UK and US market comparision

[Bharath]

I am currently in US and have been thinking about UK HSMP.

Can someone please do some comparision of advantages and disadvantages of US vs UK.

I am in IT/Tech.

I have been very interested in UK for a while as i feel the work environment is more relaxed compared to US. I can watch cricket and enjoy beautiful Europe compared to very mechanical and artificial US.

I was wondering how the job market is compared to US.

How about money. How much savings can we have compared to US.

Please suggest or advise or share your knowledge

[topoftheworld]

Bharath,

I had the following factors while choosing UK Vs. US:

1) UK is closer to my Home country

2) It is easier to get PR/Citizenship in UK compared to US. (However, with ever changing UK immigration rules, I will probably not bet my life on it!!)

3) Dependent spouse has same employment rights as the primary Visa holder. So, your wife will be able to work straight away.

4) Relocation is not required when I change jobs, as most of the IT Jobs are in South-East UK, London etc. This is a quite important factor when you have family (especially with Children) as it is not possible to move from one City to another every 6 months.

5) Earning potential is quite good at the moment for those who have good skills.

6) Trips to other parts of beautiful Europe is easy

7) Good money in freelancing.

Lastly, £ is very strong at the moment.


However, certain things I miss here are:

1) Good houses. Good size flats/houses (again compared to US) are not that plenty. Also, housing is quite expensive even for "okay" flats/houses.

2) Cost of living is higher comparatively.



Happy decision making !!

[goldfish]

Bharath,
2) It is easier to get PR/Citizenship in UK compared to US. (However, with ever changing UK immigration rules, I will probably not bet my life on it!!)

This was a motivation in my decision as well, although it would not influence me much now. The multiple retrospective rule changes (eg HSMP extension rules), and increase from 4 to 5 years for ILR, create a very unstable immigration environment.

I think it is probably still easier to get the right to work in the UK than in the US. However, once you have the right to work, I think citizenship is easier in the US because you need a total of 5 years whereas in the UK it is 5 years + 1 year ILR = 6 years. (I'm not an expert on US immigration tho so do your own research as well!)

[Bharath]

Thanks for the replies.

Actually US immigration is pretty complicated and painful.

1. Your spouse cannot work when you are on H1-B visa

2. It might take 4-5 years to get Green Card ( which i think is equivalent to HSMP to some extent )

3. It takes another 5 years to get citizenship.

So until you get Green Card which itself is so complicated where those inefficient immigration officials do not even know how to come up with an efficient point based system like UK, Aus etc.

4. Also i have not been a great fan of work culture in US tech field. It is very mechanical and hardworking sometimes.

I kind of got different opinions about opportunities for software developers say in Java.

How is the market for good software engineers in UK ?

For my case, i can see that as the only concern i have as of now