After living in the UK for over 15 years I feel the pros significantly outweigh the cons which tends to be very frivolous such as the weather. And overall for a European, Asian or from anywhere else in the world it can be more or less 50/50 pros and cons. However, a big however, anyone coming from the US should just thank their lucky stars and enjoy life in the UK because it's 100000 better than anywhere in the US!
I'm originally from the UK (like 30 years ago) and I grew up in Hanover in Southern Ontario like you... I'm moving home in 2024 and this channel is really helping. one of the big reasons I'm leaving southern Ontario is how expensive it's becoming and based on my research the UK is generally less expensive than southern Ontario, which is pretty bad considering it used to be more expensive. Thankyou for putting all these up, they've been very helpful in planning my return.
This was so interesting to watch. I'm a British expat living in Canada and all your pros are what I miss about the UK. Your cons are what I feel here in Canada too. I'm home-sick and feel lost too ❤. Thank you for the video it was so helpful
Hey, this was another really interesting video, with very thoughtful and balanced views and comments. I'm a Brit expat living in NZ for over 20 years. My partner passed away, and I'm certainly thinking about returning to the UK, but it seems so foreign to me now. Your vid is excellent. Cheers.
I’ve been living in the UK countryside for a month now. I find it hard sometimes for the reasons you mentioned especially for the language because English is not my native language
Hi Alanna, thank you for sharing this video. I am a Canadian Citizen & planning to move to UK next year in Summer. Your video has been very imformative & helpful. I watched a few other videos as well. And they are really interesting & helpful. Thanks a lot! I would like to learn more about taxes. How does taxes work in UK, and also cross-border taxation. As a Canadian, we are taxed on world income. I do understand that I need to declare non-residency in Canada. But I am not sure how & when to start thinking about this? Am I supposed to do anything before I leave Canada. Are there any services/accountants in UK that can help.
Another expat here 👋 who left Spain 7y ago, and we recently moved to Kent as well after been living closer to London during all this time. Despite of our different origin, I agree with you in almost every point! and thanks for sharing this btw, feels nice to hear other expats enjoying and struggling with the country in a similar way. It is rare (for me) to find other people living here for more than 5y without having plans to go back home soon, the rest are already gone... Some particular random pros/cons I wanted to share: - Pro: inline with the work/life one, the 7 working hours per day in a standard "full time" job (for me was 8h before). - Pro: continuous school hours on Primary schools, I remember going back home for lunch and back to school again 🤦♂ - Cons: no plugs in the toilet, sometimes not even the light switch haha 🤣 - Pro: grocery stores opened every day! and almost everything on Saturdays. - Cons: the accents... which combined with the pro "cultural/ethnic diversity" makes it even more complex! but wow, I won´t feel that bad now knowing that British accents are even hard for native English speakers! 🙈 - Cons: the usual lack of blinds, at the beginning was so weird to sleep without getting a fully dark room. - Pro: unusual long heavy-rains, right? The concept of "raining" it's completely different here, still annoying but easy to deal with. At least compare to my country where "it's going to rain" means "heavy rain non-stop for 3 days". Have a lovely day Alanna!
Thank you for such honest open commentary about living in the UK, and these points could be applied anywhere that is new or foreign to a person. It is easy (and human nature, I think) to take what we are used to and think of that as a standard way of living. But living or visiting a foreign country is to insert oneself into a new culture, and it's imperative to keep that in mind - it's a new culture. Excellent video! Thank you!
I'm from UK and yes there is historic buildings everywhere. I'm living in a 200 year old house and it's solid! If you go on Google and Google the city or town you are living in you can see what your area looked like in 1950s. I did go to america for a holiday and I did enjoy it but yeah we needed a car quickly. So much space in america 🇺🇸 and they very patriotic. I did say to my mum that we should try not get sick on holiday because of how the health care system works lol. The walmart we went to was HUGE. feels like I'm in a movie and the house we were staying at is about 2.5x bigger than my old council house. Really nice people mostly then only a couple really miserable people
When I was younger we use to get snow every year and it's sad how we don't get much now. I remember waking up a couple years ago and because I woke up in the evening the snow already melted lol
$1000 for a year of health care is not a huge lump sum from the perspective of an American. We've had to pay $800/month for insurance that still had massive copays and high deductibles.
America has a lot of accents, but you have to travel so far to really be in a place with a different accent than where you were. Also in the United States and Canada we travel significantly farther for just a normal night out than other countries. So you go to the UK and it is shocking how different an accent can be in relatively short distances. The different accents in Dublin, for example, seem odd because you don't need to travel that far for it to be significantly different.
I have had a home in the UK for 34 years ... I have lived and worked there for less than 12 years .... I am British (my passport says so) , I will never be English. Best thing the UK gave me was a passport and access to the world...
Hi, I like your channel, am A J. I currently live in Ireland, having a German passport. I really like to live in the UK but couldn't since Brexit. Enlighten me please if any means I could get NIN to live in the UK. Thank you.
I am Welsh and live in Wales so you may not think this relevant. We try to train our children how to deal with NHS which IS free at point of use. This means it is busy and you have to advocate for yourself. Last Thursday my wife talked to a colleague who is an expat in Wales.. She was bleeding profusely after having a baby. A midwife had told her to go to GP. This can take ages so she contacted the place where she had the baby and they told her to go to hospital where she needed a blood transfusion and an operation. The trick is not to get cross, frightened or easily reassured. If you are bleeding a lot you would go to emergency department and not cover up bleeding. Let it bleed on the floor and if you feel feint lie on floor with feet up wall. If you have a discomfort in your chest which feels like indigestion don't say that but 'I have a pain in my chest'. If you are breathless and it came on suddenly staff often say you are having a panic attack. This may be true because you are breathless; ask to have it investigated. If a GP has done blood tests a non-medical person is likely to ring you and say everything is fine. Its not fine if you still have the problem. Ask for it to be investigated further. If you are young and have a lump staff are likely to think 'nothing serious happens to young people' and just give antibiotics without any investigation this should be a red flag. Similarly if you are male and taking ages standing in bathroom don't accept just antibiotics without examination. You can often get advice about this from chemist or walk-in GU clinic. There are many tragedies in the "free" NHS and they have an enormous negligence compensation budget.
I have been living in the UK all my life and this country is a shadow of what it was. Its screwed. Prices of almost everything are ridiculously high due to cost of living crisis. Property prices are outrageous. You need to earn 50k or more to be able to afford fo buy a property . Back in the 70s even when earning a fairly low wage, it used to be possible to save enough for a deposit and afford to buy. Getting a job is not as easy as it used to be, due to the overpopulation in this country . London is dirty and a pithole. When my dad first came to this country in the 70s, he said it was like the streets were paved with gold. Now he says its the other way round That being said there are still other parts of this country which are beautiful - out of London . But i do wish i was born earlier like in the 60s instead . I guess a lot of this can also be said for other countries like America etc.
After living in the UK for over 15 years I feel the pros significantly outweigh the cons which tends to be very frivolous such as the weather. And overall for a European, Asian or from anywhere else in the world it can be more or less 50/50 pros and cons. However, a big however, anyone coming from the US should just thank their lucky stars and enjoy life in the UK because it's 100000 better than anywhere in the US!
Great video - good to hear your perspective! My wife and I are moving from southern Ontario over to southern England and your videos are super helpful
I'm originally from the UK (like 30 years ago) and I grew up in Hanover in Southern Ontario like you... I'm moving home in 2024 and this channel is really helping. one of the big reasons I'm leaving southern Ontario is how expensive it's becoming and based on my research the UK is generally less expensive than southern Ontario, which is pretty bad considering it used to be more expensive.
Thankyou for putting all these up, they've been very helpful in planning my return.
All the best with your move!! ☺️
This was so interesting to watch. I'm a British expat living in Canada and all your pros are what I miss about the UK. Your cons are what I feel here in Canada too. I'm home-sick and feel lost too ❤.
Thank you for the video it was so helpful
i've been following your channel since yesterday and already watched a couple of videos that really helped me, thanks
That is so nice, thank you!! ☺️ If you ever have a topic you'd like me to cover, just let me know!
I will. Thanks@@introvertedexpat
Hey, this was another really interesting video, with very thoughtful and balanced views and comments. I'm a Brit expat living in NZ for over 20 years. My partner passed away, and I'm certainly thinking about returning to the UK, but it seems so foreign to me now. Your vid is excellent. Cheers.
I’ve been living in the UK countryside for a month now. I find it hard sometimes for the reasons you mentioned especially for the language because English is not my native language
Very interesting and thoughtful. Well done.
Thank you!
Hi Alanna, thank you for sharing this video. I am a Canadian Citizen & planning to move to UK next year in Summer. Your video has been very imformative & helpful. I watched a few other videos as well. And they are really interesting & helpful. Thanks a lot!
I would like to learn more about taxes. How does taxes work in UK, and also cross-border taxation. As a Canadian, we are taxed on world income. I do understand that I need to declare non-residency in Canada. But I am not sure how & when to start thinking about this? Am I supposed to do anything before I leave Canada. Are there any services/accountants in UK that can help.
Another expat here 👋 who left Spain 7y ago, and we recently moved to Kent as well after been living closer to London during all this time.
Despite of our different origin, I agree with you in almost every point! and thanks for sharing this btw, feels nice to hear other expats enjoying and struggling with the country in a similar way. It is rare (for me) to find other people living here for more than 5y without having plans to go back home soon, the rest are already gone...
Some particular random pros/cons I wanted to share:
- Pro: inline with the work/life one, the 7 working hours per day in a standard "full time" job (for me was 8h before).
- Pro: continuous school hours on Primary schools, I remember going back home for lunch and back to school again 🤦♂
- Cons: no plugs in the toilet, sometimes not even the light switch haha 🤣
- Pro: grocery stores opened every day! and almost everything on Saturdays.
- Cons: the accents... which combined with the pro "cultural/ethnic diversity" makes it even more complex! but wow, I won´t feel that bad now knowing that British accents are even hard for native English speakers! 🙈
- Cons: the usual lack of blinds, at the beginning was so weird to sleep without getting a fully dark room.
- Pro: unusual long heavy-rains, right? The concept of "raining" it's completely different here, still annoying but easy to deal with. At least compare to my country where "it's going to rain" means "heavy rain non-stop for 3 days".
Have a lovely day Alanna!
What a wonderful list, thank you so much for sharing! ☺️
Thank you for such honest open commentary about living in the UK, and these points could be applied anywhere that is new or foreign to a person. It is easy (and human nature, I think) to take what we are used to and think of that as a standard way of living. But living or visiting a foreign country is to insert oneself into a new culture, and it's imperative to keep that in mind - it's a new culture. Excellent video! Thank you!
This video is very helpful! me and my brother will move to th UK hopefully next year.
Fine, the UK loves more immigrants :)
@@eblita3698 cry.
Thanks
I'm from UK and yes there is historic buildings everywhere. I'm living in a 200 year old house and it's solid! If you go on Google and Google the city or town you are living in you can see what your area looked like in 1950s. I did go to america for a holiday and I did enjoy it but yeah we needed a car quickly. So much space in america 🇺🇸 and they very patriotic. I did say to my mum that we should try not get sick on holiday because of how the health care system works lol. The walmart we went to was HUGE. feels like I'm in a movie and the house we were staying at is about 2.5x bigger than my old council house. Really nice people mostly then only a couple really miserable people
I live hours away from London and I wouldn't want to live there. Major cities scare me.
When I was younger we use to get snow every year and it's sad how we don't get much now. I remember waking up a couple years ago and because I woke up in the evening the snow already melted lol
$1000 for a year of health care is not a huge lump sum from the perspective of an American. We've had to pay $800/month for insurance that still had massive copays and high deductibles.
America has a lot of accents, but you have to travel so far to really be in a place with a different accent than where you were. Also in the United States and Canada we travel significantly farther for just a normal night out than other countries. So you go to the UK and it is shocking how different an accent can be in relatively short distances. The different accents in Dublin, for example, seem odd because you don't need to travel that far for it to be significantly different.
I have had a home in the UK for 34 years ... I have lived and worked there for less than 12 years .... I am British (my passport says so) , I will never be English. Best thing the UK gave me was a passport and access to the world...
Hi, I like your channel, am A J. I currently live in Ireland, having a German passport. I really like to live in the UK but couldn't since Brexit.
Enlighten me please if any means I could get NIN to live in the UK. Thank you.
I am Welsh and live in Wales so you may not think this relevant.
We try to train our children how to deal with NHS which IS free at point of use. This means it is busy and you have to advocate for yourself.
Last Thursday my wife talked to a colleague who is an expat in Wales.. She was bleeding profusely after having a baby. A midwife had told her to go to GP. This can take ages so she contacted the place where she had the baby and they told her to go to hospital where she needed a blood transfusion and an operation.
The trick is not to get cross, frightened or easily reassured. If you are bleeding a lot you would go to emergency department and not cover up bleeding. Let it bleed on the floor and if you feel feint lie on floor with feet up wall. If you have a discomfort in your chest which feels like indigestion don't say that but 'I have a pain in my chest'. If you are breathless and it came on suddenly staff often say you are having a panic attack. This may be true because you are breathless; ask to have it investigated. If a GP has done blood tests a non-medical person is likely to ring you and say everything is fine. Its not fine if you still have the problem. Ask for it to be investigated further.
If you are young and have a lump staff are likely to think 'nothing serious happens to young people' and just give antibiotics without any investigation this should be a red flag.
Similarly if you are male and taking ages standing in bathroom don't accept just antibiotics without examination. You can often get advice about this from chemist or walk-in GU clinic.
There are many tragedies in the "free" NHS and they have an enormous negligence compensation budget.
I have been living in the UK all my life and this country is a shadow of what it was. Its screwed.
Prices of almost everything are ridiculously high due to cost of living crisis. Property prices are outrageous. You need to earn 50k or more to be able to afford fo buy a property . Back in the 70s even when earning a fairly low wage, it used to be possible to save enough for a deposit and afford to buy.
Getting a job is not as easy as it used to be, due to the overpopulation in this country .
London is dirty and a pithole.
When my dad first came to this country in the 70s, he said it was like the streets were paved with gold. Now he says its the other way round
That being said there are still other parts of this country which are beautiful - out of London . But i do wish i was born earlier like in the 60s instead .
I guess a lot of this can also be said for other countries like America etc.
Hi , thanks for all the info . Any info on how to get a job in the UK any tips, I am a US citizen, any info on housing. Thanks.
Thanks for watching! I've got videos on my channel about getting a job and writing a good resume ☺️
expat or immigrant?
Food ? You mean Indian and Chinese (neither authentic) but people eat it ....