did you ever thought about going abroad?

[Sakura Games]

I just read about svero story and I admire him. But what about YOU?
For those living in euro area or worse in UK... every time you exchange your money from USD to EUR or GBP... don't you feel really bad?
For example cliffsky, I read his sales figure about Democracy. Impressive, but 40k usd is "just" 17-18k GBP, not including taxes. You can barely live with that in UK I think (correct me if I'm wrong).
He could easily relocate to NZ (since he's british) where you would live much better with the same amount of money.

Nobody ever thought of doing the big step and follow svero's journey? :)

[jankoM]

Me and my wife were thinking about NZ too. But this was more fantasy than real thougth. Basically we just want to live in our own place away from all the other "family", so there are more gentle ways to do this (locally) than going to NZ. Slovenia is still preaty cheap compared to UK so that reason falls off too - but it feels cool and interesting to just leave all things here and go somewhere totally new - but probably in practice isn't so simple unless you have enougth $.

Where can I find "the svero story"?

[svero]

Where can I find "the svero story"?

Heh.. sounds like a documentary on HBO. Who would play me I wonder?

My "story" in a Nutshell is that I decided to leave Canada and live in southeast Asia where I remain to this day. That does afford me a better lifestyle in several respects. Generally lower cost of living, but as well there are very nice tropical beaches etc.. which I take advantage of.

While it's true that the cost of living in various parts of Southeast Asia is much lower than western countries it partly depends on your lifestyle and your location. There are prices to pay as well. Immigration and citizenship hassles, banking hassles, poor access to the internet etc...

[Gilzu]

This decision isn't that simple and obvius as you think.

Given a country that has better currency value (by that i mean i can buy more things with my cash) and better quality of life, I cant tell you for sure ill do this change.

have you ever thought about your family and friends you leave behind? the culture shift you'll need to experience?

that brings to my mind more and more areas i didn't thought about before:
1. language - even english has its dialects, slang and quirks
2. diet - not all food products are available everywhere, and when they do, they appear different.
3. climate - I doubt if its always 100% what you like, but how your body reacts to that change is a whole different story.
4. music, tv shows, sports - you'll have a hard time finding all things to your taste.

remember that youre going to LIVE there, not just work there.

[Sakura Games]

svero's story is that he left canada to go living in thailand, he posted that several times, like here:
http://forums.indiegamer.com/showpost.php?p=22860&postcount=15

well actually I think he isn't anymore in thaliand, but I meant he was one of the few who did the big change.

edit: ops he already posted about himself :)

to gilzu: yes of course, but being able to live is another thing. I mean not many people in eur or gbp area are going to live with indie earnings I think...! only talking about euro, basically you have 20% of your earnings vanish in the air (1 eur=1.2 usd at the moment). those aren't little aspect at all...

[Ricardo C]

I'm actually working the other way around: Trying to leave a cheap but politically unstable country in order to settle in Europe or North America, which may have higher living costs, but the tradeoff is worth it to me, in terms of economical and social stability.

[Jason Chong]

svero. Thai chicks are hot aren't they ? :D

[Fabio]

When they will make better lasagne than here, I will consider to leave Italy. ;)

[papillon]

I want to go to Canada, but it's not that easy.

And I'm still waiting on my British citizenship. :)

[Grey Alien]

When my games provide a steady income, I'll move to somewhere hotter, maybe Portugal or California (from U.K.). My partner is already location independant as she is a freelance journalist and uses the Internet and phone for research/interviews.

[cliffski]

Im probably living in the worst country in the world to be paid in dollars (the UK) and im in richest part of it (Surrey), which makes it worse.
You are right, 17k is not very much, luckily there are two of us, and we bought our house before prices went insane.
A 3 bedroom house, semi detached here, costs about a quarter of a million pounds. That's $437,000. This is insane. However, if you own one (and in a few year time all being well, we will) the potential for selling it to go buy someone nice in another coutnry is great.
I would miss the British culture though. Not the binge-drinking and celebrity TV, but I would miss British sarcasm and silly sense of humour.
What could we buy in Canada for $437k US?

[Sakura Games]

lot of people seems interested in cold Canada. why?
I would rather opt for NZ really... warmer and even cheaper cost of life. Even if quite far from everything else...

[PoV]

If you keep out of Toronto/Ottawa/Vancouver (or any other million+ population city), you could buy or build in a respectful area or development from $250k to $300k US. That seems to be the sweet spot my friends and parents hit. If you like wasting money, you can spend more to live next door to golf courses and people with too much money.

Sakura: Don't tell anyone, but we only tell people we don't like it's cold here to keep them out. ;)

[papillon]

Dude, global warming. Canada may be a bit chilly now, but in a few years... :) Also, countries that *expect* weather variation have better technology for it than those who just get surprised. England has crappy heating and no air conditioning.

I'm sick of paying twice as much as the states for half as much living space. And I hate the British culture - most of it that I encounter is drinking too much and making fun of anyone who has any hobbies at all. I want to get back to civilisation where I can find some geek clubs to hang out with!

I wouldn't turn down New Zealand if someone offered to pay me to go there, though. :) But it's way too far for me to want to do it on my own.

[MibUK]

Does anybody know how the immegration rules work if you run your own company?

My wife has candian citizenship (we're in the UK), and thought about moving htere a few times. I know if I'm moving and I will be working for a canadian company I ahve to go through a process proving that I'm not coming into just steal a candian persons job. Of course hvaing a wife who has dual UK/Candian nationality would help, but I wondered if running your own Ltd company (LLC kind of), would make immigration harder.

[Anthony Flack]

Whoops! I left NZ for Japan. I'll be back soon enough, though. See you all there, by the sound of it.

[Fabio]

All this talking about New Zealand makes me remember that I live in the farthest place on Earth from it. :)

If you're in Italy and drill a straight hole into the Earth (assuming Police doesn't see you), after 12800 Kms you will nicely pop up somewhere exactly in New Zealand.

Really, the shortest path between two places is the straight one.. my granny can't be wrong. :)

Now where did I put my Dremel? :P

[cliffski]

I would have thought it would make it easier, if your firm expands, youll be creating jobs in your new country surely?
Britain has the NHS. Thats certainly in the 'plus' column.

[Greig Hamilton]

What is it with everyone and NZ? What's the attraction?

I left NZ a year ago and now live in Sweden. It's a bit of a change but fun.

Gilzu is right, language differences can make it hard. Food will be different no matter where you go, they won't have some of the food you really like. (Sorry I'm still not used to salty licorice.) The weather will be different, do you know how windy it can be in Christchurch or Wellington (NZ)? Or about the wonderful heating in our NZ homes (sarcasm)? Yip tv will also be different, I bet in Slovenia there are not many English programmes. Also you will probably miss your friends and family. The closest country to NZ is still a 3hr plane flight.

But with all these differences it can still be really worthwhile. I can't see why people think you need lots of money to move? If you are only indie in your spare time then you can just get a job in the new country and then you are set. NZ currently has 4% unemployment so it would be hard to avoid getting a job if you were looking.

Most Commonwealth countries have an agreement where you can go and live in another Commonwealth country for a year or two on a working holiday. So that makes it easy. NZ has agreements with 17+ countries including Sweden, UK, Ireland and Canada.

Canada also allows you to immigrate if you have enough points in their test. It's based on your degree, language skills, if you have a job lined up, if you have a partner who is also skilled etc. Look it up as all the details are on their website.

UK has a special rule where if you have been earning a lot of money for the past year and have certain skills then you can immigrate much easier. The amount you have had to earn varies depending on which country you are living in.

So no more excuses, I'll see you all in NZ when I get back.

[Savant]

What is it with everyone and NZ? What's the attraction?
One ring to rule them all.

[Fry Crayola]

In Belfast, things are cheap compared to Great Britain. The price of goods is the same but the rent is a lot cheaper. As a result, on the £18k that I earn I can easily afford my city centre flat. It does help that there are two of us but even on my own I'd survive and still save.

The downside is that Belfast isn't a particularly nice place. Not compared to other places I've been. I lived in Munich for a while and the difference is astounding.

I'm pretty open and expect to move within the next ten years, probably to GB though initially. Call me old fashioned but I do like familiarity.

And I'm sure the obsession with NZ is that everyone saw LOTR and thought "oooh, that's nice". Damn you Savant for posting while I was writing this.

[Sakura Games]

it's all about USD exchange, really and of course if you want to make indie dev your full time job.

You can tell me what you want, but the math tells the truth:
let's say you make 1k USD month:
in EUR is 835/month
in GBP is 575/month
in CAD is 1,168/month (wow)
in NZD is 1,640/month (double wow)

ok then you can relocate to NZ and find that for some reason you hate it. But if you come back to your country (and is an expensive one) you can say goodbye to your indie fulltime... unless you earn an insane amount of money like 3-4k USD a month...

[jankoM]

But do you know if you get the same for 1 USD in US - 1 GBP in UK and 1 NZD in NZ??

1 SIT is 1/200 USD but if one beer is $2 in a bar in US, here it is 400 SIT not 2 SIT :)

[Fabio]

1 Lira (the currency Italy had before embracing the Euro) was worth about half of a thousandth of a Euro. :P (i.e. you need 1936.27 Lire to make one single Euro).

Yes, we were all millionaries. :D

[Sakura Games]

But do you know if you get the same for 1 USD in US - 1 GBP in UK and 1 NZD in NZ??
well this is a long discussion. For sure you can take house prices as an example. I did just a quick look at houses in Canada, NZ, Uk and France (just one country with euro as example) and canada/NZ had lowest house prices too, so more income because of currency conversion and even better life.
Ok I stop otherwise it seems that I'm working for a canadian/nz promotion office :p

[KNau]

And when G. Dubya is finally out of office the American dollar should go back up, making us even more money - and I always thought that if I lived in the states I would be a republican!

When I first started selling online I was soemthing like 50 cents extra per dollar in exchange. Walk into the bank with $1000 cheque, walk out with $1,570 dollars :)

Then the "Bush doctrine" began and now I'm lucky to get 17 cents on the exchange. Funny thing is, you can't even blame it on 9/11 because the dollar didn't start to crash until 2003. According to the Bank of Canada we dropped from 1.57 to 1.17 in exchange rates over the past 3 years.

Just thought I'd vent about my dwindling bonus income.

[mj32]

Just to chip in on the discussion, I left the Uk 18 months ago to go and live in Spain, as the wifes parents moved there. In theory it was all good - cheaper houses / mortgage free living / cheaper food / better weather.

But cheap cost of living does not always equal a better quality of life. Sure buying a beer for 1euro is fun every time, but theres more to life than that, especialy being self employed with young kids and dealing with tax office's, doctors, accountants who dont speak your language and you cant realy speak theirs.

In the end we moved back to the Uk - but to Ashford in Kent, 250 miles from where we lived before...and atm are finacialy better off and a lot happer than we ever were in Spain,

So I guess my opinion is - look closer to home if you want a change of life - but I would never tell anyone not to try moving abroad, it's something you've gotta try to know :cool:

;)

[Sakura Games]

Yes from english to spanish there's a bit of difference. But I wonder what would have happened if you moved in a english speaking country as the one mentioned (canada, NZ)...

[lexaloffle]

Heck, NZ needs more game developers. The industry is tiny. Here's some bait:

http://www.lexaloffle.com/joseph/pics/nz05/pho/6.jpg
http://www.lexaloffle.com/joseph/pics/nz05/pho/7.jpg

Working from a studio in the middle of Wellington and flatting with no kids, I had to sell about 80 units a month to break even. It's a good place to be an indie.

[Diragor]

Here's my two cents on one of the destinations that's been mentioned: Canada.

I'm a yankee, born and raised in Ohio, lived in several other U.S. states and visited a few places abroad. I live in Phoenix, AZ now. I lived in Toronto for most of 2003 waiting for a fiancee visa for the woman who is now my wife. I found housing to be cheaper there once you do the currrency conversion. I never did get the litres-to-gallons conversion down so I don't know about gas prices. There's a lot more culture up there than anywhere I've been in the states, and WAY more variety and individuality in the businesses. Of course, they have all the fast food places and everything, but there are a lot more non-franchise, mom-n-pop type of operations. The people are very friendly, which is good because it's fairly crowded. The weather kind of sucks most of the year. Taxes are very high, at least double what I pay here, but they're not getting raped on health insurance like I am. I figure it evens out unless you have health problems, in which case you're much better off up there.

All in all, except for the weather it's a fine place to live with very little (if any) culture shock for a US citizen. For people from other cultures, you're more likely to find some of the comforts of home somewhere near Toronto than you would anywhere in the states (unless you're Mexican, then Arizona or California would make you feel right at home).

[luggage]

Heck, NZ needs more game developers. The industry is tiny. Here's some bait:

http://www.lexaloffle.com/joseph/pics/nz05/pho/6.jpg
http://www.lexaloffle.com/joseph/pics/nz05/pho/7.jpg

Working from a studio in the middle of Wellington and flatting with no kids, I had to sell about 80 units a month to break even. It's a good place to be an indie.Nice view but you live in a tent! That's bound to be cheaper. :)

[Sakura Games]

Working from a studio in the middle of Wellington and flatting with no kids, I had to sell about 80 units a month to break even. It's a good place to be an indie.
well 80 x 17$ = 1360$ net (well then you have taxes and I have no clue about NZ ones)... but you break even? I thought NZ life was cheaper :)

[lexaloffle]

Well, it would have been cheaper if I weren't hiring a studio and a tent.

[JoshuaSmyth]

Yes, yes, everyone come here, although bear in mind that its still pretty expensive to live in the cities (Unless you come over with a big wad of cash that is)

We could create a game programming mecca (and then maybe our compsci grads could actually get jobs, dispite there being an apparent IT shortage)

[Escapee]

Malaysia has been the second best retirement destination to Japanese after canada, so maybe my western friends here could consider building a western kind of town in Malaysia and that would further enrich our already vibrant culture.

1000K USD ( the salary of a Janitor in USA ) X 3.7 = 3700 Ringgit

That's the salary of a corporate senior engineer who works mindlessly for 10yrs+ in Malaysia.

The cost of eating
1 bowl of hawker food is about = 3.5 ringgit .
1 full day of meals (3) will cost about ~ 10.5 ringgit .
1 month will cost about 400 rinngit the most .

Not too bad if you plan to live here just by eating cheap hawker food or self cook. Furthermore, the house here is cheaper by comparison with other developed nations. This is the reason why I'm not leaving here for a job abroad until i fully "quit my indie dream" which probably isnt going happen anytime soon.

The only drawback is the culture difference and our alien spoken English accent ( I believe it's still better than Thais though:D :D , My Thais friends here dont hate me, i'm just speaking the truth ......:D ).

[Pyabo]

I'm moving to Thailand for the winter next December... I'll let ya know how it works out. :D

[Anthony Flack]

(assuming Police doesn't see you)

First of all, that was brilliant. Secondly, let me know how you get on with that hole, I wouldn't mind a trip to Italy.

Anyone who comes to NZ expecting Lord of the Rings will have to travel down south to the cold and isolated parts. It's well worth making the trip at least once, because the scenery is absolutely mind-blowing... although I wouldn't expect you'd want to live there. But if you do, it'd be very cheap. And cold. And you won't have too many interruptions.

Most of us live in the warmer, sunnier, more boring-looking northern parts. Small towns, a few largeish cities, green pastures and beaches.

Joseph has neglected to mention that he is also living in Japan now, but I guess we'll both be back home at some point. I'd like to do more to get the NZ game industry happening... like, I suppose, setting up properly and hiring people at some point.

As for living abroad, in an alien culture with a language you don't speak - I recommend it, at least for a year or so. It's good for you.

[KNau]

I've always wanted to do an extended stay in Japan - but isn't it incredibly expensive?

[Anthony Flack]

Oh, not really. So long as you don't mind living somewhere small, adapting your diet slightly and not having a car.

We work here so we end up making a lot more money than we need. Joseph would be the one to talk to as far as recommending a cheap way to live the indie dream in Tokyo.

[svero]

Well I've only been to Japan once and so my understanding of the place if largely gleaned from video games, and hollywood movies. As I understand it the way to live cheap in Tokyo is to pledge your sword to a local fuedal lord. In exchange you can live on his lands for free and harvest a small portion of rice for subsistance, when you're not needed to fend off Ninjas. I expect Anthony or Joseph can confirm all that.

[Anthony Flack]

It sounds like a good deal at first, but you have to fend off those ninjas all the damn time. I don't recommend doing it this way.

[robleong]

The downside is that Belfast isn't a particularly nice place. Not compared to other places I've been. I lived in Munich for a while and the difference is astounding.

I lived in Belfast for two years and I liked it there. However, I guess it depends on which area of Belfast you're in. I was in the suburbs in Knock, close to Stormont. The island of Ireland is a beautiful place to live too, but it's gotten pretty expensive lately too.

[Fabio]

well this is a long discussion. For sure you can take house prices as an example. I did just a quick look at houses in Canada, NZ, Uk and France (just one country with euro as example) and canada/NZ had lowest house prices too, so more income because of currency conversion and even better life.
Ok I stop otherwise it seems that I'm working for a canadian/nz promotion office :p
Price of houses can vary a lot even in the same town, or between nearby towns. For example, I live in a town which is 4Kms away from another (bigger) town: houses in the latter cost about 2 or 3 times as much. All other costs I can remember of are equal, though.

[Batley]

I'm from the UK and i'm sadly just coming to the end of a 6 month working holiday here in NZ.

I'm surprised how much i miss the British sense of humour. Except for that and being way behind on technology, having bad television and food choice at the supermarket, there isnt really a big deal of adjustment needed to live here.

I could live here. Infact i'm back in October. It's just the flights 3 6 hour and and 1 3 1/2 hour flight back to back. :mad:

[arcadetown]

Yeah I was thinking about doing a broad. Oh wait....

[Fry Crayola]

I lived in Belfast for two years and I liked it there. However, I guess it depends on which area of Belfast you're in. I was in the suburbs in Knock, close to Stormont. The island of Ireland is a beautiful place to live too, but it's gotten pretty expensive lately too.

I live in the city centre, which basically I means I get all the factors (good and bad) of pretty much any city centre in the UK and Ireland, coupled with the occasional spout of bother. Very occasional though it does tend to irritate when it happens.

If I could, I'd live in a tiny little village like where I grew up (Lurganare, near Newry). I just love the countryside. Alas, my girlfriend does not and commuting is just an unnecessary expense in time and money.

[Anthony Flack]

Whoops, I read this as "Alas, my girlfriend does not like commuting, and is just an unnecessary expense in time and money."

[Sillysoft]

I just moved myself within Canada. From Montreal (half-french, very cold) to Vancouver (english, less cold). I have also had thoughts about the svero story of moving to live on a tropical beach. I figured I would try out my ideal place in Canada and see how I like it.

So far I think that Vancouver is a cool city. Lots of tech people around, the vibe seems like Toronto with some California bay area spice. Housing prices are much higher here then in Montreal, and same with food. It's not the cheap place to live in Canada, but it has some of the best weather.

I figured that Auckland would be the place to be in NZ. Any of you guys live there?

[svero]

Another place in Canada that might be cool to live is the Banff area. Nice scenery.. more vacation like. I like vancouver OK, but I find it a bit dull there. The weather is definitely an improvement over mtl, but all in all the weather in Canada is pretty bad just about everywhere relative to the tropics.

I think anyone can move if they really want to. Most people in the end are either too afraid, or simply not committed enough to the idea to go through with it. It's a big deal. Just the logistics of moving for me were quite and ordeal and I was a young single guy with not a whole lot of property. But still I had to get rid of my condo, sell my car, sell all my furniture etc... In my case I preferred to move with just a laptop and a pack on my back. I can't imagine what it would be like if you actually wanted to take your stuff with you. For my part Im not a highly material guy in the sense of owning tv sets and stuff. I just rent furnished houses and condos and keep the stuff I own to a bare minimum. Usually when I move from one location to another I sell or give away what I've accumulated. (theres always a few things you want to get that arent included with even the best furnished places... like a hot water heater, or a floor fan etc... So I do end up accumulating a few odds n ends)

Currently my world posessions not in cash or company stock etc.. are...

- 1 HP laptop + software and cd's and some desktop speakers
- my clothing
- A Nintendo DS
- An mp3 player
- 1 toaster oven
- 1 fan
- a few books
- a pillow and bedsheet set

That's it. When I move from here in sept I will give away the fan and toaster oven and bedsheet stuff (or toss them if nobody wants them), pack the rest into 2 boxes and a backpack, and go.

[papillon]

What with the deportation background, I've *done* the "flee the country with most belongings on very short notice", and I'm not terribly keen to do it again.

Sometimes you don't realise how hard certain things will be to replace until you're without them... and if you're forced to leave items in the hands of friends to sell because you didn't have time to locate buyers yourself, you can end up like me, still owed money years later, and he's *never* going to get around to paying me... :)

We didn't have a car, at least. Things we abandoned were mostly electrical devices that would need to be replaced in the UK anyway (tv, vacuum, bread machine, musical keyboard), furniture that had been dredged out of the skip in the first place (the furniture we paid for we managed to resell), and some bulky low-value stuff like paperbacks I wasn't fond of and my reading pillow, which I really miss since I can't find them in England anywhere.

Everything else got chucked into boxes and mailed by sea. Some of it has never come *out* of those boxes, either... Closets are another thing that England lacks!

[Fry Crayola]

Whoops, I read this as "Alas, my girlfriend does not like commuting, and is just an unnecessary expense in time and money."

Well.... :)

Nah.

[KNau]

I wish the Canadian government would take their collective thumbs out of their asses and go through with that deal to make the Turks and Caicos islands part of Canada:
http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/article_676.html

I honestly don't get where they're worried about looking like a colonial power when it's the Islands that wanted to join us in the first place.

I would move there in a heartbeat if I could do so without disrupting my Canadian-ness:
http://www.turksandcaicostourism.com/

[Sakura Games]

Did you check house prices or rental costs? seems quite expensive to me... :eek:

[KNau]

Was just looking it up...found a nice (albeit small) beachfront condo in North Caicos for $190,000 US - that's not bad. Away from the beaches the housing prices are okay, too.

Of course for Grand Turk (main island) beachfront property you're looking at a million+. But there are suckers who bought carbon-copy houses in the suburbs for that much during the last real-estate boom. Heck a crappy pillbox of condo in Toronto can run over $250,000 and that's without the sun and sand - but with lots of crime.

Crap, I have to get off this topic because a change of location is seriously looking sweet to me.

[robleong]

If I could, I'd live in a tiny little village like where I grew up (Lurganare, near Newry). I just love the countryside. Alas, my girlfriend does not and commuting is just an unnecessary expense in time and money.

Hmm, is she, err, replaceable?

Loved the body searches and scans whenever I entered a shop in Belfast city-centre - do they still do that?

I remember just taking a short walk out in the green rolling hills of Knock (was a boarder in my school there during A-levels yonks ago) and enjoying the expansive grounds of Stormont - it was so beautiful and actually peaceful there!

[Batley]

I figured that Auckland would be the place to be in NZ. Any of you guys live there?

I'm in Auckland. I've living in the CBD right now but i've also lived in the suburbs. I wouldnt recommend the city if you want a real taste of nz since it feels predominantly asian. Being the biggest city with 1million people, a quarter of the nz pop, it's actually very small. Also you'd be wrong if you thought because of that it would have more mod cons and things available to buy. Theres always things going on though and it makes a geat base camp to travel elseware.

Nelson's very nice, but more expensive, but it has its own micro climate so although its in the south island (and boarders 2 national parks) it has north island weather.

[Fry Crayola]

Loved the body searches and scans whenever I entered a shop in Belfast city-centre - do they still do that?


No. I've never had that done to me - how long ago are we talking about?

[Pyabo]

I wish the Canadian government would take their collective thumbs out of their asses and go through with that deal to make the Turks and Caicos islands part of Canada:
http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/article_676.html



Internet connectivity: 0

[robleong]

No. I've never had that done to me - how long ago are we talking about?

LOL! Must be before your time!

[_6_]

There is a bit of a conflict between people living in Auckland and Wellington. You're a fan of either one of the cities but not the other. I came to Wellington about 8 years ago from the UK and I love it here, but I wouldn't want to live in Auckland or any other city in NZ because I just don't like them for one reason or another.

House prices have increased by 50% in Welly over the past couple of years so living here isn't as cheap as it used too. Saying that though, I recently got promoted so I earn quite a bit more now and find the life style pretty affordable.

Getting into NZ is a bit more difficult now as they keep increasing the points needed to get in every year.

As a side note, the day when Bush Jr got elected the NZ immigration website got 50% more hits than normal.

My TBS Blog (http://www.whitespace.net.nz)

[Sakura Games]

Canada and NZ looks like the most wanted places. But what would be the minimum salary to survive there? I checked online and while for NZ they look quite low, for Canada I'm not so sure... :confused:

[UnknownGuy]

Of course hvaing a wife who has dual UK/Candian nationality would help, but I wondered if running your own Ltd company (LLC kind of), would make immigration harder.

Actually, we in Canada(I'm pretty sure) encourage people with plans for a company, and having a job ready. We don't mind you putting money in our market. :p

[cliffski]

Ok one things for sure guys, dont move to where I am. house prices are a tad high. Check out this property 5 mins away..

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-6585082.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

Gulp.

[Tertsi]

hah, who needs or even wants 23 bedrooms for a private house?

[Fabio]

..depends by how many wifes you got.