[jck]

I'm grew up in India and went to grad school in the US and worked there. Eventually, I transferred to the UK cause I didn't get through the US work visa lottery.

I'm much happier here because of the reasons you mentioned. I feel like my friends in America have are basically amassing wealth to insulate their liberal bubble in a conservative land. However, they might not be able to outweath the recent success of right wing policies that the American supreme Court has managed to impose.

For me personally, even the "low" tech salaries in Europe (think something like 150k an year total) is more than enough for the lifestyle I desire. If amassing wealth isn't your primary motivator, it absolutely makes sense to move to a society which better aligns with your values. That would probably be the EU for someone like you and me, but UK is EU lite.

I love that everybody here has the same access to healthcare and the fact that my high taxes help that. I like that the population responds to the actions of the elected officials - like how the current UK govt is doing absolutely terribly in current polls. In the US, it seems like it's always a tight race regardless of what the government does. I love being able to use public Transit to get to most places. I'd rather my potential kids grow up in a kinder society, where their wellbeing wouldn't be at risk if something were to happen to me or my job.

[jck]

Oh, and also, if I choose to permanently live in the UK, or EU, the path to citizenship is deterministic with a known timeline.

In the US, the time from Green card to citizenship is unbounded. people from India and China are pretty much never going to become citizens till they exploit some loophole like having an American baby.

[I_AM_A_SMURF]

The problem is getting a green card not citizenship. From a green card you can naturalize in 3 or 5 years.

[jck]

Apologies, you are correct. I haven't considered emigrating to the US for years and forgot the specific details. Most of my recent knowledge just comes from my friends who live there.

Iirc you can indefinitely keep getting renewals on your h1b while waiting on the green card queue - and this queue is many decades long for people from certain countries like India and China.

[emodendroket]

I don't feel like the UK is in an especially strong position to look down at the US for being too conservative or doing too little for its poorer citizens but I'm glad you've found a place that suits you regardless.

[jck]

I agree that UK isn't as left wing as I'd like, but there is really a huge difference between what's considered right wing between the UK and the US. For instance, the NHS. Poor or unemployed people get the same access to healthcare as I do.

In my personal experience, there is also less stratification and less overt racism or bigotry. However, they're pioneering new and clever bigotry against trans people now and that concerns me.

[emodendroket]

> For instance, the NHS. Poor or unemployed people get the same access to healthcare as I do.

Sure, and the Conservative Party, who has enjoyed a very long period of uninterrupted rule, has been gradually sabotaging it with the obvious hope that is falls apart and market reforms can be implemented. Most of these differences have more to do with the legacy of the post-War period than anything about the current political situation.

The UK is also significantly whiter than the US is, which is something of a counterpoint to the idea that they're less bigoted, in my view.

[bwhillers]

See what you did there? You conclude that because UK is "whiter", it means they are not "less bigoted". That's weird and I hope you understand what your brain did there.

[bwhillers]

Can you give an example of new and clever bigotry?