up to a year. That would let you go, have a good time and get a feel for whether you want to try and make the move more permanent.

I don't know if there is a UK-US working holiday arrangement, there is a NZ-US one so it's possible and worth looking into. If there isn't then there are other options for going to the states short term, like working at a summer camp. Again, it would let you go, have a great experience and see what the place is really like before committing to the long and expensive immigration process.

If you are a student there are also plenty of exchange programs and special visas which let you go over and work for short periods of time for seasonal work (although they may have cut these back given the current economic situation, I just don't know)

Also, I don't think I am allowed to post links to other forums here, but if you google "british expat forum" you will find a wealth of information about immigration to various places, including the US and Aus. Go to the US one and read the wiki about the different visa options available and see if any apply to you. But I should warn you not to just post a question in the forum asking how to move there. The regulars in the forum seem pretty friendly but they get asked this question so many times by people who don't understand how difficult the US immigration process is and don't read the wiki first that you may not get a warm welcome. You have been warned

[koyaanisqatsi1]

Thousands of Aussies moving to the UK in droves, 95,000 of us call the UK home:

Australians are moving to the United Kingdom at record rates | Travel News | News.com.au

[shea14shea]

If you decide on the US I would recomend TX (not Houston though). It has one of the most stable economies in the country, especially with everything that is going on here right now. I moved to Texas from Idaho about four years ago and it has been great for us. There are more opportunities and cultural diversities. People are very friendly here as well, especially in San Antonio (I have lived in San Antonio and Dallas). I do not know much about Australia, but I have always wanted to go to the Cairns area!!! It looks so beautiful. If you do decide to come to the US you should know that there is no universal health care, so you better get insurance. Taxes are ridiculous, and it is always more expensive to live on a coast than inland. I would go for Australia, but I am sick of the U.S. Good luck!

[shea14shea]

Oh yes, I also wanted to tell you a few more pro's and con's to the US. The school systems are more focused on testing that actual learning. I will not send my kids to public school because of it. Yes, depending on where you live the houses are pretty good size. We rent a 2500 sq ft 4bd 2.5 ba 3 living are home in a new subdivision for 1250 usd a month. This is in Texas though. The more cramped the city, the more smaller the home and the more costly. The media here is ridiculous with it's drabby political agenda, almost as if they are trying to scare everyone, so if you move here, do not take it too seriously. Gas is also about 2.50 a gallon.