I want to live in America

Permabear

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Donald Trump

Permabear wrote: »

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As I am sure that you are aware, mature students (those over 23) can have access to education on the basis of their life experience etc. rather than leaving cert points. Like that wan from Trinity who is now a senator and had dropped out of education as a teenager dues to drugs and kids.

Having a subjective admissions process is an invitation to abuse of the system. Handy though for the wealthy who can afford to donate a couple of million quid for their parents though.

Was your wife's education self funded? Did she have influence/support (not necessarily only financial) when she returned? I'm not saying anything bad about her. She might have had some extra things going for her that allowed her to navigate the financial barrier

con___manx1

Kivaro wrote: »

That comment is rubbish. It ain't true.

Some of the other generalizations on here are bewildering in their inaccuracies.

It is true. canada is the very same aswell. I should know i lived there and was told loads of times its the same in the Us.

Permabear

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mikemac2

con___manx1 wrote: »

I dislike america at the moment so much.

there the fattest country in the world.

Ireland ain’t far behind

handlemaster

Kivaro wrote: »

handlemaster wrote: »

Holidays are rubbish 10 days a year.

That comment is rubbish. It ain't true.

Some of the other generalizations on here are bewildering in their inaccuracies.

A simple google would suffice before you put your foot in it.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Manic Moran wrote: »

And others get more. I got 39 paid days off last year, only 9 of which were federal bank holidays. I'm trying to remember how many I got when I worked in Ireland, but I don't think it was that much. (I didn't use them all, but I earned them. The rest are sitting in my PTO balance)

Permabear is quite right. You don't come to America because you're looking to be in the bottom 23%. You come to the US because you believe you can better your situation. If you're only worried about how bad it can be, you'll never take any risk at all. Spend all your time looking down, how will you ever get up?

Nice anecdote. Not a statistic. To reiterate the US average days off is 10. I think you are a government employee.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Permabear wrote: »

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10 days is the average according to my link. Earning more than ten depends on years of service. However moving jobs will reset that.

Annasopra

Yester wrote: »

Thanks for that. I actually did win the lotto a while back. Not the jackpot but 350k so how bad.

Do you expect us to believe that?

Annasopra

Manic Moran wrote: »

And others get more. I got 39 paid days off last year, only 9 of which were federal bank holidays. I'm trying to remember how many I got when I worked in Ireland, but I don't think it was that much. (I didn't use them all, but I earned them. The rest are sitting in my PTO balance)

Permabear is quite right. You don't come to America because you're looking to be in the bottom 23%. You come to the US because you believe you can better your situation. If you're only worried about how bad it can be, you'll never take any risk at all. Spend all your time looking down, how will you ever get up?

Your previous post said 25 (including sick leave), now you are upping it to 30. Your posts are not consistent.

Manic Moran

Joey, go read my post again, and do the maths.

Franz, my primary employer is the private sector. I’m also a military reservist which is where you may be confusing things. And annecdotal though it may be, the fact remains that I moved to the US and I improved my position, which is the topic of the thread, not the US sociological situation in general.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Manic Moran wrote: »

Joey, go read my post again, and do the maths.

Franz, my primary employer is the private sector. I’m also a military reservist which is where you may be confusing things. And annecdotal though it may be, the fact remains that I moved to the US and I improved my position, which is the topic of the thread, not the US sociological situation in general.

If you have 39 days in the private sector its extremely rare. Would be rare here too.

IvyTheTerrible

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

If you have 39 days in the private sector its extremely rare. Would be rare here too.

Sshhhh you're not drinking the "America is great and if you have any ambition you'll abandon average Ireland" Kool-Aid... :pac:

Hector Bellend

Permabear

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BorneTobyWilde

If you work for yourself you can have all the days holidays you want. You need to be successful though, to be self employed and a success in US would be far better than the same here.

BorneTobyWilde

Can you reside in USA if you open a small business?

Franz Von Peppercorn

Permabear wrote: »

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Jesus Christ. Everything with you is personalised. Your anecdotes, as tiresome as they are, are also irrelevant in general to whether the op can do better there. Maybe he can, maybe he can’t. We don’t know his skill set. And he has abandoned the thread.

Plenty of people earn good money in Ireland. We even have millionaires.

ceadaoin.

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Can you reside in USA if you open a small business?

If you have a million dollars to invest upfront and hire at least 10 workers in the first 2 years

Sandor Clegane

America is like a one night stand, you go there use what it has to offer and then leave, no strings attached.

It's an amazing place to visit with great things to see and do and experience, but in reality unless you have boat loads of money its a pretty ****ty place to live. They brand themselves as the land of the free and home of the brave while it has 25 per cent of the worlds prison population and the cops regularly shoot and kill unarmed people for extraordinarily minor altercations. Scary stuff.

Manic Moran

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

If you have 39 days in the private sector its extremely rare. Would be rare here too.

I agree, it is rare. I am fairly well compensated in time and dollars to have turned my hobby into my livelihood. (I'm not sure I could even do this job in Ireland: A search for "military historian" on jobs.ie returns not one result).That doesn't stop me from enjoying the fruits of my move and labour, and I don't exactly feel guilty about it. If the average holiday allocation in each country was the only important thing in my life, I'd have never relocated. Better yet, I beat the average anyway. Go, ambition!

They brand themselves as the land of the free and home of the brave while it has 25 per cent of the worlds prison population and the cops regularly shoot and kill unarmed people for extraordinarily minor altercations. Scary stuff.

Tell you what. If I get shot by a cop or put into jail, I'll have someone post on here so you can say "I told you so". In the meantime, I'm going to continue to enjoy living my life here as I am doing. There's good to counter the bad, and oftentimes, the bad can be mitigated.

In general, if someone you know is considering a move to the US, make sure she/he knows all the potential as well as the risks. If he/she still wishes to continue to do so after making an informed assessment, I'd think about wishing them good luck and dropping them off at the airport. Recommending against trying to reach potential for fear of failure is going to all but guaranteeing that potential won't be reached.

ancapailldorcha

Manic Moran wrote: »

I agree, it is rare. I am fairly well compensated in time and dollars to have turned my hobby into my livelihood. (I'm not sure I could even do this job in Ireland: A search for "military historian" on jobs.ie returns not one result).That doesn't stop me from enjoying the fruits of my move and labour, and I don't exactly feel guilty about it. If the average holiday allocation in each country was the only important thing in my life, I'd have never relocated. Better yet, I beat the average anyway. Go, ambition!

I didn't think private sector historians existed to be honest.

BattleCorp

Permabear wrote: »

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I'm not doubting the quality of life you have in the US but why couldn't you achieve all that if you stayed here?

Manic Moran

BattleCorp wrote: »

I'm not doubting the quality of life you have in the US but why couldn't you achieve all that if you stayed here?

Not to go at this question specifically, but isn't the general line of discussion on this thread sortof missing the point? Education, healthcare, PTO earnings... They are all means to an end, not ends in themselves.

What makes you happy in life? What do you enjoy doing? I'm sortof mechanically oriented. I like driving cars. I like flying airplanes. I like shooting firearms. Here, petrol is cheap, the weather is good, and my pastimes are better supported. If you don't get much enjoyment out of driving a V8 convertible in February through the back roads with an enthusiasts club, or don't care about not being beholden to cloud cover if you want to rent an airplane for a couple of hours, or have no interest in just spending an hour after work burning money at the range with your buddies, then the appeal I see to living in California may not seem worth it to you.

Then again, maybe you like winter sports, or mountaineering. Colorado may well be the place for you, just hop in the car for an hour or two. Of course, that can be met living in parts of Canada, so look at other factors. Either way, such forms of enjoyment are much harder to come by in Ireland. So even if the materialistic aspects of life, such as the house, access to doctors, a good college degree, can be obtained in Ireland as well as the US, the two countries still have distinguishing features which may make an individual subjective quality of life different.

TOss Sweep

mojesius wrote: »

They do routine check ups on you to ensure you're actually married - regular home visits, correspondence address being used , evidence that you are not scamming the system. I know an american man who married a Chilean woman friend to get her card and he said the entire thing was an almighty pain in the bollocks for years.

No they don't. I married an American and not one person came near us to prove the marriage. If this actually happened they must have been suspicious of it in the first place. But never have I heard this to be a thing. The process is a pain in the ass in general.

TOss Sweep

I moved to the US 4 years ago and it is not as rosey as some will have you believe but it is also not as bad as some here would have you believe. If you are the type of person who is willing to work your arse off you can make it and go from a low paying salary to a salary that will you will live comfortably on. My first job here I earned $14 per hour now I earn a hell of lot more than that.

Not going to compare both countries as they have their own qualities. Things about Ireland I do miss but it is what it is.

Permabear

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Permabear

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jmayo

Manic Moran wrote: »

Not to go at this question specifically, but isn't the general line of discussion on this thread sortof missing the point? Education, healthcare, PTO earnings... They are all means to an end, not ends in themselves.

What makes you happy in life? What do you enjoy doing? I'm sortof mechanically oriented. I like driving cars. I like flying airplanes. I like shooting firearms. Here, petrol is cheap, the weather is good, and my pastimes are better supported. If you don't get much enjoyment out of driving a V8 convertible in February through the back roads with an enthusiasts club, or don't care about not being beholden to cloud cover if you want to rent an airplane for a couple of hours, or have no interest in just spending an hour after work burning money at the range with your buddies, then the appeal I see to living in California may not seem worth it to you.

I always found the US to be more civil aviation friendly than little old Ireland or even UK, and that is despite it's huge military aviation complex with huge bases and no fly zones and it's huge volume of commercial aviation.

But saying all of the above is fine if you have the money and time.
One can probably have a good life almost anywhere if one has the money and time.
Granted you can't fire almost any weapon in most parts of the world.

BTW you do know you are living near to a major fault line that someday will have a megaquake.

And as the man said ...

live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft

markodaly

I suppose Manic Moran hits the nail on the head. What makes you happy?

For many people they are happy out tipping away at work and happy to stay that way once they get to a reasonable position in terms of responsibilities and salary. Once they have money to pay off a mortgage, put food on the table and have a few pints, they are happy with their lot.

It is interesting the overwhelming negativity people have about living in the US, especially when pretty much all of these comments come from people who never lived there but just take the headlines as fact in a way to make a judgement about the entire country of 340 million people.

Would these same people make the same judgement about Africa for example. If you looked at the media you would think that its a poverty and war stricken place where even going there you will end up getting ebola, aids, eaten by a lion, or starve to death.

As someone who has been there half a dozen times, this is not the truth, it is a media perception born out of ignorance and stupidity. So, I will use the same logic to say that people who have the overwhelming views on the USA are born out of the same ignorance and stupidity.

To my mind some people will do better in the USA than Ireland. If you are not a risk taker and prefer to stay here and collect what ever benifits the state gives you then sure, a place like the USA will not be for you. People like this draw comfort from the fact that there is a nanny state there what will look after you. Other people want to take risks, work hard and see how far they can go in their chosen profession.

People who are skilled and educated in things like finance, IT, engineering, medicine, law can do really well for themselves. Even those with a good trade (visa depending of course) can do very well for themselves.

So, essentially its all about attitude. If you are a go getter then yes a place like the USA is a place where you can thrive. If you are more concerned about collecting child benefits then no, the USA is not a place for you.

TOss Sweep

Permabear wrote: »

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Exactly. That was my point. It isn't random. If they are making house calls they have already predetermined it is a high risk case of fake marriage.

My wife was adopted from Colombia at a young age and even though she was born and raised by Americans since the age of 2 her passport shows her to be a Colombian national. All USCIS saw was an Irishman marrying a Colombian and we went through extra steps due to it.

But my point is unless you throw up those red flags they don't come knocking to check on you and its actually more rare than one would think. I know plenty of Non Nationals who have status here now marrying outside the US and not once have any of them gotten a home visit. Few extra interviews and more paperwork needed but no ICE knocking on the door.

Permabear

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LirW

I can definitely see a day, though, when tax regimes change, when the American multinationals that now form the backbone of the Irish economy are gone, and the Irish are trooping across the Atlantic once again.

No need to be smug about it, I think everyone, including yourself, would do anything to put food on the family's table if times are being really tough.
If that means moving country or even continent to somewhere where it's easier at a certain time, so be it. Has always been, always will be like that.
People go where the jobs are.


Same goes for Americans that hold a dual citizenship from a European country that travel to Europe and temporarily settle there for medical treatment. Or the students that pack up for good and move overseas to flee their student debts. It goes both ways and is a matter of taste and circumstances in the end.
While I wouldn't like to live there, there are 10 others that would give their left arm for it.

Based on the few holidays i've had there, it just sets me on edge. I don't think i would ever want to live there

markodaly

markodaly wrote: »

It is interesting the overwhelming negativity people have about living in the US, especially when pretty much all of these comments come from people who never lived there but just take the headlines as fact in a way to make a judgement about the entire country of 340 million people.

It really boils down to who you meet while you're over there. I lived five months in New York living out of corporate apartments and frankly, the people I met were ignorant and proud to be so. Very professional but absolute ****s. Whereas I spent three months in Charlestown and the people I associated with were wonderful.

But if I had to judge the US by those two experiences, I wouldn't want to live there. But that's just me. I love cities, and American cities are too tense. I've heard the countryside/rural areas are lovely, but I've had enough of that from other countries.

As someone who has been there half a dozen times, this is not the truth, it is a media perception born out of ignorance and stupidity. So, I will use the same logic to say that people who have the overwhelming views on the USA are born out of the same ignorance and stupidity.

It's true and it isn't true. It's a bloody big country with massive extremes all over. I think many Irish people think because they've traveled to France, they've seen a big country... They can't really comprehend how different one country can be depending on where you are.

I've lived in Russia, & China too. Similar issues there. Simply focusing on the media reports, they'd be awful places to live, but I loved my time in both.

Permabear

Permabear wrote: »

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Funnily enough, I can see a day when it's the Americans crossing the Atlantic looking for work and prosperity.

Permabear

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Electric Sheep

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Manic Moran wrote: »

Joey, go read my post again, and do the maths.

Franz, my primary employer is the private sector. I’m also a military reservist which is where you may be confusing things. And annecdotal though it may be, the fact remains that I moved to the US and I improved my position, which is the topic of the thread, not the US sociological situation in general.

If you have 39 days in the private sector its extremely rare. Would be rare here too.

No its not. I get 28 days vacation and 12 holidays.

If i chose to move jobs i would negotiate a similar package. I've lived in the US for nearly 30 years and I've never had just 10 vacation days.

We also get 16 hours of paid volunteer time. Oh, and can work from home as often as we like.

I'm happy with it.

Permabear

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markodaly

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Ah so we can't have an opinion on a place without having been there? Got it.
Funny that coming from someone with opinions on plenty of things they've no experience of.

How do you know? I have lived in the USA actually.

Look if you want to comment about a place stating 'facts' like you are likely to get killed by trigger happy cops, or die on the streets from starvation, then be my guest. But those comments are just ignorant and stupid as they will apply to any would be Irish legal immigrant or their experience of such.

Similar comments about Ireland being a place of potato eating drunks is also ignorant, don't you think?

Similar comments about Africa being full of Ebola and Aids is also ignorant.

Ignorant and stupid comments are just that, ignorant and stupid. Be my guest if you want to make them.

IvyTheTerrible

markodaly wrote: »

How do you know? I have lived in the USA actually.

Look if you want to comment about a place stating 'facts' like you are likely to get killed by trigger happy cops, or die on the streets from starvation, then be my guest. But those comments are just ignorant and stupid as they will apply to any would be Irish legal immigrant or their experience of such.

Similar comments about Ireland being a place of potato eating drunks is also ignorant, don't you think?

Similar comments about Africa being full of Ebola and Aids is also ignorant.

Ignorant and stupid comments are just that, ignorant and stupid. Be my guest if you want to make them.

I never stated any of those "facts".

markodaly

Deleted User wrote: »

It really boils down to who you meet while you're over there. I lived five months in New York living out of corporate apartments and frankly, the people I met were ignorant and proud to be so. Very professional but absolute ****s. Whereas I spent three months in Charlestown and the people I associated with were wonderful.

There is defiantly a bit of an edge to some cities alright. Not a dangerous edge but more a stress thing. I would not like to live in NY or LA for example. Just too stressful but there are lots of places I would live in.

America is a bit more dog eat dog, its more competitive than Ireland. This can be both a positive and a negative. Ireland is a nice place to live, generally life here is pretty easy going and stress free, but that has its draw backs too, like waiting on a trolley for 2 days for a bed or 10 years waiting for cataract treatments.

If all the countries in the world was the same, it would be a boring place.

markodaly

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I never stated any of those "facts".

You stated incorrectly that I had no experience of living in the states, when in 'fact' I did.

IvyTheTerrible

markodaly wrote: »

You stated incorrectly that I had no experience of living in the states, when in 'fact' I did.

What are you talking about? Read my post again, I said no such thing.

Billy86

Permabear wrote: »

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I don't know, wouldn't the US have seen a huge uptick of Irish migrants during the recession in that case, instead of Canada, Australia and such?

markodaly

markodaly wrote: »

You stated incorrectly that I had no experience of living in the states, when in 'fact' I did.

she wasn't quoting you?

markodaly

Permabear wrote: »

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Maybe its a generational thing. I well remember Ireland in the bad days of the 80's. It was a different world to now. Sure, Ireland has gotten much wealthier since then(of the back of American FDI) and the quality of life between the US and Ireland has narrowed a lot, some say Ireland might even be better but again it depends on the persons circumstances.

I also note that when people move to the Middle East, they never get the same criticism as someone who moved to America, as if then someone has a right to get on a soapbox and start ranting and raving like a lunatic about 'Evil America'. Its boring and tiresome as its been going on since the year 2000, change the record.

Electric Sheep

markodaly wrote: »

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Maybe its a generational thing. I well remember Ireland in the bad days of the 80's. It was a different world to now. Sure, Ireland has gotten much wealthier since then(of the back of American FDI) and the quality of life between the US and Ireland has narrowed a lot, some say Ireland might even be better but again it depends on the persons circumstances.

I also note that when people move to the Middle East, they never get the same criticism as someone who moved to America, as if then someone has a right to get on a soapbox and start ranting and raving like a lunatic about 'Evil America'. Its boring and tiresome as its been going on since the year 2000, change the record.[/quote]
It's been going on longer than that. I remember it from the 80s. There were always the ones going on about Reagan etc while the politians in Ireland were robbing the country blind.

Permabear

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Billy86

Permabear wrote: »

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It's a fair point on the economy, but the US has rebounded while Australia and Canada have slowed down a bit - I don't have the detailed info on it but going anecdotally it seems that they remain more popular than the US, at least relative to their own sizes. That also could be in part down to immigration rules, though it would then stand that those same rules would make it less likely to see "the Irish trooping across the Atlantic once again."