You mean the opportunity to work like a slave for ridiculous hours a week, have two weeks holiday a year, and live your life in fear of being shot (or more accurately, of surviving being shot and then bankrupted by the medical fees) doesn't appeal?
I turned down a transfer to Silicon Valley nearly 30 years ago and never regretted it for a nanosecond...
That and the absolute horrible turn that american politics and courts have taken in the past two decades. They are heading towards an absolutely dystopian society that I simply cannot see myself in.
Well yes, but not sure it's only the last two decades...
I mean, I did consider it seriously. And of US cities, San Francisco is among the least awful. But I just could not master the cognitive dissonance required to live in the US then, and certainly not now.
I just don't understand how you can trip over a disabled veteran on every street corner, or know that there are entire blocks of your city that are basically tents and drug addicts, to be approached any time you walk more than a block by someone so out of their head on crack/whatever-this-year's-drug-is that you think the zombie apocalypse has come, or to have people literally falling into you on the trolley because they broke their glasses and can't afford to buy new ones so they're functionally blind (true story)... I don't understand how you can experience all that and at the same time believe you live in a fair and just society.
I mean, we have those problems over here (not on the same scale, but sure we have them,) but at least we know we're supposed to be ashamed of it.
Oh it's not just the past two decades. That project has been running for at least the past 50 years. But with the conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court it has suddenly become possible to actually make this shit reality.
San Francisco is pretty awful these days, they have a huge problem with homelessness and drug abuse. I saw people tweaking in the city centre in mid day when I visited.
Also the traffic there is absolutely ridiculous.
I’d like to point out that, while San Francisco has a huge homeless population, part of that is because they have a ton of services that they can provide for the homeless and because the weather is livable year-round. Of course those services are not enough, and there are lots of terrible things San Francisco does as well. Obviously the main thing the homeless need is shelter and the housing market might as well be a cartoon graph that broke at the top, but they’re doing a lot more than most US cities are for their homeless populations
That's what killed my desire to move to the US. Lived there for about the first 10 years of my life, spent the next 20 obsessed with moving back, studied there as part of my degree (which is in American Studies, specialising in history and politics, i literally couldnt have had more love for the US if i tried)... and then they go and shoot themselves in the foot like they have been doing for a while now.
It's sad really, its a country that's become a shadow of itself and is the laughing stock of the world but who can't recognise that they're not the country they think they are at all.
Heading? It’s always been a dystopian, slaver society. People around the world who haven’t been victims of neocolonialism or were just brainwashed via Hollywood are just waking up to it.
I had the same, an offer in the US that considered but god almighty, why would I give up my holidays, medical care, maternity and paternity leave, and safety?
Two weeks unpaid holiday at that, like hey we are forcing you to have two weeks unpaid off, just deal with it.
Where I'm from it's six weeks paid holiday and you can acres more by doing overtime as leave is acrewed based on hours worked, so the more you work the more leave you can get, plus good old penalty rates for working over time increasing your wage.
Where I am it's a minimum of 4 weeks paid leave, plus public holidays, mandatory paid leave for special family events (marriage, marriage of one of your children, death of a family member), 6 months of paid sick leave (up to 1 year for certain conditions) which you can also use for caring for a sick child, 126 days of maternity leave *plus* 2 years' of parental leave after the birth that can be split between the two parents... And of course EU working-time directives and the like apply, and there are various other allowances for things like training leave.
Those are the minimums, employers usually offer better.
But, true that I could earn more in the US. No thanks.
> Two weeks unpaid holiday at that, like hey we are forcing you to have two weeks unpaid off, just deal with it.
To be fair in my experience it was paid. The issue was that the 10 days covered both holiday and sick days. Also, most places wouldn't let you take unpaid time off. If you didn't have any in your "bank" then you couldn't take time off.
My friend worked in the petroleum industry and got posted from UK to Canada to Texas. He got tf out of texas and came back home to Scotland asap and said he absolutely hated it there. He was constantly paranoid for the safety of his wife and 3 girls because of the sheer amount of gun nuts and local shootings there.
So many brainwashed brown nose bootlickers think this is what you should deserve and getting more benefits from employers and public is communism and who are so triggered by universal affordable healthcare.
My wife and I were due to relocate from the UK to near Ocala, Florida about 22 years ago. We had sponsors & job opportunities lined up and a place to stay when we arrived.
Over a period of 18 months we spent >¼ of our time there, getting things ready, getting used to the climate and networking.
It ultimately fell through and at the time we were really upset that it had. However, with the shitshow that is the polarisation of American politics and the present governor of Florida we're kind of glad it did.
Not to mention my wife's health deteriorating ~15 years ago and the vast amount of **expensive** medicine she requires every month, which would've all but guaranteed us coming back by now anyway.
Don't forget the rat race that is getting into any decent American Uni (College). It's literally regressive against anyone who doesn't have 10+ extracurriculars and isn't a massive extrovert.
If by “decent” you mean Ivy League then yeah. But every state has at least 1-2 well regarded universities that are relatively easy to get into for the average student. Now paying for it is a different matter.
Its always nice as an American who is incredibly critical of this country to be reminded that the rest of the world agrees with those of us who are often called insane within the country.
My previous company offered me the possibility to move to Atlanta, I am based in the UK. It would have been a massive increase in salary, and full medical coverage. I rejected for the main reason that I would be downgrading from 28 days of annual leave + 8 Bank holidays to just 10 days of PTO. Like hell nah, I can't use my precious annual leave to spend it crossing the Atlantic to visit my family...
>have two weeks holiday a year
Non consecutive, if your boss allows it.
No state mandated parental leave, high risk of having someone in your family going bankrupt from medical or student debt, different standards for just about everything, from measuring units to printer paper size and including the amount of actual text painted on the road (instead of symbols), to the lowest food safety rules in the developed world and no way to transfer money to your friends other than using cash.
It really is above average among the developing countries!
I've never been to New Zealand myself, but from what I know about it, I would never think it's an inferior country to the US. Nor can I understand why being from New Zealand makes you less than. Some people are just assholes.
In Ireland, where I live now, some have this real romanticised vision of the US, so I always get asked why you would pick Ireland over the US. Look I get Ireland has some issues it's working through, many that are found in most countries throughout the world currently. But Ireland is a hell of step up from the US. My mother tells me all the time how unAmerican I've become living in Europe. My response is that I've stopped drinking the Koolaid and can see the lies we've been fed that the US is the greatest country in the world. I'm not saying Ireland is perfect or any other country is perfect, but I wouldn't go back to the States, and it's only getting worse with the current political circus.
My great-grandparents left Ireland around 100 years ago to make a better life for themselves. I left the US to make a better life for myself and have done so and I wouldn't, trade it for anything.
I'm working on leaving the US now. Spent 3 years learning a language to get EU citizenship by descent and now that I'm naturalized I'm now just searching for a job. My whole family tells me, "you'll move over there and realize the U.S. is the greatest country in the world and you'll be back."
And I'm willing to admit that that's a possibility. Not the "greatest country in the world" crap, but that moving to another continent in your 30s is hard. Adjusting to cultural changes is hard. Making local friends and learning a new language is hard. Maybe I won't be strong enough to withstand all of that and maybe I will be so lonely I'll just give up and move back. I hope not, but it happens. I'm terrified of sacrificing everything to move over there and start over, only to fail.
But I am scared being here. My personal academic interest is white Christian nationalism and I write and research on that topic (working on pursuing a PhD abroad in political science or international relations). The more I read on this ("filling my mind with negativity," as my mom says) the more scared I become. These people won't stop. The far-right wants a theocracy and at this rate they'll get it. I'm queer, not religious, and a leftist. Americans who aren't scared aren't paying attention. Congratulations on getting out, I'm glad you've found a better life for yourself! <3 If you have any tips to adjusting to life in a new country or if you're willing to share more about your experience moving to Ireland, please DM me! I'd love to hear more about it!
Only a Seppo could think living in the US is in any way superior to living in NZ. I'm sure NZ has its problems too but to my knowledge it isn't rapidly devolving into the 1800s where women ans black people are considered livestock
Whoa - would definitely prefer to be in NZ than USA - been to both, lived in SoCa in my early 20. It was ok but NZ was(/is? Not been for a long time) next level beautiful surroundings, great people, atmosphere...
Can you imagine the innate fear of the possibility of getting sick and losing everything? And now the politics is out of control... It's like watching a house burn down.
We have stricken the US from our list of travel destinations. It's too bad really because there are things I would like to experience, like Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. But I'm not willing to go to the US to experience them.
Exactly. I was fairly happy to fly over it to a proper holiday destination, Mexico. That said, there were a lot of Americans there which did put a bit of a dampener on it.
Wandered all around - South Africa, Namibia, Germany and most of Europe, Oman, Kuwait, other Middle East countries. Now in Latvia and contemplating next jump. Philippines?
Working. I'm still working at 68. I want to retire but US social security cut my pension by 45% without justification or explanation. So I fully expect to drop dead at a menial job some day. Since I retired from teaching (too repetitive) and don't have the stamina to run a hotel or stand in a kitchen all day anymore, I usually work as a CSA wherever I go. Since I'm bilingual (English and German) finding work is very easy, yet it's still work...
I live in California and it’s fairly nice. Im lucky and have a pretty good job and can live comfortably.
I do really like Canada though. Would def consider relocating if I could
At a birthday party last year a colleague of my friend told me she is moving to the US to be with her long distance boyfriend/fiance (cant quite recall). People were already like, "wow, the US, huh? Currently? Oof. And with that job?" Because additionally comes the aspect that she is a teacher. And you know being a teacher in Austria aint great as well, but in the US its a different story. Additionally she was moving, out of all places, to Florida.
She was excited to live with her partner but not necessarily excited to live in the US. I think she also said she would NOT work as a teacher there.
Many americans still believe everybody wants to come to the USA, which was true for many europeans during and after WW2. But it aint that time anymore.
Literally. I am a physician and would earn 10x as much in the US compared to where I work and hell no! I’d never ever in 1.000.000 years do that
Edit: 2-3 weeks every 10 years as a vacation is fine though
This is a classic case of cognitive dissonance in America: when individuals encounter information that contradicts their long-held beliefs, they experience mental discomfort. To alleviate this tension, they often dismiss the information, much like a child might.
And on the flip side people unquestioningly embrace information that supports their beliefs.
What language were the searches in?
What about countries like Russia or China where Google is less popular or banned?
What about people who don’t have access to Google?
Found a New York Post Story about it, according to them this research with this weird metric has been done by some kind of moving company, so I don't know how reliable this data is.
Looking at data of numbers of actual immigrants the US comes in first and Germany second. Which doesn't tell us much about the current immigration flow tho.
For a moving company, this is a good metric, it shows where you need to focus your capacity. As a way to compare countries, it's not the best to put it gently.
It's a good metric for a moving company but the way the New York Post interpreted it in their story makes it weird.
Edit:
Also the New York Post didn't link the research of the moving company so we don't know if they only included countries where they offer their services.
That tracks. A lot of them have been told their whole lives that America is the pinnacle, the centre of the universe and everyone else in the world looks longingly over the fence at them. I think it extends from the notion they have that everywhere but America is approaching either third world status and/or gives its citizens zero rights.
Yes off course its a western (feels like European) country on one of the most beautiful islands in the world with nature thats not even close to what they have in the USA and best of all, it has very little Americans living there. Its basically a warm England with only the good kind of English people. Best fucking country in the world
When is someone going to tell him that the migration flow is inverted for Northern Europe for a while now? (more US citizen are coming to Europe than in the opposite way).
It doesn't matter because Americans won't believe they aren't the land of milk and honey for everyone else anymore. They'd rather believe Trump's bullshit.
Many, yes, not all. That's the sad part: There are actual millions of well-educated, progressive Americans, yet because they tend not to be raucous and noisy like the moron set, most of the world thinks of the US as this playground full of screaming monkeys.
This whole discussion is a lot harder to quantify based on actual immigration than people would like. How do you really compare Iceland to Germany in this respect given their comparative sizes, the fact that one has land borders with other countries and staggering difference in existing population sizes? How do you deal with the fact that some countries simply accept far more or fewer prospective immigrants than others?
This whole discussion is just silly clickbait on behalf of the Post (the US’s version of the Daily Mail, btw). Without direct and specific polling (a monumental task if you want it to be a decent sample size from all over the world), this seems like a pretty silly discussion, because everyone will just pick the metric that favors their preferred narrative otherwise.
Im a Brit and have a firm dislike of the French but by God I'd rather cut both legs off and impale my body on the eifel tower than live in that handmaid's tale fanatical religious shit hole called the USA
To be fair British people have been fuelling this since long before Brexit. Even those who embraced the EU and closer ties, political union etc. would still often make a casual differentiation between the UK and Europe, if only for the geography of an island vs a continental "main land". This has been the case since I was a kid.
When I was a student in Canada I had a lot of international friends and only a few of them were interested in the US, We actually had quite a few Americans that were trying to leave the US. Sometimes I would sit with the chinese students during lunch and the conversations about the US were.. well you can imagine.....
I’m a new Canadian and I’ve seen a some FB groups say “this country sucks I’m moving to America”.
1. Some of these posts I don’t think are actual Canadian.
2. I always think good, have fun lol.
I’m Canadian and I can confidently say that Canadians are huge whiners. Every mention of Canada anywhere on the internet for the past 4+ years has just been full of people b*tching about something.
We have our problems but the way people act like Canada is suddenly some kind of 3rd world failed state is honestly sad and hilarious at the same time.
I’m currently living abroad somewhere with a much lower standard of living than Canada and I’m sure if these people saw a fraction of the things I’ve seen here, where real poverty exists, they’d suddenly feel a whole lot better about living in Canada.
i wouldn't even be surprised if some of those relocation google searches to canada came from *inside* the us. i know a lot of people who want to move out right now.
No :(
But it's still incredulous
Also blows my mind that they consistently forget that they are not native to their country and assume history stops at the foundation, but then all the genetic tests that show they are 5% Irish and make it their entire personality ignoring the 95% French, English and German mix
Americans are champions at this kind of cognitive dissonance and weird contradictions.
How else do you explain American Christians simultaneously believing themselves to be the rightful, official ruling majority while also being persecuted and subjugated by evil secularists and other heretics.
Oh, sweetie I used to work with a brexiteer gammon who \*absolutely believed with his whole heart\* that we left Europe when we left the EU. On top of the fact that we have never been European because we aren't connected to the landmass (I tried asking him about Ireland and he went genuine BSOD for a few seconds before shouting over me and changing the subject).
As much as I know which subreddit I'm on, Americans do not have a complete monopoly of moronicity.
British people themselves very often say 'Europe' when they mean the continent-and-not-the-UK, even non-Brexiters! Cultural quirk from living on an island at the edge, I guess. Also 'Asians' are 'people from the Indian subcontinent', 'Americans' are from the US, and 'Oceania' doesn't exist. At least we can take comfort in 'Africans' meaning what it should.
I think it's because the UK doesn't have a 'land-connection' to the rest of Europe, which doesn't really make sense considering Hawaii is a state and isn't directly connect to America
lol it’s not the 60s any more is such a banging comment.
Also on a side note I Honestly don’t really know why anyone wants to move to the uk, it’s going to absolute shit
Why would anyone want to move to a country where their politicians are above the law? Or risk their kids getting shot in school? Or beaten by police for being the wrong shade of brown?
I write for an expat magazine, and I can tell you quite emphatically that it's almost all retirees. Spain and Portugal's Golden Visas were a huge draw for non-EU citizens, especially coupled with the construction of whole retirement cities along the Costa Del Sol. The scheme is supposedly ending now in Spain, but I think the real estate companies will lobby the government to keep it running.
I had an offer to relocate to the US from NZ. Headline salary was way better. But after factoring in healthcare, higher hours, lack of leave and low life quality in the city I would have had to live in (a large East Coast city), it did not stack up at all. Also the place seems angry and hollow, sorry.
I'd live in the US if i have infinite money.
But working in the US?
Fuck no
Why would i choose to get abused and overworked in the US over a good work life balance in europe?
If you're lucky you might get 2 weeks annual leave! So generous. It's obviously better than some other countries however none of those are on the list.
If I had to move, US would be near the bottom of my list, just above North Korea, and Iraq.
No way I'm risking my young kids lives to their dystopian gun culture.
A country that instills "Live shooter drills" as part of the school curriculum, and acts like everything is fine...
Purely hypothetically - if I (a qualified IT engineer with a master degree and almost 15 years of work experience) for some reason wanted to move to US, my options would be:
1. Winning a green card lottery
2. H1B visa application. Should be submitted only at the start of each year (there are strict quotas that are exhausted very quickly), lots of additional fees for an employer, which means worse working conditions because the employer has to cover the expenses. And I'll be treated like a pile of shit for next six years, because for True Americans I'll be only marginally better than an individual who used the next option.
3. Arriving illegally and doing some shitty work under the radar risking prosecution and waiting for next migration amnesty. No comments here.
So, the best option is to win the lottery. If I had a super power to win lotteries, I would not waste it on a green card and would just get a several millions jackpot at home - much better return of investment.
ive discussed many times with my partner where we might relocate to (from the uk) there arent many options given a desire for english speaking, where my hobbies/own business is legal (I build a lot of stuff for airsoft and a lot of english speaking countries dont allow airsoft at all- see canada and australia) but the one place we both categorically rule out and is probably bottom of the list, just above counties where our existance is actually illegal, is the united states. the work life balance, leave culture, politics are totally batshit insane and we would never move there.
I'm a Brit and I'd agree with this list. I've always liked the thought of Canada and I know Australia is cool and all but the heat would kill me.
America has never appealed to me. I'd be interested in doing a food tour, as in creole, louisiana, texas etc, I'm definitely not interested in cheap hotdogs on a street corner. There's just nothing desirable for me about the country, and reactions like the American sums a part of it up too.
As a teen I really wanted to live in NY: glam of Hollywood getting me. As a 39yo, I don't want even to set a foot in the airport. I have 3 boys, I don't want to be constantly worrying wether they'd come home from school or not. My small European country ranks 7th in safety, I prefer to only worry with small things like what's for dinner .
The US is a third world country masquerading as a first world country for 20 or more years now. I'm sure it's great if you're rich but for the rest... It's not even comparable to the others on the list.
Republicans have spent over a decade screaming about what a shithole the states is turning into how it is one step from a dystopian hellscape and they find it difficult to believe that those with the means to do so would rather go somewhere elsewhere (somewhere that incidentally wont drive them into bankruptcy via illness or accidental injury)
I wouldn't mind somewhere like Canada living in the wilderness and facing nature head on.
But alas I'm an idiot.
When I'm sat outside smoking and the Canadian geese flock come down the canal its beauty to be seen.
Not sure how I'd fend off a bear attack however although it might take pity on my small frame and become my mama bear.
That would be a tale of fantasy, living with a bear and not having to worry knowing that she's got my back.
I worked in the US for a couple of years, in the early 2000s. More recently I lived in Asia before deciding to move back to the UK. Before my return to the UK, an in-law who lives in the US was pushing hard for us to choose to move there instead, but it's really not somewhere I'd ever consider moving to for long term. That said, we moved back to the UK shortly before the stupidity of Brexit, and had we realised that was coming we'd have probably chosen Australia instead.
I lived there for a while. It was OK but I really had enough after two years and quit as soon as I could. That was a quarter of a century ago and I've never been back. I've been back to all the other countries I lived in quite regularly, but not the US. I had a gut load of it and it just doesn't appeal.
I moved from the uk to the us for two years for work and although taking the position there landed me a huge raise and my company covered insurance I was living such a poorer quality of life than I did in England.
I think a large chunk of the people looking at moving to Canada are US citizens trying to get OUT before this mess of a country collapses any further, since it's the closest neighboring country with a shared official language.
Americans looking to emigrate may be skewing the data slightly in favor of English-speaking non-US countries, generally, but more heavily in the case of Canada.
My sisters friend moved to the US 30 odd years ago for love.
Apparently she's turned into a proper gun totin' racist yank who has only been back to visit her family once because she doesn't get any time off work and can't really afford it anyway because she has a medical condition and most of her money goes on paying bills but she has a much 'bigger house and garden' than she woukd get in the UK.
Americans who believe they live in the best country in the world are deluded as fuck.
It boggles my mind.
Thinking about that time my spouse got offered a big money job but it meant relocating to the US (Texas). Like we’re gonna move our kids to a place where schools need active shooter drills 🙄
Absolutely fucking not.
Those figures are actually just people moving from the US. There's another list for the rest of the world where the US is actually on it. List is a lot longer, though, and they're nowhere near the top 10.
I have been to the US several times but the last time was about 10 years ago.... I will not go again until they fix their politics. Not sure they realise how much damage Trump has done to their reputation.
Edit: I'm talking about a visit... There's no chance in the world I would ever move there
I didn’t realise how brainwashed I was when I moved to France, it’s so much better than the US for most things (healthcare, living quality, work protections…).
The only time I can remember anyone wanting to move to the US (in France at least) was in the early 2000s, when there seemed to be a resurgence of the American dream among young people. Of course, this was before anyone was really aware of most of what the US did wrong compared to other first word countries
You couldn't pay me enough to get me to relocate/emigrate to the US. That would be a massive self-own.
You mean the opportunity to work like a slave for ridiculous hours a week, have two weeks holiday a year, and live your life in fear of being shot (or more accurately, of surviving being shot and then bankrupted by the medical fees) doesn't appeal? I turned down a transfer to Silicon Valley nearly 30 years ago and never regretted it for a nanosecond...
That and the absolute horrible turn that american politics and courts have taken in the past two decades. They are heading towards an absolutely dystopian society that I simply cannot see myself in.
Well yes, but not sure it's only the last two decades... I mean, I did consider it seriously. And of US cities, San Francisco is among the least awful. But I just could not master the cognitive dissonance required to live in the US then, and certainly not now. I just don't understand how you can trip over a disabled veteran on every street corner, or know that there are entire blocks of your city that are basically tents and drug addicts, to be approached any time you walk more than a block by someone so out of their head on crack/whatever-this-year's-drug-is that you think the zombie apocalypse has come, or to have people literally falling into you on the trolley because they broke their glasses and can't afford to buy new ones so they're functionally blind (true story)... I don't understand how you can experience all that and at the same time believe you live in a fair and just society. I mean, we have those problems over here (not on the same scale, but sure we have them,) but at least we know we're supposed to be ashamed of it.
Oh it's not just the past two decades. That project has been running for at least the past 50 years. But with the conservative supermajority in the Supreme Court it has suddenly become possible to actually make this shit reality.
Something something personal responsibility, something something pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
If only the wealthy hadn't cornered the market on bootstraps...
And then taxed it for the poor.
Something something trickle down effect
San Francisco. Just waiting on the overdue big one.
Mhm, honestly I’d rather live in Manchester, very few natural disasters in the UK compared to the US
Mate, a natural disaster might actually improve Manchester. Still, better than the States.
San Francisco is pretty awful these days, they have a huge problem with homelessness and drug abuse. I saw people tweaking in the city centre in mid day when I visited. Also the traffic there is absolutely ridiculous.
I’d like to point out that, while San Francisco has a huge homeless population, part of that is because they have a ton of services that they can provide for the homeless and because the weather is livable year-round. Of course those services are not enough, and there are lots of terrible things San Francisco does as well. Obviously the main thing the homeless need is shelter and the housing market might as well be a cartoon graph that broke at the top, but they’re doing a lot more than most US cities are for their homeless populations
They are heading towards theocracy.
Just don't point out the similarities to Afghanistan under the Taliban...
A mate of mine refers to Texas as Howdy Arabia.
Y'all Qaeda
They don't call them Talibangelists for nothing.
Yeehawdists is another one.
That's what killed my desire to move to the US. Lived there for about the first 10 years of my life, spent the next 20 obsessed with moving back, studied there as part of my degree (which is in American Studies, specialising in history and politics, i literally couldnt have had more love for the US if i tried)... and then they go and shoot themselves in the foot like they have been doing for a while now. It's sad really, its a country that's become a shadow of itself and is the laughing stock of the world but who can't recognise that they're not the country they think they are at all.
A lot of us recognize it actually. We get called traitors and told to leave bc we want to fix what is broken instead of deluding ourselves.
Heading? It’s always been a dystopian, slaver society. People around the world who haven’t been victims of neocolonialism or were just brainwashed via Hollywood are just waking up to it.
I had the same, an offer in the US that considered but god almighty, why would I give up my holidays, medical care, maternity and paternity leave, and safety?
You could buy guns!
Oh I totally forgot about freedom! Although I actually know a lot of people with gun licenses…
Yeah, but do their assault rifles go brrrrrrr?
Was the comparative salary offer significantly more?
Not really, when you took into account paying for health insurance
But you’d be FREE to enjoy those impositions /s
Love it 😅😅 because that’s an actual common response
You’d be the freest slave in the world 😂
Two weeks unpaid holiday at that, like hey we are forcing you to have two weeks unpaid off, just deal with it. Where I'm from it's six weeks paid holiday and you can acres more by doing overtime as leave is acrewed based on hours worked, so the more you work the more leave you can get, plus good old penalty rates for working over time increasing your wage.
Where I am it's a minimum of 4 weeks paid leave, plus public holidays, mandatory paid leave for special family events (marriage, marriage of one of your children, death of a family member), 6 months of paid sick leave (up to 1 year for certain conditions) which you can also use for caring for a sick child, 126 days of maternity leave *plus* 2 years' of parental leave after the birth that can be split between the two parents... And of course EU working-time directives and the like apply, and there are various other allowances for things like training leave. Those are the minimums, employers usually offer better. But, true that I could earn more in the US. No thanks.
> Two weeks unpaid holiday at that, like hey we are forcing you to have two weeks unpaid off, just deal with it. To be fair in my experience it was paid. The issue was that the 10 days covered both holiday and sick days. Also, most places wouldn't let you take unpaid time off. If you didn't have any in your "bank" then you couldn't take time off.
My friend worked in the petroleum industry and got posted from UK to Canada to Texas. He got tf out of texas and came back home to Scotland asap and said he absolutely hated it there. He was constantly paranoid for the safety of his wife and 3 girls because of the sheer amount of gun nuts and local shootings there.
So many brainwashed brown nose bootlickers think this is what you should deserve and getting more benefits from employers and public is communism and who are so triggered by universal affordable healthcare.
My wife and I were due to relocate from the UK to near Ocala, Florida about 22 years ago. We had sponsors & job opportunities lined up and a place to stay when we arrived. Over a period of 18 months we spent >¼ of our time there, getting things ready, getting used to the climate and networking. It ultimately fell through and at the time we were really upset that it had. However, with the shitshow that is the polarisation of American politics and the present governor of Florida we're kind of glad it did. Not to mention my wife's health deteriorating ~15 years ago and the vast amount of **expensive** medicine she requires every month, which would've all but guaranteed us coming back by now anyway.
Don't forget the rat race that is getting into any decent American Uni (College). It's literally regressive against anyone who doesn't have 10+ extracurriculars and isn't a massive extrovert.
If by “decent” you mean Ivy League then yeah. But every state has at least 1-2 well regarded universities that are relatively easy to get into for the average student. Now paying for it is a different matter.
2 weeks holiday? Who are you talking to that gets so much?? 🤣🤣😭
Its always nice as an American who is incredibly critical of this country to be reminded that the rest of the world agrees with those of us who are often called insane within the country.
My previous company offered me the possibility to move to Atlanta, I am based in the UK. It would have been a massive increase in salary, and full medical coverage. I rejected for the main reason that I would be downgrading from 28 days of annual leave + 8 Bank holidays to just 10 days of PTO. Like hell nah, I can't use my precious annual leave to spend it crossing the Atlantic to visit my family...
>have two weeks holiday a year Non consecutive, if your boss allows it. No state mandated parental leave, high risk of having someone in your family going bankrupt from medical or student debt, different standards for just about everything, from measuring units to printer paper size and including the amount of actual text painted on the road (instead of symbols), to the lowest food safety rules in the developed world and no way to transfer money to your friends other than using cash. It really is above average among the developing countries!
I mean i live in russia so i wouldnt mind, but generally - yes
If you know the right people back home, I'm sure there's a place for you in Trump's White House
No thanks)
I am from the States. Moved away 15 years ago. I wouldn't go back for love or money.
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I've never been to New Zealand myself, but from what I know about it, I would never think it's an inferior country to the US. Nor can I understand why being from New Zealand makes you less than. Some people are just assholes. In Ireland, where I live now, some have this real romanticised vision of the US, so I always get asked why you would pick Ireland over the US. Look I get Ireland has some issues it's working through, many that are found in most countries throughout the world currently. But Ireland is a hell of step up from the US. My mother tells me all the time how unAmerican I've become living in Europe. My response is that I've stopped drinking the Koolaid and can see the lies we've been fed that the US is the greatest country in the world. I'm not saying Ireland is perfect or any other country is perfect, but I wouldn't go back to the States, and it's only getting worse with the current political circus. My great-grandparents left Ireland around 100 years ago to make a better life for themselves. I left the US to make a better life for myself and have done so and I wouldn't, trade it for anything.
I'm working on leaving the US now. Spent 3 years learning a language to get EU citizenship by descent and now that I'm naturalized I'm now just searching for a job. My whole family tells me, "you'll move over there and realize the U.S. is the greatest country in the world and you'll be back." And I'm willing to admit that that's a possibility. Not the "greatest country in the world" crap, but that moving to another continent in your 30s is hard. Adjusting to cultural changes is hard. Making local friends and learning a new language is hard. Maybe I won't be strong enough to withstand all of that and maybe I will be so lonely I'll just give up and move back. I hope not, but it happens. I'm terrified of sacrificing everything to move over there and start over, only to fail. But I am scared being here. My personal academic interest is white Christian nationalism and I write and research on that topic (working on pursuing a PhD abroad in political science or international relations). The more I read on this ("filling my mind with negativity," as my mom says) the more scared I become. These people won't stop. The far-right wants a theocracy and at this rate they'll get it. I'm queer, not religious, and a leftist. Americans who aren't scared aren't paying attention. Congratulations on getting out, I'm glad you've found a better life for yourself! <3 If you have any tips to adjusting to life in a new country or if you're willing to share more about your experience moving to Ireland, please DM me! I'd love to hear more about it!
Only a Seppo could think living in the US is in any way superior to living in NZ. I'm sure NZ has its problems too but to my knowledge it isn't rapidly devolving into the 1800s where women ans black people are considered livestock
As a British person, New Zealand is vastly more appealing to me than the US as a place to emigrate to. It's not even close.
Whoa - would definitely prefer to be in NZ than USA - been to both, lived in SoCa in my early 20. It was ok but NZ was(/is? Not been for a long time) next level beautiful surroundings, great people, atmosphere...
Where did you move to?
Ireland
No chance I’d move to the US. I actually like it when my daughter comes home from school each day.
Can you imagine the innate fear of the possibility of getting sick and losing everything? And now the politics is out of control... It's like watching a house burn down.
I wouldn't even go on a holiday
We have stricken the US from our list of travel destinations. It's too bad really because there are things I would like to experience, like Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. But I'm not willing to go to the US to experience them.
I know beautiful country it's just the people that ruin it. I've a low tolerance for stupidity
Exactly. I was fairly happy to fly over it to a proper holiday destination, Mexico. That said, there were a lot of Americans there which did put a bit of a dampener on it.
There are also other factors related to safety
100% if President Fart gets back in the Whitehouse
I left in 2006 and will never go back.
Where to?
Wandered all around - South Africa, Namibia, Germany and most of Europe, Oman, Kuwait, other Middle East countries. Now in Latvia and contemplating next jump. Philippines?
You must have lived a fascinating life!
diplomat?
I wish! Former executive chef, then English teacher!
How do you afford to do this?
Working. I'm still working at 68. I want to retire but US social security cut my pension by 45% without justification or explanation. So I fully expect to drop dead at a menial job some day. Since I retired from teaching (too repetitive) and don't have the stamina to run a hotel or stand in a kitchen all day anymore, I usually work as a CSA wherever I go. Since I'm bilingual (English and German) finding work is very easy, yet it's still work...
> CSA Customer service associate or computer science analyst?
The first 🤣
modern day nomad
Same. But I was never a 'real' American anyway.
You wouldn't even have to pay me too move out of the US.
I live in California and it’s fairly nice. Im lucky and have a pretty good job and can live comfortably. I do really like Canada though. Would def consider relocating if I could
My parents tried it for a few years. Came back and refuse to return - they much prefer Brighton to Chicago!
I mean you could definitely pay me enough to move there. But it'd have to be enough not to need to work again for the rest of my life.
My friend did it and got married but I just think she downgraded especially when her partner was able to stay in the uk for uni etc.
At a birthday party last year a colleague of my friend told me she is moving to the US to be with her long distance boyfriend/fiance (cant quite recall). People were already like, "wow, the US, huh? Currently? Oof. And with that job?" Because additionally comes the aspect that she is a teacher. And you know being a teacher in Austria aint great as well, but in the US its a different story. Additionally she was moving, out of all places, to Florida. She was excited to live with her partner but not necessarily excited to live in the US. I think she also said she would NOT work as a teacher there. Many americans still believe everybody wants to come to the USA, which was true for many europeans during and after WW2. But it aint that time anymore.
I lived there for five years. It was a great experience and I made some genuine friends I miss but I don’t miss many things there
Debatable. I *could* be paid enough to emigrate to the US. It would have to be a seriously large amount of money though.
Look I get it but surely there’s somewhere in America that’d be alright. Colorado doesn’t seem so bad, gun to my head I’d make Montana work.
Colorado...? The state that voted Bobo the Handjob Clown into Congress? I wouldn't be found dead there.
Anywhere rural in the US is basically Trumpistan.
Literally. I am a physician and would earn 10x as much in the US compared to where I work and hell no! I’d never ever in 1.000.000 years do that Edit: 2-3 weeks every 10 years as a vacation is fine though
This is a classic case of cognitive dissonance in America: when individuals encounter information that contradicts their long-held beliefs, they experience mental discomfort. To alleviate this tension, they often dismiss the information, much like a child might.
And on the flip side people unquestioningly embrace information that supports their beliefs. What language were the searches in? What about countries like Russia or China where Google is less popular or banned? What about people who don’t have access to Google?
Found a New York Post Story about it, according to them this research with this weird metric has been done by some kind of moving company, so I don't know how reliable this data is. Looking at data of numbers of actual immigrants the US comes in first and Germany second. Which doesn't tell us much about the current immigration flow tho.
For a moving company, this is a good metric, it shows where you need to focus your capacity. As a way to compare countries, it's not the best to put it gently.
It's a good metric for a moving company but the way the New York Post interpreted it in their story makes it weird. Edit: Also the New York Post didn't link the research of the moving company so we don't know if they only included countries where they offer their services.
Everyone uses Google in Russia, don’t be ridiculous
That tracks. A lot of them have been told their whole lives that America is the pinnacle, the centre of the universe and everyone else in the world looks longingly over the fence at them. I think it extends from the notion they have that everywhere but America is approaching either third world status and/or gives its citizens zero rights.
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These guys know 1/3 of Aussie residents were born overseas and my state has over 25% of its residents born in the UK alone.
We're taking it back!
Make Australia Great (British) Again!
Things have been dire in the UK. Well, not that bad, but I know many that have considered leaving. Hopefully things will turn around now though
Yes off course its a western (feels like European) country on one of the most beautiful islands in the world with nature thats not even close to what they have in the USA and best of all, it has very little Americans living there. Its basically a warm England with only the good kind of English people. Best fucking country in the world
Nice looking beaches and great salaries.
You Perth by any chance ?
🙋♂️
When is someone going to tell him that the migration flow is inverted for Northern Europe for a while now? (more US citizen are coming to Europe than in the opposite way).
It doesn't matter because Americans won't believe they aren't the land of milk and honey for everyone else anymore. They'd rather believe Trump's bullshit.
I mean, they get propagandised from the cradle onwards to think that.
Many, yes, not all. That's the sad part: There are actual millions of well-educated, progressive Americans, yet because they tend not to be raucous and noisy like the moron set, most of the world thinks of the US as this playground full of screaming monkeys.
Yeah, I know loads. I think they just want to get out at this point and move to Europe.
This whole discussion is a lot harder to quantify based on actual immigration than people would like. How do you really compare Iceland to Germany in this respect given their comparative sizes, the fact that one has land borders with other countries and staggering difference in existing population sizes? How do you deal with the fact that some countries simply accept far more or fewer prospective immigrants than others? This whole discussion is just silly clickbait on behalf of the Post (the US’s version of the Daily Mail, btw). Without direct and specific polling (a monumental task if you want it to be a decent sample size from all over the world), this seems like a pretty silly discussion, because everyone will just pick the metric that favors their preferred narrative otherwise.
The Stockholm syndrome is strong with some of them.
YOU ESSE! YOU ESSE! YOU ESSE! -Amexicans.
Im a Brit and have a firm dislike of the French but by God I'd rather cut both legs off and impale my body on the eifel tower than live in that handmaid's tale fanatical religious shit hole called the USA
Also: “Than the UK…….or somewhere in Europe”
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To be fair British people have been fuelling this since long before Brexit. Even those who embraced the EU and closer ties, political union etc. would still often make a casual differentiation between the UK and Europe, if only for the geography of an island vs a continental "main land". This has been the case since I was a kid.
True and it’s always been ridiculous. “In the continent”, “in Europe”. Never made any sense.
When I was a student in Canada I had a lot of international friends and only a few of them were interested in the US, We actually had quite a few Americans that were trying to leave the US. Sometimes I would sit with the chinese students during lunch and the conversations about the US were.. well you can imagine.....
I’m a new Canadian and I’ve seen a some FB groups say “this country sucks I’m moving to America”. 1. Some of these posts I don’t think are actual Canadian. 2. I always think good, have fun lol.
I’m Canadian and I can confidently say that Canadians are huge whiners. Every mention of Canada anywhere on the internet for the past 4+ years has just been full of people b*tching about something. We have our problems but the way people act like Canada is suddenly some kind of 3rd world failed state is honestly sad and hilarious at the same time. I’m currently living abroad somewhere with a much lower standard of living than Canada and I’m sure if these people saw a fraction of the things I’ve seen here, where real poverty exists, they’d suddenly feel a whole lot better about living in Canada.
A lot of them are the same Canadians who held the nation's capital hostage a few years ago, I'd bet.
i wouldn't even be surprised if some of those relocation google searches to canada came from *inside* the us. i know a lot of people who want to move out right now.
I remember seeing a lot of Americans online saying they wanted to move to Canada after the 2016 US election so you may be onto something there.
Actually the [Canadian immigration website crashed](https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37921376) following the 2016 election results.
With the circus that is American politics is it really that hard to believe.
Come on guys we all know it's been our life's dream to move to the US and be just like Americans 🙄
In the 80's when I was a kid I thought America was the coolest thing. Kids are so stupid.
Certainly have had that dream. Of course, I then woke up covered in cold sweat and my heart racing, thanking my luck it was just a nightmare.
Why are we (UK) never included in Europe, we are European...
Given the number of people (Americans) who seem to think you left Europe when you left the EU, are you actually surprised?
No :( But it's still incredulous Also blows my mind that they consistently forget that they are not native to their country and assume history stops at the foundation, but then all the genetic tests that show they are 5% Irish and make it their entire personality ignoring the 95% French, English and German mix
Americans are champions at this kind of cognitive dissonance and weird contradictions. How else do you explain American Christians simultaneously believing themselves to be the rightful, official ruling majority while also being persecuted and subjugated by evil secularists and other heretics.
Oh, sweetie I used to work with a brexiteer gammon who \*absolutely believed with his whole heart\* that we left Europe when we left the EU. On top of the fact that we have never been European because we aren't connected to the landmass (I tried asking him about Ireland and he went genuine BSOD for a few seconds before shouting over me and changing the subject). As much as I know which subreddit I'm on, Americans do not have a complete monopoly of moronicity.
> Oh, sweetie Lol I hate it so much when people on Reddit start with this.
Lol! I've been accepted as a real Redditor then! Thank you! (what's the flag for sincerity not sarcasm?)
British people themselves very often say 'Europe' when they mean the continent-and-not-the-UK, even non-Brexiters! Cultural quirk from living on an island at the edge, I guess. Also 'Asians' are 'people from the Indian subcontinent', 'Americans' are from the US, and 'Oceania' doesn't exist. At least we can take comfort in 'Africans' meaning what it should.
I think it's because the UK doesn't have a 'land-connection' to the rest of Europe, which doesn't really make sense considering Hawaii is a state and isn't directly connect to America
Having to send your kids to school with bullet proof plates in their backpacks is not an upgrade no matter what country you come from
I'd bet most of those looking to relocate to Canada are people wanting to flee the US
Definitely mostly indians
Replying from New Zealand. Yeah nah… no desire to move to the US. I’ll rather move to Antarctica
Haveing health care and no constant mssshootings may increase peoples willingness to move to the US
lol it’s not the 60s any more is such a banging comment. Also on a side note I Honestly don’t really know why anyone wants to move to the uk, it’s going to absolute shit
We may have slowed down the descent somewhat. Maybe.
Why would anyone want to move to a country where their politicians are above the law? Or risk their kids getting shot in school? Or beaten by police for being the wrong shade of brown?
You'd have to pay me $200,000,000 to move to the US and even then I'd be looking to the North-West and New England regions.
Angry their country isn't top destination. Angry when the people actually come. 🤷♂️
I won't even travel there anymore. It just isn't worth it.
How are there so many people that want to come to Spain? There are no jobs XD (not against immigration, obviously, just stating a fact)
Germans and British wanting to retire probably
I was thinking more like people from Morroco and Latin America, but that also works🤣
I write for an expat magazine, and I can tell you quite emphatically that it's almost all retirees. Spain and Portugal's Golden Visas were a huge draw for non-EU citizens, especially coupled with the construction of whole retirement cities along the Costa Del Sol. The scheme is supposedly ending now in Spain, but I think the real estate companies will lobby the government to keep it running.
I think it’s for retirement.
Perhaps the people who want to emigrate to the US do their searches on Bing.
I had an offer to relocate to the US from NZ. Headline salary was way better. But after factoring in healthcare, higher hours, lack of leave and low life quality in the city I would have had to live in (a large East Coast city), it did not stack up at all. Also the place seems angry and hollow, sorry.
I'd live in the US if i have infinite money. But working in the US? Fuck no Why would i choose to get abused and overworked in the US over a good work life balance in europe?
If you're lucky you might get 2 weeks annual leave! So generous. It's obviously better than some other countries however none of those are on the list.
If I had to move, US would be near the bottom of my list, just above North Korea, and Iraq. No way I'm risking my young kids lives to their dystopian gun culture. A country that instills "Live shooter drills" as part of the school curriculum, and acts like everything is fine...
Purely hypothetically - if I (a qualified IT engineer with a master degree and almost 15 years of work experience) for some reason wanted to move to US, my options would be: 1. Winning a green card lottery 2. H1B visa application. Should be submitted only at the start of each year (there are strict quotas that are exhausted very quickly), lots of additional fees for an employer, which means worse working conditions because the employer has to cover the expenses. And I'll be treated like a pile of shit for next six years, because for True Americans I'll be only marginally better than an individual who used the next option. 3. Arriving illegally and doing some shitty work under the radar risking prosecution and waiting for next migration amnesty. No comments here. So, the best option is to win the lottery. If I had a super power to win lotteries, I would not waste it on a green card and would just get a several millions jackpot at home - much better return of investment.
ive discussed many times with my partner where we might relocate to (from the uk) there arent many options given a desire for english speaking, where my hobbies/own business is legal (I build a lot of stuff for airsoft and a lot of english speaking countries dont allow airsoft at all- see canada and australia) but the one place we both categorically rule out and is probably bottom of the list, just above counties where our existance is actually illegal, is the united states. the work life balance, leave culture, politics are totally batshit insane and we would never move there.
I'm a Brit and I'd agree with this list. I've always liked the thought of Canada and I know Australia is cool and all but the heat would kill me. America has never appealed to me. I'd be interested in doing a food tour, as in creole, louisiana, texas etc, I'm definitely not interested in cheap hotdogs on a street corner. There's just nothing desirable for me about the country, and reactions like the American sums a part of it up too.
As a teen I really wanted to live in NY: glam of Hollywood getting me. As a 39yo, I don't want even to set a foot in the airport. I have 3 boys, I don't want to be constantly worrying wether they'd come home from school or not. My small European country ranks 7th in safety, I prefer to only worry with small things like what's for dinner .
The US is a third world country masquerading as a first world country for 20 or more years now. I'm sure it's great if you're rich but for the rest... It's not even comparable to the others on the list.
I mean, don't plenty of third-world countries have a creamy layer anyway?
Republicans have spent over a decade screaming about what a shithole the states is turning into how it is one step from a dystopian hellscape and they find it difficult to believe that those with the means to do so would rather go somewhere elsewhere (somewhere that incidentally wont drive them into bankruptcy via illness or accidental injury)
I wouldn't mind somewhere like Canada living in the wilderness and facing nature head on. But alas I'm an idiot. When I'm sat outside smoking and the Canadian geese flock come down the canal its beauty to be seen. Not sure how I'd fend off a bear attack however although it might take pity on my small frame and become my mama bear. That would be a tale of fantasy, living with a bear and not having to worry knowing that she's got my back.
The US is approximately uhhhh nowhere on my list of countries I'd want to live in
When I moved to Cyprus over a decade ago, from the UK, our removal firm told us most people went to Australia
Moving to the US would be such a downgrade for me and everyone I know
I moved from the US and it was an upgrade in every way
I worked in the US for a couple of years, in the early 2000s. More recently I lived in Asia before deciding to move back to the UK. Before my return to the UK, an in-law who lives in the US was pushing hard for us to choose to move there instead, but it's really not somewhere I'd ever consider moving to for long term. That said, we moved back to the UK shortly before the stupidity of Brexit, and had we realised that was coming we'd have probably chosen Australia instead.
I reject your data and substitute it with my own made up version.
I lived there for a while. It was OK but I really had enough after two years and quit as soon as I could. That was a quarter of a century ago and I've never been back. I've been back to all the other countries I lived in quite regularly, but not the US. I had a gut load of it and it just doesn't appeal.
"Those statistics don't support my beliefs, therefore the statistics must be wrong."
Me and my 1/8th of a friend moving to Spain
Lmao I just noticed it doesn't have an 'm' after Spain's number. Which part of your pal is coming with?
The arm
Excellent choice. They can hold your shopping.
Wrong Data: trust me on this. I just *know*
"just do your own research"
I would only move to the US for work and only for a few years. And… for my wife’s sake it depends very much on how the election goes.
I moved from the uk to the us for two years for work and although taking the position there landed me a huge raise and my company covered insurance I was living such a poorer quality of life than I did in England.
Alot of those relocation numbers are probably from us Americans too lol
lol I know a lot of Americans who want out. I wouldn’t go there to visit… Till they sort out what polite means.
I think a large chunk of the people looking at moving to Canada are US citizens trying to get OUT before this mess of a country collapses any further, since it's the closest neighboring country with a shared official language. Americans looking to emigrate may be skewing the data slightly in favor of English-speaking non-US countries, generally, but more heavily in the case of Canada.
I'm queer and in an interracial relationship, you couldn't pay me enough to move there
My sisters friend moved to the US 30 odd years ago for love. Apparently she's turned into a proper gun totin' racist yank who has only been back to visit her family once because she doesn't get any time off work and can't really afford it anyway because she has a medical condition and most of her money goes on paying bills but she has a much 'bigger house and garden' than she woukd get in the UK. Americans who believe they live in the best country in the world are deluded as fuck. It boggles my mind.
Thinking about that time my spouse got offered a big money job but it meant relocating to the US (Texas). Like we’re gonna move our kids to a place where schools need active shooter drills 🙄 Absolutely fucking not.
Those figures are actually just people moving from the US. There's another list for the rest of the world where the US is actually on it. List is a lot longer, though, and they're nowhere near the top 10.
Ironically enough Canada is probably the most searched because of the shit state that US politics has become
I have been to the US several times but the last time was about 10 years ago.... I will not go again until they fix their politics. Not sure they realise how much damage Trump has done to their reputation. Edit: I'm talking about a visit... There's no chance in the world I would ever move there
That American dream brainwashing is strong but no longer works in the rest of the world like it used to
Every LGBT person I know is researching an escape from the US and UK right now. Most are trying to go to Canada or Scandinavia.
From the UK? What am I missing?
I didn’t realise how brainwashed I was when I moved to France, it’s so much better than the US for most things (healthcare, living quality, work protections…).
The only time I can remember anyone wanting to move to the US (in France at least) was in the early 2000s, when there seemed to be a resurgence of the American dream among young people. Of course, this was before anyone was really aware of most of what the US did wrong compared to other first word countries
Before social media showed the reality lol
843k to Portugal? Folks do your homework, it's a bda idea to come here, bad wages and bad housing market.