Sometimes, life wants to kick you in the back and laugh at you as you topple forwards onto your hands and knees in the mud.
Other times, your country's political leadership asks to do it instead.
Today is one of those days.
A quick contextual setup:
- I live in China yadda yadda
- Married, and planned to bring her with me back to the UK
Ok. So given that I have no UK-based salary, the only way we could realistically do this was to amass a large savings and hold it for 6 months without ever going below the threshold. This is a large amount - £62,500 ($100,000)
Well, we did that and then some.
So all that was needed now was a bunch of paperwork, pay an exhorbitant fee to the national health service (something like £1,800), and other fees, and get ready to go.
The problem
You see, the problem with England is there's too many bloody illegal immigruntz. Coming over by boat, taking over our country. You know the gig.
The solution
our only option is to cut off british expats from bringing their wives legally to the country
Makes sense right?
So yeah, in a desperate attempt by the Tory party currently in power to stay in power (basically impossible), they decided that, as of today, the financial threshold goes from £62,500, to £88,000. (If you have a job in the uk, it means £18,600/year goes up to something like £22,000)
Great. The bottom line here is, even if we had that money, we didn't have it in savings. We could immediately dump it into savings, but the clock has reset. We have to wait another 6 months.
By which point, they raise the requirement again. And then soon after, again, until it becomes £112,000 ($200,000) for us.
Now, we both have pretty well paying jobs and a hearty savings, but it's a pretty fucking tall order to just have £112,000 lying around for 6 months!
For perspective, about 50% of UK citizens have less than £1,000 in savings. The salary-version of this method at this point is about £39,000 - more than DOUBLE the previous requirement, and higher than over 75% of the entire population.
But don't worry. Those illegal immigrants can continue coming in for free, and be housed and paid for with taxes. That's who we really need. Not a highly experienced, and much needed teacher with his successful brand director wife.
To be honest, England has too many native English people already, and certainly too many native-level English speakers who are ready-integrated and highly educated.
Fuck these guys amirite? lolz. Boot 'em out.
This decision by the powers-that-be was a desperate, futile attempt to gain popularity points before an upcoming election to STOP immigration. In doing so, they basically completely cut off about 25,000 spouses and 25,000 brits from entering. Which accounts for like... less than 5% of total immigration. About half that of illegal immigration.
Good job guys! Excellent smoke & mirrors.
Realistically, it was just the easiest donkey to punch to perhaps trick some sub-70 IQ 'tards that they're actually doing something useful, rather than actually destroying lives unnecessarily.
I signed a petition to stop this, but I know it's 100% useless, even if it did get enough votes. What tends to happen is one person brings it up in front of about 3 other party members who are there to voice their own petitions. And then they move on to the next subject. That's it. That's what 100,000 signatures gets you.
The Bottom Line
Tbh, I now just have to accept that my goals have been completely upended, and we can no longer go to England. I have to accept a life in China, as far as I can see. There will be no rollback. The opposition party who will absolutely come into power soon, haven't even voiced opinions against this - they are two sides of the same coin. Once something is made into law, they never un-do.
And, frankly, I don't even want to be in a country that actively pushes me away like this for the sake of some brownie points as they slowly swirl down the toilet into oblivion.
Let's be honest here, the country sucks: small, ugly and expensive houses, pathetically tiny salaries, dangerous cities, garbage public transport, completely dysfunctional health service, bankrupt councils, an overall economy poorer than Mississipi when excluding London, deserted high streets, laughably low productivity, and snobbish NIMBYs desperate to hold onto the long-dead romantic idea that the UK is still some kind of relevant power on the world stage.
The country is broken, its brittle bones are turning to dust before our very eyes, and the plague of people who don't give a damn are just sinking with the ship while pointing fingers at each other.
I'd like to say I'm just butthurt and saying this to make myself feel better, but truth is I've been telling myself these things for a long time. My plan to return to England was no epic glory a la Odysseus returning to Ithaca. It always was a begrudging move out of a necessity, mostly, to reconnect to my family, my aging parents.
But I also had other dreams. I wanted to give my wife a working culture that wasn't:
"9am-6pm... but also overtime until 3am, weekends, holidays, shower, and then some, for no extra pay"
I dreamt for years that I could bring my old cat Smash home and give him a retirement garden to enjoy his last days with the nature he loves so much.
I wanted to live without being a slave to a work visa, higher quality food ingredients, cleaner air, beautiful parks and lakes, a place to get a dog, all things going well, a child that can be properly supported and educated outside of the communist utopian educational system.
I wanted, oddly enough, to contribute to society and do my little part in turning it around with all the skills and money i've stored up over the years.
England has so much potential, but the politicians singlehandedly destroyed the place year after year, with nothing but decades of decline to come. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that I can no longer be there to burn alongside it.
In the meantime, I need to re-set all my plans and get settled in here. Maybe fly my mum over for another visit or something. I dunno.
/rant
Brooooooo that Brexit must be biting them in the foot so hard.
Its so stupid, one of the main reasons why so many illegal immigrants come anyways. Because of how hard it is to become a citizen, welfare and job opportunity.
They will come regardless, the only folks your are punishing is the law abiding applicants. What a clown fest.
Imagine having savings higher than the people already living there. Many don't have $100k lying in a bank. That is enough money to buy a house or start a small business.
Also if only Hongkong still had that British policy of smooth transition to becoming a citizen and moving into the UK. Ohh well, i hope you goodluck on finding a good place for you and your family to stay at.
Exactly. The number they pulled out of their arses comes from the idea of 'what an average skilled worker earns' - but how they connected being a skilled worker to being able to support one's wife is beyond me.
How does the 75-80% of the country do that with under $1,000 saved up and a job with under half that income?? Must be magic XD
Long time no see by the way! noticed you were posting again the other day but didn't have time to read yet =D
Interesting share.
Maybe you and your family can come to Canada.
We can use more immigrants to help pay for some government services. We need a higher population. I am sure, there are many Canadians that do not like the idea of immigrants taking jobs that a Canadian does not want to do for low wages.
We live in a #TooFuckeh world. Follow the money to get to the root cause of the problem. Too many billionaires and special interest groups feeding corruption in most decision process.
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I remember reading Canada has one of, if not the highest rate of immigration in the world?? Half a million a year or something crazy like that.
If the infrastructure can handle it and the integration successful then sure why not, but if the UK is anything to go by, it's never that easy... Too fast a rate of change for an animal who really doesn't like change XD
I was independently thinking Canada could be a good choice for you because of it's immigration tolerance. I haven't lived there, but I've visited and it is a nice place. I would give it some thought.
For a while now I've been getting weirdly specific ads like 'live in China and want to work in Canada?? click here now!'
Creepy... and yeah since I officially became a winter person after my first ski, Canada felt like a fantastic option. But my mum isn't in Canada, nor any other elements of fundamental life that I need to get out the way before shipping myself off again. I guess its kinda hard to explain, but the choice is here in China, or England. England is off the table, so... I guess it's here!
I'm a Venezuelan immigrant in Spain. I'm not in an illegal situation, I'm already a resident, however, somehow I feel a bit like you. I mean, I'm a civil engineer, but I can't work as a civil engineer in Spain until I pass through a long paperwork process. Europe needs (or the major institutions always say they need) professionals from abroad. However, they don't make it easy to bring them here, to Europe.
Europe is famous for red tape and bureaucracy. In fact, even though it is no longer a super power in the traditional sense like the USA, people describe it as a bureaucratic superpower, since it's the planets best source of unnecessary rules that can actually influence the rest of the world (such as forcing Apple to use USBC). So I feel you!
One major problem causing the collapse of the UK is that it's also obsessed with red tape, but it's actually quite useless and unqualified to do it XD depended on the euro too much, so when Brexit happened, they realised they had no idea what they were doing... Sigh
You're angry. Rightly so. Stew a bit, then get a grip and go after what you want. Seems to me you have climbed a lot of mountains in your life, most of them without anyone's help. Now you do have someone. Go to England, with your wife😇. England is your home (you feel that way). Don't let a bunch of bureaucrats stand in your way. You've overcome bigger obstacles than this.
I'm betting on you, not the stuffy bureaucrats.
Hah. Well I haven't voiced this kinda frustration to her, I still maintain a 'let's do our best' approach in private (she knows the blog exists of course so she'll probably read it one day - Hi my Love!)
But, facts have to be faced whether I like it or not - it's now impossible that we will get to England any time less than 9-10 months, and until the next election happens and we can see, somewhere down the list on their priorities, they might have a look at this whole debacle (if not reverse, at least minimie the damage) we can't actively plan to see if we can even make that timeline.
So there is a whole ton of 'sit around and find out', while also 'preparing for the worst, hoping for the best'. I think the reason I keep waking up so annoyed about this is because it's just so out of my control.
If it was because i messed up and gambled my money away in las vegas, i'd be way more positive to try and wriggle my way out of it haha...ohh well.
I'll surely send an update in a year or so from England... maybe
Coming at you live from Birmingham....
Its sad to see your beautifuul country turn to shite. I was born and raised here, but have travelled a lot of the world. Hong Kong is my home, but with whats happening with the CCP takeover the prospect of returning home has long died.
I know its the same for you...in fact...lots of people have fled England to places like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam....you know the usual shelf choices.
Yet my friend there is no place safe in this world, with the looming Agenda 2030 and UN's 17 SDG bollox fucking up everything.
If you can get out of shithole China, then maybe look into someplace in the East of Europe, the Balkans. I hear property is still cheap there, people still value cash transactions, and forming a sanctuary there is still doable.
I would not recommend coming back to England, which is unfair for me to say as this is your home. It's just not a place you want to come back to. Even the beautiful south is being eroded with bollox.
Peace my friend!
Well in some way I'm glad you're backing me up on the 'England is shit' part lol, but as I've mentioned in other comments, I'm not really in a time of life where I can just up and leave to any random place. The choices are, unfortunately, China or England, for many reasons. I can go to England with the 100% intention of leaving again in a few years, but England has to be the drop off point to begin with.
After that, maybe some homogenous urban sprawl in Texas where I get to be shot in the desert for some reason.
Sounds a lot more fun than writing to my local council about the intrusive new wind farm in Kent or whatever XD
As for the HK situation, yeah I'm always keeping an eye on it and it is just... sad. But I have a friend there who used to be - USED TO BE - a total anglophile. And yet, now, living in HK under CCP rule, says she no longer desires to go to England because it sucks now.
That was the most truly depressing hit. Somebody so enamoured with a place to come out and say that while living under communist rule. Sigh.
Its a sad state of affairs in China and HK, infact most of that side is fucked. I often watch Laowhy88 and Serpenza on the Odysee platform and i am discongusted at what my home as become. I also catch up with HK news and also day to day happenings via Hong Kong's RTHK podcast "Free As The Wind".
I totally understand your mindset and maybe coming back to England for a spell is a good thing. Dust off. Re-caliberate. Reload. Re-engage. Look into countries to set roots in (for me, Thailand, Mexico, South America, even in the European Balkans - I've heard good things regarding real estate and the cash economy still going strong there)
Get outta that shit hole China man, them mainland Chinese are another breed of savages. I know its getting very dangerous there.
Anyway if you have time, this one's for you...a blog post on hope
https://peakd.com/hive-126152/@jin-out/lsumowmq
May the spirit of magic be with you always my friend. If you ever come back to England, let me know. I'm looking at wild camping at the Yew Forest in Kent, so mayhaps we can meet up?
Well hey I married one of those savages so unless I'm a savage too, they're not all that way. In fact, her and her family are a better breed of human than anyone in my own family, including myself. They're kinder, harder working, more honest, intelligent and educated, and overall more wholesome. It's been hard for my brain to comprehend what it's like being in a functional, healthy family.
BUT, in the context of a HKer, I can definitely see your angle lol. Just be careful with serpentza and laowhy, they're not dishonest exactly (I still watch them too), but they're very doom-mongery. They only have the negative spin on everything. They try to be balanced by saying 'however we LOVE the people' but in the same breath say that they're primitive and dirty with awful culture and music.
Like I said, I still watch them, but I'm always careful to be aware; they can never say anything positive (not without saying 'but...') because positivity isn't their brand.
Well, I don't even know what I'm doing next week, let alone several years from now XD but I will eventually need some friends to start things off from scratch heh
Hearin ya loud and clear.
Regarding the "savagery" I didn't mean that in a negative sense. I don't mean they are barbaric too, as I've been to China many times. I just meant they are....different lol. You know the score.
If you return here, you have a friend in me.
Just wanted to drop this on thy radar though, from the Guardian newspaper site https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/16/uk-facing-food-shortages-and-price-rises-after-extreme-weather
So if you return, please return with lots of potatoes lol.
I hear you and agree that the change in policy really sucks when they have other visas with much stringent requirements. Talk about penalizing your own.
But don't despair, I'm sure you can find a job that pays over the financial limit if you really wanted to.
Well, there's a very small selection of teachers getting over 39k, but it's more that I'm not going to separate from my wife for at least 6 months, more likely over a year in order to do that. She can't come over until I got 6 months of pay slips meeting the criteria.
Short of miraculously finding a UK based remote job I can night shift here(which I'm not even sure counts tbh) we vac only really depend on the massive savings route
How unfair are those laws for expatriates, while others who are illegal give them everything, I wish you the best in this new stage and hopefully you can get a way to achieve your dreams, strength.
Thanks! C'est la vie, we'll be happy together whatever we do, even if I complain a bunch =D
If you want Europe, you can find some nice country like Lithuania, who sells their passport online. Or was is Estonia? Anyway, one of those, Letonia, Estonia, Lithuania. Get the passport, became EU citizen, go in England for like 6 months at the time to visit family. Enjoy the fun.
https://blog.xolo.io/ultimate-list-of-e-residency-countries
Haha yeah there's some surprisingly cheap routes similarly in Portugal and others I think? Though in some cases you need to invest a hefty sum into their country first before getting the 'golden ticket' or whatever. Even the UK can do it in 5 years if you put 2 million pounds in... bargain!
But nah, I've been away from home my entire adult life (almost 15 years now). As much as it sucks, I still want to be able to, for example, pop over to my mums place for an hour and walk the dog, or something casual like that. English speaking schools and friends, learn to drive... there's a ton of reasons it has to be England. at a stretch, Ireland.
But right now it just makes much more sense to just sit here in Asia slowly accruing more money
Gee, I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I live in the little colony the UK started a couple of hundred years ago in the southern hemisphere and I think it's fair to say that we're quickly following such stupidity. I'm all for immigration, but when the illegal immigrants stop citizens from returning to the country of their birth, there's something not right. And, unfortunately, you're probably correct in assuming that now that it's all written into law that the next mob to run the show won't bother overturning it.
I feel like the British situation should be a pretty damn good example for other countries like Japan, new Zealand, to listen to and learn from, hopefully preventing the same outcome before it's too late - there is no going back. You can't undo it.
Perhaps the most underappreciated problem in this is the UKs desperate need to feel like it's still a big player, like the big little brother USA somehow gives a shit about what we say and do. We constantly feel responsible for everybody else's suffering, meaning we open the floodgates indefinitely at the expense of people like me and, well, everybody else. It's all so stupid
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Fuck the UK, come to Europe instead :)
I did browse the possibility of Ireland, but the rules on specifically a non Irish person and their non Irish wife coming over is a lot more vague and sparse... But it's a potential idea maybe? The rest of Europe is a bit too non-English for my tastes XD
Where would you suggest?
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