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Relocating to the USA

#84
-Asdfgh- said:
No, not me, I am just curious about this. For most mere mortals such a thing is difficult, but a lot of British musicians seem to have just upped and moved to the USA over the last 50 years. How do they get to just move and stay, seemingly on a whim?
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They got the right visa. If I had a job offer, I could be working in the US tomorrow given the type of degree
I have and the types of visas I’m eligible for under NAFTA.
 
#85
-Asdfgh- said:
No, not me, I am just curious about this. For most mere mortals such a thing is difficult, but a lot of British musicians seem to have just upped and moved to the USA over the last 50 years. How do they get to just move and stay, seemingly on a whim?
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As long as you have a healthy bank account and you were not a member of the German Nazi party in the 30s or belong to a terrorist organisation etc etc, it's relatively simple. Lots of paperwork and fees to pay, but simple. So if you are a musician in a well known band with a decent income you're probably fine.
If your spouse/partner is a US citizen, then it's even simpler (but again, the paperwork is not fun... guess how I know ;) )
 
#86
waynobass said:
The UK also disdains the ridiculous metric system.
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who told you that?

Whoever it was, they lied to you. Yes, there are people who dislike rational simple systems, like the metric system, but it's the minority these days. The UK has been embracing metric for decades [*] and only the older generations remember a purely non-metric life. Most people seem to handle both systems, but metric usage continues to increase, thank god.

[*] in practice, it's a bit mixed up... we measure distances in miles and yards, but 'social distancing' guidelines are given in metres. The price of fruit is often given as so many GBP per kilogram, but we may measure it in kilograms or pounds... although if you weigh yourself you may use stones and pounds just as often as kilograms. Height is still mostly feet and inches, but more and more metric is used there too. Gasoline is sold by the litre, but fuel consumption in cars is still given as miles per gallon. Essentially, the units in use depend a lot on context. At least £1 = 100 pence, which is much more reasonable than the previous insane system.
 
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#89
lordradish said:
You sure that one still matters, nowadays, given our current climate?
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Last time I had to fill in the visa waiver form to visit the US, it was still on the list which is why I commented it here... it always made me laugh, as if anyone were going to say "oh, yeah, I actually was a member of the Nazi party!" :D

But I understand why you said that and... yeah, it makes you wonder, eh? I'll say no more, stay out of politics etc, but yeah, I get it. ;)
 
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#90
ficelles said:
Check out this article: History of taxation in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

The key info is "The highest rate of income tax peaked in the Second World War at 99.25%. It was then slightly reduced and was around 90% through the 1950s and 60s."

Needless to say this was the era when politicians turned the UK into "the sick man of Europe".
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interesting stuff, didn’t know that.

Although it’s my personal view that it was the hardships of WW2 itself that resulted in the “sick man of Europe” status! The nation was pretty much on its knees at that point.

I think the UK only finished paying back its massive loan from the US in the 21st century (IIRC).
 
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#92
Claymore said:
You have to sign an official document admitting that colour is spelled "color" and that the Metric system is inherently evil... Then they let you in.
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This is gold! lol. What's funny is, in the engineering world, you will find little to no resistance to the notion that the metric system is far superior if not only for it's easy units conversion. ...but also the understanding that it was converting our factories just being too costly so, it was abandoned. I frequently joke that the only remaining "thing" from our attempt to metric conversion several decades ago is the 2-liter bottle for soda drinks. lol.

Just like refusing to call Football anything other than Soccer, we refuse the world's superficial "u" in color and bevahior. lol.
 
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#95
mcnach said:
Last time I had to fill in the visa waiver form to visit the US, it was still on the list which is why I commented it here... it always made me laugh, as if anyone were going to say "oh, yeah, I actually was a member of the Nazi party!" :D
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On the face of it, it looks as ridiculous, yes; like the question on the tax return about having any other income that you haven't declared.
Nobody's going to say "yes," but they put that question in the tax forms so they could jail Capone for tax evasion.
Likewise, I'm guessing it's easier to use existing laws to prosecute somebody for immigration fraud, than it is to enact Nazi-hunting legislation.
 
#99
equill said:
Granted.
It's more of a refusal to being either in or out :p
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by the way, if you had followed the 'negotiations' between the UK's government and the EU after it was decided to leave... suddenly it would all made sense, as a lot of the headlines seem to translate as "we want out, but having much of what we had when we were in" :D

It would be funny if it weren't real...
 
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