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As a uk citizen which countries can you move to easily??
Justmadeit
Posts: 7,512 Forum Member
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I was wondering which countries, either british colonies or rare islands in the pacific 'owned' by the uk or other places can you move to easily without having to have a fortune in the bank?? To live there, which countries?
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Yep and Hong Kong. Only former territories you can get in to easily.
All depends on what you need ...
Forget the atlantic and carribean. I was born in a UK overseas territory and even I still have no rights to abode there. Emigration there is usually difficult.
Same to be said for pacific islands to be honest. You have almost no chance unless you are on a work visa, even then, it's tricky.
A year or so ago, I drew up a list of countries to migrate to in the future, as I would like to live, work and explore abroad.
I split up the data in to numerous different categories and dwindled a list of over 255 countries down to a couple of dozen. Some is filled with my own personal preferences, which can be ignored if desired (such as areas too cold), then others with visa and legal restrictions. Browsed a lot of embassy details, spoken to people in the countries, etc etc.
PM me if you want the data, it's in a spreadsheet so i'd need to mail it to you. It contains information such as:
- visa's being difficult or non existant
- micronations with little clean water
- poor healthcare for operations/accidents
- extreme corruption or unsafe
- slave labour/no jobs
- too expensive real estate/living expenses
I need to build on the data though and get more native opinions and data. Much of it, is very basic data of a couple of lines.
It would be easier if you told me exactly what you want and dont want from a place and your statistics including gender and race. Are you more liberal in tastes or do you want a wholesome old style community to raise a family in the future? What would you classify yourself as now? A skinhead, a hipster, etc etc?
For example, I dont like the cold, I dont want to live in a war torn area or be at the heart of persecution because of my colour or gender. I dont want to live in a landlocked country as I want to be in a coastal area.
You need to address basic desires and whittle the options down first.
there's only 196 countries in the whole world?
You are thinking of sovereign states, completely different! They are typically undisputed countries. As of may 2011, there are 195 soveriegn states and 257 countries. This number fluctuates all the time and is far from stable though.
Bit of info and link to wiki on sovereign states or what you are defining as a country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states
You can scroll down to china for instance and see that macau and hong kong are under the sovereign state of china. But hong kong and china have borders of their own and completely different immigration regulations.
The same can be said for the UK. The UK is the soveriegn state under which many overseas territories are included. For example a citizen of the UK has no rights to reside in bermuda. They have their own immigration controls and their own economy and legislation. Just because they are a colony, does not mean they are part of our country.
Wiki sites the amount of countries in the world as 225 which is the most reliable list to use when we talk about migration as they are defining a country by independant countries and inhabited dependant countries (to a census degree).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population
When we talk about true countries, loosely speaking, we could be talking in a political sense about an entity that has not delagated any of its powers to another state. But when we discuss migration, we have to realise a country is defined as a geopolitical entity, so the number of geopolitical entities is ever rising.
The southern part of sudan this summer was supposed to be voting for independence, splitting the up in to two politically different countries and making south sudan #258 if that goes ahead. The Netherlands Antilles dissolved in october 2010 leaving Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Martin separate entities.
The UN 2011 World Population Data Sheet will have 244 or 245 geopolitical entities (countries) listed, but they do not acknowledge countries with an insignificant (under 150,000 people) as a separate entity, hence Curacao in the above example is close to making the list, but them or any of the Nethrland Antilles hasnt made the list.
The list below is all the countries in the world, defined as their own political or bordered enitity, which is what we need to have as a list when considering social mobility. Some are uninhabited or separate states from other countries such as nuclear testing or military sites.
1 Afghanistan
2 Akrotiri
3 Albania
4 Algeria
5 American Samoa
6 Andorra
7 Angola
8 Anguilla
9 Antarctica
10 Antigua and Barbuda
11 Argentina
12 Armenia
13 Aruba
14 Ashmore and Cartier Islands
15 Australia
16 Austria
17 Azerbaijan
18 Bahamas, The
19 Bahrain
20 Bangladesh
21 Barbados
22 Bassas da India
23 Belarus
24 Belgium
25 Belize
26 Benin
27 Bermuda
28 Bhutan
29 Bolivia
30 Bosnia and Herzegovina
31 Botswana
32 Bouvet Island
33 Brazil
34 British Indian Ocean Territory
35 British Virgin Islands
36 Brunei
37 Bulgaria
38 Burkina Faso
39 Burma
40 Burundi
41 Cambodia
42 Cameroon
43 Canada
44 Cape Verde
45 Cayman Islands
46 Central African Republic
47 Chad
48 Chile
49 China
50 Christmas Island
51 Clipperton Island
52 Cocos (Keeling) Islands
53 Colombia
54 Comoros
55 Congo, Democratic Republic of the
56 Congo, Republic of the
57 Cook Islands
58 Coral Sea Islands
59 Costa Rica
60 Cote d’Ivoire
61 Croatia
62 Cuba
63 Cyprus
64 Czech Republic
65 Denmark
66 Dhekelia
67 Djibouti
68 Dominica
69 Dominican Republic
70 Ecuador
71 Egypt
72 El Salvador
73 Equatorial Guinea
74 Eritrea
75 Estonia
76 Ethiopia
77 Europa Island
78 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
79 Faroe Islands
80 Fiji
81 Finland
82 France
83 French Guiana
84 French Polynesia
85 French Southern and Antarctic Lands
86 Gabon
87 Gambia, The
88 Gaza Strip
89 Georgia
90 Germany
91 Ghana
92 Gibraltar
93 Glorioso Islands
94 Greece
95 Greenland
96 Grenada
97 Guadeloupe
98 Guam
99 Guatemala
100 Guernsey
101 Guinea
102 Guinea-Bissau
103 Guyana
104 Haiti
105 Heard Island and McDonald Islands
106 Holy See (Vatican City)
107 Honduras
108 Hong Kong
109 Hungary
110 Iceland
111 India
112 Indonesia
113 Iran
114 Iraq
115 Ireland
116 Isle of Man
117 Israel
118 Italy
119 Jamaica
120 Jan Mayen
121 Japan
122 Jersey
123 Jordan
124 Juan de Nova Island
125 Kazakhstan
126 Kenya
127 Kiribati
128 Korea, North
129 Korea, South
130 Kuwait
131 Kyrgyzstan
132 Laos
133 Latvia
134 Lebanon
135 Lesotho
136 Liberia
137 Libya
138 Liechtenstein
139 Lithuania
140 Luxembourg
141 Macau
142 Macedonia
143 Madagascar
144 Malawi
145 Malaysia
146 Maldives
147 Mali
148 Malta
149 Marshall Islands
150 Martinique
151 Mauritania
152 Mauritius
153 Mayotte
154 Mexico
155 Micronesia, Federated States of
156 Moldova
157 Monaco
158 Mongolia
159 Montserrat
160 Morocco
161 Mozambique
162 Namibia
163 Nauru
164 Navassa Island
165 Nepal
166 Netherlands
167 Netherlands Antilles
168 New Caledonia
169 New Zealand
170 Nicaragua
171 Niger
172 Nigeria
173 Niue
174 Norfolk Island
175 Northern Mariana Islands
176 Norway
177 Oman
178 Pakistan
179 Palau
180 Panama
181 Papua New Guinea
182 Paracel Islands
183 Paraguay
184 Peru
185 Philippines
186 Pitcairn Islands
187 Poland
188 Portugal
189 Puerto Rico
190 Qatar
191 Reunion
192 Romania
193 Russia
194 Rwanda
195 Saint Helena
196 Saint Kitts and Nevis
197 Saint Lucia
198 Saint Pierre and Miquelon
199 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
200 Samoa
201 San Marino
202 Sao Tome and Principe
203 Saudi Arabia
204 Senegal
205 Serbia and Montenegro
206 Seychelles
207 Sierra Leone
208 Singapore
209 Slovakia
210 Slovenia
211 Solomon Islands
212 Somalia
213 South Africa
214 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
215 Spain
216 Spratly Islands
217 Sri Lanka
218 Sudan
219 Suriname
220 Svalbard
221 Swaziland
222 Sweden
223 Switzerland
224 Syria
225 Taiwan
226 Tajikistan
227 Tanzania
228 Thailand
229 Timor-Leste
230 Togo
231 Tokelau
232 Tonga
233 Trinidad and Tobago
234 Tromelin Island
235 Tunisia
236 Turkey
237 Turkmenistan
238 Turks and Caicos Islands
239 Tuvalu
240 Uganda
241 Ukraine
242 United Arab Emirates
243 United Kingdom
244 United States
245 Uruguay
246 Uzbekistan
247 Vanuatu
248 Venezuela
249 Vietnam
250 Virgin Islands
251 Wake Island
252 Wallis and Futuna
253 West Bank
254 Western Sahara
255 Yemen
256 Zambia
257 Zimbabwe
Anywhere in the EU + Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. You can move there as easily as you'd move across Britain.
I bet you were waiting for someone to correct! anyway you could have stopped there, I would have still believed you.
Sort of, to a degree.
I know where you are coming from, being an EU member, but some countries can be so difficult with beaucracy, especially to foreigners, even if they are part of the EU. Hong Kong is easier and cheaper to live and work in than many EU states!
For example try being a asylum seeker in denmark or getting planning permission in Italy or being subject to a EU land grab law common in spain and france. These can be tormenting realities for many.
Lol sorry, please dont misunderstand me, wasnt supposed to be read as hostile.
I just wanted to be clear and discuss it, as if you dont on DS, you can get ripped to shreds.
I find it all quite interesting, once you get past the annoyance of the politics behind it all, just something Ive looked in to a lot before. Maybe one day
my apologies too - i just re-read it and it sounds like i was trying to be a two hat there, i was actually trying to be funny
About Hong-Kong - you mean a Brit can move there and get a job? how easy would it be to get a job in HK? Ive been there and everything is in Chinese!
Just don't try the US. You got more chance of sneaking over the Mexican border and even then, the only job you'll get is mowing lawns or bar tending.
Might be easier for irishguy as he can also qualify for the holiday working scheme.
A brit can go over though on a work visa. Typically they require a degree like most countries but will also consider those without qualifications that are skilled. It used to be very easy for Brits to work there, but since we handed it back, paperwork may increase in the future.
I have a British friend of a friend, who went to teach english as a foreign language (TEFL). Great way to travel and earn a bit of money. Would love to do something similar myself.
Speaking some cantonese may help you in hong kong or mandarin in mainland china, but the business world tends to converse in english a lot.
A good reason why though. A lot of censorship happens in NZ and it isnt the lush haven to all as they try to claim.
Some unique and honest accounts of peoples experience in NZ. It sounds ideal until you read some alarming things. I suppose you can judge a place till you visit though. What might be right for me, might not be right for someone else.
http://www.expatexposed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1659&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20
That's the really funny thing. It is easier to get in to the US by sneaking across the border rather than entering legally, especially if you're british, you're rather scuppered on the lottery.
Yep - even the special case of NI, were citizens can apply, only something like 34 out of 1000 applications were accepted last year.... the lottery is just that!
Even smuggling yourself over the Mexican border has much greater odds of success than that!
PS: I did giggle at pakistan! Apparently they base it off numbers accepted in previous years.
In some ways it's better. Once you become a legal citizen in the US, even if you hold multiple nationalities and leave the US, you still have to pay tax outside of the US!
You can live and work in any EU/EEA state (+ Switzerland).
Whether Denmark has harsh asylum laws or Italy has strict planning regulations doesn't affect that at all.
As for "an EU land grab", no idea what you mean. But if you're referring to the few people in Spain that built supposedly legal houses that were ordered to be demolished by the government, it was almost always because they were idiots who never actually made sure they had proper permission before building. The few cases that weren't all happened in the same area in Andalusia where a few councillors were found to be corrupt. Those councillors are now in prison.
Actually retract that statement. My friend went over this small island with like 100 people on it to build houses wonderful place. I just can't remember what it was called.
Sark I don't know if you can move over there but if you can sounds like what your after.
Pha ha ha haaaa!!!
My aunt moved there about 5 years ago, she had to jump through hoops to get there. Her husband struggled to get work even though he does IT stuff. Yes the scenery is beautful and they live right on the beach, but scenery cant feed you and they said its about 30 years behind the UK. But thats how they like it, but that doesnt mean everyone will
Im not debating the legality. Technically, you can move around EU countries and live and work.
However, many countries still make everyday life awkward especially for foreigners.
It does affect your life, if you're muslim for instance in Denmark, because you will have a lot of social problems integrating and wont get treated fairly.
Italians can turn the dream of having an olive grove in to a nightmare. Foreigners have been known to come back home after the trauma they experience there.
As for land grab, I wasnt speaking about those who failed to have correct planning permission. There is a land grab law, that even if you legally buy a house in the EU, old relatives of a former deceased owner can come out of the woodwork and lay claim to the house.
When moving to another country, the problems go well beyond technically getting through immigration and borders in a legal sense. You have to also consider your quality of life and how you will be treated because of your race.
Not everywhere is the cushy PC love pit that the UK is. Reality is far different than most imagine. That is why it is best to narrow the list down to places you would like to go, then visit those places to see if you could live there and integrate sufficiently.
Ahh hope he finds something soon, good luck to them. Work isnt as free and readily available as they like to make out.
The link I provided, gives some unique viewpoints from expats. They describe "a certain type of brit" will fit in well. As you said, not everyone will like it but some might be the right fit.
i was laughing at the idea of me trying to learn Chinese of any description. I got grade E in french GCSE 21 years ago, I think "Ni how" and "ching tow" is about my limit when remembering any Chinese.
oh yes he has a job now, took ages though and its not IT its something with their electricity board.
However german and especially spanish, I found very easy! Even if you can only say hello in a language, everyone globally (except the french), appreciate foreigners making an effort, even just trying to say hello in their language.
English is very common in government type jobs over there and the friend of a friend that went to do TEFL doesnt know any other language apart from english, but found it easier than other places to integrate.
Yea Ive heard countless similar things. Really need a stiff upper lip and determination to make a move sucessfully.
a warm climate is a factor, it doesnt have to be excessively hot but 17 oC minimum in the day or more and regular long periods of warm sunny weather and mild winters, somewhere that is cheap to life where i can do as little work as possible to survive, im a bright enough guy i think but dont have a university degree etc. Money is not that important to me or a certain style of lofe, the important thing to me is lots of free time to do what i want whether thats spending time at the beach, walking. Its just an idea at the moment
Can you claim benefits abroad if it was a uk territory if your job ended over there etc, those kind of things also?
Do you require healthcare regulary or have a specialist condition? Would you prefer something more remote, hustle an bustle, or the choice between both? What kind of work do you do? How able are you to "handle" yourself (as some areas can be dangerous to some extent)? Do you know any other languages like spanish or would you be willing to learn one?
Try to get one, it will really make it easier to qualify for most countries. You can get one for free if you earn less than £18k. Im in my last year of a degree through the Open Uni, doing it while working full time. Will have taken me just over three years once I finish it.
There are places that are very affordable to live and have an attractive lifestyle, but sometimes you need to comprimise in other areas.
If you have any hang ups, like being afraid of dogs for example, then quite a few places can be ruled out.
Apart from gibraltor and HK, you will find it tricky to get in to any other UK territory. Most countries and indeed UK territories, want you to have a job offer before you go. Countries also dont find individuals attractive that might drain resources from welfare to medical.
It varies from country to country, but it can take a while till you qualify for welfare. I wouldnt make a decision based on that to be honest and instead save each month for that eventuality.
Countries I could see myself in are:
- Ireland
- Norway
- Sweden
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Serbia
- Belgium
- Australia
Don't know how easy that would or would not be. Also, I have a friend who would LOVE to do TEFL but he was a bit of a lad when he was younger and unfortunately has a conviction. Would this automatically rule out any hope of his TEFL aspirations?