morristech Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 This is more of an exploratory rambling than anything. I am thinking of emigrating from the UK (currently in Bristol) to somewhere with colder weather in the winter than the disappointingly mild winters we get here. I have been looking through a few expat forums, but it's difficult to find out what the job market is like for our kind of work on those forums. I'm fairly young and at the beginning of my career, having been in work for a year now, and covered a range of roles in events, music and theatre, but with a background in sound, having graduated from university last year with a BSc in Music Tech. I'm working as a 'freelancer' and getting a decent amount of work, but I'm still living with my parents until I've saved enough to be able to move out without the risk of going bankrupt if work dries up for a few months. Problem is, I certainly can't afford the deposit for even a small house, so would have to rent. This will make it difficult to save and I don't see myself getting on the property ladder anytime soon. So the idea of moving abroad came about. I figured it would be a lot easier to emigrate while I am still young, my commitments and belongings are few and my sense of adventure is high. I love the cold and I am drawn to somewhere like Canada or Alaska. I have thought about Northern Europe, and haven't waved goodbye to that idea, but I have heard living costs can be very high and the only language I have a (shamefully poor) grasp of is French, certainly not nearly enough to communicate at work, let alone order a steak with some vaguely hot patches in the middle. However, I realise that getting a visa to work in Canada or the USA can be a painfully long and drawn out process. I realise what the culture is like in the States, having spent a semester of my degree studying there, but have never visited Canada. I hope the GPA of 4 I achieved whilst there might be a bit more alluring to prospective employers over there than it is here, and might look good for the visa application! Of course I wouldn't just hop on a plane to go out there permanently, and would go on a research visit to find out what the area is actually like, but I can't afford to make that investment without a good level of background research to see if it is feasible. Has anyone reading this been through this? Do any of you live in these parts? If so...- What is the job market like in events/theatre/music in North North America?- Is it good enough for a company to blow a load of dosh on sponsoring me with a visa?- Is there hope of being self employed as an immigrant, at least after a while as an employee?- Will I be able to make a comfortable living, and place a deposit a modest house after a while? Any help would be gratefully received. It may never happen, I just want to know if it's possible, and if so what the first steps would be to take. Backup plan might be Scotland, I know that house prices in Edinburgh are cheaper and I love the city. But at the same time I'm really after something else. Maybe it's just a passing phase... Cheers,Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 What languages to you speak? Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand though English speaking impose strict regulations on immigration and you will find getting work hard. Norway and Sweden offer cold winters and nice summers but see how you stand with learning the language, also note that Norway has some really ODD power systems, You will need to know the electrical regs for whatever country that you chose. Bigger land masses tend to have wider extremes of temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morristech Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 What languages to you speak? Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand though English speaking impose strict regulations on immigration and you will find getting work hard. Norway and Sweden offer cold winters and nice summers but see how you stand with learning the language, also note that Norway has some really ODD power systems, You will need to know the electrical regs for whatever country that you chose. Bigger land masses tend to have wider extremes of temperature. Embarrassingly, just English. I would be willing to learn the language, but I can see that taking a long time, and it being very difficult to find work without fluency in the language. I could learn the words over here but to actually become fluent I would need to have lived there for a while. Sadly at the moment I can't afford to live somewhere without earning at the same time! Still, it is a possibility if Canada or the USA aren't practical, and it would be a lot easier to make visits back to the UK or return if it doesn't work out. The main thing which led me to this idea was the affordability of housing, so I think that writes off Norway, but Sweden seems affordable, at least according to this:http://www.numbeo.co...=United+Kingdom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Well a friend of mine chose Danish (but why I don't know) and did one night a week for a few years and passed at a level suitable for Diplomatic purposes -very good Danish RP. It can be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Backup plan might be Scotland, I know that house prices in Edinburgh are cheaper and I love the city. Whilst we're definitely colder than the more southerly parts of Englandshire, apart from a couple of notable exceptions, winters in the central belt tend to be wet rather than cold. I moved into a house roughly fifteen mins outside Glasgow in March 2012, and we have had one solitary day since then with any quantity of snow on the ground. If snowsports are your thing, the ski resorts have done well the last couple of winter seasons, but they are still a decent drive away from Edinburgh, it's not possible to just nip out for a quick hour or so of snowboarding after finishing a shift, for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 If Norway is a possibility then look at the ships that go to Bergen Stavanger and Oslo possibly from Newcastle or Immingham, Look at Fred Olsen Line and DFDS, do some north sea ship work and learn the language on board -plan on there being some rough crossings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morristech Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 Well a friend of mine chose Danish (but why I don't know) and did one night a week for a few years and passed at a level suitable for Diplomatic purposes -very good Danish RP. It can be done.It's a thought. I'd have to decide where to go first and then learn the language before heading out, certainly a lot more rewarding than putting that time into getting a visa... Backup plan might be Scotland, I know that house prices in Edinburgh are cheaper and I love the city. Whilst we're definitely colder than the more southerly parts of Englandshire, apart from a couple of notable exceptions, winters in the central belt tend to be wet rather than cold. I moved into a house roughly fifteen mins outside Glasgow in March 2012, and we have had one solitary day since then with any quantity of snow on the ground. If snowsports are your thing, the ski resorts have done well the last couple of winter seasons, but they are still a decent drive away from Edinburgh, it's not possible to just nip out for a quick hour or so of snowboarding after finishing a shift, for instance. That's what I had gathered really, plus it'd be even further to get to the Alps. I went on a nice road trip of Scotland this summer after Edinburgh Fringe, it put things into perspective about how difficult it can be to get from A to B. And the midges, oh god the midges. Never knew they could bite your eyeballs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 That's what I had gathered really, plus it'd be even further to get to the Alps. I went on a nice road trip of Scotland this summer after Edinburgh Fringe, it put things into perspective about how difficult it can be to get from A to B. Yeah, it's a bit of an eye opener to go on a proper road trip up north when you are used to nipping around the motorways of the central belt. And the midges, oh god the midges. Never knew they could bite your eyeballs. Not a problem in the wintertime at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top-cat Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Sadly until you have very specialist skills, the harsh reality is that to work abroad you generally need a trade which cannot be sourced from the local resident population. Hence people popularly move to less developed countries, or to places like the UAE where they have developed with expats in the picture and are not ready (or in some cases willing) to rely on their own people yet. Places like Canada have well versed professionals all over the shop already so getting work there is going to be much harder. Even where the immigration system permits it, it costs a lot of money to relocate somebody and with lower level positions, the cost of employing somebody will often take precedence over the complete list of values they bring to the position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 What languages to you speak? Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand though English speaking impose strict regulations on immigration and you will find getting work hard. Norway and Sweden offer cold winters and nice summers but see how you stand with learning the language, also note that Norway has some really ODD power systems, You will need to know the electrical regs for whatever country that you chose. Bigger land masses tend to have wider extremes of temperature. Embarrassingly, just English. I would be willing to learn the language, but I can see that taking a long time, and it being very difficult to find work without fluency in the language. I could learn the words over here but to actually become fluent I would need to have lived there for a while. Sadly at the moment I can't afford to live somewhere without earning at the same time! Still, it is a possibility if Canada or the USA aren't practical, and it would be a lot easier to make visits back to the UK or return if it doesn't work out. The main thing which led me to this idea was the affordability of housing, so I think that writes off Norway, but Sweden seems affordable, at least according to this:http://www.numbeo.co...=United+Kingdom yeh all that is kinda true but given the standard wage is more + the tax system is different it looks like it costs more but a monthly food bill is not that much more than the uk. TBH we know Bryson is the best voice on Canada, and there are a few Americans about as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Forget about comparisons on cost of living. The culture and system is entirely different especially in housing. If you do wish to go to Scandinavia then just go and do anything to earn a living. You will not find much in the way of what you are looking for unless you are there and can prove your worth. Just one comparison then; we have 99 towns and cities of 100,000 population in England alone. Sweden has 4. "Our" kind of jobs are few and very far between in a country three times the size of England with less people than Greater London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morristech Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 If Norway is a possibility then look at the ships that go to Bergen Stavanger and Oslo possibly from Newcastle or Immingham, Look at Fred Olsen Line and DFDS, do some north sea ship work and learn the language on board -plan on there being some rough crossings. Good idea, not done any cruise work before but it seems like a good way to make contacts and learn the language. Sadly until you have very specialist skills, the harsh reality is that to work abroad you generally need a trade which cannot be sourced from the local resident population. Hence people popularly move to less developed countries, or to places like the UAE where they have developed with expats in the picture and are not ready (or in some cases willing) to rely on their own people yet. Places like Canada have well versed professionals all over the shop already so getting work there is going to be much harder. Even where the immigration system permits it, it costs a lot of money to relocate somebody and with lower level positions, the cost of employing somebody will often take precedence over the complete list of values they bring to the position. I fear that might be the case! Sadly there aren't too many of these places near the arctic circle... I will try contacting a few companies with my CV, won't hurt to put some feelers out. What languages to you speak? Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand though English speaking impose strict regulations on immigration and you will find getting work hard. Norway and Sweden offer cold winters and nice summers but see how you stand with learning the language, also note that Norway has some really ODD power systems, You will need to know the electrical regs for whatever country that you chose. Bigger land masses tend to have wider extremes of temperature. Embarrassingly, just English. I would be willing to learn the language, but I can see that taking a long time, and it being very difficult to find work without fluency in the language. I could learn the words over here but to actually become fluent I would need to have lived there for a while. Sadly at the moment I can't afford to live somewhere without earning at the same time! Still, it is a possibility if Canada or the USA aren't practical, and it would be a lot easier to make visits back to the UK or return if it doesn't work out. The main thing which led me to this idea was the affordability of housing, so I think that writes off Norway, but Sweden seems affordable, at least according to this:http://www.numbeo.co...=United+Kingdom yeh all that is kinda true but given the standard wage is more + the tax system is different it looks like it costs more but a monthly food bill is not that much more than the uk. TBH we know Bryson is the best voice on Canada, and there are a few Americans about as well. This is true. I haven't researched this much as I had been focussing on North America. Maybe I should think about Northern Europe more seriously. Could even get away with going over on a ferry with my car full of stuff. Would be great to hear some local knowledge from them! Thanks for all the replies so far, you're all being very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 Can you (in England) put yourself in the way of a tour through your country of choice especially if you can do a night each at several venues. You get to see a lot and maybe make some contacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morristech Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 Forget about comparisons on cost of living. The culture and system is entirely different especially in housing. If you do wish to go to Scandinavia then just go and do anything to earn a living. You will not find much in the way of what you are looking for unless you are there and can prove your worth. Just one comparison then; we have 99 towns and cities of 100,000 population in England alone. Sweden has 4. "Our" kind of jobs are few and very far between in a country three times the size of England with less people than Greater London. Yeah I guess it was a bit of a naive thought. If the wages are different it's not going to matter. I think if I want to make it work, at least in the near future, I'm going to need to find a full-time job that will take me, rather than going freelance in a country I have never set foot in before! Can you (in England) put yourself in the way of a tour through your country of choice especially if you can do a night each at several venues. You get to see a lot and maybe make some contacts. I should start looking. I've got a couple of months work lined up in the alps which I'm looking forward to, will at least find out if the blizzard conditions load ins are my kind of gig. Most of my work has been corporate, I've never been on a tour and don't know where to even look, but it is a decent idea. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll do some searching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trussmonkey Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Dubai has a very large and good indoor snowdome..... oh and a great and thriving event industry. Try people like gearhouse arabia for work. Oh and its 0% tax out there !! asia is a massively up and coming area ( I live in Macau) although hell would have to freeze over for me to see any show here but japan and s korea both have excellent ski areas. Norway is bloody expensive (I have a friend who lives and works there at the Oslo opera) but it is lovely in the snow. France could be a good bet if you are looking to doing touring work in the uk. you could tour for a couple of weeks and then pop home to france when your not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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