Why did you decide to settle in the U.S. versus your spouse/fiance(e)'s native country?

[kate&javi 26]

It's too dangerous in Honduras plus my Spanish sucks! My fiancé is a fluent English speaker. I live here in Honduras with him now, but I'm super dependent on him - can't go anywhere alone. (due to the two previous reasons: danger and non-fluency in Spanish).

[adiiann 163]

Health and career satisfaction what made us decided to settle here in US than in my country, though I have good things ahead of me at that time. But most importantly is the health of my husband, he doesn't have serious illness but he have health issues that staying in a very hot and humid tropical country like Philippines will aggravate his condition plus the fact that it will shorten the years of his life expectancy (for example instead of 85+, it will become 75+).

As for career satisfaction, not much engineering research and development going on in the Philippines which will made his career stagnant and I know eventually this will makes him sad even though being with me is such a happiness for him too.

I love my man, I know as for my self that I will not have problem transitioning my life here in US. I can change career pretty easy and go back to school. I don't have health issues.

Most importantly, living here in US will give my kids a better future though it isn't assurance but there's a huge opportunity.

[EmigratingSwede 16]

I was the only one with a job in Sweden. I had a well paid job with great benefits. If only my wife could have been happy in Sweden it would have been a wonderful place to raise kids since we would have gotten to share 480 days of paid parental leave. My company would even have given me as much as 90% pay for the first 6 months off.

My wife hasn't been able to make use of her Masters degree (Biology) in Sweden though so we have made the move to the U.S. We won't have as easy a time when we have kids, but on the other hand we will be paying a lot less taxes (about a third of what we used to pay). The same money that we spent on a one bedroom apartment in Sweden will get us a 4 bed, three bath house in Orlando. That is another nice thing about moving.

[Xanax 349]

We decided I would move to the US because it is much cheaper here for property than Australia, Daniel does not have a degree but has a decent paying job which he would not be able to get in Australia and I can study or work in the US as I have a degree but would like to study again.

I miss my family and I have only been here on holiday now for 2 weeks, but we plan to do annual trips back home and that makes me a little happier.

[Mr. Borkström 63]

I was the only one with a job in Sweden. I had a well paid job with great benefits. If only my wife could have been happy in Sweden it would have been a wonderful place to raise kids since we would have gotten to share 480 days of paid parental leave. My company would even have given me as much as 90% pay for the first 6 months off.

My wife hasn't been able to make use of her Masters degree (Biology) in Sweden though so we have made the move to the U.S. We won't have as easy a time when we have kids, but on the other hand we will be paying a lot less taxes (about a third of what we used to pay). The same money that we spent on a one bedroom apartment in Sweden will get us a 4 bed, three bath house in Orlando. That is another nice thing about moving.

What does your wife think of the language? The language is one of the reasons I will be moving to Pittsburgh, as opposed to my wife moving here. She's been here twice and she seems to really like it. And the funny thing is she would probably be able to get by a lot on her English, to some degree at least. (She would eventually have to learn Swedish of course.) I on the other hand have always been good at English.

Aside from the language barrier, my wife doesn't like snow and cold very much, so that pretty much rules out Sweden.

Another reason why I'll be the one moving to the US is because I have no kids, but my wife has two kids from a previous relationship. They are 17 and 11 years old. My wife and I have talked about maybe moving to Sweden when the kids are older and out of college n'at. We shall see. When that day comes I may not want to move back, who knows what will happen ten+ years down the line?

Edited April 25, 2012 by Mr. Borkström

[EmigratingSwede 16]

What does your wife think of the language? ...

My wife has completed the Swedish for Immigrants classes. She understands Swedish fairly well and can read and write it pretty well too. She just hasn't had enough practice speaking it. Everyone switches to English as soon as they realize she is American. She is not a fan of the weather either.

My wife is unlikely to get a good job in Sweden and since i work in IT I should be able to find something similar to do in the U.S. I have already done some consulting for a Fortune 100 company in the U.S. With a bit of luck I should be able to find a steady job pretty fast.

[Jilianne 1]

I considered moving to Finland but the language barrier is such a big problem and Finnish is so hard to learn. Also, it's really difficult for anyone to find work there right now, let alone someone who doesn't speak Finnish. I did live there for a year but I hated being dependent on my fiance for everything. I like my independence, so I think I'd go crazy if I had to live there for long It would be nice living near so many countries and being able to travel easily, but overall I think there are a lot more opportunities for us here.

[Duders 0]

My husband already finished college and had a good job. I was just working at a gas station, no college and no idea what I'd do. Mind you, I live in a boomtown and he could make a good amount of money and no doubt him being from the US wouldn't be an issue. But he is a lot closer to his family than I am to mine, and I know they would all hound me if I took him away. And of course, he would never get used to the cold winters here.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Duders

[TnJ 131]

The Philippines is full of poverty. However, there are many many citizens living comfortably there and comparably to American standards. For me, it is a mix of things. I noticed some on here representing the Philippines don't even mention the fact that a foreigner cannot take a Filipino job! That is the case with me. If I could even transfer my skills over to the Philippines, I would probably not even make the equivalent of $20 in one day of work. That is irrelevant though because foreigners really can't take everyday jobs from Filipinos. An alternative would be owning a business. With that said, a foreigner can only own part of the business. I think it is around 40% and the remaining 60% would be under the Filipino native's name. I could certainly trust my fiancee to this, but starting a business doesn't just happen. Investing is another option open to foreigners. Aside from the economic stand point, the Philippines really does have some beautiful places that are quite ideal to my way of living. However, there are conflicts going on there that have created several separatist groups over time. It is a mix of politics and religion. Some of these groups are known for kidnap for ransoms and even the murder of foreigners and natives alike. However, there are places that are far and are reasonably safe from those groups. Still, my idea of far, and the idea of far for my fiancee are two different things. I have lived in the US since birth. I am quite used to the idea of being able to travel hundreds of miles in any direction in my country without the threat of some type of continuing terrorism. This is not the case there. With all this said, I still think I might enjoy living in certain areas, and I do love the culture, people, and terrain. Unless I come up with some successful business ideas, the opportunity would just have to be on hold until I retire and have some kind of pension.

[Darnell 8,478]

Just curious, what factors contributed toward yours and your partner's decision to settle permanently in the U.S.?

Was it work reasons, family, financial, safety, or stricter immigration rules?

For us it was a combo of my student loans, my specific work skills that may not transfer to India, and my mother bursting into tears at the thought of me potentially moving to India.

We may very well decide to move back to India in the distant future but for now the U.S. works best for our current needs.

My wife has higher financial gain possible when living in the USA, and so do I. It makes more sense, financially, for the two of us to be in the USA.

[Darkmoonfaerie 19]

For us it was a number of reasons. He'd always talked about living abroad for a time and New England was one of the possibilities so I didn't have to sell him on the area. He's a red sox fan and has been for years He's got two brothers (one who's married with a child) and I'm an only child. We wanted both of our parents to have grandchildren close to them. Both our moms and dads have some health problems so we didn't want to leave my family with nobody to help them and know flying is a big hassle for them. His brothers both live less than 10 min from his parents so they can help out. But the determining factor for me was that he can get a teaching license here pretty easily. There are very few chiropractors in England, they're not paid well, struggle for patients because they're not covered by NHS. I've been in private practice here in the states for yrs and am establishing myself. If I moved, I'd have to go back to school for a few yrs, then get re-licensed and start from scratch.

[Lilyena 10]

We would have been happy anywhere but I just happened to be the one with the "####" situation and beeing able to move. Now we 're adjusting my status and my husband just got a job offer he accepted in Japan...So here we go, immigration hassle in the US only to start over in two years when we will come back from Japan. yay!

. Im pretty happy to go live in Japan though. My husband would also love to live in France and so do I, but it will depend on the job situations we have when the job in Japan is over...

Anyways I guess deciding to settle in the other persons country or not really depend on what life style the country can provide you. especially when it comes to having kids, you might wanna live in the place with the nicest outcomes. (which in my case is prolly more France ).

[PumpkinPie 1]

For us, the biggest reason we want to move back to America is lack of opportunity in Ireland. It seems like no matter how hard you work here, you will not be promoted like you would be in America, also the pay is much less. It was much better back home even during the recession. I know this because of my previous jobs there and from what I see my friends achieving with less work than I am doing here! Quite frustrating to say the least!

Second for me personally, is the weather. I really miss the sun! My husband and I really feel depressed hearing about how all my friends and family are already having BBQ's and wearing tank tops and flip flops while we're stuck here wearing big coats, and having an electric blanket on 24/7! I remember in late October back home, you could walk barefoot on the sidewalk and still feel the warmth from the day! On the plus side, the Winters in Ireland are mild, compared to the snow storms Utah has!

Third is we live in a very small studio, for the price we pay here for rent, we could get a really nice home where I'm from.

Ireland a great country when it comes to socializing and the travel opportunities are endless! We love Ireland and Europe greatly, but our lives will be much better in the long term if we move to the US.

[Ron4 22]

4) I don't like being stared at and it happens a lot when you look pretty different from the billion people around you. Freckles are not a skin disease by the way.

The 2 of you mention several times not fitting in/ clothes fitting/ people staring etc. and you can't seem to get used to it.

We chose to come here because of income ie it would be harder for me to make a living there. However I suffer with feelings of guilt for asking her to leave everything behind and come to a place where people may stare or see her as different. Of course she never brings this up but I know it has to be scary for her.

How did you get over asking your spouse to tolerate what you cannot?

Edited May 8, 2012 by Ron4

[Daryll and Janine 4]

I have at least 5 years left on my contract with the military no leaving the country for this guy

Running a business in the Philippines could be in my distant future though