Moving abroad - if so where and how ?????
12 April 2006, 02:04 PM
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Moving abroad - if so where and how ?????
With all these threads about the state of the UK has got us thinking -
so if you have moved abroad where did you go
how did you do it reserach wise etc houses, jobs
what has been your experiences ?????
I know most of the time its a case of the grass isn't alwyas greener and other countries have their problems but i honestly beleive this country is getting worse and worse as times go by ?????????
Cheers - sorry for so many questions just curious
so if you have moved abroad where did you go
how did you do it reserach wise etc houses, jobs
what has been your experiences ?????
I know most of the time its a case of the grass isn't alwyas greener and other countries have their problems but i honestly beleive this country is getting worse and worse as times go by ?????????
Cheers - sorry for so many questions just curious
12 April 2006, 02:24 PM
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Moved to Germany 6 years ago as I got offered a job there.
Company relocated me and did everything, all I had to do was drive to Germany, even then I was refunded the cost.
in the next 3 or 4 months I will be leaving Germany and moving to New Zealand again with a job.
Company relocated me and did everything, all I had to do was drive to Germany, even then I was refunded the cost.
in the next 3 or 4 months I will be leaving Germany and moving to New Zealand again with a job.
12 April 2006, 02:26 PM
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Moved to Germany 8 years ago as I got offered a job there.
Company relocated me and did everything, all I had to do was drive to Germany, even then I was refunded the cost.
in the next 3 or 4 months I won't be leaving Germany or moving to New Zealand again with a job.
Company relocated me and did everything, all I had to do was drive to Germany, even then I was refunded the cost.
in the next 3 or 4 months I won't be leaving Germany or moving to New Zealand again with a job.
12 April 2006, 02:28 PM
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I'd love to bugger off to the U.S.A
150k would get you a huge 5 bed house with a pool (depending on state) the only thing that is off putting is the holiday allowance with your average company - pretty p*** poor!
I'm pretty sure someone on here lives in Texas
150k would get you a huge 5 bed house with a pool (depending on state) the only thing that is off putting is the holiday allowance with your average company - pretty p*** poor!
I'm pretty sure someone on here lives in Texas
12 April 2006, 02:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Karl 227
Move to France 
Now what are France's policies like on immigrants
Trending Topics
12 April 2006, 02:47 PM
#12
Originally Posted by JimmyRB5PRO
I know most of the time its a case of the grass isn't alwyas greener and other countries have their problems but i honestly beleive this country is getting worse and worse as times go by ?????????
But you have to sacrifice family and friends. You will probably lose spending power to a certain degree, and depending on your stage in life and your interests you will lose a lot of the things here you take forgranted. (hard to explain but things like Europe/US for a weekend, shows, cultural events etc)
But overwhelmingly the English people I have met are a lot happier once migrated.
12 April 2006, 03:12 PM
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There are pluses and minuses wherever you go. The grass is not always greener, patches may be greener, patches may be yellow and patches may be bare earth!
First and foremost there is the question of getting work and being able to get the correct visa. From that standpoint, moving to another EU country would be, by far, the easiest. Also it's cheap/easy to come back to the UK to visit family and friends.
If you work for a company which has offices abroad, that is probably the best route as you should get your moving expenses covered and get a work permit without a problem. I've heard it's very difficult to get into the US right now unless it's an inter-company transfer.
Bear in mind that wherever you go you really need to learn the language and adjust to the local culture. All those thread about immigrants to the UK not learning English and fitting in......... well apply all that to you moving to another country. From that standpoint "anglo saxon" countries such as US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are the easies to adjust to.
There's great opportunities in China right now, but Chinese is probably amongst the hardest languages in the world to learn to speak, read and write.
What climate do you think you can cope with? Can get pretty damn hot & cold in other countries.
Also what are comparitive pay & taxes like? What does it cost for heath cover?
Regards Japan (not that it would be the first on most people's lists) pay is reasonable, taxes are lower than the UK, but if you work for a Japanese company then they expect you to sell you soul to the company and work stupid hours. Health cover provided covers 70% of treatment costs, so you have to find 30% yourself which can prove expensive if you need to go to hospital.
You have to pay the Japanese version of National Insurance, but you have no pension entitlement unless you have paid in for 20 years. You need to think about pension issues. Are you emmigrating or planning on returning to the UK in a few years?
And Japan has typhoons, earthquakes and summer temperatures in the high 30's with high humidity, which is not comfortable. Language is difficult to learn, especially given the written language which uses several thousand Chinese characters alonside the Japanese phonetic katakana and hiragana alphabets.
On the plus sides here, petrol is cheaper (though you pay road tolls for expressways), Japanese cars are cheaper, you don't get your insurance loaded for mods, you have high octane fuel, the country is very safe (I don't even have an alarm on my car) and crime rates in general are very low. And it's a beautiful country with lots of mountains and tons of skiing in the winter. And Japanese chicks are pretty tasty too
First and foremost there is the question of getting work and being able to get the correct visa. From that standpoint, moving to another EU country would be, by far, the easiest. Also it's cheap/easy to come back to the UK to visit family and friends.
If you work for a company which has offices abroad, that is probably the best route as you should get your moving expenses covered and get a work permit without a problem. I've heard it's very difficult to get into the US right now unless it's an inter-company transfer.
Bear in mind that wherever you go you really need to learn the language and adjust to the local culture. All those thread about immigrants to the UK not learning English and fitting in......... well apply all that to you moving to another country. From that standpoint "anglo saxon" countries such as US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are the easies to adjust to.
There's great opportunities in China right now, but Chinese is probably amongst the hardest languages in the world to learn to speak, read and write.
What climate do you think you can cope with? Can get pretty damn hot & cold in other countries.
Also what are comparitive pay & taxes like? What does it cost for heath cover?
Regards Japan (not that it would be the first on most people's lists) pay is reasonable, taxes are lower than the UK, but if you work for a Japanese company then they expect you to sell you soul to the company and work stupid hours. Health cover provided covers 70% of treatment costs, so you have to find 30% yourself which can prove expensive if you need to go to hospital.
You have to pay the Japanese version of National Insurance, but you have no pension entitlement unless you have paid in for 20 years. You need to think about pension issues. Are you emmigrating or planning on returning to the UK in a few years?
And Japan has typhoons, earthquakes and summer temperatures in the high 30's with high humidity, which is not comfortable. Language is difficult to learn, especially given the written language which uses several thousand Chinese characters alonside the Japanese phonetic katakana and hiragana alphabets.
On the plus sides here, petrol is cheaper (though you pay road tolls for expressways), Japanese cars are cheaper, you don't get your insurance loaded for mods, you have high octane fuel, the country is very safe (I don't even have an alarm on my car) and crime rates in general are very low. And it's a beautiful country with lots of mountains and tons of skiing in the winter. And Japanese chicks are pretty tasty too
12 April 2006, 03:56 PM
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I should really have a standard reply setup for this type of thread 
Due to the company I work for opening a new office in Missassauga (35 mins north west of down town Toronto) I was asked if I'd like to relocate to the new office. It wasn't a hard decision, partly as the offer was that if I did not like it for any reason, I could still come back to the UK and retain my old job. A real win win situation.
Three years later and I'm still here and I love it. As an intra-company transferee, I can't really comment on the visa application system as I turned up at Pearson Airport, went to the immigration counter presented various bits of documentation, paid CAD$150, then 20 mins later had a nice new work permit.
Housing. Again, the company helped out. There were initially four of us that came out, and so the company rented two apartments close to the office. This allowed us somewhere to live whilst we found our own places. I found my current apartment within a few weeks and a month later I moved in. As I'd been living at home with my parents in the UK, I didn't need to ship anything, so I'd just came over with a few large bags of clothes, cds, and other odds and ends.
How did I find my place? Well, as the boss was relocating, and he needed a house, plus we were the first batch of arrivals, another four would appear in June, the boss got friendly with a real estate agent who helped us all out. You could do it yourself very easily using www.mls.ca.
Jobs, well, again, I was lucky as I had a job to go to in the first place, and that's a big difference and probably why I had no problems with a work permit. If you don't have a job to go to, you need to qualify using their points system and find a willing employer, etc...
Experiences? Well, I love it here. Summer is warmer and winter is colder than the UK, but you get used to it. My apartment is on the edge of Lake Ontario, it's about a 15 min drive from downtown Toronto. A very nice area if I do say so myself The office used to be a 30 min drive away, but now I work from home, so it's a 2 min slouch from the bedroom to the "office" in the morning
It is/was not all roses though. Some bad points:
Credit History
Regardless of what you may be told, Canadian banks won't recognize your UK credit history. This is a major pain in a country that bases a lot on credit. It's not quite as bad as the US, but it's pretty close. Unless you're coming in with a shed load of money or find a very nice bank manager, you'll be looking at getting a secure credit card. My bank wanted a $1000 security deposit, hmm, yeah, right, I have a grand lying around for that!
Oh you will get the normal junk mail from CC companies asking you to sign up, you'll also get store card offers, but they will usually be Visa/Mastercard and they'll turn you down as you have no credit history, so they are of no use at all.
My recommendation would be to go to capitalone.ca and sign up for their secure credit card. The security deposit is either $75 or $200 which is much better than $1000. Then you can start to build some credit history.
I was initially told before I came over that using experian or one of the other credit report agencies would help things, but it did not.
Driving Licenses
Today things are a lot better. As of mid 2004 you can exchange your UK driving license for a full Canadian driving license. You still need an eye test and to take a written theory test, but that's it. I believe they backdate the start date of your Canadian license to when you first obtained your UK license as well, so that could help with insurance.
We were told when we came over we could do this (told by the British High Commission I might add) it was a flat lie. We had to enter the graduated licensing system they have here, which is a good idea, if you're 17 and starting out, but not if you have been driving for many years.
Here's an example. You get a G2 license, this forbids you from driving on any 400 series highway, or some of the other major routes, including the QEW and Gardiner Expressway. You cannot drive between the hours of 10pm and 6am. You *must* have a fully licensed (full G license holder) with you in the car at all times when you are driving.
Hmm, let's see the flaws: I'm 32 (was 29 at the time), so I like to go out, but I can't as I'd need to have someone in the car with me at all times. I'm new to the city so don't know anyone other than my co-workers, who are all in the same position as me. Tricky! If I do go out, I'll have to be back before 10pm, or not drive until 6am the following morning. Again, a real pain (well, it's a nice excuse to stay overnight at a cute girl's place, so maybe it's not such a bad thing ;-) ). The main problem is this. I cannot drive anywhere, even to and from work without a fully qualified driver, plus I cannot take the quick and most direct route as that would be on the Gardiner Expressway and the 427 North, two roads I'm forbidden to drive on with my license type.
What did I do? I drove illegally. I didn't like doing it, but there weren't any viable options. I never did get pulled over. The boss said that I should just flash my UK driving license if I did get stopped. Hmm, nice idea, however, explaining how I managed to insure a Canadian car on a UK driving license could be interesting as you can't do it!
Anyway, rant over, it's all nice and simple now, thankfully, and I've got a full Canadian license. phew.
Car Insurance
Ah the bane of our existence. You thought car insurance in the UK was bad! Again, some of this has changed as you can do a direct exchange, and your driving history start date is set as when you obtained your uk license, and so, in theory, you could give that info to an insurance company as when you got your license. Depends on how honest you want to be, and with insurance companies, you don't want to give them any reason to be able to sleaze their way out of compensation when you claim.
Firstly, there are a limited number of insurance companies out here. Online purchasing of quotes is more or less unheard of, though the kanetix is pretty good, but the "purchase" option, I think, simply gets a rep to call you, so it's not the same as going to the tesco's website and purchasing a full policy online
You will be raped as you're a new driver with no canadian driving history or prior insurance. Again, we were told that all insurance companies will respect your full UK driving history, and will accept a letter of no claims from your current insurer. This is crap. Some companies *might* give you a bit of a discount if you show your no claims letter, but most just ignore it. So even if you say that you got your license in say, Feb 1992, which is what your driving record here will show when you have exchanged your license, you'll still have no history, so that won't help much at all.
Due to budget constraints, plus the lack of credit history and not having a stupid amount as a downpayment for a car due to lack of credit history (this might have changed in three years though, so worth checking) I had to purchase a 1992 VW Passat. It was a rather nice car actually. Somewhat different from the 1994 WRX Wagon I'd left back in the UK though.
So, I shop around for quotes. Most places would not touch me, but ING would. So, I get a quote, they wanted $3000 odd dollars a year for insurance. At today's exchange rate that worked out to about 1300 quid. This was said to be a very good rate! What could I do, I paid it. I was not happy, my wagon had cost me 800 quid a year to insure, it was an import, and modified, so I'd expected that, but on a 92 passat, never a sports car, I was getting silly rates. OK, so no driving history and such like, I can somewhat expect it, but it's not like I'm 17 and don't know how to drive.
The kicker was when a year later the renewal was $5000! I asked them why, as I'd got a full driving license and made no claims. They said it was because I was on some special scheme, blah, blah, blah. In other words they thought I was an easy touch. Thankfully we'd found another broker who was quite happy to quote us sensible premiums. My friend has since found an even better broker too.
Banking
I've mentioned credit history above, but Banking is interesting here as well. Firstly, you pay a monthly fee to have a bank account. I'm not talking about some extra special bank account, I'm talking about your regular checking
account. You also have to pay for a checkbook as well, and you're charged when a check is processed. These points are very odd to a person who has held UK bank accounts for over 30 years and has never had to pay fees for these services.
Even if you don't use the bank account, you'll still be charged!
There are a few banks that are getting the idea that people don't like being charged for this type of thing, so that's good, but the normal banks still do it.
There are also a limited number of banks, unlike the US and the UK where you have hundreds of different banks I think there are four main banks over here.
Online banking is great, but international transfers cannot be done via online banking, or telephone banking, you need to go to the branch to do it. You can't seem to easily transfer from one bank account to another bank account with another bank, something I think is easy in the UK, I could be wrong.
Well I think I've ranted enough and covered a few things. Feel free to email/PM me for more info. I do like it here, bar a few somewhat annoying points, some of which you can do something about, even if it takes time, others, well, welcome to Canada!
Due to the company I work for opening a new office in Missassauga (35 mins north west of down town Toronto) I was asked if I'd like to relocate to the new office. It wasn't a hard decision, partly as the offer was that if I did not like it for any reason, I could still come back to the UK and retain my old job. A real win win situation.
Three years later and I'm still here and I love it. As an intra-company transferee, I can't really comment on the visa application system as I turned up at Pearson Airport, went to the immigration counter presented various bits of documentation, paid CAD$150, then 20 mins later had a nice new work permit.
Housing. Again, the company helped out. There were initially four of us that came out, and so the company rented two apartments close to the office. This allowed us somewhere to live whilst we found our own places. I found my current apartment within a few weeks and a month later I moved in. As I'd been living at home with my parents in the UK, I didn't need to ship anything, so I'd just came over with a few large bags of clothes, cds, and other odds and ends.
How did I find my place? Well, as the boss was relocating, and he needed a house, plus we were the first batch of arrivals, another four would appear in June, the boss got friendly with a real estate agent who helped us all out. You could do it yourself very easily using www.mls.ca.
Jobs, well, again, I was lucky as I had a job to go to in the first place, and that's a big difference and probably why I had no problems with a work permit. If you don't have a job to go to, you need to qualify using their points system and find a willing employer, etc...
Experiences? Well, I love it here. Summer is warmer and winter is colder than the UK, but you get used to it. My apartment is on the edge of Lake Ontario, it's about a 15 min drive from downtown Toronto. A very nice area if I do say so myself
The office used to be a 30 min drive away, but now I work from home, so it's a 2 min slouch from the bedroom to the "office" in the morning It is/was not all roses though. Some bad points:
Credit History
Regardless of what you may be told, Canadian banks won't recognize your UK credit history. This is a major pain in a country that bases a lot on credit. It's not quite as bad as the US, but it's pretty close. Unless you're coming in with a shed load of money or find a very nice bank manager, you'll be looking at getting a secure credit card. My bank wanted a $1000 security deposit, hmm, yeah, right, I have a grand lying around for that!
Oh you will get the normal junk mail from CC companies asking you to sign up, you'll also get store card offers, but they will usually be Visa/Mastercard and they'll turn you down as you have no credit history, so they are of no use at all.
My recommendation would be to go to capitalone.ca and sign up for their secure credit card. The security deposit is either $75 or $200 which is much better than $1000. Then you can start to build some credit history.
I was initially told before I came over that using experian or one of the other credit report agencies would help things, but it did not.
Driving Licenses
Today things are a lot better. As of mid 2004 you can exchange your UK driving license for a full Canadian driving license. You still need an eye test and to take a written theory test, but that's it. I believe they backdate the start date of your Canadian license to when you first obtained your UK license as well, so that could help with insurance.
We were told when we came over we could do this (told by the British High Commission I might add) it was a flat lie. We had to enter the graduated licensing system they have here, which is a good idea, if you're 17 and starting out, but not if you have been driving for many years.
Here's an example. You get a G2 license, this forbids you from driving on any 400 series highway, or some of the other major routes, including the QEW and Gardiner Expressway. You cannot drive between the hours of 10pm and 6am. You *must* have a fully licensed (full G license holder) with you in the car at all times when you are driving.
Hmm, let's see the flaws: I'm 32 (was 29 at the time), so I like to go out, but I can't as I'd need to have someone in the car with me at all times. I'm new to the city so don't know anyone other than my co-workers, who are all in the same position as me. Tricky! If I do go out, I'll have to be back before 10pm, or not drive until 6am the following morning. Again, a real pain (well, it's a nice excuse to stay overnight at a cute girl's place, so maybe it's not such a bad thing ;-) ). The main problem is this. I cannot drive anywhere, even to and from work without a fully qualified driver, plus I cannot take the quick and most direct route as that would be on the Gardiner Expressway and the 427 North, two roads I'm forbidden to drive on with my license type.
What did I do? I drove illegally. I didn't like doing it, but there weren't any viable options. I never did get pulled over. The boss said that I should just flash my UK driving license if I did get stopped. Hmm, nice idea, however, explaining how I managed to insure a Canadian car on a UK driving license could be interesting as you can't do it!
Anyway, rant over, it's all nice and simple now, thankfully, and I've got a full Canadian license. phew.
Car Insurance
Ah the bane of our existence. You thought car insurance in the UK was bad! Again, some of this has changed as you can do a direct exchange, and your driving history start date is set as when you obtained your uk license, and so, in theory, you could give that info to an insurance company as when you got your license. Depends on how honest you want to be, and with insurance companies, you don't want to give them any reason to be able to sleaze their way out of compensation when you claim.
Firstly, there are a limited number of insurance companies out here. Online purchasing of quotes is more or less unheard of, though the kanetix is pretty good, but the "purchase" option, I think, simply gets a rep to call you, so it's not the same as going to the tesco's website and purchasing a full policy online
You will be raped as you're a new driver with no canadian driving history or prior insurance. Again, we were told that all insurance companies will respect your full UK driving history, and will accept a letter of no claims from your current insurer. This is crap. Some companies *might* give you a bit of a discount if you show your no claims letter, but most just ignore it. So even if you say that you got your license in say, Feb 1992, which is what your driving record here will show when you have exchanged your license, you'll still have no history, so that won't help much at all.
Due to budget constraints, plus the lack of credit history and not having a stupid amount as a downpayment for a car due to lack of credit history (this might have changed in three years though, so worth checking) I had to purchase a 1992 VW Passat. It was a rather nice car actually. Somewhat different from the 1994 WRX Wagon I'd left back in the UK though.
So, I shop around for quotes. Most places would not touch me, but ING would. So, I get a quote, they wanted $3000 odd dollars a year for insurance. At today's exchange rate that worked out to about 1300 quid. This was said to be a very good rate! What could I do, I paid it. I was not happy, my wagon had cost me 800 quid a year to insure, it was an import, and modified, so I'd expected that, but on a 92 passat, never a sports car, I was getting silly rates. OK, so no driving history and such like, I can somewhat expect it, but it's not like I'm 17 and don't know how to drive.
The kicker was when a year later the renewal was $5000! I asked them why, as I'd got a full driving license and made no claims. They said it was because I was on some special scheme, blah, blah, blah. In other words they thought I was an easy touch. Thankfully we'd found another broker who was quite happy to quote us sensible premiums. My friend has since found an even better broker too.
Banking
I've mentioned credit history above, but Banking is interesting here as well. Firstly, you pay a monthly fee to have a bank account. I'm not talking about some extra special bank account, I'm talking about your regular checking
account. You also have to pay for a checkbook as well, and you're charged when a check is processed. These points are very odd to a person who has held UK bank accounts for over 30 years and has never had to pay fees for these services.Even if you don't use the bank account, you'll still be charged!
There are a few banks that are getting the idea that people don't like being charged for this type of thing, so that's good, but the normal banks still do it.
There are also a limited number of banks, unlike the US and the UK where you have hundreds of different banks I think there are four main banks over here.
Online banking is great, but international transfers cannot be done via online banking, or telephone banking, you need to go to the branch to do it. You can't seem to easily transfer from one bank account to another bank account with another bank, something I think is easy in the UK, I could be wrong.
Well I think I've ranted enough and covered a few things. Feel free to email/PM me for more info. I do like it here, bar a few somewhat annoying points, some of which you can do something about, even if it takes time, others, well, welcome to Canada!
12 April 2006, 04:12 PM
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Originally Posted by davegtt
LMFAO, baring Markus's post what has this thread turned into
12 April 2006, 04:43 PM
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Japan again...
Banking
Incredibly bureacratic. Banks close at 3pm. If you use an ATM outside usual banking hours (10am -> 3pm) you have to pay to withdraw money from your own bank's ATMs! Also you are not guaranteed to be able to get to your own bank's ATMs 24 hours a day as often they are inside bank buildings and close at 10pm -> midnight. Most big banks do not do online banking, though some new entrants are now starting to offer such a service. Of course you have to understand Japanese to use their service.
My bank would not give me a credit card, even though I had been paying my salary into my account for 6 months. I ended up going to Citibank.
You need a hanko (a stamp/seal) to do things like open bank accounts etc. You have to register your hanko with your local city office to certify it's authentic (and pay a fee).
Car ownership
You need to prove you have a space to park your car before you buy. You need written permission from the owner of the apartment you rent (and the parking spot you rent), you need to draw a scale diagram showing your parking spot, you give this to the police with a fee and some days later they will come out to take a look at your parking place. Once you have permission, then you can get insurance. You basically have to start again from scratch, though thankfully the cost is not as high as in Markus' case. Then you find out that the sticker price for the car you want to buy, when all the purchase taxes, license plates and compulsory car insurance have been added means that the price is about 1500 quid more than you thought! So you have no choice, you shell out and then you are told which day you can take delivery. Nope, you can't take delivery straight away because it's not a "lucky day". You get fed up banging your head against a brick wall and acquiesce. From decision to purchase to taking delivery, 2 weeks !
Luckily regards driving licence, Japan & the UK have a reciprocal agreement. You get a translation of your UK licence, take an eye test and get your picture taken and hey presto, you have your licence. Many nationals need to take Japanese driving tests, including all Americans.
Convenience stores
One great thing about Japan, a huge network of 24 hour convenience stores. Food, drink, toiletries, ATMs (at higher charge though), stationery, even underwear/socks/t-shirts in case of emergencies.
Banking
Incredibly bureacratic. Banks close at 3pm. If you use an ATM outside usual banking hours (10am -> 3pm) you have to pay to withdraw money from your own bank's ATMs! Also you are not guaranteed to be able to get to your own bank's ATMs 24 hours a day as often they are inside bank buildings and close at 10pm -> midnight. Most big banks do not do online banking, though some new entrants are now starting to offer such a service. Of course you have to understand Japanese to use their service.
My bank would not give me a credit card, even though I had been paying my salary into my account for 6 months. I ended up going to Citibank.
You need a hanko (a stamp/seal) to do things like open bank accounts etc. You have to register your hanko with your local city office to certify it's authentic (and pay a fee).
Car ownership
You need to prove you have a space to park your car before you buy. You need written permission from the owner of the apartment you rent (and the parking spot you rent), you need to draw a scale diagram showing your parking spot, you give this to the police with a fee and some days later they will come out to take a look at your parking place. Once you have permission, then you can get insurance. You basically have to start again from scratch, though thankfully the cost is not as high as in Markus' case. Then you find out that the sticker price for the car you want to buy, when all the purchase taxes, license plates and compulsory car insurance have been added means that the price is about 1500 quid more than you thought! So you have no choice, you shell out and then you are told which day you can take delivery. Nope, you can't take delivery straight away because it's not a "lucky day". You get fed up banging your head against a brick wall and acquiesce. From decision to purchase to taking delivery, 2 weeks !
Luckily regards driving licence, Japan & the UK have a reciprocal agreement. You get a translation of your UK licence, take an eye test and get your picture taken and hey presto, you have your licence. Many nationals need to take Japanese driving tests, including all Americans.
Convenience stores
One great thing about Japan, a huge network of 24 hour convenience stores. Food, drink, toiletries, ATMs (at higher charge though), stationery, even underwear/socks/t-shirts in case of emergencies.
12 April 2006, 05:47 PM
#28
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Originally Posted by Brit_in_Japan
even underwear/socks/t-shirts in case of emergencies.
Oh, and a few things about Toronto: No it does not snow all year round. I've never seen Polar Bears, Brown/Black Bears, or Moose running around mad as lorries in downtown TO (unless it was early chucking out time at the Zoo
).
12 April 2006, 06:04 PM
#29
Im retiring to the phillipines in 12 years time hopefully to live in my 5 bedroomed new villa with maidand swimming pool for 40K !!
living costs for the poor are a tenner a week so ive budgetted for £100 per week
Drink 23p a bottlle **** 30 p a packet and eat as much as you can bufferts for 60p !!!
taxis anyware for £1-2 and the average wage per week is £10 so you can imagine what you can get for your money
buying a property is only if you are married to a fillipino and bank intterest rates vary up to 18% although banks regullay go bust so its saver investing at 5% in the UK
life will be so good one day
and the women are
mmm
living costs for the poor are a tenner a week so ive budgetted for £100 per week
Drink 23p a bottlle **** 30 p a packet and eat as much as you can bufferts for 60p !!!
taxis anyware for £1-2 and the average wage per week is £10 so you can imagine what you can get for your money
buying a property is only if you are married to a fillipino and bank intterest rates vary up to 18% although banks regullay go bust so its saver investing at 5% in the UK
life will be so good one day
and the women are
mmm
12 April 2006, 06:14 PM
#30
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Very interesting to read this stuff, if anyone else has experiences of living abroad, please feel free to add!!
Im 26 and plan to have left the UK for good before Im 30. I really dont like the way its going - and IMO its probably too late to save it. Currently Im just working hard and trying to save loads of money.
Probably over a third of my friends are either planning on getting out the UK, or have done so already! If you are capable of getting a good job and earning good money, this isnt the country to be in anymore!
Im 26 and plan to have left the UK for good before Im 30. I really dont like the way its going - and IMO its probably too late to save it. Currently Im just working hard and trying to save loads of money.
Probably over a third of my friends are either planning on getting out the UK, or have done so already! If you are capable of getting a good job and earning good money, this isnt the country to be in anymore!