Moving out of the country?

I know there are a few girl currently living out of the country, and I am looking at you, and anyone that has and has since returned......

I've been JONSING to move to Italy for many years. my dear hubby has also expressed interest in it, but the other day, he did in a more serious way.

I'm looking for ammunition to use against his doubts...

tell me about work visa difficulty, finding a home difficulty...etc.

I already assume the "I miss home and family" thing (and that works against my argument...don't want that ) so I guess I am looking for more of a boots on the ground, practical isses point of view.

TIA.

Re: Moving out of the country?

Lifes too short to think about things too much in detail. Sometimes you just have to pick up & go.

Sorry, Im no help Jess. I would love to move out of the state, let along country- especially Italy.

You have my support for whatever you decide.

Re: Moving out of the country?

Posted by SIBride06

Lifes too short to think about things too much in detail. Sometimes you just have to pick up & go.

Sorry, Im no help Jess. I would love to move out of the state, let along country- especially Italy.

You have my support for whatever you decide.

Re: Moving out of the country?

Posted by Ophelia

Posted by SIBride06

Lifes too short to think about things too much in detail. Sometimes you just have to pick up & go.

Sorry, Im no help Jess. I would love to move out of the state, let along country- especially Italy.

You have my support for whatever you decide.

I definitely agree...but Unless I can room up with your Nonna for a month or two, I need to know what to expect.

I have your support...and You'll have a good reason to come to Milan!

Re: Moving out of the country?

You can always look into job opportunities through your work (at least in my case) and they will put up the work visa/sponsorship for you. This will allow you to work in another country, get a paycheck, and not switch careers. They will provide housing for you, or support you in finding housing yourself.

Plenty of Americans do it, and vice-versa to the US. They are always seeking Americans to work overseas, it's just that people usually don't make the move b/c of family.

As you can see - I've done PLENTY of "looking" into this as I've been dying to work in London for my company. The only "minus" that's stopping me is that DH doesn't want to.

Re: Moving out of the country?

Posted by SIBride06


Not a bad idea. Move out there for a short stay- see how you like it. Worse thing that could happen is that things don't work out & you come back. There's a totally different lifestyle out there. Its going to take a LONG time to adjust. English is widespread out there, so even if you arent fluent in Italian, you can get by. What about a job? What would you do?

Re: Moving out of the country?

I could be wrong, but i think it may be hard for an american to get a work visa in italy.

I beleive it is easier if your present company sets it up for you.

Re: Moving out of the country?

I considered doing it when I was 22 and I truly regret not doing it. If your hubs is on board - I'm not going to give you any discouraging advice.

PLUS - I'd add you to my 'must visit' list in Milan

Re: Moving out of the country?

Posted by Snozberry

I considered doing it when I was 22 and I truly regret not doing it. If your hubs is on board - I'm not going to give you any discouraging advice.

PLUS - I'd add you to my 'must visit' list in Milan

Re: Moving out of the country?

I think there is a lot of things to think about when you decide to move out of the country, for me it was easy. I was an exchange student here in 1993, I already had a small group of friends. I can talk the hind legs off of a donkey and I just KNOW that every single person I meet is dying to be my friend. So thats an advantage. One thing that is easy about living in England is that everyone speaks ENGLISH! The beaurocracy in other non-English speaking countries is MENTAL. For instance in France if you want to build onto your house you need to speak to the mayor and ask his permission. Its not as simple to just move and get a place to live, a lot of people use companies who do that stuff for them. Repatriation is very hard also...coming home is not as easy as just going home.

Its very very very hard to go somewhere where you have no friends at all. You will always be the odd one out, no matter what, the natives will never view you as one of their own. Never. Especially if Italian is not your first language. Its hard to get settled in if you have no credit history, no paper trail, things like that. Geting a job for a local company will be a near impossibility. When I moved to the UK I just went into a temp agency and they got me work, and I got my career job after maybe 5 weeks. But I speak the language.

A good resource for you is to look for a website for Americans living in Italy. You will get a lot of your questions answered. Also, you might want to ask in your current company if they have any jobs going there. You might be able to get a work visa through them, I don’t know anything about Italy but I know in the UK its easy to get a Highly Skilled Migrant type visa. If you marry an Italian you can probably just move over there. And you might be able to claim ancestry.

I don’t get faced with it much, but I do know that a lot of people complain of Anti-Americanism. Lets face it, there are a lot of people all around the world who do not like Americans. I am lucky because like I said, I don’t get it too much probably because I live in a sort of second city…not huge like London is what I mean.

My life here is completely integrated, I live life like a British person, I have adapted incredibly well. But I know that there are a heck of a lot of people who don’t…Do I miss my family, hecks yeah. But I speak to them every single day….every single day…and we skype and use the webcam. And I see them maybe 4-5 times a year. I do feel that my lifestyle here is much better than I could have in the states, and especially on Long Island. .

Okay, I could go on and on, but one major thing to remember is that someplace that you dream about living and love to visit on vacation is a completely different place when you are trying to get a plumber to come out in the middle of the night when your toilet is overflowing!!!

Re: Moving out of the country?

racheeeeee

I was hoping you would respond. this is exactly what I wanted to hear.

we've talked about London and Spain, b/c we are both fluent in the native languages, but Italy is kind of my dream.

we've both been there many many times, and try to get a feel for how it would be like....though you are right, vacation and reality are two different animals.

like I said, I work for the US govt, so I would be "set" if I transfered to another post over seas.

I hear you about the plumbing and such. One year over Christmas I was visiting family living in Sicily at the time...the workers have their own "schedule" and the toilet was broken for 2 days

thank you for your input.

I think though, that I'd like the adventure of trying.

repatriation actually scares me more! but I am kind of "safe" there too, if I stay with the fed.

you've given me food for thought...

now, tell me this, did Robin Hood season 2 start over there yet??!!

Re: Moving out of the country?

I moved to Spain a year after graduating college -- moved to be with my Ex-husband, and because I wanted to live there.

Very different than why you want to go -- but it was, despite my divorce, the best experience of my life and worth every minute of it.

Re: Moving out of the country?

I moved to Germany and lived there for a year. Getting a visa wasnt difficult b/c I was a student and I got student housing. But you did have to show that you had a certain amount of money, which was easy for me b/c I had a 400 euro scholarship per month from the German state I was living in. That money covered my rent and food for the month.

Now I live in Australia with my husband who I met in Germany. Getting a visa was not difficult b/c he is a citizen. The paperwork was not easy. Is your husband European at all? That would make it easier to get a visa.

I miss my family more in Australia than I did in Germany. In Germany it was easier to call home and I went home three times to visit. Here I cannot call home as easy b/c of the 14 hour time difference.

I think living abroad is in some ways better than in America. The goverenment does a lot for me and the minumum wage is higher and for my job (ESL teacher) working in Australia is one of the best places in the world (salary etc).

I would move if I were you. It would be a great experience. What would you regret more- going to Italy or NOT going to Italy. That is the way I would look at it, but then again I love moving all over the world.

Do you speak Italian?

Good luck to whatever you decide. Please feel free to ask me any questions, as I am writing this quickly and I probably left out stuff.