Going To Turn Into A Migrant Worker

[homeless]

I am thinking the best thing to do is live in a eastern european country for 6 months of the year in a 4 or 5 bedroom house with a few acres of land, coming to the uk for 6 months a year to work, very much like many eastern europeans do.

I talk to many of the eastern european girls that work for minimum wage here in bars and nightclubs and hairdressers and kebab shops ect and there is no doubt they have a much better standard of life than anyone in the uk earning the average wage.

The reason is most of our money is taken up on housing, you can purchase decent property in nice areas in eastern europe for around 10k the equivelent in the uk would be out of reach of even a doctors wage here.

So perhaps the thing to do is do the same as migrant workers that come here, work each year for 6 months and go live in the cheap country.i believe my standard of living will vastly improve doing this.

if you cant beat them join them.

[apom]

gOod point.. for a while I had a contract as the domain administrator for a large NHS trust..

Wilst chatting to a nurse from eastern europe one day she expressed her views of England..

The money had seemed fantastic..

but she was going home.. at home she had rented a flat and had money to eat out and go out with friends.. a few times a week.. She had loved her life..

In england her money almost covered.

The rent of a studio flat.. the bills, council tax and food... she couldn't go out.. struggled with money..

she couldn't understand how a qualified professional in england worried about eating after she had put a roof over her head..

we live in a good country.. that is a crappy place to live..

[GCS15]

gOod point.. for a while I had a contract as the domain administrator for a large NHS trust..

Wilst chatting to a nurse from eastern europe one day she expressed her views of England..

The money had seemed fantastic..

but she was going home.. at home she had rented a flat and had money to eat out and go out with friends.. a few times a week.. She had loved her life..

In england her money almost covered.

The rent of a studio flat.. the bills, council tax and food... she couldn't go out.. struggled with money..

she couldn't understand how a qualified professional in england worried about eating after she had put a roof over her head..

we live in a good country.. that is a crappy place to live..

The sooner people wake up to this truth the better. Why be productive when you are punished for it? A better solution is to produce just enough for you and your family and to put some away for a rainy day (preferably in Sovereigns) and let the vampires / leeches kill off the host.

[BuyingBear]

gOod point.. for a while I had a contract as the domain administrator for a large NHS trust..

Wilst chatting to a nurse from eastern europe one day she expressed her views of England..

The money had seemed fantastic..

Hrm, 6 months, wouldn't that mean you could be come a tax excile and be resident in somewhere like Estonia with their ~15% flat tax, then visit the UK for the rest of the time in the summer? Very good if you're self-employed and not geographically tied down.

[Time to raise the rents.]

I am thinking the best thing to do is live in a eastern european country for 6 months of the year in a 4 or 5 bedroom house with a few acres of land, coming to the uk for 6 months a year to work, very much like many eastern europeans do.

I talk to many of the eastern european girls that work for minimum wage here in bars and nightclubs and hairdressers and kebab shops ect and there is no doubt they have a much better standard of life than anyone in the uk earning the average wage.

The reason is most of our money is taken up on housing, you can purchase decent property in nice areas in eastern europe for around 10k the equivelent in the uk would be out of reach of even a doctors wage here.

So perhaps the thing to do is do the same as migrant workers that come here, work each year for 6 months and go live in the cheap country.i believe my standard of living will vastly improve doing this.

if you cant beat them join them.

Sounds great. Get robbed, ransomed and raped whilst avoiding being murdered for 6 months a year posing as a wealthy westerner in Estonia or Poland or Romania.

[BuyingBear]

Sounds great. Get robbed, ransomed and raped whilst avoiding being murdered for 6 months a year

Do you include that adage in your to let adverts?

Edited November 24, 2005 by BuyingBear

[Gwailo]

I am thinking the best thing to do is live in a eastern european country for 6 months of the year in a 4 or 5 bedroom house with a few acres of land, coming to the uk for 6 months a year to work, very much like many eastern europeans do.

I talk to many of the eastern european girls that work for minimum wage here in bars and nightclubs and hairdressers and kebab shops ect and there is no doubt they have a much better standard of life than anyone in the uk earning the average wage.

The reason is most of our money is taken up on housing, you can purchase decent property in nice areas in eastern europe for around 10k the equivelent in the uk would be out of reach of even a doctors wage here.

So perhaps the thing to do is do the same as migrant workers that come here, work each year for 6 months and go live in the cheap country.i believe my standard of living will vastly improve doing this.

if you cant beat them join them.

Very good idea!

I think you'd be better off in either Thailand or Malaysia - cheaper even than Eastern Europe, you can use English, the weather is better & the girld are lovely!

Go for it!

[Tuberider]

Sounds great. Get robbed, ransomed and raped whilst avoiding being murdered for 6 months a year posing as a wealthy westerner in Estonia or Poland or Romania

My wife is Polish and I travel there extensively for business and pleasure.

It is a relatively safe place, there are some pick-pockets and thieves about on the trains and trams but generally no more so than in the big English cities.

The general reaction from most people when they find out you are a foreigner is one of interest and respect. In ten years I have never had one negative experience.

You can get a 900sqm plot of land in the susburbs of Szczecin for around $20,000. And this is one of the pricier cities (together with Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot and Warsaw of course).

Further east and south property is much cheaper.

You can live on about 400 usd a month. Not extravagantly, but cover your basics and maybe have a drink in the pub once or twice a week.

Don't know about Romania or Estonia though.

[The Masked Tulip]

Unfortunately, un UK Law you are ALWAYS considered British even if you become the citizen of another country. Those actors who become US ciitizens, for example, are still considered British SUBJECTS and hence liable for UK taxes.

Of course, such people have clever and expensive lawyers/accountants to get out of their taxes, obligations, etc, but still be able to get a knighthood one day.

You, on the other hand, would be screwed financially as Brown would still expect all his taxes from you. That's the difference between being a SUBJECT and being a CITIZEN!

The one good thing about being British is that panzers have difficulty crossing water.

[Tuberider]

me and some friends used to do this between London and Cyprus during the eighties and early nineties when it was still cheap enough on the island to do so

work in the UK between November and April, live frugally and save, then pile over to Cyprus for May-October and take it easy. one year we rented a trailer right smack on the beach for 80 pounds a month, with 5 of us sharing. no electricity, just a diesel generator, and water had to be carried in. but great fun.

used to get jobs in bars or as bouncers, back then you would earn 15-20 quid a night and it was more than enough to eat on. and the tourists back then were mostly scandinavian. the women were fantastic.

days were spent windsurfing, windsurfing, windsurfing....

aaahh my misspent youth

guess the same could be done today in the philippines or similiar...

[BuyingBear]

Unfortunately, un UK Law you are ALWAYS considered British even if you become the citizen of another country. Those actors who become US ciitizens, for example, are still considered British SUBJECTS and hence liable for UK taxes.

Not if you can get non-domicile status, that involves writing down your UK assets and links though, but given that many young people don't have any fixed assets like property it would only involve closing their UK bank accounts, then maybe getting an HSBC Guernsey with VISA/Switch.

The one good thing about being British is that panzers have difficulty crossing water.

We have our own.

Edited November 24, 2005 by BuyingBear

[The Masked Tulip]

Not if you can get non-domicile status, that involves writing down your UK assets and links though, but given that many young people don't have any fixed assets like property it would only involve closing their UK bank accounts, then maybe getting an HSBC Guernsey with VISA/Switch.

Hence why I mentioned the example of actors who make it big and become US citizens. Getting non-domicile status is more difficult than you think and, for obvious reasons, the Government want it this way. Some of you might recall that only a year or two ago Brown was reported to be wanting to tax any British citizen anywhere in the World no matter whether they set foot in this country in the past X years or not.

The only people who easily get non-domicile are those whom the Government basically says "OK, we lose short-term but we will gain long-term." - i.e. pop star earning a fortune who does not set a foot in the UK during a World tour. OK, the Government loses a year's tax but, longer term, will make loads of tax once the pop star returns to the UK... but most have their money hidden away in Ireland.

What I am saying is that if you are rich and/or famous then becoming the 'migrant worker' that the OP mentioned is kind of possible. However, for Joe Bloggs doing the same is very difficult. The only real way around it is to stay out of the UK for virtually all of, or all of, the year.

We have our own.

Typical. 4x4s being used to drop school children off outside of my house each morning is bad enough. How on earth am I going to get my car out of the drive if a ruddy big panzer is blocking the road!? I blame that Clarkson!

[Gentle Ben]

Not if you can get non-domicile status, that involves writing down your UK assets and links though, but given that many young people don't have any fixed assets like property it would only involve closing their UK bank accounts, then maybe getting an HSBC Guernsey with VISA/Switch.

We have our own.

It's down to where you are 'Tax Resident'. I live in the UK but I work in Holland and I'm taxed in Holland (30% of your money as a temporary foreign worker here is non-taxable!) because I'm in the country for more than 183 days per year (i.e. Dutch tax resident). If I was in the UK for 183 days per year or more, I'd pay UK tax. I wonder what would happen if I split my days up between 3 countries, none of which I was tax-resident in? Complete tax avoidance? Probably not....

[BuyingBear]

It's down to where you are 'Tax Resident'. I live in the UK but I work in Holland and I'm taxed in Holland (30% of your money as a temporary foreign worker here is non-taxable!) because I'm in the country for more than 183 days per year (i.e. Dutch tax resident). If I was in the UK for 183 days per year or more, I'd pay UK tax. I wonder what would happen if I split my days up between 3 countries, none of which I was tax-resident in? Complete tax avoidance? Probably not....

Probably the direct opposite Do you maintain any assets in the UK, property or bank accounts? The time spent outside of the UK doesn't include travelling time either.

[The Masked Tulip]

It's down to where you are 'Tax Resident'. I live in the UK but I work in Holland and I'm taxed in Holland (30% of your money as a temporary foreign worker here is non-taxable!) because I'm in the country for more than 183 days per year (i.e. Dutch tax resident). If I was in the UK for 183 days per year or more, I'd pay UK tax. I wonder what would happen if I split my days up between 3 countries, none of which I was tax-resident in? Complete tax avoidance? Probably not....

There are agreements with various coutnries - EU, US, Canada, etc. Basically, you pay tax somewhere but the UK Government has the right to charge you in addition to taxation in those countries. For example, ify ou get taxed at 30% in one country but the Government classes you as a higher rate tax payer than they reserve the right to take the extra 10% off you.

A good example of this are numerous writers and actors I know who work in the US. They get taxed on their earnings in the US but, because the US tax rate is less than the UK, Brown then taxes them the 'extra amount' over here. When they take into account US/Sterling exchange rates many of them find themselves no better off... so they opt to stay out of the country for as long as possible, become tax non-domicile residents of EIRE or Switzerland, etc, or, as many do, they become US citizens.

Again, this is different to the OP who, if I read him right, had the noble idea of working in the UK buying living in Poland, Corfu or some other part of the EU that is not so expensive to live.

[Jay7]

I've tried both - living in Eastern Europe and in the UK. UK is by far better.

One thing you probably don't realise is that cheap properties are in poor regions. You may get a house for £10k, but you would struggle to get a decent job that would pay your bills. You can get a decent job in a city like Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, etc., but then the properties are much more expensive there - expect something around £50k for a 1-bed flat or above £100k for a middle-size house.

Also, if you live in a poor region, own/rent a huge house for peanuts, there is often no social life apart of going down to your local pub and drink extensively. These places are cultural deserts.

Been there, done that. UK is much better.