Sharing our experience (US to UK)
My American partner moved from NY to the UK 4 years ago on a student visa and we got married at the start of this year. We've just had their UK spouse visa approved which allows them to stay for 2.5 years and then we'll need to renew it for another 2.5 years before applying for British citizenship. Some points to note:
- It is EXPENSIVE. We've already spent tens of thousands of dollars and this will continue until they get their passport. We are very fortunate that we had significant savings and our parents helped us out.
- My partner took a salary cut of around 50% (although we are saving in other areas so we're probably no worse off).
- Moving abroad is tough and your ability to thrive heavily depends on your personality and circumstances. If you're a resilient, outgoing, childless person who is willing to learn new things and embrace being way out of your comfort zone, it will be significantly easier than if you're a homebody stuck in certain habits who finds change stressful and has to support a family.
- There is a tendency to idealise other places, especially Europe. The UK has plenty of problems, many we're still probably blissfully unaware of because we don't have kids yet.
- Overall, we're really happy with things at the moment but politics can shift at the drop of a hat and we remain open to the possibility of moving.
We're happy to answer any questions for folks looking to do something similar/ curious about life in the UK in general.