10 Things you NEED to KNOW about moving to the USA from the UK| Brits moved from UK to USA

10 Things you NEED to KNOW about moving to the USA
1. Taxes: Complexities and how low they are compared to the UK
2. Healthcare: Our thoughts on the American healthcare system costs
3. Social Security & Pensions: We delve into the realm of retirement benefits, discussing the US social security system and private pension plans.
4. Employment Negotiations:
5. Vacation Days:
6. Language Difference
7. US Obsession with Sports
8. Travel in the USA is expensive
9. Festive Holidays in the USA: Halloween and Thanksgiving hold significant cultural importance in the US.
10. Therapy and Counselling: We discuss the contrasting approaches to therapy and counseling in the US versus the UK
10 Things you NEED to KNOW about moving to the USA | Brits moved from UK to USA
10 Things you NEED to KNOW about moving to the USA | What we learned after we moved here
10 Things you NEED to KNOW about moving to the USA | Taxes | Healthcare
10 Things we learned AFTER moving to USA from UK | Taxes | Healthcare
10 Things we learned AFTER moving from UK to USA | Taxes | Healthcare

[@rmadrid6119]

I take all of January and February off every year, working for a major US airline at full pay, after lots of years… Everything here depends on your company. I use to want to move to Australia or Canada for political purposes and found that I make 40% more than my Australian and Canadian counterparts. My social security pension is so much more than I could get in Australia or Canada. Health care for me is cheaper in the US than I could have in Australia or Canada because I’m a contract worker. Income taxes are so low here for people at my income level… Life is good… I’m usually in London every weekend. I love that city, but life is more affordable for me here… I hope you two make the best lives that you can here in the USA! Welcome home!

[@ANTSEL]

Thank you for sharing! That is really good and interesting to know. We say this a lot, often people outside the USA do not believe or want to believe this can be true. We also believe all these countries have different positive aspects, it is just about picking the right place. Thank you for your kind comments. We are very happy here.

[@jasonlloyd3674]

I’m an Educational Psychologist in the UK. I’ve been here for two years and moving back to the US tomorrow. To your point about therapy, it isn’t really discussed here at all, but I will say that there are people seeking the services. In true UK fashion, there’s a VERY long queue for CAMHS and it’s very common to hear stories of primary and secondary pupils that aren’t going to school because of anxiety. However, because the services are so hard to access, the support they receive is nil.

[@ANTSEL]

Thanks for sharing this. This is a problem in the UK where people can not get access to the services they need.

[@youp9546]

I think Christmas is not a big deal in Vegas because you are in a desert, the least Christmassy area to be in. Same with Florida, it is not the same without snow.

[@willrobinson4976]

I enjoyed the video guys, the house looks great.

[@ANTSEL]

Thanks Will!

[@markt.4661]

And this is why the US has more immigrants than every other nation combined. The quality of life (if you work full time with salary) is phenomenal compared to most other nations. Yet the world view is often times severely skewed compared to the reality.

[@Haystacks]

I loved your video, very thoughtful and charming! As an American I think what you will find is a fairly deep divide between the educated professional worker and the hourly minimum wage worker. Full social security, good health care, 401k, PTO, and sometimes a severance package all come with good white collar employment. The guy bagging your groceries will often only have what is legally mandated - lousy health care (covers very little), smaller amounts of social security, no guaranteed hours or set schedules, and minimum sick days (maybe 5-10 days) which accrue over time (rather being given to you at onset). There is also a certain amount of "contract work" or "gig work" which has no employment benefits. I am often shocked how little a professional can make in Europe in terms of salary, but I always thought that the upshot was that the indigent are getting more support. That could easily be a wrong assumption on my part.... Also I would go out of my way to do Christmas in the East Coast - I can imagine Las Vegas being less Christmas focused but it tends to be huge in a lot of places - but technically the season does not start until the Friday after Thanksgiving. Thanks for the interesting video!

[@zhenli2345]

Airfare definitely was cheaper before the pandemic, but nothing like what you’d pay with the budget airlines in Europe. Rental car costs have shot up, too, courtesy of COVID.

[@JohnPilling25]

You hit the nail on the head as long as you have employer provided health insurance. I've had no health insurance for the past 20 years. Never needed it. I had it when I was working, used it twice in 20 years. Vacation time is usually 1 week.

[@ANTSEL]

wow, only twice in 20 years. Fortunately I do not have a cap on vacation days.

[@mitchualp]

Ok when it comes to holidays like Halloween , thanksgiving and Christmas it use to be a lot bigger prepandemic after the whole pandemic debacle where everything was shut down and couldn't celebrate hardly anything for 2 years its never went back to normal christmas was huge whole neighborhood s lit up and decorated whole cities too.

[@angelrose7906]

I'm American and my family starts celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I always found Christmas to be very big in America. I now live in the UK, and from what I'm witnessed over the 20 years I've been here, it's not celebrated as much. And when it comes to any type of services, America wins out each and every time. I think your perception of some of these things are definitely the group of people you know. Not sure about excessive therapy there, I've never seen it myself. My husband is a UK therapist, and there are loads of people in the UK seeking help. The problem with the UK is everything is so overstretched and it takes forever for anyone to get any type of help.

[@NoirL.A.]

as i already commented on a few of yer other vids i'm yankee but lived in the u.k. 2 1/2 years with an english gf. since y'all brought up the issue of therapy one major difference i noticed is that americans have no probs with it whereas in the u.k. it seemed to me that to a large degree going to therapy is "uncool" and even admitting that you need it is almost seen as a form of weakness. and yeah i did have various people over there comment on the fact the u.s. has more professional therapists than most other nations combined (in other words by far the most of any single country) and that that is somehow indicative of somehow being "spoiled" or "weak" as opposed to the whole "stiff upper lip" deal and how much "tougher" the citizens of the u.k. are as a result (implied not said directly). fact is in many respects the u.s. leads the way in terms of modern therapy and if anything the peoples of the u.k. need it even more than americans (horrible problem with depression over there) but, again, in the u.k. the attitude is just one of "suck it up and carry on" rather than admitting to the "weakness" of needing help. that is one major difference between the two nations i most definitely did notice.

[@logician3641]

You guys need to check out the airplane flyovers during NFL games...

[@ANTSEL]

We still need to attend an NFL game.

[@willrobinson4976]

Christmas is huge is most of the U.S. I think Vegas may be a little different.

[@ANTSEL]

Vegas must be a bit different then. It is not a big as what we are used to in the UK.

[@tom_roche]

I know this is quite a personal question. But seeing how you talk about the health care costs, I’m curious to know what you guys would say is a salary or combined salary that is suitable or manageable to live comfortably in the US? Also what are the mortgage interest rates in the US? I’m from the UK and live with my girlfriend we pay a mortgage and she is asthmatic so I’m curious what the health care costs would be for my partner with asthma and how much we would need to be earning to live comfortably in a house worth roughly $325,000 for example? Also from my experience I think when people refer to the health care costs in the US I think generally they are referring to starting a family like the cost of delivering a baby or needing an ambulance for example. We went to the Texas and Tennessee for 3 weeks last year on holiday it was incredible and I fully agree the people have so much better attitude and generally seem more happy than us brits.

[@JohnPilling25]

Your going to need employer provided health care in the US. My wife and I looked into Obama care a few years back and in Fl it was running 500/month for a Silver tier plan for 2. That's 6K a year. I bought a house cash for 138k - solid concrete built home, 1300sq.ft remodelled it for another 30k doing the work myself - kitchen bathrooms etc. Those prices are long gone my home is now appraised for property tax by the county at 350k - thank goodness we are homesteaded. As my taxable value is 62k We've looked at moving to NW Arkansas or Oregon and can't find anything where we'd be able to remain mortgage free. I made over 150k per year when I worked 20 years ago - lived in a small college town where houses were under 100k, my first home was just 32k. I bought 40acres of land for 22k and designed and built a house for just 75k. Including paying the contractor to build it, permits etc. All the new developments around me start in the high 300's you'll end up at around 450k and will be facing a property tax bill of close to 7k per year. So you will need a big salary as mortgages currently run 7%+.

[@mitchualp]

No its not normal at least in most the country to have a therapist

[@GreatBritishBak3r]

In my opinion, sports are not accessible from a young age when you live in the UK. In the US, you dont need fancy lessons to get good at a sport. In the UK, not even the tennis courts are free. You need to pay for everything, especially the sport facility, and there isnt a wide range of youth teams like US high schools

[@ANTSEL]

Agree! The level to which sports are available here and variety is so much more than UK. It is very much part of the culture growing up here.

[@richardbrinkerhoff]

Aye, there's the rub. No job, no health insurance. And pre-existing conditions are not coverd.

[@balancedactguy]

Keep in mind. Social Security is NOT A PENSION... but was designed to be a SUPPLEMENT to your Pension and any Retirement savings! How much you will get from Soc Sec will be determined largely by how much you contributed over the years, and how old you are when you sign up to begin receiving distributions. Maybe things are different in Vegas,...but in most of the US Christmas is Very Well celebrated with lots of socializing..Eating, Drinking Parties etc Gaining a few ;und is VERY COMMON from the time of Thanksgiving through Christmas.. ...so I think you've got to experience more about Christmas.

[@bjishername]

Are you serious? These are Brits living in the United States.

[@balancedactguy]

@@bjishername Are you serious about being serious?

[@richardmajewski7523]

So why do we see videos saying the complete opposite about Americans in other countries saying how costly medical insurance is and how it covers nothing. One girl says she was paying hundreds per month for insurance BUT in Japan $23 per month and this covers EVERYTHING. Heard many many similar stories

[@ANTSEL]

We always state that this is our experience. We are not saying other people with out medical insurance or a worse type of insurance do not pay more. We are simply speaking to our literal experience, and to the many people we have been around since moving here that do not claim their healthcare costs crazy amounts.

[@mikechiks983]

Great video and content. Do you have any experience of people who landed jobs in the US by applying from the UK? I'm interested and looking for opportunities, but do not currently work for a company with presence in the US. I'd be glad for your thoughts.

[@ANTSEL]

Hi Mike! Unfortunately no. I have never met anyone that has applied for a role from the UK and have been successful. In theory it could be possible, but I would imagine it would be for someone with a truly specialist skill. There are many reasons why this is unlikely or extremely rare. It is not realistic that a company would hire someone from the UK, when they have people here first. It costs money to relocate and time to get someone a visa too. Also when you are not already working for that company, there limitations to the visa type. If you are seriously wanting to move, we would suggest working for a company that has a US base. That gives you a chance atleast.

[@mikechiks983]

Thanks for the response @@ANTSEL

[@JohnPilling25]

I got a job in the US applying from the UK. Took 3 years to get a P3 visa. Now retired and am trying to get a residence visa for France where the quality of life is so much better and homes are way cheaper, taxes lower etc. I even speak French.

[@LSPD-Officer-Rhonson]

Did you require sponsorship were your uk qualifications recognised if not what did you do how did you do all this

[@ANTSEL]

I was sponsored. The company I worked for, relocated me to the US to work for them.

[@larriveeman]

the pandemic wasn't the problem it was the response that was the problem

[@user-eq7dn6by2e]

we found this quite boring. my boyfriend said ( his name is Mercan) now he asked me not to do this ( actually he has 2 names Mert and Jan) anyways it is a ittle bit calm for us we like drama and i think like a poor immigrants we are looking for some comparison for people outside of UK too please, madam.

[@mitchualp]

Oh i understand now just to let ya know las vegas is nothing like the rest of the country.

[@Bonk-A-Lonk]

Thinking about moving to the US or Australia from Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 whats better you guys think?

[@varythings]

don't choose either

[@Bonk-A-Lonk]

@@varythings where then ?

[@jaxxon98]

American English IS proper English. Halloween is not a holiday but Christmas and Thanksgiving are the two biggest holidays. Also, Halloween is just one day but Christmas is a season and some people (a lot) start shopping and decorating before Thanksgiving. You make jokes but you two will be in therapy before long. Maybe Brits just moan a lot instead of going to therapy.

[@JohnPilling25]

Americans cannot spell! There is a "u" in colour, honour etc, many word end in "re" like fibre and theatre, not "er" and aluminium has 2"i's" not one.😫 Halloween or All Souls' Day, where I come from is known as Hop Tu Naa and is for children to have a good evening out with carved turnip lanterns, apple bobbing, stories of witches and ghouls, and actual bonfires. It's a big family night out under the stars (if it's not raining). It was originally a pagan fire festival known as Samhain. The fire festival most people are aware of is Beltane or May Day (1 May).