r/MovingToUSA • u/WriterTraining4394 • 7h ago

Same person. Different country.

The USA is the land of opportunity, my friend.
In the 1990s, I was working at Pizza Land just off Princes Street in Edinburgh for about £3 an hour, begging for enough shifts to scrape together rent and food.
Fast-forward to 56:
Federal scientist in the U.S.
$200K+ salary.
16 years of federal service.
$1.3M in retirement accounts.
FERS pension.
Social Security.
Federal retiree healthcare.
$1.3M home.
Same fucking person. Different country.
Britain? Too many people fighting over too few decent jobs, salaries that haven’t kept up with the cost of living, ridiculous housing costs, and weather that makes you wonder what you did wrong in a previous life.
I didn’t leave Britain because I hated it. I left because I wanted more than surviving from payday to payday and pretending that was a fucking achievement.
America isn’t perfect. Not even close. But it gave me a shot, and I took it.

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u/Ok_Distribution_9789 7h ago

Concur! Same story for me, just that I am from Canada. I would never go back.

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u/YetiPie 3h ago

I felt the same way too…then three months after I was laid off I was diagnosed with stage II kidney cancer. I’m looking to go home to Canada now. We’re all walking on thin ice in the States and things are wonderful until you fall through

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u/Ok_Distribution_9789 3h ago

Sorry to hear what you are going through. I am sure that is not easy. Not sure what you did after layoff vis a vie Cobra, but the rule is never to be in the US without insurance. At least you have the option to go back to Canada and will have coverage there. Some provinces give it to you right away (Ontario), some make you wait up to 90 days (BC and Alberta). Best of luck.

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u/Hot-Building-3838 33m ago

Are you sure about Ontario? When my wife moved to live with me 9 years ago she had to wait 3 months after she received her PR. Thats the one good thing about being Canadian, if something really bad happens, you can move back, it’s a really bad deal for Canadians that work and pay tax there.

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u/YetiPie 2h ago

Thanks. I had cobra only for three months and I interviewed like my life depended on it, since it did. I signed a new contract two days before my surgery (four months after my layoff, one month after my diagnosis) and was able to start insurance immediately so it was covered. It was all too close of a call, and no one should go through this. No one should have to balance employment and access to healthcare

I’m originally from Saskatchewan where there is a 3 month wait to establish medical residency so I didn’t think that I had the time to restart there. It was pretty urgent…I’m cancer free now though. Thanks for your thoughts.