Sick of working in England and looking to move overseas.
No idea where yet but thinking the usual places - US, Canada, Australia, NZ.
Has anyone else done something similar to this or know of the best way to arrange this?
You can work anywhere in the EU, all you need is a job and you can move tomorrow. Speaking the language of the place you are moving to might help, although I lived in Germany for a few years I didn't start learning German until after I moved there so it isn't always a hindrance if your linguistic skills are somewhat limited.
In answer, James, to your question, any advice would depend on your reasons and expectations. It also depends on your age, marital status, children, health etc
All the countries you mentioned have strict visa restrictions.
Except that all British citizens have the right to a one-year work permit in Australia, and if you find an employer that likes you it can easily be extended.
I worked in australia 2 years ago, but that was backpacker style. If you go out on a basic working visa you have to do 90 days fruit picking, or construction in the north to qualify for a second year.
I worked in australia 2 years ago, but that was backpacker style. If you go out on a basic working visa you have to do 90 days fruit picking, or construction in the north to qualify for a second year.
ha ha, love it. That sounds like a change. What qualifies as 'the north' though? The Northern Territory only, or are parts of WA and Queensland included?
I worked in australia 2 years ago, but that was backpacker style. If you go out on a basic working visa you have to do 90 days fruit picking, or construction in the north to qualify for a second year.
ha ha, love it. That sounds like a change. What qualifies as 'the north' though? The Northern Territory only, or are parts of WA and Queensland included?
Yer I think northern territory, but I only picked fruit in a place called berri in the south as it was a lot cooler. I also did a lot of hole digging nr sydney and some other construction work, but the heat can get rediculous. Monet conversion at the time ment I never earned under £10 ph and the fruit can be silly money ifu are good.
its correct u have to be under 30 for that visa
id say it was the best year of my life and hopefully il be going back next december
James - me too absolutely, live in a 3 bed house near stansted airport, 3 kids so need a 4 bed house, but everything in the UK is just going up (petrol, utlities etc etc) and my wages are simply not catching up. I work for an investment bank in Canary Wharf, so travel horrible, and have applied to work in our office in Tampa, Florida. Basically I should be getting my wages exchanged in dollars (rate 1.60 dollars for £1), and our friends on facebook out there already state that the cost of living is far cheaper - petrol about 40p a litre, houses ( 4 bed from £83,000 in a nice community!!). A great lifestyle, usual temps in winter 18-24 C - beautiful! Lots for families...if you have one. Luckily my work will arrange and pay for the Visa. Can't wait to get out there!
Increasingly these days it is about your skill sets. Work in US is tied your Visa status, not only for yourself but any other family member. Speak to an US Immigration Lawyer (the British Embassy will have a list of attorneys). Be careful about which state because many states have "Employment at Will" law which effectively means the Employer can sack you on the spot without cause. A lot of US corporations can be absolutely brutal.
Use your own Immigration Lawyers some US employers offer the use of their Immigration Lawyers but that introduces a conflict of interest (its illegal but try getting that through the US justice system). I found the US is a great place to be if you are in work and have health insurance. It is not if you end up losing the job and the health insurance.
Canada did offer an online site for people to clarify their skills and see whether there was a skills shortage match - a friend of mine who was living and working France as a plumber/ heating engineer recently moved he loves it there.
As far as Australia and NZ is concerned I am led to believe expats are beginning to struggle to find work but again it depends on your skill sets. Also be aware whatever industry or academic qualifications you may have may not be recognized in the new country - i.e. you may have to requalify.
As for the rest of Europe you will have to speak the language but certainly in France that is no guarantee of work. The French have natural reluctance to employ Brits but then perversely when they do often comment they work much harder than their french counterparts.
SCM - That sounds a great opportunity. As you work for a US bank then I may be "telling my grandmother to suck eggs" just be careful of the contract of employment terms, your pension rights and any repatriation rights/costs (if needed). Sorry to say you will always need an exit plan. What happens to your current pension fund etc.,
Even though your company will be arranging the Visa, What Visa will it be? How long before you get the Green Card? Do you intend to pursue dual nationality? Be aware their lawyers will only nominally be working for you they will also be working for the company.
I say all this because I know at least 2 families move with their companies to an American subsidiary/parent on a new contract where within 6 months the jobs/projects they came to do were dropped. In each the guys were escorted off the premises, no one would talk to them and they were left scrambling to sort themselves out with company legal department.
'natural' reluctance to employ Brits. No. The French have a natural reluctance for everything foreign.
funny you should say that, a lot of Australian farmers do not like the Enlish workers, because apparently we are lazy and always hung over :-). Germans and keoreans were staff of choice
I have been working in Australia these past 7 years; just about to return to the UK. I would highly recommend spending some time here, although my wife wouldn't! Take a look at the link below. This is a very useful site, not just for Australia. There are articles on visa requirements and so on, as well as forums where you can ask specific questions.
It is relatively difficult to get a visa these days, but you can go through an on-line "questionnaire" on the Australian Government immigration website which will show you what is possible in your own circumstances. Good Luck!
If anyone wanted to work here in Australia there are massive opportunities in the mining and resources sector, literally thousands of vacancies.
The jobs are based in remote locations and are often FIFO based but are very well paid, especially if you are an Electrician/Engineer etc, there are even plenty of manual labour jobs going too.
not sure how easy it is getting into Canada, it's a points based system - don't think you need a definite job lined up but the pay off for that is that with the points threshold being so high, you'll only qualify if you have a trade or skill that is in demand....
once you get here, jobs (in Alberta & the West in general) are relatively easy to come by especially if you want to work in the mining & resources sector
it's an expensive country though, and you have to be prepared for brutal winters that make what you are going through in the UK at the moment look like a walk in the park
SCM - That sounds a great opportunity. As you work for a US bank then I may be "telling my grandmother to suck eggs" just be careful of the contract of employment terms, your pension rights and any repatriation rights/costs (if needed). Sorry to say you will always need an exit plan. What happens to your current pension fund etc.,
Even though your company will be arranging the Visa, What Visa will it be? How long before you get the Green Card? Do you intend to pursue dual nationality? Be aware their lawyers will only nominally be working for you they will also be working for the company.
I say all this because I know at least 2 families move with their companies to an American subsidiary/parent on a new contract where within 6 months the jobs/projects they came to do were dropped. In each the guys were escorted off the premises, no one would talk to them and they were left scrambling to sort themselves out with company legal department.
Good luck
don't forget the ridiculous attitude to vacations in the US (& Canadian) workplace, 10 days is the norm & you are made to feel guilty for taking that by some employers - I'm extremely lucky I get 30+ days per year but that's because of the length of time i've worked for this employer - i have no doubt that if i switched jobs I'd be back down to 10/15 again....
Obv bit different as i am 22 with no ties, work for thomas cook as a holiday rep, spent the last 9 months in mallorca an lanzarote as a holiday rep. Home for 9 weeks an then will spend summer there! Only thing I miss bout home is charlton
don't forget the ridiculous attitude to vacations in the US (& Canadian) workplace, 10 days is the norm & you are made to feel guilty for taking that by some employers - I'm extremely lucky I get 30+ days per year but that's because of the length of time i've worked for this employer - i have no doubt that if i switched jobs I'd be back down to 10/15 again....
This is one of the big 'sacrafices' of moving to North America. In May I left a post with a Consultancy firm in the UK and moved to the Canadian arm of the same firm. In the UK I walked though the door with 20 days or annual leave and after 7 years there had been upgraded to rthe company maximum of 25 days. If I was starting completley afresh here at the firm in Canada I would be starting on 10 days, but because they have taken into account my years of service in England, I have 17.5 days of basic leave. I'll have to stay at the company for 15 years to get 25 days of annual leave. The flip side of that is I get paid overtime and can accumulate TOIL which I didn't get in England, plus you get a few extra bank holidays out here. All in all I've been able to take about the same amount of leave and my salary has close to doubled for much the same job so from a work perspective it's been a good move for me so far, although I'm still working longer hours than I think I should have to. Hopefully that will ease when a couple of new recruits arrive in the spring (another Brit and an Alaskan from within the company).
Jury is still out on the effect it's had on my personal life, but my wife doesn't move here permanently until May so it doesn't really feel like a permanent move yet. Once she's here I can properly start to settle down. I think we'll like it here and have a good life, however long we end up staying but I liked it in England too and don't have the downer on the country that some do. Certainly not everything is better here than at home.
As other's have siad James, what os it about the UK you want to get away from and what kind of work do you see yourself doing if/when you emmigrate?
Also, what are you interests a hobbies and what do you think you'll miss about home (apart from friends a family)? That's an important thing to think about too as you're more likely to settle somewhere if there are a few familiar things from home to help you settle in. For example if surfing and cricket are your thing, Australia or New Zealand are going to be more your thing and culturally they have a more 'English feel' but they are a long long way from home. If you're into Skiing and fishing then Canada might be just the place for you, but if you hate the cold or your job would mean working outside most of the time you'll need to think carefully about the climate. If gun crime, homophobia and fundamentalist christianity is what interests you then the States is where you want.
Australia......Under 30? do a one year holiday visa. Qualification for year two is 90 days working in a rural location...doesnt have to be up north as Shine says. Plenty of work here, but dont expect the same wage as residents and expect to pay more tax.
not sure how easy it is getting into Canada, it's a points based system - don't think you need a definite job lined up but the pay off for that is that with the points threshold being so high, you'll only qualify if you have a trade or skill that is in demand....
once you get here, jobs (in Alberta & the West in general) are relatively easy to come by especially if you want to work in the mining & resources sector
it's an expensive country though, and you have to be prepared for brutal winters that make what you are going through in the UK at the moment look like a walk in the park
Canada has the `Full, come back later' signs up at the moment. How about the Falklands, India, even Scotland? Some more detail please James.
Australia......Under 30? do a one year holiday visa. Qualification for year two is 90 days working in a rural location...doesnt have to be up north as Shine says. Plenty of work here, but dont expect the same wage as residents and expect to pay more tax.
I said the construction is generaly north, picking is anywhere as I also said I picked in the south. sorry if im wrong, im just going by what I was told...
Australia......Under 30? do a one year holiday visa. Qualification for year two is 90 days working in a rural location...doesnt have to be up north as Shine says. Plenty of work here, but dont expect the same wage as residents and expect to pay more tax.
I said the construction is generaly north, picking is anywhere as I also said I picked in the south. sorry if im wrong, im just going by what I was told...
Sorry wasnt digging you out mate......the criteria is generally rural work and not necessarily work/trade specific
not sure how easy it is getting into Canada, it's a points based system - don't think you need a definite job lined up but the pay off for that is that with the points threshold being so high, you'll only qualify if you have a trade or skill that is in demand....
once you get here, jobs (in Alberta & the West in general) are relatively easy to come by especially if you want to work in the mining & resources sector
it's an expensive country though, and you have to be prepared for brutal winters that make what you are going through in the UK at the moment look like a walk in the park
Canada has the `Full, come back later' signs up at the moment.
s'funny because our population is growing rapidly (the fastest growth amongst all of the G8 nations), mainly due to immigration...
not sure how easy it is getting into Canada, it's a points based system - don't think you need a definite job lined up but the pay off for that is that with the points threshold being so high, you'll only qualify if you have a trade or skill that is in demand....
once you get here, jobs (in Alberta & the West in general) are relatively easy to come by especially if you want to work in the mining & resources sector
it's an expensive country though, and you have to be prepared for brutal winters that make what you are going through in the UK at the moment look like a walk in the park
Canada has the `Full, come back later' signs up at the moment.
s'funny because our population is growing rapidly (the fastest growth amongst all of the G8 nations), mainly due to immigration...
I know looooooads of Chinese people have headed over there for uni with the long-term aim of immigration for them and their parents
Oddly - to a western mind - it is ALWAYS the parents that have made this decision. They basically present their 18 year olds with a 6 year plan that is going to happen to their life
Recently one of them told me something about it being easier to start work, em/immigrate and then go back to studying... But i wasnt paying too much attention
not sure how easy it is getting into Canada, it's a points based system - don't think you need a definite job lined up but the pay off for that is that with the points threshold being so high, you'll only qualify if you have a trade or skill that is in demand....
once you get here, jobs (in Alberta & the West in general) are relatively easy to come by especially if you want to work in the mining & resources sector
it's an expensive country though, and you have to be prepared for brutal winters that make what you are going through in the UK at the moment look like a walk in the park
Canada has the `Full, come back later' signs up at the moment.
s'funny because our population is growing rapidly (the fastest growth amongst all of the G8 nations), mainly due to immigration...
I don't know what the picture is like across the whole of Canada, but the economy in the Western and Prairie provinces is still booming (at least relative to the shitty state it is in many places worldwide) and I think they're still pretty happy to accept immigrants. I would say at least 2/3 of the people I've met in Edmonton are from somewhere other than Edmonton, be that abroad or elsewhere in Canada.
James - me too absolutely, live in a 3 bed house near stansted airport, 3 kids so need a 4 bed house, but everything in the UK is just going up (petrol, utlities etc etc) and my wages are simply not catching up. I work for an investment bank in Canary Wharf, so travel horrible, and have applied to work in our office in Tampa, Florida. Basically I should be getting my wages exchanged in dollars (rate 1.60 dollars for £1), and our friends on facebook out there already state that the cost of living is far cheaper - petrol about 40p a litre, houses ( 4 bed from £83,000 in a nice community!!). A great lifestyle, usual temps in winter 18-24 C - beautiful! Lots for families...if you have one. Luckily my work will arrange and pay for the Visa. Can't wait to get out there!
Similar position to you SuperClive - work in CW for an Investment Bank and my gf is a teacher. I'm only 25 so time on my side. We only have 1 child but mortgage and bills mean little left over at end of month. Long hours, grim weather - typical all work no play lifestyle lots of us are no fed up with.
Working and living overseas is absolutely blinding... One of the coolest and best things you can do IMHO...
Ive lived in Spain and Denmark before, although they were both when I was young(19-21) and were all about getting people into SPanish bars and picking peas on a farm in Denmark ... Did a bit of travel and then jumped ship to OZ...
That waas 8 yrs ago.. at that time you were allowed a 1 yr working holiday visa... which was easy to get jsut say youve got a few grand and wont work at the same place for more than 3 months.. once here you can bascially do what you want, in my experience...
In comparison to London its an easy life, less people, more laid back life personally I LOVE Melbourne, its got everything you want and theres hardly anyone here... 3 hrs and your on the great ocean road ... Set up my own business and now work from home in a market place that is not really that compettve... would I have been able to do that in London, probably not...
I do miss Charlton and my mates and CURRYS (they havnt got a scooby over here) but overall its the best decision Ive made....
Australia will probably be my base for the rest of my life...
And nothing beats the buzz of uncertainty as the wheels hit the tarmac in somewhere completely new, with a fistful of cash in your hand...
Coming to The States is difficult but not impossible. If you have a skill that is in short supply here, and you can get an employer to go through the difficulties and paperwork of "sponsorship", it can be done. It can take a couple of years, though. I came here as a car mechanic a long time ago. Employers don't treat employees very well, and time off from work is in short supply. I have my own one-man business now, which allows me more time freedom than I ever had before.
And nothing beats the buzz of uncertainty as the wheels hit the tarmac in somewhere completely new, with a fistful of cash in your hand...
One million percent agree with you Mascot, last April landing in Atlanta with a new job in a new company in a country where I knew literally no one....not knowing where I was going to live and with just my girlfriend and 2 suitcases of clothes.........its a feeling I will never ever forget!
I would say to anyone that if you get the chance - do it!
I have spent the last 5yrs out of the UK. The first 3yrs were in the middle east in Kuwait and the last two in Singapore.
Kuwait was a hard place to live mainly as it was a dry country. Its not the fact you don't have alcohol more you don't have anywhere to really meet people. Coffee shops are not the same.
Of course the pros are you don't pay tax, petrol is less than 10p a litre, Cars are cheap and housing tends to be very good.
Cons - well if you love pork that can be a killer, traffic, Ramadan, oppressive heat and the locals driving habits.
Singapore is a great place to live but seriously expensive, cars are 3 or 4 times the price in the UK, housing is tiny and expensive, Alcohol is horrendous at 6gbp a bottle of beer and a litre of Vodka in the supermarket would set you back 40gbp!!
However I love the place, it is so safe for the family, food is superb, shopping is easy and relatively low tax.
The one thing I struggle with is time, every day is the same here, 32c sunny and a bit of rain maybe. the days and weeks just merge into one, before you know it you have done another six months.
Im in my second spell here in Oz. First time was hard work, as I was alone and knew nobody, but within two years had a whole new bunch of friends and loved it. Second time around and I have to say things have changed here a lot...awful exchange rate...we get $1.48 for the £1...whereas I was used to $2.50+ to the £1. Cars are ridiculously expensive....its often cheaper to buy a car from a dealer. Petrol is on the rise...Now $1.50 a litre ( I was used to $0.80c) Housing is more expensive than the UK,the area Im in is very Yuppy like nowadays, the older generation have passed on...lots of Chelsea tractorites with noses stuck in the air.... shopping is very expensive.....the driving here is awful, people seem oblivious to other road users...speed cameras and speed traps everywhere and the limits here so much lower than the UK.....transport infrastructure is awful...no high speed trains here, its just a dream. TV is utter shite unless you have satellite.....even going to football (soccer) is a sterile affair and to be honest, I dont even bother going anymore...tried the other so called codes too. All in all its not quite the dream location I once thought it was.....I do miss home, for all its woes and have no doubts at all where I really belong. Oh and the weather here this summer......utter pants, Im just waiting for the next Aussie to crack a joke about English weather :-)
For young families and career minded people, come and give it a go...cant think of a better place to bring up your kids if you have a solid skill behind you, but for me at 52...its a different ball park Im afraid. Oh, yes the beaches are lovely....but you get a bit blase when you see them everyday...lol
Oh and yes, pay here can be better than the UK in some jobs...especially for younger kids...$14 to $20 dollars per hour, but offset against a much higher day to day living cost...this is based in Sydney of course. A basic cheap flat will set you back at least $300 a week, house share around the $200 mark.
Building trades down in Melbourne and in some cases here in Sydney are now getting $50 to $60 an hour....but compare that with the GC and $30 is a very good rate, and its still as expensive to rent/buy there as anywhere else. The forecast is for the economy here to show a downturn, but it wont amount to much. The mining boom hasnt bust and shows no signs of doing so, and whilst Interest rates here are so much higher than the UK and US I dont really see a decrease in the value of the dollar in the short to medium term either.
I would recommend anyone who doesnt already a particular skill set to look at mining as a career. The life can be a bit solitary but the money is very good. Australia is crying out for people in this field, plus with a bit of experience the whole of Asia opens up to you. Mongolia is going through a mining boom, Vietnam (coal), Philippines (gold) China all need people in this field. On of my specialties is mining insurance and some of the projections for the next 20yrs are massive.
But in one industry, at least, the candidate is still king – mining. The sector's boom on the back of rising commodity prices has led to a massive shortage of staff, so that barely a trading update goes by without the issue being raised.
While it represents a major headache for employers trying to ramp up production or develop new projects, it signals a bonanza for workers in the sector who are enjoying soaring salaries as companies compete to attract them.
Over the past five years, the average employee at the "big four" mining giants of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Xstrata has received an additional 211pc of his or her salary, according to Deutsche Bank analysts: "In other words, the average employee has received just over two years' additional pay on top of what would have been received had salaries remained flat on 2005 levels."
Nowhere is the phenomenon more evident than in Australia, where the scarcity of workers to feed Asian demand for commodities has not been helped by tight restrictions on immigration. Even truck drivers are now getting paid salaries of A$150,000 to A$180,000 (£96,000 to £116,000) and they can be trained up from scratch. The more skilled professionals whose experience commands a premium – mining engineers, resource geologists – are in even tighter supply.
Living in the Outback's dusty mining towns isn't easy: a report by Rio Tinto on life in Western Australia's Pilbara region, one of the world's main sources of iron ore, identified one group of workers as the "two-year" people, those who can "generally survive one Pilbara summer and two winters before leaving the region".
But the exorbitant wages on offer have in recent years seen more than 100,000 Australians flock to the mining towns. Many work as so-called FIFOs, who "Fly In and Fly Out" for their jobs, often on 7-7-7 rosters of seven days on, seven nights on, before flying home for seven days off.
Sherona Selkirk, a 31-year-old "FIFO" truck driver at one mine in Western Australia, applied for a job earlier this year without any previous experience. After a fortnight of training, she started 12-hour shifts in a truck carrying iron ore.
"It has its good points such as the money but it's tough going and they make you work hard for it,'' she told a local newspaper. "I wouldn't say it's physically hard work – the cabin is air-conditioned and I can listen to music – but the hours are very long and there's a lot of responsibility as I'm in charge of a A$4m vehicle."
Like many such workers, Ms Selkirk said she did not intend to stay in the job forever. But the lure is strong, with a recent survey by Australia's Commonwealth Bank showing that the blue-collar workforce in some parts of Western Australia enjoys wages 62pc higher than the national average.
Such is the scale of the discrepancy between mining wages and other jobs that it is warping the local economies of these outposts. In the muggy coastal mining town of Karratha, where the rents just lag those on the Sydney waterfront, the housing shortage has forced some non-mining workers to live in cars and shipping containers.
"Their boom has been unbelievable, it's accelerated dramatically in 18 months," said Nick Eastwood, senior consultant at UK mining recruitment agency Hunter Personnel. "Salaries have increased dramatically over there, which means many, many expats are returning to Australia – leaving a void in other places, be it Africa, Kazakhstan or elsewhere."
The labour shortage is by no means confined to Australia. Mines all around the world are fighting hard to attract the same pool of skilled industry veterans with international experience.
Australia was just among the first to face the problem, as it saw investment return following the global crisis, say industry watchers.
According to Ernst & Young's mining team, the skills shortage is now the industry's second-biggest business risk after resource nationalism – moves by governments to enjoy a greater slice of mining profits – and it is a problem which is not going away.
"We believe that it [the shortage] may become a bigger risk in both developed and developing countries as we move into 2012," E&Y warned in a recent report.
In Canada, officials now project a labour shortfall of up to 90,000 workers by 2017. In Peru, the industry estimates it will need to add 30,000 positions this decade.
Part of the issue is the cyclical nature of the industry. Few clamoured to join when it was in downturn mode. Some 15 to 20 years ago, many of the majors stopped their graduate trainee schemes, which saw universities closing their mining engineering schools in turn.
So what can companies do to keep costs low? As they dig away in ever more remote regions, as existing mines come to the end of their lives, there is little sign that recruitment will get any easier or cheaper.
There is a lot of talk about the industry's move towards automation. For example, Rio Tinto's iron ore mines in the Pilbara will soon boast 150 driverless trucks, the largest fleet in the world, controlled by workers in its Perth operations centre more than 1,500km away.
But automation is not so much about cutting employee numbers as improving safety and efficiency. While you might not have someone physically in the driving seat, you still need someone to wiggle a joystick – although staff should be easier to retain in a cosmopolitan city than in the back of beyond.
Many believe that, instead of relying on higher salaries to keep themselves staffed, mining companies will increasingly have to invest in in-house training schemes and work with universities to offer industry-specific courses.
Companies are also lobbying governments to relax rules on letting in foreign workers, and adapting working routines to attract staff from outside their traditional demographic, such as promoting job-share roles to bring in more working mothers. But this will all take time.
Meanwhile, the industry frets that the staff shortages will delay projects and keep pushing up costs.
Bad news for the bosses but for the staff it's nice work –although tough – if you can get it.
For those thinking about Australia, you need to earn about 2.2-2.5 Aussie dollars to have roughly the same spending power as earning 1 British pound. So if you are earning GBP40K in the UK you need around 90-100K Aussie to have a similar standard of living.
@Oakster, do you consider yourself permanently settled there, or are you likely to return to England?
Not sure Lookie, we have pretty decent lifestyle out here - we really love where we live, but it's hard to think in terms of never going back to England.......I guess as my kids grow up they will become deeply attached to this country (patriotism is drilled into them much more than back home), that may make it harder to break the ties & head home.....
Last time I was back I was deeply struck by how small & congested the South East, I have become used to a 100-200 mile drive as being a local jaunt over here!!!
For those thinking about Australia, you need to earn about 2.2-2.5 Aussie dollars to have roughly the same spending power as earning 1 British pound. So if you are earning GBP40K in the UK you need around 90-100K Aussie to have a similar standard of living.
I have no standard of livin here in the uk, so hostels and $15 PH is great for me :-)
Comments
In answer, James, to your question, any advice would depend on your reasons and expectations. It also depends on your age, marital status, children, health etc
Over-rated and all the locals appear to have six fingers.
I assume that that is what the above posts are referring to
its correct u have to be under 30 for that visa
id say it was the best year of my life and hopefully il be going back next december
I work for an investment bank in Canary Wharf, so travel horrible, and have applied to work in our office in Tampa, Florida. Basically I should be getting my wages exchanged in dollars (rate 1.60 dollars for £1), and our friends on facebook out there already state that the cost of living is far cheaper - petrol about 40p a litre, houses ( 4 bed from £83,000 in a nice community!!). A great lifestyle, usual temps in winter 18-24 C - beautiful! Lots for families...if you have one. Luckily my work will arrange and pay for the Visa. Can't wait to get out there!
Increasingly these days it is about your skill sets. Work in US is tied your Visa status, not only for yourself but any other family member. Speak to an US Immigration Lawyer (the British Embassy will have a list of attorneys). Be careful about which state because many states have "Employment at Will" law which effectively means the Employer can sack you on the spot without cause. A lot of US corporations can be absolutely brutal.
Use your own Immigration Lawyers some US employers offer the use of their Immigration Lawyers but that introduces a conflict of interest (its illegal but try getting that through the US justice system). I found the US is a great place to be if you are in work and have health insurance. It is not if you end up losing the job and the health insurance.
Canada did offer an online site for people to clarify their skills and see whether there was a skills shortage match - a friend of mine who was living and working France as a plumber/ heating engineer recently moved he loves it there.
As far as Australia and NZ is concerned I am led to believe expats are beginning to struggle to find work but again it depends on your skill sets. Also be aware whatever industry or academic qualifications you may have may not be recognized in the new country - i.e. you may have to requalify.
As for the rest of Europe you will have to speak the language but certainly in France that is no guarantee of work. The French have natural reluctance to employ Brits but then perversely when they do often comment they work much harder than their french counterparts.
Hope that helps
Even though your company will be arranging the Visa, What Visa will it be? How long before you get the Green Card? Do you intend to pursue dual nationality? Be aware their lawyers will only nominally be working for you they will also be working for the company.
I say all this because I know at least 2 families move with their companies to an American subsidiary/parent on a new contract where within 6 months the jobs/projects they came to do were dropped. In each the guys were escorted off the premises, no one would talk to them and they were left scrambling to sort themselves out with company legal department.
Good luck
funny you should say that, a lot of Australian farmers do not like the Enlish workers, because apparently we are lazy and always hung over :-). Germans and keoreans were staff of choice
It is relatively difficult to get a visa these days, but you can go through an on-line "questionnaire" on the Australian Government immigration website which will show you what is possible in your own circumstances. Good Luck!
http://britishexpats.com/forum/
The jobs are based in remote locations and are often FIFO based but are very well paid, especially if you are an Electrician/Engineer etc, there are even plenty of manual labour jobs going too.
once you get here, jobs (in Alberta & the West in general) are relatively easy to come by especially if you want to work in the mining & resources sector
it's an expensive country though, and you have to be prepared for brutal winters that make what you are going through in the UK at the moment look like a walk in the park
Jury is still out on the effect it's had on my personal life, but my wife doesn't move here permanently until May so it doesn't really feel like a permanent move yet. Once she's here I can properly start to settle down. I think we'll like it here and have a good life, however long we end up staying but I liked it in England too and don't have the downer on the country that some do. Certainly not everything is better here than at home.
As other's have siad James, what os it about the UK you want to get away from and what kind of work do you see yourself doing if/when you emmigrate?
Also, what are you interests a hobbies and what do you think you'll miss about home (apart from friends a family)? That's an important thing to think about too as you're more likely to settle somewhere if there are a few familiar things from home to help you settle in. For example if surfing and cricket are your thing, Australia or New Zealand are going to be more your thing and culturally they have a more 'English feel' but they are a long long way from home. If you're into Skiing and fishing then Canada might be just the place for you, but if you hate the cold or your job would mean working outside most of the time you'll need to think carefully about the climate. If gun crime, homophobia and fundamentalist christianity is what interests you then the States is where you want.
Canada has the `Full, come back later' signs up at the moment.
How about the Falklands, India, even Scotland?
Some more detail please James.
I said the construction is generaly north, picking is anywhere as I also said I picked in the south. sorry if im wrong, im just going by what I was told...
Hit and run from james?
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/10/census-canada-2011-where-are-canadas-immigrants-coming-from/
that's probably why they've put the brakes on. I wish we would.
Oddly - to a western mind - it is ALWAYS the parents that have made this decision. They basically present their 18 year olds with a 6 year plan that is going to happen to their life
Recently one of them told me something about it being easier to start work, em/immigrate and then go back to studying... But i wasnt paying too much attention
Good luck.
Ive lived in Spain and Denmark before, although they were both when I was young(19-21) and were all about getting people into SPanish bars and picking peas on a farm in Denmark ... Did a bit of travel and then jumped ship to OZ...
That waas 8 yrs ago.. at that time you were allowed a 1 yr working holiday visa... which was easy to get jsut say youve got a few grand and wont work at the same place for more than 3 months.. once here you can bascially do what you want, in my experience...
In comparison to London its an easy life, less people, more laid back life personally I LOVE Melbourne, its got everything you want and theres hardly anyone here... 3 hrs and your on the great ocean road ... Set up my own business and now work from home in a market place that is not really that compettve... would I have been able to do that in London, probably not...
I do miss Charlton and my mates and CURRYS (they havnt got a scooby over here) but overall its the best decision Ive made....
Australia will probably be my base for the rest of my life...
And nothing beats the buzz of uncertainty as the wheels hit the tarmac in somewhere completely new, with a fistful of cash in your hand...
I would say to anyone that if you get the chance - do it!
Kuwait was a hard place to live mainly as it was a dry country. Its not the fact you don't have alcohol more you don't have anywhere to really meet people. Coffee shops are not the same.
Of course the pros are you don't pay tax, petrol is less than 10p a litre, Cars are cheap and housing tends to be very good.
Cons - well if you love pork that can be a killer, traffic, Ramadan, oppressive heat and the locals driving habits.
Singapore is a great place to live but seriously expensive, cars are 3 or 4 times the price in the UK, housing is tiny and expensive, Alcohol is horrendous at 6gbp a bottle of beer and a litre of Vodka in the supermarket would set you back 40gbp!!
However I love the place, it is so safe for the family, food is superb, shopping is easy and relatively low tax.
The one thing I struggle with is time, every day is the same here, 32c sunny and a bit of rain maybe. the days and weeks just merge into one, before you know it you have done another six months.
For young families and career minded people, come and give it a go...cant think of a better place to bring up your kids if you have a solid skill behind you, but for me at 52...its a different ball park Im afraid. Oh, yes the beaches are lovely....but you get a bit blase when you see them everyday...lol
Building trades down in Melbourne and in some cases here in Sydney are now getting $50 to $60 an hour....but compare that with the GC and $30 is a very good rate, and its still as expensive to rent/buy there as anywhere else. The forecast is for the economy here to show a downturn, but it wont amount to much. The mining boom hasnt bust and shows no signs of doing so, and whilst Interest rates here are so much higher than the UK and US I dont really see a decrease in the value of the dollar in the short to medium term either.
On of my specialties is mining insurance and some of the projections for the next 20yrs are massive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/8979101/Boom-time-for-workers-at-the-mining-giants.html
But in one industry, at least, the candidate is still king – mining. The sector's boom on the back of rising commodity prices has led to a massive shortage of staff, so that barely a trading update goes by without the issue being raised.
While it represents a major headache for employers trying to ramp up production or develop new projects, it signals a bonanza for workers in the sector who are enjoying soaring salaries as companies compete to attract them.
Over the past five years, the average employee at the "big four" mining giants of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Xstrata has received an additional 211pc of his or her salary, according to Deutsche Bank analysts: "In other words, the average employee has received just over two years' additional pay on top of what would have been received had salaries remained flat on 2005 levels."
Nowhere is the phenomenon more evident than in Australia, where the scarcity of workers to feed Asian demand for commodities has not been helped by tight restrictions on immigration. Even truck drivers are now getting paid salaries of A$150,000 to A$180,000 (£96,000 to £116,000) and they can be trained up from scratch. The more skilled professionals whose experience commands a premium – mining engineers, resource geologists – are in even tighter supply.
Living in the Outback's dusty mining towns isn't easy: a report by Rio Tinto on life in Western Australia's Pilbara region, one of the world's main sources of iron ore, identified one group of workers as the "two-year" people, those who can "generally survive one Pilbara summer and two winters before leaving the region".
But the exorbitant wages on offer have in recent years seen more than 100,000 Australians flock to the mining towns. Many work as so-called FIFOs, who "Fly In and Fly Out" for their jobs, often on 7-7-7 rosters of seven days on, seven nights on, before flying home for seven days off.
Sherona Selkirk, a 31-year-old "FIFO" truck driver at one mine in Western Australia, applied for a job earlier this year without any previous experience. After a fortnight of training, she started 12-hour shifts in a truck carrying iron ore.
"It has its good points such as the money but it's tough going and they make you work hard for it,'' she told a local newspaper. "I wouldn't say it's physically hard work – the cabin is air-conditioned and I can listen to music – but the hours are very long and there's a lot of responsibility as I'm in charge of a A$4m vehicle."
Like many such workers, Ms Selkirk said she did not intend to stay in the job forever. But the lure is strong, with a recent survey by Australia's Commonwealth Bank showing that the blue-collar workforce in some parts of Western Australia enjoys wages 62pc higher than the national average.
Such is the scale of the discrepancy between mining wages and other jobs that it is warping the local economies of these outposts. In the muggy coastal mining town of Karratha, where the rents just lag those on the Sydney waterfront, the housing shortage has forced some non-mining workers to live in cars and shipping containers.
"Their boom has been unbelievable, it's accelerated dramatically in 18 months," said Nick Eastwood, senior consultant at UK mining recruitment agency Hunter Personnel. "Salaries have increased dramatically over there, which means many, many expats are returning to Australia – leaving a void in other places, be it Africa, Kazakhstan or elsewhere."
The labour shortage is by no means confined to Australia. Mines all around the world are fighting hard to attract the same pool of skilled industry veterans with international experience.
Australia was just among the first to face the problem, as it saw investment return following the global crisis, say industry watchers.
According to Ernst & Young's mining team, the skills shortage is now the industry's second-biggest business risk after resource nationalism – moves by governments to enjoy a greater slice of mining profits – and it is a problem which is not going away.
"We believe that it [the shortage] may become a bigger risk in both developed and developing countries as we move into 2012," E&Y warned in a recent report.
In Canada, officials now project a labour shortfall of up to 90,000 workers by 2017. In Peru, the industry estimates it will need to add 30,000 positions this decade.
Part of the issue is the cyclical nature of the industry. Few clamoured to join when it was in downturn mode. Some 15 to 20 years ago, many of the majors stopped their graduate trainee schemes, which saw universities closing their mining engineering schools in turn.
So what can companies do to keep costs low? As they dig away in ever more remote regions, as existing mines come to the end of their lives, there is little sign that recruitment will get any easier or cheaper.
There is a lot of talk about the industry's move towards automation. For example, Rio Tinto's iron ore mines in the Pilbara will soon boast 150 driverless trucks, the largest fleet in the world, controlled by workers in its Perth operations centre more than 1,500km away.
But automation is not so much about cutting employee numbers as improving safety and efficiency. While you might not have someone physically in the driving seat, you still need someone to wiggle a joystick – although staff should be easier to retain in a cosmopolitan city than in the back of beyond.
Many believe that, instead of relying on higher salaries to keep themselves staffed, mining companies will increasingly have to invest in in-house training schemes and work with universities to offer industry-specific courses.
Companies are also lobbying governments to relax rules on letting in foreign workers, and adapting working routines to attract staff from outside their traditional demographic, such as promoting job-share roles to bring in more working mothers. But this will all take time.
Meanwhile, the industry frets that the staff shortages will delay projects and keep pushing up costs.
Bad news for the bosses but for the staff it's nice work –although tough – if you can get it.
So if you are earning GBP40K in the UK you need around 90-100K Aussie to have a similar standard of living.
Last time I was back I was deeply struck by how small & congested the South East, I have become used to a 100-200 mile drive as being a local jaunt over here!!!
I have no standard of livin here in the uk, so hostels and $15 PH is great for me :-)