Why are people so against emmigration?

Most people die within 30 miles of where they were born. Given that most conversations are based on the world is turning to shit and moaning about family members, why don’t more people just up and move to somewhere better?

All my family have including me.

All my family have including me.

Did you move in the same direction, or opposite directions?

If you’re an emigrant, you probably aren’t the target market for this thread.

RAF Brat. I think moving was ingrained in me early on. I think on last count I’ve lived in 20+ different houses across 2 continents and 6 countries. Apart from about 12 months or so, I’ve never lived within 30 miles of where I was born.

I’m not against it, for quite a while MrsIHN and I had serious and not serious ideas about moving to France, but then something happened that would make that a lot harder. Can you guess what that might be?

However, after living away for 20+ years, I did recently move back to about 10 miles from where I was born, and five miles from where I grew up. Some places feel like the place you live, but some places feel like home.

Did you move in the same direction, or opposite directions?

More like an explosion in different directions.  🙂

I probably earn more here (UK) than living in the nice places I woud rather live, but unfortunatley haven’t earnt enough to move abroad and not have to work or get by with not earning very much.

Post covid it might be easier to work remotley from places, but unfortunatley that milkshake covered wankstaff manged to get too many people to vote for brexit…..

and for all its faults, and there are lots(!), the UK isn’t actually a bad place to live.

RAF brat here, born abroad though we settled down when I was 7 to give me stable schooling.

My parents always said they’d support me of I wanted to emigrate, but only moved within England so far, for better jobs or affordable housing.

Most people die within 30 miles of where they were born

“The Road To Somewhere” by David Goodhart is an interesting read. Written around the time of the Brexit referendum and Trump’s first presidency, he suggests that you can (and obviously this is a generalisation) look at people who are ‘Somewheres’ and those who are ‘Anywheres’. The Somewheres see where they are from as central to their identity, whereas the Anywheres are defined more by who they are and what they have achieved. Anywheres tend to be better educated (because one of the best ways to become an Anywhere is to go to university away from your hometown), and to have had much broader life experiences. It’s the Somewheres who gave us Brexit and Trump.

Most people die within 30 miles of where they were born.

Source?

FWIW – born in Indian Himalaya, lived in 17 houses in 49 years of life across England & Scotland, with a four month stay in mid-Wales on top.
My immediate family live in England, India and NZ. Wider family in Aus (Melbourne & Tasmania), Guernsey, England, Wales and Sweden.
I would happily consider emigrating, but mrs_oab and family are close and the opportunity has never arisen really. Now for various health reasons and the NHS we cannot – even for a short period of time.

So I find it odd folk don’t emigrate or move around some more.

However, after living away for 20+ years, I did recently move back to about 10 miles from where I was born, and five miles from where I grew up. Some places feel like the place you live, but some places feel like home.

Something like that.

I’ve moved all over but can see myself dying in the Lake district as long as this sort of thing doesn’t do unchecked.

that and owing a couple of tourist pubs/b&bs can turn a tidy profit.

in short living in the lakes is hardly living on the moon.

RAF Brat. I think moving was ingrained in me early on. I think on last count I’ve lived in 20+ different houses across 2 continents and 6 countries. Apart from about 12 months or so, I’ve never lived within 30 miles of where I was born.

Out of five siblings I’m the only who’s stuck close to where we essentially grew up, I haven’t been to one of my sister’s houses since Jan 2000 & the other sister I only visited the first time in 20yrs earlier this year, they are both very settled where they are now having left this country getting on for 35 & 40yrs ago but they’ve had some tough times and had some times when they wish they’d stayed in UK.

I’ve known a friend who sailed round the world for a few years with husband & young family, then got it all set up (house & job) to live in NZ, came back to UK for Xmas then just refused to get on the plane to fly back to NZ and settled back in UK instead.

Its not an easy choice to emigrate for sure.

Another RAF brat here. Born abroad. Don’t live anywhere near anywhere I lived as a child. Haven’t moved abroad because all my attempts to learn other languages have failed miserably, and all English speaking countries have such tight immigration systems we can’t move and work there now given our ages. Can’t really afford to pay to retire abroad, ever. Offspring much better at languages, but other people are against emigration and voted to make it very hard to do so with the limited means most young people have.

Left the UK over half a lifetime ago and have no desire to return, putting me firmly in the emigrant category rather than the expat one, which in southern France is a cause for lively debate with my dear compatriots. C’est une véritable boîte a vers.

I’ve got so much sympathy for the young who no longer have the opportunity to freely move around the EU as I did in my 20’s with minimal fuss.

but can see myself dying in the Lake district

As a grumpy old bloke who lives in a cottage, or whilst waterskiing ?

The Somewheres see where they are from as central to their identity, whereas the Anywheres are defined more by who they are and what they have achieved. Anywheres tend to be better educated (because one of the best ways to become an Anywhere is to go to university away from your hometown), and to have had much broader life experiences.

Initially my reaction was to say I’m a nowhere, I’m not really one or the other and never felt like I’ve achieved as much as i hoped i could.

but perhaps I lean more toward an anywhere than a somewhere. I’ve lived within 20 miles of where I was born with the exception of university where I chose the opposite end of the England to study. No nationalistic tendencies. Kind of feel indifferent to it, I could have been born anywhere in the world… as anything! Ah haha!

I don’t see myself emigrating unless we have a massive lottery win and I never have to work again. mono lingual and way below average income for my age (40s).

Would love to live somewhere in the UK with big hills or mountains where you can really get out into the middle of nowhere unlike the SE.

I’m not against it…..

When I was 18 I knew I didn’t want to stay where I grew up. Never felt like it was somewhere I wanted to be when growing. Never had the inclusion I wanted to be there in my old age.

I grew up in Thurrock so I don’t think I need extrapolate on the reasons why.

why don’t more people just up and move to somewhere better?

Norman Tebit’s been reincarnated then.

It is actually quite financially difficult to just up sticks and move somewhere else. I think it is a bit of logical fallacy to just pretend people can easily move around, and it has got a fair bit harder in my lifetime.

I have done it a couple of times in my life, but if I lost my job now I don’t think just moving to somewhere better would be a feasible option, I just don’t think I could scrape the money together to make it happen even if I was motivated to do so.

A lot of people are trapped in their lives and jobs, having the financial autonomy to make drastic changes is a luxury most people don’t have, we just struggle along trying to make small improvements when the opportunities present themselves and trying to do the best for our families.

Haven’t moved abroad because all my attempts to learn other languages have failed miserably

Much easier to learn a language when you’re immersed in it than from your living room in Blighty.

It is actually quite financially difficult to just up sticks and move somewhere else. I think it is a bit of logical fallacy to just pretend people can easily move around,

Nah…..

I left the UK and went to Germany with around 2k Sterling in my bank account. Spent two months trying to learn the language and then got a job with a local carpentry company. Majority of my vocab came either from the building site or the local bike shop. Balken, Kette, Schraubenzieher, Gabel, Zollstock, Federung…..

It ain’t money holding people back, but fear of the unknown.

It ain’t money holding people back, but fear of the unknown.

…or people are happy where they are and don’t have the desire to move.

…or people like to have  their family and friends around them.

…or people have older relatives to look after.

It is actually quite financially difficult to just up sticks and move somewhere else.

Like Alpin, i had about 1000 quid cash reserves and an unsold house when i left the UK. Not a massive amount of money, and i could probably have moved for a lot less than i eventually did (about another 1000 all told).

Didn’t even have a job. (Still can’t speak the language!)

I’m about 1200km from where i was born and 1000km from where i was brought up. And despite everything (Divorce, ill health, money issues) i’m glad i did it.

TBH, all three could have seen me dead or on the streets in the UK.

@the-muffin-man

What I quoted was referring to money. I’m saying money itself isn’t an issue….

Obviously there are other hurdles, but MSP wasn’t referring to them.

BTW, MSP is already in the Vaterland.

dependents. thats why i stay

if it was just me I would have gone long ago

I left the UK and went to Germany with around 2k Sterling in my bank account

Which is £2.5k more than a lot of folk in the UK these days.

^^ you think that’s an extravagant amount of money?

How far does 2k get you?

In my case three months.

I spent 1200€ on a language course that included accommodation. After the course I lived in a campsite for four weeks…..

*after your edit…. Yeah. This was 2008 so probably a bit less in today’s money, but on this forum where people are spunking several K on an ego massage it’s a pissy amount of cash.

I guess it depends on where you’re coming from and what your expectations are.

**edit edit…. I guess it helped that back in 2008 it was still possible to up sticks from the UK and move to anywhere within the EU without any trouble….. But again, I think MSP jumped from the island before the big B word hit the fan.

My sisters and I all moved away from “home”, they’ve both moved back nearer to where we grew up. I have obviously reached escape velocity,my  home is where I live now.

We’d already worked in France, Germany and Spain but were teaching in the UK and flat broke. Then walked out of our jobs. I started job hunting anywhere and everywhere and found not one but two jobs in Nancy. The boss was prepared to pay our transport out which solved the flat broke bit.

The jobs only lasted a few months because the business was sold but we’d made enough to pay rent on some premises in Pau and start a business. that was 32 years ago, still here.

As Ocrider notes, the opportnities we had have been voted away and I feel sorry for young Brits. Having a whole continent to go at made job hunting a whole lot easier and being out of work less of a worry. There was always something to do somewhere whether it was picking grapes, cleaning mobile homes, waxing skis, serving in a bar, making sandwiches, answering the phone… .

Much easier to learn a language when you’re immersed in it than from your living room in Blighty.

It takes a certain personality. My aunt was so fed up with the NHS she left England in the 80s with a failed French o-level and has worked in nursing in France ever since. But she’s remarkably confident with a tough skin.

Nobody on either side of my family has stayed put…but then grandmothers were both post war immigrants.

As a kid I was jealous of people with ties to places, but as I’ve got older I realised it can be a bind.

I found it easy to emmigrate in my mid 20s but I had no ties. And I had a woman waiting at the airport for me.

why don’t more people just up and move to somewhere better?

Within the regions of the UK, many young people do, to more prosperous and urban area.

However IME older people in rural areas sometimes have a disappointed view of this emigration. The village’s all quiet, shop and post office closed, chapel boarded up, school at risk of closure… well maybe it’s something to do with general societal change and over two thirds of the houses being retired people or holiday homes, rather than the young people taking the “wrong” life decisions.

I grew up in Lincolnshire.

I’ve lived three years in Fife and am nearing ten in the Borders. I still say ‘back home’ when referring to Lincolnshire

I am not against as long as they are legit or not criminals or not cause trouble.

I came here to see the “world” and for economy reason.  I remember as a teen I wanted to go as far as possible from my home country and UK became the natural choice because I can understand the language.  For some reasons, I don’t prefer other English speaking nations.  I definitely don’t want to set foot in USA put it this way coz nothing interest me there.

I left the UK and went to Germany with around 2k Sterling in my bank account. Spent two months trying to learn the language and then got a job with a local carpentry company. Majority of my vocab came either from the building site or the local bike shop. Balken, Kette, Schraubenzieher, Gabel, Zollstock, Federung…..

It ain’t money holding people back, but fear of the unknown.

Now rerun the scenario with 6months since you were made redundant and two kids in tow and a partner on unpaid maternity leave. And that 2k has been used for the last 6months keeping everyone fed.

I left the UK and went to Germany with around 2k Sterling in my bank account.

It ain’t money holding people back, but fear of the unknown

Pre-brexit of course.

Pre-brexit of course.

Well yeah…. Obviously.

Now rerun the scenario with 6months since you were made redundant and two kids in tow and a partner on unpaid maternity leave. And that 2k has been used for the last 6months keeping everyone fed.

Yeah…. With kids in tow it would be a different scenario.

The big hurdle with emigration is that you have to meet the requirements set out by the country that you want to live in.

Now yes…. Few years ago…. Nope!

Although for anyone seriously considering leaving the UK, Germany has a long list of jobs it needs to fill and their citizenship rules have changed. Something silly like three years residency and you can apply for citizenship with basic B1 level language skills.

why don’t more people just up and move to somewhere better?

I did, it was just 20 miles away though.  Brought up in rough overcrowded town, now live in quiet and lovely village.