Question for the Europeans: why choose the US over Europe?

[NicolaRobert 7]

I think someone else gave a similar answer to what mine will be - but it's basically because my husband is American. We had the choice of the US or the UK and frankly we can live a better life in the US. And it was far, far easier to get me here than get him to the UK.

That's not to say that everything is perfect in the US, because obviously there are a lot of things that are way more expensive (healthcare) and difficult. But where we are in Michigan we can buy a house 10 times the size of what we would be able to afford in the UK. And because of that we can eventually fulfill our dream of having our own dog boarding kennels and training center. We currently live in a house the same size as my sister has in Cambridgeshire, but she has a nearly £300k mortgage, and we have ours completely paid off (and it only cost about £50k in the first place). So moving up to that bigger house in the country we're dreaming of will be so much easier.

I'm a writer so I can work anywhere in the world, so that's not an issue at least, but even if I did decide to look for part time work to supplement that income here there are plenty of jobs around.

Plus, on a totally silly, but honest note, I quite enjoy being 'exotic' as some of my hubby's friends call me. My accent endears me to pretty much everyone I meet (or seems to have done so far). As a Brit I have never been 'exotic' in my life, I'm finding it quite fun!

[Spmaria 11]

I'm from Moscow which is considered to be a part of Europe ))) I do miss Russia. Yeah, mostly my family and friends but also free day cares, healthcare (which might suck sometimes but our local clinic was one of the best (and free). I went to good schools, lived in a good neighborhood, went to a very good university for free, had a job, hobbies... And I do love USA. If something will change and we have to go to Moscow - I won't feel too bad moving back and my life is 't bad in USA. Me and my husband (Ukrainian-born but raised in USA) actually wanted to try to live in Europe (Sweden) or Australia for a couple of years if my husband can secure a job. I don't mind. I don't care ))) As long as my family is healthy and we can afford some basics. I can be happy anywhere.

I have lots of friends who married Americans/Canadians and then moved someplace else (Austria, Germany, Norway, South Korea). No complains so far...

[millefleur 5,046]

I think someone else gave a similar answer to what mine will be - but it's basically because my husband is American. We had the choice of the US or the UK and frankly we can live a better life in the US. And it was far, far easier to get me here than get him to the UK.

Plus, on a totally silly, but honest note, I quite enjoy being 'exotic' as some of my hubby's friends call me. My accent endears me to pretty much everyone I meet (or seems to have done so far). As a Brit I have never been 'exotic' in my life, I'm finding it quite fun!

Can't speak for everyone but Americans tend to like foreign accents. I'm an English teacher and my students are always super concerned about not speaking perfectly but I always tell them: relax! Most people will find you exotic and different.

[Maria2012 16]

You can have a thick accent and get a great job in the US

Edited September 18, 2016 by Maria2012

[SunflowerSweet 1,321]

Yeah, the minimum income requirement that the United Kingdom has for family based immigration is what prevent me from moving there. I would love to live in Europe someday, and we had discussions of my husband moving to Germany and me joining him there as the spousal visa requirements are extremely reasonable, but that is all up in the air post-Brexit.

[Amy_and_Victor 159]

Can't speak for everyone but Americans tend to like foreign accents. I'm an English teacher and my students are always super concerned about not speaking perfectly but I always tell them: relax! Most people will find you exotic and different.

Here. I can't count how many times random people here in the US commented that they love my Russian accent. One time my co-worker asked me to repeat a few words for her because she thought they sound sooo cool with my accent. And my wife sometimes jokes that my Russian accent is half of the reason she wanted to date me in the first place. Once in a while someone can't understand certain word or phrase right away when I say it (mostly happens with older people who're not used to speak with foreigners a lot) but I can't remember when random people would be offensive about it or would try to make me feel bad for having an accent except very few a-holes who I know that it's just them, not me. May be it helps that we live in pretty multicultural city and it can be different in some rural areas but still...

- Victor from Russia

[SweetJuls 69]

Hello,

I am from Italy, my husband is the US citizen. Everyone would ask me why the heck we decided to move in the USA and not in Italy...well, for certain circumstances it is easier for me to be in the US that for him being in Italy.

But essentially, it is really hard to create a future in Italy.

I am making more money, with almost no career in my life, than my sister does working for the same company for almost 10 years.

I miss my family and food so much! And sometimes I miss walking everywhere, for grocery shopping, for just taking a walk downtown.

Lifestyle is definitely different, but at the moment we have a hope of a future in the USA rather than in Italy.

But, never say never!

[charmander 692]

Maybe it's different now but I came to US for grad school in 2003. By then it was much easier to get scholarships from a US institution than an EU university. Some of my friends went to Germany, some to Switzerland but most came to US merely because of the scholarship opportunities.

[Dutchster 1,107]

Even though I miss my affordable, good coverage healthcare, I do feel so much more at home in the States. I always felt like an outsider in the Netherlands and when I finally flew to the US to visit my then-boyfriend (now fiance, of course ), when I set foot on American grounds, I got that overwhelming at-home feeling. I always felt like my 'original home' wasn't a place where I'd want to stay in, so I always wanted to migrate to the States to be honest. I've also never seen my husband-to-be as my grand entry but now moving to the States was a nice side thing and being with the love of my life was 100% what I wanted. And I feel like I can contribute so much more to the working society than back 'home'.

Edited September 19, 2016 by stephadams

[Rmmm12345 15]

I came here from Scotland. Where everything was much nicer, free education, free healthcare, organic food, good public transport etc. I would've liked my husband to come to the U.K. But he loves it here and I'm easy oasy so I decided to graduate and move over just for him and also a change of scenery really. Nothing wrong with home and it'll always be home - who knows maybe we'll decide to move back if a certain presidential candidate gets elected haha!!!

[MordecaiRigby 29]

My husband (the USC) lived with me in Poland for over 3.5 years before we decided to move back to USA.

He really didn't want to move. He loved how friendly and welcoming people are in Poland. He loved how everyone was always trying to talk to him, even if they spoke very little English, and how easy it was to make friends.

For us the decision to move back to the States came down to 2 things:

1) My husband really doesn't have a flair for languages. He never learned the language and realistically speaking, he wouldn't learn it in the future, at least not fluently enough to secure a "serious job" in Poland. He had a full-time job teaching kindergarten kids English in Warsaw, which was a surprisingly well-paying job (compared to other Polish jobs), but that's not something he would want to do for the rest of his life (or even for a foreseeable future). If he wanted to have a serious job (in his field), he would have to either learn the language or move to an English-speaking country.

2) He still has many years of student loans to pay off in USA. We were paying them off while living in Poland, but you can only imagine how ridiculous it was, taking into consideration how much weaker Polish zloty is compared to US dollar and what the currency exchange fees and transfer fees are. Even with Transferwise it just didn't make any sense.

So for us moving to the States was a very calculated decision, which meant that my husband could secure a job in his field (he's a social worker) and start paying off his student loans. He's already talking about moving abroad when the loans get paid off.

While living in Poland he got used to certain perks, such as affordable healthcare (he's never seen as many doctors in such a short time as he did when we lived in Poland: he went to fix his teeth, checked his heart murmurs with a bunch of different heart exams, went to eye doctor to finally get new prescription for his glasses, went to ear-and-throat doctors after singing too many songs to his little students... etc). Now we're back in the States, he has an employee-provided insurance, but it sucks! Deductible is $5k so he's afraid to go to any doctor again.

Getting pregnant here in the States is a very scary prospect for me. Poland is much more family-friendly (guaranteed long and paid maternity leave, possible paternity leave, tax-payer funded pre-schools, affordable healthcare, etc.) I'm 31 and if we want kids we should probably start having them now or soon, but in US with the high healthcare cost, high childcare cost and extremely short (if any) maternity leave I just don't know how we would get through it. For the time being it's a bit too overwhelming.

I guess a lot depends on the outcome of the November elections. I can't imagine what this country could turn into if Trump wins. We're lucky that the closest friends that we have here in Minnesota are also very forward-thinking, progressive and well-traveled people, but it's really hard for me to deal with the bigotry of some of husband's family members.

I'm still hoping that this move will be a positive thing in our lives. We only moved back here this year (my husband in January and I in July). Time will tell.

[Kim Mertens 54]

Although both my husband and I have good connections with our family, him and his family are two peas in a pod.The relationship I have with my family doesn`t even come close!

On top of that, house prices as well as renting in Belgium are way way higher than in our state here in the USA. So is gas, most food, etc.

The biggest one though is that he has a good diploma, and a nice job in the USA. He barely speaks Dutch, whereas my English is just fine. I can find a job here that is just as good as my job back home, but he would have to settle for an entry level job if even if we would live in Belgium. I blend in just fine, most people around here are surprised when I tell them I`m not American since I do not have an accent, whereas he would have a really hard time adjusting in a non-English speaking country.

On top of that, my own family only speaks very little English, and since family is so important to both of us, I fear he would be so lonely and isolated on days I have work and he doesn`t, and not being able to communicate properly, even with my family, would make him miserable down the line.

[Jawaree 717]

Let's face reality...the whole world's a mess!

So ! I am enjoying this convo among the EU folkjs...funny I;d ask the same question

myself before that OP did....Your answer says a lot ...LOL

[GrayL 47]

I think a lot with depend on the individual's situation.

I'm going to add Australia to the EU, because mother England, the queen, Australia.. I digress.

For me, moving to the US made more sense than bringing my now wife to Australia, most being personal reasons.

I wanted a new life, before I met my now wife I was wanting out of Perth, Australia, and had made plans to move over east, I was offered a transfer with my company at the time and was going through the motions until my fateful holiday to the US, where I met my now wife - the rest is history.

For us, America held a better future for us, I love the pace of life here in Montana (I'm not a big city person), and although I had no prospect of work at the time, I held high hopes for a better future for us here in America.

Almost 5 years later, happily married, with a 2 and a half month old son, with a fantastic job, and an amazing home we purchased last year. I can honestly say we made the right decision.

If only America had a good healthcare system like Australia, but all things considered if I could go back I would have made the same decisions.

[simonschus 58]

For us, it was that my wife's income would be severely reduced working in the UK (she works in healthcare and gets paid over double in the US compared to the UK). The problem with that isn't that we want to have a nice big income figure in our bank balance, it isn't about the accumulation of wealth. Instead, the problem is that she also has college loans from US Universities and we want to pay them off hence why we chose the US over the UK.

I earn less in the US than I do in the UK. However, the cost of tuition for the UK Universities is cheaper so the reduced personal income isn't as problematic for repaying my tuition as it would have been for her.