Congratulations! Made it to the UK from the US yesterday myself. Let’s hope our new lives will be great!
Would you mind sharing how you moved to the UK and what the requirements / difficulties were? Thank you!
I am happy to share, but I am afraid it won’t help many others. I am lucky because of who my father was.
https://www.gov.uk/apply-citizenship-british-parent/born-before-1983
We welcome you!!!
Thank you!
Welcome! Weather’s a bit shite at the moment and monsoon season (February to May) is just around the corner, but it’ll brighten up for 2 weeks in June and for the last 2 weeks of August.
Drop me a DM if you’re heading up Manchester way and I’d happily give you a tour and you’re more than welcome to come over to my family’s place for a Sunday Roast.
You should have seen what it was like when we left the U.S. in terms of weather. This is far better. Thanks!
Wondering why I hadn’t see you posting much recently. May and September are the two best weather months on the south of the UK.
You’d better have a tv license or your going to jail
Or learn the old “eat the TV before the inspector arrives”.
I guess I’m showing my age, but hopefully enough old folks get it.
“Don’t worry, lads. I always poo before I get up.”
Only if you have a TV. Theoretically, you need one to stream the BBC/ITV and such on a computer/phone, but the onus is not on you to prove that you didn’t. You’ll get letters asking to confirm that you don’t need a licence, and then threats of an inspection to make sure you don’t have a TV that’s on and being used to watch TV, though I’m not sure if they follow through with the latter. (In the analogue days, they had detector vans that either could detect TV tuners tuned to channels or were a bluff to get people to pay up, though they seem to have given up on that.)
Ah interesting, here in Switzerland the rule was if you have a capable device that’s enough. They didn’t have to prove usage.
And now that they also stream online, any computer and smartphone counts. So they recently changed the rules to just charge every household.
The detector vans were real, and they weren’t a bluff, but the tech they used wasn’t some high tech signal detector. The secret is that they just pointed a parabolic microphone (possibly a laser microphone at a later time) at your window and listened for the audio. The operator would flip through TV channels in his van and try to match the audio from your house to the audio from a currently broadcasting TV station. That was sufficient to determine if someone was watching broadcast tv or not.
They don’t follow up on the threats - or at least not regularly. (9 years and counting here - even if I somehow get caught and fined the max amount I’ve still saved money)
Hopefully OP can live with trading “needing a TV license for a TV no one uses anymore” and “actual healthcare” for a “failing democracy turned Christian nationalist oligarchy”!
Oi sunny boy u got a loisense for that loisense?!
Let me see your license request license
Oi sonny Jim this isn’t a loisense request this is a loisense request request it’s a different department Oi hope you’ve got all yer paperwerk in order jimbo
I’ve heard this joke many times, never understood it.
Does UK need licenses for everything or something?
They have a license you’re supposed to have to watch the BBC basically a TV tax for people who actually watch it. License enforcement has always been off their rockers. Back in the day they said they had a TV detector van that they would drive around and detect if you were watching a TV without a license. They send you threatening letters if you don’t have a license. They’ll even come to your door and try to make you prove you don’t have a tv. You can just tell them to leave.
And a stabbing license
Edit: Y’all motherfuckers need to get educated https://youtu.be/g1HQ3Eyu2Jw
Stabbing? American here, never heard of it…, it’s like shooting but no range, lower body count, and not something a physically inferior person can do to anyone equally effectively, right?
Good to have you here comrade.
Glad to be here!
Welcome to the uk did you pick up your complementary kettle on the way in? Sorry the rail network is such a mess but what can you do. Glad to have you bud o7
Honestly, other than the fact that we were really confused about where to go due to poor signage (and missed our train twice and got lost when we were supposed to change trains), we enjoyed the train ride. We did pay for first class on for the Avanti West portion, but it was worth every penny. (Or am I supposed to say worth every p now?) And since we came from the land of very few trains that all suck, the actual train rides were great. And people were super helpful with our heavy luggage.
It’s still known as pennies here. It makes more sense for a pence to be called a penny than it does for a cent to be called a penny.
Glad to hear you arrived safe and well. Also, for your information :
Galleons: The primary unit of currency, typically made of gold. One Galleon is worth 17 Sickles.
Sickles: The second unit of currency, made of silver. One Sickle is worth 29 Knuts.
Knuts: The smallest unit of currency, made of bronze.
P.S. : Next time for the train you should get to Platform 9 and 3/4You mean they won’t accept cowrie shells or cocoa beans? What kind of a place is this?!
😋 Today i learned about :
Cowrie shells
(from GPT) … were widely used as a form of money in many parts of the world, particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Their durability and portability made them a practical medium of exchange.
Such culture ! I’m convinced you will find a great job and i hope the best for your kid as well. Take care 😌Thanks!
That sounds a bit transphobic
It sounds like an RPG.
Damn, that’s great to hear. Welcome in Europe comrade.
Doing the same in a couple of months! Whangherei
beers on me mate!
Good luck man!
As someone that left the US a decade and a half ago, here’s some things to go ahead and start getting answers to so you don’t have to figure it out when the time comes:
- Figure out how to get a bank account (hopefully you’ve already worked this one out before arriving)
- Where to buy toiletries and medicine. Specifically deodorant. The UK is mostly spray deodorant where as I’m a stick deodorant person. At one point I was just bringing 4 sticks of deodorant back with me after every trip home. I’m not sure which way NZ leans but it was definitely something I hadn’t considered before
- Where to buy socks and underwear you’re comfortable with
- Figure out how the health service/insurance works. Go ahead and book dentist and doctors appointments 6 months in advance if possible so you get in the habit.
- Figure out how paying taxes works
- If you’re a US citizen, remember you’re still required to file taxes with the IRS every year.
- Learn how to make friends. I still haven’t figured this one out. Let me know if you do.
Isn’t New Zealand currently going through their own slide to the right? The Māori only represent like ~17% of the population over there. New Zealand just elected a conservative coalition.
Seems like you’re just moving from one place you (presumably) don’t agree with to a new place that also just signed up for shit you probably aren’t going to agree with.
I mean it looks beautiful but if your travel is for political reasons I fear you’re just heading to a different slice of the same.
Have a safe flight.
a different slice of the same.
Hilarious that I, in NZ, can’t see this!
I thought it was your national anthem?
No that would be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kmSgCPpXw
Same…
Maori only represent 17% of the population however because of our founding document they have a permanent place in government and will always be heavily involved in governance.
Our country elected the national party which is right after two terms of our left wing government. Its expected since our elections always bounce between left and right. The current right wing government is stupid but nothing compared to trump. The controversy comes mostly from their coalition partners bills Act who are led by a complete moron.
Labour is going to win next election because national has fucked up almost every area they campaigned on.
when the US goes right, NZ goes left
The NZ election was unfortunately a year too early.
It’s nowhere near as bad here in NZ
The world’s billionaires are heading back to NZ
BusinessDesk talked to real-estate agent Caleb Paterson, who works with a number of offshore agents and high net-worth individuals mainly out of the US and UK markets. He said interest had “definitely perked up” since National said it would repeal its ban on foreign buyers.
Foreign buyers, with the exception of Singaporean and Australian citizens, have been barred from owning NZ properties since 2018.
Assuming it makes up the next government, National’s plan would open the door to all foreign buyers to purchase NZ homes valued at more than $2 million, with a 15 per cent foreign buyer stamp surcharge clipped on, from the 2025 fiscal year.
Enjoy paradise while it lasts.
These billionaires aren’t going to pillage NZ.
It won’t be like last time
Oh absolutely not. It’s a much smaller population and being an island it’s got a figurative and literal buffer to the rest of the world.
I have always loved New Zealand. It’s like the cooler uncle of Australia minus all the spiders the size of my head.
And it’s just a beautiful place. Makes me wanna go frolicking in the mountains with an elf, dwarf and old white guy lol
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I never said the politics were the same as my country.
And many countries are currently in the middle of or already have elected right wing leaders. Not really propaganda when it’s verifiably a fact.
Just because an island has a smaller population doesn’t make it any more or less predisposed to egalitarianism, nor do large populations have to be predisposed to authoritarianism.
…I never said either of those things?
“It’s a much smaller population” literally your second sentence, or do you not comprehend your own writing? Why is their smaller population relevant?
I should have been more clear. I never said the words “egalitarianism” or “authoritarianism”.
That would be those “either” of the things I was referring to me having not said.
Smaller population simply means each person’s vote counts for more. Easier for small groups to have an effect when they only need to reach a smaller number of potential voters.
EDIT: spelling
Smaller population simply means each person’s vote counts for more.
What about the smaller tribes who live under strict patriarchies that can’t vote? Plenty examples of those in history and today (cults for instance). There are also examples of massive cities with egalitarian urban planning with no centralized temples or food storage. So again I ask, what makes you think population size has anything to do with their politics?
Re NZ politics - Yes and no.
The currect situation is due to some very specific circumstances thst emerged in the chaos of the last 10 years.
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The centre left Labour Party & PM were hugely popular during covid & won an unheard of majority (normally our electoral system requires a coalition). A swing back to the centre-right was inevitable.
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The centre right National party, usually our most popular party, had their leadership retire & endured years of in-fighting that made them unelectable
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Because of this, they’ve bled a lot of voters to the “libertarian” & “centrist” parties (ACT & NZ First)
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Also because of this, the current National Party leader is rather inexperienced & has given up some things in the coalition agreements that are more extreme than the public likes leading to record breaking protests.
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The “centrist” party leader (Winston Peters) is a whole thing that I can’t neatly summarize, but imagine a political party designed to cater exclusively to the oldest & dumbest 5% of voters run by that Monorail guy from The Simpsons
In summary, less a slide right & more a correction back to status quo + a few unpopular chaos agents
For anyone is interested in NZ politics, I’ve been enjoying BHN
I would characterize it differently.
- Labour was hugely popular, I agree, but the popularity left when Jacinda Ardern left. She was a extremely charismatic figure; and Labour was at the end of two terms (6 years); with the halo effect gone a lot of the poor decisions they made were highlighted (a lot of the times unfairly).
- National along with Act and NZ First, pushed hard on the government debt rhetoric during the last election. Blaming Labour for inflation, which it had little control over, but it didn’t matter the populous were hurting from low wage growth and high inflation. They were looking for a change.
- The center right bloc won with a decent majority, though not specular.
- National fucked up hard! during the negotiations with Act and NZ First. Luxon in a rush to form a government; gave away so much it is frankly baffling.
- In NZ politics:
- The Green Party has stated they will never work with National or Act.
- Labour have said they will not work with Act.
- This forces Act to only be able to side with National, from Nationals point of view Act should be a minor player on the right of National.
- NZ First are a bit of a wild card, Winston Peters the leader is an old cunning and in my opinion untrustworthy ally.
- Te Pati Maori (TPM) will work with both parties, which ever gives them the most of what they want.
- National could have gone with TPM or NZF along with Act to form a government, they choose to go with NZF and between Winston Peters and David Seymour; got played like a fiddle. In one crazy political power play, Luxon had a meeting setup to negotiate with Winston and David, they didn’t bother showing up and made him come to them in another city.
I could go on but, the politics here is just as complex as anywhere else. Overall we have shifted right, further than we traditionally have but not too much further.
The current government has made some truly stupid calls, and has scored a lot of own goals. Their popularity is very low this early in a parliamentary term. They have been in for a little more than a year; if things keep going the way they are, they may be the first one term government we have had in a long time. Our term of 3 years, is short, so most governments get more than one term to show what they are made of.
As a kiwi that left for the US, things are getting a bit strange in New Zealand. So many folks are becoming openly racist vs. what I see in the states. Granted, I don’t live in the south, but still… I was shocked when I went back to visit at the rhetoric being used.
NZ has always had a racist underbelly, they have become more emboldened since trump 1… with trump 2 I fear it will get worse.
You make some good points, my comment was originally 3x longer at first but I cut it down in the interest of not rehashing 185 years of history
I was thinking of going into far more detail…but the comment was already getting long.
Afaik the shorter version of this is: real estate crooks from the Queenstown area took over politics.
Well that’s… Good to hear? Certainly sounds better than whatever shit show the US currently has kicking off.
Fascism. The shit show in the US is called fascism. Help.
No one is coming to help. We are on our own.
That’s the mindset of how Yugoslav Partisans kicked out the Nazis and beat the Ustaca. But that wasn’t a piece of cake.
I’m a bit more optimistic. This is just the pendulum swinging back as it always does. Don’t worry it’ll probably swing the other way in 4 years most likely.
The “centrist” party leader (Winston Peters) is a whole thing that I can’t neatly summarize, but imagine a political party designed to cater exclusively to the oldest & dumbest 5% of voters run by that Monorail guy from The Simpsons
I cant neatly summarise him either, but I have disliked him immensely since he verbally abused myself and some other students at Waikato back in '93
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Conservative parties have always been part of liberal democracies. They could sometimes govern responsibly.
But the Republican party under Trump is something completely different. Trump, Musk and friends are there for state capture. You cannot compare them to New Zealand’s conservatives
Much of the world is sliding to the right. And much of it is not sliding nearly as far or as fast as the USA.
I’m not gonna pretend I know the exact details of how much of a slide and to what severity each countries election is going. I was nearly saying that it seems global we are in the middle of a shift right is all.
America’s always cranking things up to 11, including fascism.
And then exporting our culture, so, strap in everybody
Rest of world: “America sucks! Bunch of fascists!”
votes for far-right candidates in their countries
Basically the global political situation back in the '30s.
But with the added existential threat of climate change!
My tinfoil hat is telling me they’re related.
It’s almost like capitalism isn’t the best way to organize civilization.
Marx has been proven right about that, at least.
Nau mai ki Aotearoa!
just remember to keep voting, don’t let what happened to Venezuela happen to you guys
My brother in Christ, the UK is already addicted to Middle East and Russian money, they don’t need drug trafficking money like Venezuela to ruin their political system.
Take me with you
good luck on your journey.
Hope your life goes well in New Zealand. Leaving on the cusp of a new hope is an odd choice.
I wish there was a way to down-vote this comment so much that your global internet privileges are revoked. Describe any one of Trump’s executive orders that instills hope in anyone?
The only good thing may be the lift on psychedelics that RFK announced, but that’s not worth the rest of the shit the Trump administration wants to do
I get you’re trolling but it’s not funny anymore. It was barely funny in 2016 but with looming environmental collapse and the rise of a fascism. Just read the room, please.
NZ? You a billionaire?
Jealous. Congratulations
Nau mai ki Aotearoa e hoa. (Welcome to New Zealand, friend)
left the UK 13yrs ago and never regretted it
skills shortage list is how I got in, and being under 40 (at the time) gave me points in their system.
anyway just going to drop this here if YouTube is allowed
Congrats on having a backbone. Hope you enjoy the vast experiences in your new life!
Having a backbone would be to stick around and fight this shit; not flee.
People have been fighting for like 8 years now.
Its over, sometimes it best to just walk away.
That’s a bit harsh. Like my old man always said, “you gotta know when to hold 'em; know when to fold 'em; know when to walk away and know when to run.”
It’s not. Granted, I 100% respect and understand someone’s decision to leave the USA at this time, but there’s very little that’s courageous about putting yourself into a better situation. It’s the next option up from rolling over and dying.
Yeah, walking away from every person you’ve ever known and every support system you’ve ever had in hopes of a better future with no real promises to fall back on if it doesn’t work out isn’t courageous at all.
I’d call courageous moving into a red state… and then everything you said above still applies. I moved from a red state to a blue state in October. Everything you said applies to me, but I can assure you that my decision was not one that was “courageous.” It’s self preservation.
Self preservation can take courage.
You’re being nitpicky for no reason. Something can be courageous without being the most courageous thing anyone has ever done.
Your dad was Don Schlitz? Or was he Kenny Rogers?
That song is about a gambler’s desire for selfish self-preservation, not “having a backbone”
Neither is easy.
