How difficult would it be for an American to move/live in another country -- England? France? Germany?

kittysue2000

If one of you has at least a BA and a job making over $60K/year, it's fairly easy to move to the UK under the Tier 1 visa for Highly Skilled Workers. It's based on a points system taking into account your age, educational background, English language skills and prior earnings.
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/tier1/general/
The process is fairly straightforward if you meet the required points - you just have to make sure you submit all original documents (not copies) including your original university diploma(s) - which will be returned to you.

It's much easier to move to the UK than France or Germany.

You normally are granted the Tier 1 visa for 2-3 years, after which you have to reapply, assuming you are working and meeting minimum salary requirements. After 5 years of continuous legal residence, you can take the Life in the UK exam and apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residence). One year after you acquire ILR, you can apply for citizenship. So it would take you 6 years to become a UKcitizen.

johnb693

Very Drastic, and also very exciting and challenging.
First off, how are you in learning new languages, do you speak French or German?
Even with English, you will have problems, as much as I did, when I left Scotland, and discovered that we call many things, by a different name.
But most Brit's will understand you better than you do them, due mostly to the wide variety of accents there.
I've been here in the States, for over twenty five years, but while I was in the U.K, I could tell where someone was born and raised, just by their accent. As we can here to a lesser degree, A New York Accent, vs a Texan Drawl.
But be ready for the higher cost of living, in those countries you mention. There are many modern aspects of life in Europe, but also many ancient aspects. I was born in Edinburgh Scotland, which was founded in 435 A.D. The church I attended, was built in 1774, etc. So history wasn't just something we read about in a book, we lived with it every day.
The one thing it does give one, is a sense of roots, or stability, although, many of the times, were not the least stable, if you were living through them.
Before making such a drastic choice, I suggest a trip over there first, for as long as you can afford to visit. I would start off in London, as that will be the easiest for you to adjust too, as much of our culture is the similar. You will be able to read the road signs, menus etc, and won't have as big a shock, in the differences. Then hop on a high speed train, and visit France via the Chunnel, and from France to Germany, using one of their high speed bullet trains.
If you are looking for a complete culture change, you will easily find what you are looking for.
For one thing, it will never be dull. Just don't worry to much and go witl the flow.
All of us Immigrants, came to America for our own reasons, a better life for them and their children. And they overcame the culture shock quiet well, didn't they.
However at the beginning, they tended to stay together, hence we have Little Italy, Chinatowns, etc.
Good luck.

Ida Slapter

I believe the EU has fairly strict immigration laws. They and Britain don't have enough jobs for their citizens. If you are independently wealthy you probably wouldn't have a problem.

WhyMe?

It depends on what you want to experience. England, France and Germany differ in many ways. You need a "good" reason to be able to take up legal residency over there. This may be employment or family-based. You can only become a citizen of a particular country if you live there for a few years as a permanent resident. It is usually 5 years but it may be more. As far as I know the waiting period is longer in England.

I am currently living in Germany due to my husband's overseas assignment. It is pretty different from the States in many ways. It is not much of a culture shock but definitely different. I've been to France several times also. France is very different from Germany but both have their own beauty. Continental Europe, however, struggles with high unemployment rates (even before the recession started, this was a problem). A lot depends on your age and qualifications. And of course, the locals expect you to learn their native language, which is not easy for many people.

To answer your question: it is not easy to become a permanent resident and then a citizen but you can travel to any of these countries for up to 3 months (and up to 6 months in the case of the UK).

chuckles951

It is just as difficult to emigrate there as it is for people from there to immigrate to the USA.

And the culture shock is really not that bad when you go to a first world country.

When I moved to LA, the biggest challenge was remembering Leno was on channel 4, not 5. I came from Canada in 2001.

J.B. K

ur goona have to go through there immigration laws - why would u wanna leave the land of Obama now that the laws and system will be just like to three countries u wannna go to -- on the other hand LEAVE

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