Given the number of Americans wondering what life would be like in Europe, you’d think somebody would come up with an exchange program by now.
Technically, you would have a very difficult legally immigrating here. Work visas are normally only issued for foreigners who have unique skills that employers cannot find in a citizen.
I have never visited the US. New York because it’s ethnically diverse and exciting I guess, plus it’s easier for me to get back home for whatever reason.
No idea. This is all new to me.
This is true, there are tens of thousands of English people living in NYC, however, I suspect most of them are in White collar professions.
what do you do for a living? as has been said, it’s “easiest” when you have a marketable skill which is in “shortage” in your destination country.
although New Yorkers will never admit it, there’s a whole huge country outside of the Five Boroughs 
Though I’ll tell you right now that living expenses in dense population centers like NYC and San Francisco/Bay Area are insane. some of the stuff I see online has the “average” rent in such places running about $3,000-4,000 a month. In contrast, in Metro Detroit I pay less than $800/mo. rent. Is this something you can afford?
why come here if you just want to hang around English people?
NYC has a good subway system.
My son is a dancer and lives there, in NYC. So he doesn’t have much money. He was living in Upper Manhattan until recently moving to the Bronx. His dance company is in Manhattan so he commutes on the subway. He went to college there. He’s been “broke” for years living there. He has made it work. Sure I helped a little but he’s been off the payroll and independent for years now.
If you can make it there you’ll make it anywhere. It’s up to you.
Ryan_Liam, go for it! Good luck to you. Yes, NYC is exciting. Yes it’s expensive, or can be. You’ll have to work hard but you can make it. My family emigrated from the Philippines when I was a child, and I’m glad my parents brought us here.
Good luck to you, let us know how we can help.
you lie!
You want to move here without even having visited first? This is crazy. Don’t be crazy.
I mau be confusing you with someone else, but don’t you have a pplice record? I suspe t that will complicate things.
Well he was asking about the cons of living in the US. 
But yeah, Ryan, what do you like to do for fun and what kind of work do you do? Even if you have no real skills apart from a work ethic, that can actually be a liberating factor because you won’t feel compelled to move close to a huge urban area to flock with your particular type of bird. Drywallers and janitors are needed from NYC to Dillingham, Alaska. Unless you’re chasing a career, your best bet is probably identifying which area of the country best suits YOU and then find a way to live there.
As for the cons, the US doesn’t have much of a social safety net and it has some of the lowest social mobility in the industrialized world. I would suggest you do some research and really think about what you hope to get out of a move. Have you looked at moving to somewhere else in Europe where you would have better access to a social safety net and probably a better chance at social mobility?
My son-in-law, who is German, just immigrated. The marriage part made the visa fairly simple, in fact the Frankfurt consulate got the paperwork done before the promised date. He has a masters, and was working as a consultant for a big international firm.
Pros: my daughter had a job in Vegas, so he moved there, and found a job very quickly - which is now paying twice what he made in Germany.
Cons: a lot less vacation, and a lot fewer social benefits, like maternity leave and stuff.
However, he is really, really happy about moving, especially about the money.
I’m thinking about moving to the US, but the lousy health options deter me. I’m in a very different situation from you because I am a citizen, not looking to work, but I have three kids living there (NY, Boston, Seattle) and many friends here are moving away or dying.
NY has excellent public transit, Boston’s is not terrible, and Seattle’s is (outside of the downtown core). But at least I know what I am getting into. You don’t.
I’m looking to build a new life to be honest, nothing is really happening here, America offers expanse and variety and the cost of living is lower, and if I ever started a family, there would be more opportunities for them than here. I work in a warehouse currently, but I used to work telesales before that, nothing spectacular.
Coming from the UK, I doubt it’s social mobility is as terrible it is here, but the lack of social safety net is a worry, other than healthcare, what could I expect less of in terms of Welfare?
All of it. There isn’t really any significant welfare available to single men in the vast majority of the U.S. If you fall too far, there are charities that run homeless shelters. Food pantries will keep you from starving but no one is going to cut you a check just because you can’t support yourself. We do have unemployment insurance but you have to work first to be eligible for it, the amount you get depends on how much you were making (it will be much, much less than that) and it is strictly time limited.
The UK and the US are usually about the same when it comes to social mobility. As for a social safety net, it can be almost non-existant depending on where you move to and if you are coming to the US with the idea that you’ll be able to get on the dole, you really need to do more research. You could easily end up homeless.
Woah, there’s no intention to just bum around on the dole, I was just comparing both systems. I’d much rather be working.
I’ve heard that in some places you can’t even depend on homeless shelters for a place to stay. Some of them offer a bed at night only and kick you out every morning to fend for yourself. It’s very transient and not anything you can use to establish yourself for getting a job or go to school.
There really isn’t much to compare as the US has very little in the way of a social safety net and it is constantly under attack. Public transportation is good in some parts of the US, but those places tend to be expensive to live in.
When I was poor and carless; it would take me about 2 hours one way to get to work and 2 hours to get home using my county’s crappy bus service (and lots of walking). When you’re poor in the US, you really don’t have too much time for anything but work and getting to and from work.
The point is, for the most part, there is no dole. If you aren’t working no government agency is going to give you any money unless there are other extenuating circumstances.
All this talk of dole…look.
In Denver (just because that’s where I live) you can get a warehouse job for like $10.50/hour, or just shy of $1,800/month. I’m not up on the ACA, but as I understand it, you’ll either get health insurance form a large employer, or a good subsidy from the gubmint to buy your own coverage. That’s healthcare.
Of that $1,800 you probably actually take home like $1,400
1 bedroom apartments can be had for $850, but I can’t vouch for the neighborhood.
Utilities, add another $150.
The rest goes for survival basics.
It can be done, it gets done all the time. And there’s nothing to say you can’t work 2 jobs for a while to help you settle in and to forget about being homesick. My wife used to work intake at a local ER in addition to her day job as an assistant in a doctor’s office–just a high school diploma–and she was making it as a single mom. The trick to upward mobility is to keep your eyes open, make friends at every opportunity, and take every opportunity to better yourself. Will you be super rich in 3 years? Not unless you get in good with the drug lords. But can you live comfortably and enjoy life? Absolutely.
Maybe that’s a better approach to this kind of a thread. Fellow Americans, we all know our own communities–what would it take for someone to start from scratch where you live?