Considering moving to England

[Faid]

So I have a few questions:

How do the local people treat foreigners? Will I be somewhat ostracized for my American accent (even though I'm Canadian)?

What kind of house will about $130,000 US buy you?

How difficult is it getting a Visa to live there?

[ChianaWeasley]

Moving to England eh?
LOL, may I come along?
I dont eat much, or pack too much
AND I can yoodle! :D

[Fleurdelacour]

$130,000 that's about £80,000... you will find nothing in the southeast with eighty grand. Maybe in the early ninetees you'd find a twi bedroomed maisonette in a pretty good area of London. Some flats are going for about £120,000 now... But if you went to Scotland, or north England, you would probaly (more then likely...) find somewhere for eighty grand.

Erm, you will most definatly be ostracized for an American/Canadian accent, most people will, I personaly don't give a flying monkeys about accents, but if you went to live up north, you'd get a bit of stick for it!

No idea bout the Visas though....

[Faid]

Does the accent thing have to do with anti-american sentiment? Or is it a reversal of how Americans think British accents are posh or gay?

[Monkfish]

Originally posted by Faid
Does the accent thing have to do with anti-american sentiment? Or is it a reversal of how Americans think British accents are posh or gay?

:eek:

Steady on!:eek:

If anybody says anything about your accent just tell them you`re not American, you`re Canadian.:cool: ;)

You should move to Yorkshire where I am because "The South" is too expensive and full of people who drink water and call it beer........:rolleyes:

[ChianaWeasley]

Why would people make fun of an american accent? Guess it is rather dull, but it'd be dull to make fun of too. shrugs

Thats alot of money, just for a flat, but thats how it's getting to be over here. Houses go for an easy $200,000 over here. I'd be happy with an apartment somewhere, or a flat. Who needs a big ole' house.

Oh! Better yet, you could buy a Winnabego, and travel all over!
Yes yes...I know...Chiana get a life....but just remember that SpaceBalls made the winnabegos interesting :p

And here's another option, move in with the Queen ;)

Perhaps I've had a bit too much caffeine this morning,eh?

hehheh, that was a bit of a canadian poke
you know I love you canadians!
:)

[PhineasNigellus]

80k will be buy you a descent place in most areas but just not London - London is really expensive but in the countryside you could get a nice place or even in anyother of the large towns. I don't know but i think getting a visa here would be ok if you are from Canada.
If you lived up north (yokshire, liverpool etc) then yes i think you might be ostracized but i can't be certain about it. It would probably not be due to peoples political points of view (unless you happened to move in a fundamentalist islamic area) - something like 50% of britains cannot name our prime minister!

Americans think British accents are gay?? What! thats so not true!

[Cedric]

Actually, it kinda is. At least for British men. But it's really only for a few people, and I'm not one of 'em.

I'd also like to know why northerners don't like like Americans... Always seemed to me like Americans always welcomed Brits pretty well.... Well, maybe not ALL Americans. I guess you'll find people like that just about everywhere.

£80,000 for a flat? We are talkin' buying here, right? :D

-Cedric

[LuthienElentari]

I'd love to live in England. Have a cottage in a small town. With a dog named Mr. Gamgee (even though it would probably be a girl!:D ). My aunt lived in England for 3 years and when she came back she had an england accent:D . I love brittsh accents ( I wish I had one:p ) But In my blood line I'm 1/3 brittish.



:hug:s


Luthien

[xKatiexBellx]

Originally posted by Monkfish
If anybody says anything about your accent just tell them you`re not American, you`re Canadian.:cool: ;)

:mad: I feel so happy... really nice thing to say when theres an active Canadian on the boards.. stick with saying you're American, it'll be more... worth it...

Off the subject
I love British accents, :D I can immitate one quite well.

[Little Miss]

eighty grand will buy one of the following:

a four bedroomed house in wales

a small flat on the outskirts of london

a small/medium sized house up near manchester/birmingham/leeds etc, probably in need of a bit of work

a medium sized house on the outskirts of london in need of a lot of work

something small in select coastal towns

you're more likely to get a permanent visa if you can somehow pass yourself off as an asylum seeker ;)

nah, visas are alright over here, there's a fair bit of paperwork involved but as long as you know what you're doing it shouldn't be a problem.

as to accents... us brits are known for our incessant piss-taking of anything new or unusual, but we mean well. its just our way of showing affection.

it also varies on where you go, some communities are a lot less tolerant of change than others (some welsh people still dont like english people and try to ignore them at all costs, for example)

but yes!! come over, england's great!!

EDIT:

Originally posted by Cedric

I'd also like to know why northerners don't like like Americans...

most brits view americans in their home country as odd. partly because we cant fathom why anybody from america would want to be in england, and then we cant quite grasp the idea that they might want to communicate with us.

americans are also viewed as generally being a bit dim, exposed to too much advertising, too much money and ruled by a sucession of idiots. this may or may not be true but thats just how we think.

also - people dont like renting properties to americans. recently my grandmother was looking for a new tenant for one of her islington studio apartments and the general rule is "no lawyers or americans" - because they're demanding. most americans (and lawyers) dont have a make-do attitude in our eyes, if they feel they should be getting something they shout and complain till they get it, even if it is not something they are normally entitled to.

saying that, as soon as the words "no americans or lawyers" were muttered, who should ask to view the apartment but an american lawyer. and aside from insisting on having the carpet steam cleaned (again) and another wardrobe, she turned out to be a perfectly acceptable tenant.

[Cedric]

Hmmmmm.... I wouldn't demand for anything like that... Is there anything you can tell me that would make a Brit accept me more? I myself am thinking about spending some time in or around London some time either before or after college.

Any tips?

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

Well... erm... being honest... You asked!

I think most Brits find the whole patriotic-ness a tad bit annoying.

Don't be a tourist - ie wander around holding a map upside doing yelling "WHERE'S THE LONDON EYE?" When you're in Greenwich :p

I can't think of anything else... Because that's what annoys me :o

[Cedric]

Well that's where I think I have an advantage. I never look like a tourist, even when traveling from state to state. But the whole different accent thing would single me out right away. Do you think British people vary their thoughts about Americans based on each person, or is it a "Stinking Americans!" kinda thing?

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

I know that not all Americans are eegits, so I won't hear an American accent and think "what an eegit. lets move along..."

But some people don't talk to Americans online almost everyday.... But not everyone is bigoted.

I suppose it might be the same with the Americans hearing a French accent...

[Little Miss]

tips... tips... tips...

dont take photographs of anything that moves

dont be obnoxious and obese

find the ability to laugh at yourself (if you haven't already)

dont shout when things dont go according to plan

be relaxed

accept the fact that nothing ever comes on time in england's cities

make an effort to understand the currency

and possibly most importantly, pronounce "ass" "arse"

thats all i can think of so far, although i'm going into town later and we have our fair share of americans who come here expecting to see a quaint litle english village and refuse to accept the reality of the situation, so i'm sure i'll see some more comon mistakes.

[Cedric]

Now the currency I'll have a problem with... Should probably think of an easy way to remember the conversions.

Never comes on time? Like food and stuff, or more along the lines of comebacks? :D

-Cedric

[Little Miss]

more like trains, buses, minicabs, any form of transport that isnt self-propelled... also yes food, british women, certain phone calls, the time it takes to process a credit card payment, stuff like that.

[Drizella]

You know, I'm thinking about possibly moving to England some day, but I plan on being a self-supportive adult before I do anything too serious.

I lived in Yorkshire for 6 months and wasn't once ostracized for my accent. In fact, I traveled to many places in England and Scotland and people were friendly all over. They didn't seem to care one way or the other and treated me just fine.

The currency is incredibly simple for Americans because it's similar to America's--(100 pennies in a pound/dollar). It takes no time to get used to it.

I wouldn't know anything about Visas or how much it costs to buy/rent in England.

I think most Brits find the whole patriotic-ness a tad bit annoying.
As do many Americans. :rolleyes:

And yes, while some Americans can be bratty and obtuse, please don't let them speak for the country! It's embarassing, really. :p

[najuk]

You're expecting to find a decent house for around £80,000?!! I don't know if that conversion's correct but around where I live (middle England, fairly countrified) you want find anything ubder £100,000 and if you want to stay in London, well, good luck to you mate!!! I think house prices are a lot cheaper further north but I think they're on the up too.

Where I live, go to school and socialise (different towns each time :D) no one gives a monkeys about what accent you have, you'll probably get asked about it but because we have so many different cultures we're used to different people, also if you mix about a lot you're probably bound to find a fellow patriot (I forgot whether you were Canadian or American and don't want to offend :D) to play with. People are pretty nice round here if you get in with the right sort of people.

Just don't act like a tourist. If you say you've come to live here it's not so bad, we'll just think you're stupid for bothering but so long as you can laugh at that. We may laugh at you for doing cutesy American things and we may take the mess of your accent but that's jsut because it's unusual, we'd take the mess out of someone from anywhere in England that came here and had a different accent, but we don't mean anything by it, like when one of our American Gap year teachers was gushing over all these castles, we just laughed and laughed but she didn't mind.

But yeah, we generally don't appreciate touristy tourists (a bunch of them once asked me the way to the High Street and there was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge signpost right in front of them pointing to it :rolleyes:) :D But I'm sure you'll get along fine :D

[Kristin]

Welcome najuk! :wave:

What are "cutesy American things"?

If I were ever to visit, I'd be gushing over castles, too -- only internally. I know it drives me batty when I've been with my mother-in-law in Vermont and Maine and she'll say things like, "Oh, that looks so Vermont-y!" or "That's so New England-y!" And when my husband and I got a house, she gushed over how "Vermont-y" it was! Our house looks like ... a house! Not really any different from other houses in other places. :rolleyes:

Yeah, so I'd be excited to see castles, etc. But I could still manage to be cool.

The thing is just who has what. Like Eddie Izzard says about Disney building a "castle" in Europe, "Better make it a bit bigger. They've actually got them here." :LOL:

I remember when I was about 12, a second cousin visited from Germany. And she took a picture of a Bob Evans (a chain restaurant with a red building). I remember thinking how weird that was. But the thing is what was a boring thing to me was new and interesting to her.

[ChianaWeasley]

Tourists really are oddballs. You'de think someone from Florida has never seen a cow before:rolleyes:. But you're right what is usual for us is unusual to them. Who would ever have thought?;)

[Fleurdelacour]

They'd never seen a cow before? They don't get cows in Florida? Blimely... That's weird... Cows are evil though, but they do provide milk and meat :devil:

lol! Gotta love Eddie Izzard! :D :notworthy

Well, if you ever do come to Britian Kristin, go to Warwick Castle near Shakespere Country (south of Birmingham... I do not know my counties...) it's really fun there :) They do all the medieval things like jousting tournaments (Even though they're so staged, and real knights wouldn't that that camp :p) and it has all the stuff you'd expect from a castle really. And as you go up to the castle, there are little medieval stalls and things, where you can play toad in the hole! There are jesters and blokes on stilts! Very fun :)

[Lanen]

Dear Faid -

Well, up here in Scotland (we ARE attached to that other country, after all!) there is a small house (2 bedrooms) in my little town that is priced at offers over £75,000. A few things:

It is a 'terraced' villa - this means that the actual building your 'home' would be in houses 3 or more dwellings, with common walls. Not something you get much in the US, though I don't know about Canada.

'Offers over' can vary widely. In London (not that you'd find ANYTHING for £75k), offers over can mean 10-20 k over the named price, or more. Here, because I live in an unfashionable town that's partly in the country, it's more likely to be 2-5 k over the named price, or even less. But you have to add about £3000 for solicitor's fees, stamp duty, etc., etc.

And UK homes look TINY to North American eyes, FWIW.

And I guess it depends on you, but - ya know, if you're a tourist, just BE a tourist. Don't let your effort to blend in stifle your sense of wonder at being in a foreign country! Enjoy the 'wow' factor! Go ahead, gawk at castles, drop your jaw at the scenery and the cathedrals and the everything else - the only thing I'd say, as an American who has lived here for 20 years, is - just don't be loud about it. In my experience, loud = dumb American (they won't realise you're Canadian! ;) ) Enjoy what you see, let it wash your soul in the astounding otherness of it - just don't yell "Hey, Martha, lookit that castle over there!" ;) :D

and Chiana - of course people from Florida look like they haven't seen a cow before. I grew up there, and I hadn't!! :D

I guess what I'm saying is - don't bother being cool if it interferes with your enjoyment. Who cares if a bunch of people you will never see again think briefly 'that person's such a tourist!'. They're right, you are! I'm not saying that you should be obnoxious, just - don't let trying to be 'cool' inhibit your proper sense of wonder. Otherwise you might just as well stay at home. Go, look, touch where you can, BE a tourist. It's okay. :cool:

[Moxie]

Originally posted by ChianaWeasley
You'de think someone from Florida has never seen a cow before:rolleyes:

This goes double for those from "downstate" New York :) My sibling and I grew up on Long Island and only saw cows briefly from our car window on the way to visit Grandma "upstate" - since I've moved to New England, livestock no longer seems so exotic to me but sibling still has a little kid's reactions given the chance to pet actual farm animals :)

[Little Miss]

hey, you should come to dorking, we have four-toed chickens.

and i'm not even joking.

[ChianaWeasley]

And UK homes look TINY to North American eyes, FWIW.-Lanen

I dont think they would seem small, well not to me anyhow. My house is rather tiny, but i like to refer to it as a hobbit hole. Very cozy and tiny like a hobbit hole.:D

Chiana props her bare harried feet onto the table top and puffs on a small pipe

"Time for second breakfast I think!"

I still dont see the great attraction with fenced in cows...

:rolleyes:

;)

[najuk]

Originally posted by Fleurdelacour
Well, if you ever do come to Britian Kristin, go to Warwick Castle near Shakespere Country (south of Birmingham... I do not know my counties...)

Try Warwickshire maybe?!! :D I didn't like Warwick Castle much, but it was raining a fair bit which always makes things duller. Though one of the dressed up guys was reeeeeeally fit. And the dungeons were kinda disappointing but never mind :D It would be good in more summer-y weather (though it was July when we went :D). And no one's mentioned it but do expect a lot of rain :D It doesn't rain all the time like they make out but the weather in England does have a tenedency to spend a lot of it's time being rainy or at the least dull and grey. I'm not complaining though, I hate hot weather :D

[Cedric]

I think the living conditions in London (size of flats, houses, ect.) are pretty comparable to any big city, I mean space is always tight in those kind of areas, right?

I found a pretty good site (http://www.hamptons.co.uk/index.asp) that has real estate in and around London.

-Cedric

[Fleurdelacour]

Well... Space isn't that tight. Ken Livingston (rubbish London Mayor... Putting up prices everywhere!! £5 to drive in to the center of London, tube prices going up, and bus prices going up!! I think we're meant to walk everywhere! :rolleyes:) is meant to be building more affordable housing in Greenwich. I've seen them, and they're weird - they're orange!

But yeah, there is space, almost every house is terraced (I live in a terraced house) or semi-detached

Ah! Warwickshire that's the one, I thought it was Staffordshire or something...

Ooh Hamptons :) V posh, lol.

[Little Miss]

Originally posted by najuk
And no one's mentioned it but do expect a lot of rain :D It doesn't rain all the time like they make out but the weather in England does have a tenedency to spend a lot of it's time being rainy or at the least dull and grey. I'm not complaining though, I hate hot weather :D

y'know why none of us have mentioned it? we've just suffered the bigget heatwave in the history of people recording temperatures in england. it was hotter than a californian summer most of the time.

we've all kinda forgotten we live in that country that gets a lot of rain and is always cold and miserable...

oh thats another thing (a good thing this time). most of the younger brit's (30 and under) are the kind of people that adapt fairly quickly, and forget unpleasant things easily. generally we dont hold grudges.

so if you irritate the hell out of someone chances are next day they'll only have a vague memory of it.

[Lanen]

Cold and rainy? Did someone say cold and rainy? Oh, man, I MOVED here because it was cold and rainy. And Monica's right, we've had the hottest summer since records began, high 80s and 90s and over 100 down south :p

I grew up in Florida and Louisiana, hot and awful. I moved here from Hawaii to get AWAY from hot. It has barely rained at all here in eastern Scotland for many months now. It's hardly ever even been cloudy! I am *praying* for it to be cold and rainy! Please, MORE COLD AND RAIN!!! My garden is not happy...

(hmm. maybe I'd better be quieter about this. I think it's grounds for deportation to complain about the 'nice' weather... ;) )

[Little Miss]

Originally posted by Lanen

(hmm. maybe I'd better be quieter about this. I think it's grounds for deportation to complain about the 'nice' weather... ;) )

in that case i think they'll be sending round the men in white coats to my house any day now...

seriously, england is just wrong when its not cold and dark and wet. i like it best in winter.

[ChianaWeasley]

So basically Britian is on big dank, wet cave a bunch of Gollum's with neato accents like to live? Its been raining alot over here, well it is that thunderstorm/tornadoe season over here. But theres a difference between our rain and Europe rain. Here its just...well mean and ugly out, in Europe its a nice rain. with much lower acidity levels.

People don't hold grudges eh?
So if I were to poke someone in the nose today, they wouldn't be the least bit upset about it tomorrow? Interesting...Britian sounds better more often :)

Over here we just had really moody people, who really like to drive...and eat too! Where I live, Lancaster county, our county is the most obese in the country. Nothing to be too proud of I should say....we have too many fast food places

[Monkfish]

Didn`t anyone notice the winking smiley?:confused:

If anyone is upset by my earlier post I am very sorry.

[Severus Snape]

Hey Monkfish... I wasn't upset in the least. I've lived in Canada, Alaska and the states.

I've wanted to move to England since my Grandfather said, "I'm from Staffordshire!" I've been told that you can't move unless you have enough money to support you for a whole year which sounds like the best thing to do. I've also been told that I'll need to be able to buy a house and I am saving up to do that.

But I've also been told that you can't move to England unless the embassy aproves you to move... can it sound more difficult? I've also been told that getting approved for a visa to move there is hard and getting citizenship is just as hard.

Am I being mislead? :(

The Rain... Nothing like walking to the nearest shop or restaurant and then suddenly getting rained on. :) I'm glad we have nice warm rain spells where I live.

[Fleurdelacour]

The Rain - not been that bad this year... infact, what a weird year for weather... heavy snow... a summer that lasted several months (April - September) we've only just got rain, this morning in fact :p Proper REAL heavy rain! :p Isn't autumn wonderful...

There's no difficulty in moving to Scotland is there?

[Little Miss]

no

our roof is leaking

[Severus Snape]

Don't feel bad.. My roof is leaking too and just the other morning some smoke poured out of one of electrical... plug in things.

[Moxie]

Our roof's been leaking a while now... of course we had a huge run of rainy days while we are in the midst of getting our entire roof fixed up (which of course also delays further work due to the hazards of having guys up there while it's wet and slippery... I hope the darn thing gets finished before it starts snowing up here, which will likely happen before the month is out)

[Fleurdelacour]

Dodgy roofs... Everyone seems to have one. Ours is being pulled down in a few days too :rolleyes: oh joy... the scaffolding is already up...

Moxie, you'll get snow soon?! Wow... That's mad... Where'd you live? Any chance you can make a sick girl very happy by shipping some over to London for Christmas Day :p ;)

How amazing would that be? Waking up on Christmas morning to a blanket of white snow! :D WOW!

[Severus Snape]

I think someone should develope a sure fire way of moving to England, write a book about it and publish it so nobody is left wondering, "How do I do it and how did people before me do it successfuly?"

Maybe one has been written already?

[Fleurdelacour]

Why dont you check Amazon and see? ;)

[Severus Snape]

I see how it is... make me do all the work eh? Ok! I'll check and post back if I find anything. :)

Edit: I found something and i'm going to buy it because i'm determined! :D

How to arrive and thrive in the UK (http://ukimmigrate.co.uk/)

[Xazinon]

:LOL: Nice one Severus! :D You called FleurD's bluff beautifully: you certainly are determined!

Oh, and welcome back by the way! :)

[Severus Snape]

Thanks Xazinon!

I give a big hearty thanks to Amazon and another to Fleurdelacour for suggesting Amazon. :) I hope that it's helpful to other members who want to make the move.

I thought I would add this for those people who have not seen England or Scotland yet.

Go to: CamVista (http://www.camvista.com/) to view webcams of the Uk and there are some webcams in the states too.

[Monkfish]

Originally posted by Severus Snape
I see how it is... make me do all the work eh? Ok! I'll check and post back if I find anything. :)

Edit: I found something and i'm going to buy it because i'm determined! :D

How to arrive and thrive in the UK (http://ukimmigrate.co.uk/)

WOW!!!

After reading what that site had to say about the UK I can hardly wait to...........hang on................I already live here...:o

[jesuisalleeaujardin]

just to answer your question whether or not to. i say:

do it, do it, do it! :D

jardin