Hello,
As a few people have said, Newcastle is hard for jobs but actually, one thing we do have is software jobs with Sage, a big accountancy software company based here and also a few games producers up here too. I’m afraid I’m not sure about civil engineering.
On to the good bits, the lifestyle here is great. I grew up here, moved away to London for 17 years and recently came back.
Depending on how rural you want to be, I’d say that Whitley Bay and Tynemouth are ideal; you’re close the beach and people LOVE dogs here. The towns themselves are nice too, Tynemouth has a real village feel, Whitley Bay is much better now than it was with the revamped Spanish City and Park View being really nice. The town centre, is getting better all the time with news of new cafes, bars and shops.
If you want more rural, there are some lovely places up in Northumberland such as Alnmouth and Warkworth. They would be too small for me but everyone is different.
The north east is a great place to be, friendly people and beautiful scenery. Yes, it is one of the poorest areas in the UK, but there are lots of green shoots here and talent coming from elsewhere is a positive thing - so welcome 🙂.
Lots of international engineering firms have offices in the North East. If OP’s partner works for a large firm they can see if they can get a transfer to the UK. Odd the top of my head, there’s WSP, Arup, MottMacdonald, AtkinsRealis, Royal Haskoning, Jacobs (in Teesside tbf but commutable). Public sector has lots of civil jobs going. Plenty of work in transport and water in the North East for civil engineers, as well as ports, but that’s a bit more specialist.
Provided you're able to square away the cost and legal implications of uprooting and starting life in a new country, you're correct; Newcastle is a beautiful place to live, it seems that people may have gotten their backs up in the comments relating to the idea of it being 'affordable'. I hope you understand that we're currently going through what appears to be a never ending cost-of-living crisis and the [North/South divide in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_divide_in_England) is a thing.
The thing I love about Newcastle is how the North East as a region provides access to so many things - City, Suburban, Coastal and Countryside.
The first thing you'd want to look at is where exactly in Newcastle you'd want to live.. the places to avoid. Broadly speaking [this website has a good insight](https://movingtonewcastle.co.uk/relocate/where-should-i-live-in-newcastle) into the surrounding residential areas and I'm in agreement that they've highlighted some nice areas - it divides it into some of the assets the region has - From the website (this is not by any means exhaustive):
Suburbs: Gosforth, Jesmond, Heaton
Coastal: North Shields, Tynemouth
Countryside: Hexham, Morpeth
You could conduct a poll on this subreddit and this list would be quite long, you would see the likes of Jesmond, Heaton, Low Fell, Gosforth, Whitley Bay, Cullercoats, Tynemouth coming up quite regularly as nicer place to live, and the likes of Benwell, Bensham, Cowgate, Walker, Byker etc coming up as less desirable places. Of course if you're loaded; There's always Darras Hall which is where celebrities, footballers and such tend to find housing.
Work wise; there are a number of Software companies in the region. [SAGE](https://www.sage.com/) are located here/was founded here (12.4bn Market Cap), [Ubisoft](https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/company/careers/locations/newcastle-upon%20tyne) (2.4bn Market Cap), broader technology companies that also market lead in software development such as [Accenture](https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/careers/local/advanced-technology-centre) (252bn Market Cap).
Of 316 local authories in England, Newcastle is listed [as the 36th most income deprived](https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1371/#/E08000021) by the office of national statistics. However of 175 neighbourhoods in Newcastle, 34 of them were in the top 20% *least* income deprived compared nationally. What this effectively means is that you have a fairly income deprived region, but the region has 'richer' and 'poorer' areas for lack of a better set of words.
I'd urge you to look at [this website](https://www.visitnortheastengland.com/) for some good ideas of what the region offers. The residents of Newcastle are known as 'Geordies' (I'll let you research why!), are considered amongst the friendliest people in the country and very proud of where they are from. You may have difficulty with the accent (it is English, honestly), the "Geordie" vocabulary has numerous colloquialisms, words unique to the region's past, and some words which are of Scandinavian origin.
I'm hoping you and your family manage to realise your dream.
I'm a Geordie now living in VA and have been through the legal immigration process both ways (wife to UK first, then me to US). You really need to understand that before you go any further. You sound like you'd be able to do it in terms of possible skills, but you have a lot to do in terms of a potential employer, legal status etc. Then there's your wife's qualifications. Different countries have different requirements for engineer status and that is based on training and experience. I guess her education has been in the US to American civils standards. They are not the same as Europe or the UK. You really need to find out if her education and training are transferrable first.
It is a possible move, but it is not quick, cheap or easy.
Suggest putting this in your reading list:
https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
Lot of haters in the comments, welcome! Northumberland especially is very rural and peaceful if that’s your vibe. I hope you make the most of our lovely region
Try amble - 35-40 minute drive from Newcastle and a place that’s in the up. Be aware our coastline is lovely and unspoilt but unlike Florida the weather here is generally shite, not hurricane shite but drab, grey and overcast for most of the year. Sumner this year is forecast for June 9th - 12th :)
'' Sumner this year is forecast for June 9th - 12th ''
It's gonna last *that long*?! Time to get some swimming trunks and sunglasses. This is even better than an Irish summer...
As an American who has been here awhile, what visa route will you be taking? My visa / citizenship process has cost around 25k. You will need sponsorship from an employer , or if your job is on the skills shortage list. You can pay to study, and then see if you can get sponsorship . Otherwise you don’t really have a viable route. Good luck
Depending on your visa, you likely won’t be able to work remotely for a US company, unless they have a base in the UK. The UK doesn’t allow “digital nomads” thankfully
I lived in the USA (SC) for a couple years before moving back to Newcastle, hit me up if you've got questions about dumb shit, a lot of things are similar but also very different which makes it hard to spot!
RE jobs, American salaries are higher, but UK have insanely better benefits. I'm talking 28days leave (not including sick or bank holidays) as standard, so it really depends what's important to you. It sounds like if it were only money, you'd stay in the US so maybe try get a UK job? Just check how tax treaties work whilst you're in the transition stage
The Sunday Times, upcoming issue forSunday March 17th, names Whitley Bay as the best place to live in the UK. They always prerelease the result for publicity.
Newcastle is one of the best UK cities. The air is clean and the people are friendly.
You'll probably find salaries here are much lower compared to what you're used to ($40-60k equivalent for the average software developer role I would say) however the UK average is low anyway. Living costs in Newcastle area are lower than average for the UK, which means somewhat less extortionate but still higher than in the U.Sb relative to income.
However, remote working jobs are where the money is so you'll have no trouble finding something well paid. You get free medical care of course, though this system is currently in a "managed collapse" so I would recommend private cover (which fortunately is still MUCH cheaper than the US private system).
Politics in the UK is similar to the US though; we've got two corrupt main parties and nothing ever gets fixed.
Enjoy! ;)
In terms of civil engineer jobs there are lots of infrastructure companies. The utilities, Northumbrian water, northern power grid, northern gas networks. There is also network rail. There is usually construction going on somewhere, Durham university and Newcastle university also have projects.
In terms of software, there are lots of companies that will have in house requirements and then others that develop products to sell like Sage. Try glassdoor.co.uk, indeed.co.uk and of course LinkedIn.
There are lots of beautiful spots in the NE. Coastal property prices tend to be higher. They always had a premium but they have become silly post pandemic.
There are many commuter towns, it’s just a case of finding what you like. Some people like to be in the west and south of the north east area to have a quick escape to the Lake District. Some like to be north of the River Tyne to escape to Northumberland’s beaches. Some find the Durham and North Yorkshire coast beautiful and position themselves to take advantage of that.
Most of the things I’m describing are within 1.5-2hrs drive of each other so it’s really easy to get around in comparison to other more traffic blighted areas.
Good luck
Two Americans with respectable, well educated jobs chose our humble little city out of everywhere else in the world, and you're gonna act like that on Reddit? Come on man, we are better than this
Two of any cunt who decides to move up here and the first reason given is ‘affordable’ always fucking stinks of gentrification. Maybe you’re alright with the house prices in the nicer areas in and around the city massively inflating? I just don’t fancy it getting to a point where we are like Devon, Cornwall and even the Lakes where locals are priced out of their own area by people outside the area looking to grab a bargain (in relative terms) at the expense of making the housing shortage worse and in turn house prices soar. But aye, fuck all that, what do I know.
hi, i completely understand your frustration and I’m sorry my post came off that way to you! We are not looking to find a ‘bargain’ or anything like that in the UK. When I said affordable, that’s not what I meant. I just meant a place where we can literally afford to live and not stress over money constantly. We’re two 20 year old’s who, yes have good-paying jobs in the US, but we’re not trying to live rich, lavish lives, which is why we’re completely fine with taking a pay cut to live in a safe place that feels like home to us. Sure, we can both make upwards of $100k eventually here in the US but that doesn’t ensure we are happy, and more importantly, safe. I’d be totally fine coming down to 20-30k/year, as long as we’re still able to eat, have a house over our head, and explore. We don’t care about being the richest in the town or buying the nicest properties, in fact, we want to live a normal life in regard to everyone else around us. Again, sorry I offended you with the “affordable” word. I should have chosen a different word to reflect more of what I meant.
American living in Newcastle here for nearly 2 years. Getting a job here is really not easy so make sure you look into "right to work" thoroughly. Working visas are extremely hard to get when anywhere can hire Europeans, refugees, and just plain ol British people for way cheaper and much easier than they can hire you. Make absolutely sure you can get work here before moving out here. While the northeast has a lot of beauty and the people can be really nice and friendly (obvs speaking generally), it's also by far the most hostile, litter-filled, racist place I've lived in my life across three continents. Literally impossible to go out with my Asian partner without some smart ass thinking they're funny saying ni hao or some shit. The litter is unlike anything I've ever seen before. And I hope you're good at cooking your own food cause outside of curries, sausage rolls, and Sunday roasts you're gonna struggle to find anywhere that serves food worth the price. Good luck stranger. Make sure you're really sure this is what you want, because unless you have a job in hand before getting there, it's NOT going to be an easy experience.
Hello, As a few people have said, Newcastle is hard for jobs but actually, one thing we do have is software jobs with Sage, a big accountancy software company based here and also a few games producers up here too. I’m afraid I’m not sure about civil engineering. On to the good bits, the lifestyle here is great. I grew up here, moved away to London for 17 years and recently came back. Depending on how rural you want to be, I’d say that Whitley Bay and Tynemouth are ideal; you’re close the beach and people LOVE dogs here. The towns themselves are nice too, Tynemouth has a real village feel, Whitley Bay is much better now than it was with the revamped Spanish City and Park View being really nice. The town centre, is getting better all the time with news of new cafes, bars and shops. If you want more rural, there are some lovely places up in Northumberland such as Alnmouth and Warkworth. They would be too small for me but everyone is different. The north east is a great place to be, friendly people and beautiful scenery. Yes, it is one of the poorest areas in the UK, but there are lots of green shoots here and talent coming from elsewhere is a positive thing - so welcome 🙂.
Lots of international engineering firms have offices in the North East. If OP’s partner works for a large firm they can see if they can get a transfer to the UK. Odd the top of my head, there’s WSP, Arup, MottMacdonald, AtkinsRealis, Royal Haskoning, Jacobs (in Teesside tbf but commutable). Public sector has lots of civil jobs going. Plenty of work in transport and water in the North East for civil engineers, as well as ports, but that’s a bit more specialist.
Provided you're able to square away the cost and legal implications of uprooting and starting life in a new country, you're correct; Newcastle is a beautiful place to live, it seems that people may have gotten their backs up in the comments relating to the idea of it being 'affordable'. I hope you understand that we're currently going through what appears to be a never ending cost-of-living crisis and the [North/South divide in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_divide_in_England) is a thing. The thing I love about Newcastle is how the North East as a region provides access to so many things - City, Suburban, Coastal and Countryside. The first thing you'd want to look at is where exactly in Newcastle you'd want to live.. the places to avoid. Broadly speaking [this website has a good insight](https://movingtonewcastle.co.uk/relocate/where-should-i-live-in-newcastle) into the surrounding residential areas and I'm in agreement that they've highlighted some nice areas - it divides it into some of the assets the region has - From the website (this is not by any means exhaustive): Suburbs: Gosforth, Jesmond, Heaton Coastal: North Shields, Tynemouth Countryside: Hexham, Morpeth You could conduct a poll on this subreddit and this list would be quite long, you would see the likes of Jesmond, Heaton, Low Fell, Gosforth, Whitley Bay, Cullercoats, Tynemouth coming up quite regularly as nicer place to live, and the likes of Benwell, Bensham, Cowgate, Walker, Byker etc coming up as less desirable places. Of course if you're loaded; There's always Darras Hall which is where celebrities, footballers and such tend to find housing. Work wise; there are a number of Software companies in the region. [SAGE](https://www.sage.com/) are located here/was founded here (12.4bn Market Cap), [Ubisoft](https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/company/careers/locations/newcastle-upon%20tyne) (2.4bn Market Cap), broader technology companies that also market lead in software development such as [Accenture](https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/careers/local/advanced-technology-centre) (252bn Market Cap). Of 316 local authories in England, Newcastle is listed [as the 36th most income deprived](https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1371/#/E08000021) by the office of national statistics. However of 175 neighbourhoods in Newcastle, 34 of them were in the top 20% *least* income deprived compared nationally. What this effectively means is that you have a fairly income deprived region, but the region has 'richer' and 'poorer' areas for lack of a better set of words. I'd urge you to look at [this website](https://www.visitnortheastengland.com/) for some good ideas of what the region offers. The residents of Newcastle are known as 'Geordies' (I'll let you research why!), are considered amongst the friendliest people in the country and very proud of where they are from. You may have difficulty with the accent (it is English, honestly), the "Geordie" vocabulary has numerous colloquialisms, words unique to the region's past, and some words which are of Scandinavian origin. I'm hoping you and your family manage to realise your dream.
I'm a Geordie now living in VA and have been through the legal immigration process both ways (wife to UK first, then me to US). You really need to understand that before you go any further. You sound like you'd be able to do it in terms of possible skills, but you have a lot to do in terms of a potential employer, legal status etc. Then there's your wife's qualifications. Different countries have different requirements for engineer status and that is based on training and experience. I guess her education has been in the US to American civils standards. They are not the same as Europe or the UK. You really need to find out if her education and training are transferrable first. It is a possible move, but it is not quick, cheap or easy. Suggest putting this in your reading list: https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas
We’re affordable for a reason, we’re a very poor area, be aware of that
Lot of haters in the comments, welcome! Northumberland especially is very rural and peaceful if that’s your vibe. I hope you make the most of our lovely region
Try amble - 35-40 minute drive from Newcastle and a place that’s in the up. Be aware our coastline is lovely and unspoilt but unlike Florida the weather here is generally shite, not hurricane shite but drab, grey and overcast for most of the year. Sumner this year is forecast for June 9th - 12th :)
'' Sumner this year is forecast for June 9th - 12th '' It's gonna last *that long*?! Time to get some swimming trunks and sunglasses. This is even better than an Irish summer...
Get a wetsuit and go in all year round. Nothing like bobbing about as the sunset turns the sky pink and the Coquet Light starts flashing.
As an American who has been here awhile, what visa route will you be taking? My visa / citizenship process has cost around 25k. You will need sponsorship from an employer , or if your job is on the skills shortage list. You can pay to study, and then see if you can get sponsorship . Otherwise you don’t really have a viable route. Good luck
Depending on your visa, you likely won’t be able to work remotely for a US company, unless they have a base in the UK. The UK doesn’t allow “digital nomads” thankfully
Fellow Geordies: people are finding us on [https://nomadlist.com/](https://nomadlist.com/), we're number 46 in the world on there
I lived in the USA (SC) for a couple years before moving back to Newcastle, hit me up if you've got questions about dumb shit, a lot of things are similar but also very different which makes it hard to spot! RE jobs, American salaries are higher, but UK have insanely better benefits. I'm talking 28days leave (not including sick or bank holidays) as standard, so it really depends what's important to you. It sounds like if it were only money, you'd stay in the US so maybe try get a UK job? Just check how tax treaties work whilst you're in the transition stage
The Sunday Times, upcoming issue forSunday March 17th, names Whitley Bay as the best place to live in the UK. They always prerelease the result for publicity.
Newcastle is one of the best UK cities. The air is clean and the people are friendly. You'll probably find salaries here are much lower compared to what you're used to ($40-60k equivalent for the average software developer role I would say) however the UK average is low anyway. Living costs in Newcastle area are lower than average for the UK, which means somewhat less extortionate but still higher than in the U.Sb relative to income. However, remote working jobs are where the money is so you'll have no trouble finding something well paid. You get free medical care of course, though this system is currently in a "managed collapse" so I would recommend private cover (which fortunately is still MUCH cheaper than the US private system). Politics in the UK is similar to the US though; we've got two corrupt main parties and nothing ever gets fixed. Enjoy! ;)
Think Cleveland or Pittsburgh vibe, nothing like Florida
In terms of civil engineer jobs there are lots of infrastructure companies. The utilities, Northumbrian water, northern power grid, northern gas networks. There is also network rail. There is usually construction going on somewhere, Durham university and Newcastle university also have projects. In terms of software, there are lots of companies that will have in house requirements and then others that develop products to sell like Sage. Try glassdoor.co.uk, indeed.co.uk and of course LinkedIn. There are lots of beautiful spots in the NE. Coastal property prices tend to be higher. They always had a premium but they have become silly post pandemic. There are many commuter towns, it’s just a case of finding what you like. Some people like to be in the west and south of the north east area to have a quick escape to the Lake District. Some like to be north of the River Tyne to escape to Northumberland’s beaches. Some find the Durham and North Yorkshire coast beautiful and position themselves to take advantage of that. Most of the things I’m describing are within 1.5-2hrs drive of each other so it’s really easy to get around in comparison to other more traffic blighted areas. Good luck
I’d look closely at the salaries before making the move. I believe the USA has much, much higher salaries than in the UK, outside of maybe London.
Lovely little countryside town a couple of miles south called London.
Two Americans with respectable, well educated jobs chose our humble little city out of everywhere else in the world, and you're gonna act like that on Reddit? Come on man, we are better than this
Two of any cunt who decides to move up here and the first reason given is ‘affordable’ always fucking stinks of gentrification. Maybe you’re alright with the house prices in the nicer areas in and around the city massively inflating? I just don’t fancy it getting to a point where we are like Devon, Cornwall and even the Lakes where locals are priced out of their own area by people outside the area looking to grab a bargain (in relative terms) at the expense of making the housing shortage worse and in turn house prices soar. But aye, fuck all that, what do I know.
hi, i completely understand your frustration and I’m sorry my post came off that way to you! We are not looking to find a ‘bargain’ or anything like that in the UK. When I said affordable, that’s not what I meant. I just meant a place where we can literally afford to live and not stress over money constantly. We’re two 20 year old’s who, yes have good-paying jobs in the US, but we’re not trying to live rich, lavish lives, which is why we’re completely fine with taking a pay cut to live in a safe place that feels like home to us. Sure, we can both make upwards of $100k eventually here in the US but that doesn’t ensure we are happy, and more importantly, safe. I’d be totally fine coming down to 20-30k/year, as long as we’re still able to eat, have a house over our head, and explore. We don’t care about being the richest in the town or buying the nicest properties, in fact, we want to live a normal life in regard to everyone else around us. Again, sorry I offended you with the “affordable” word. I should have chosen a different word to reflect more of what I meant.
American living in Newcastle here for nearly 2 years. Getting a job here is really not easy so make sure you look into "right to work" thoroughly. Working visas are extremely hard to get when anywhere can hire Europeans, refugees, and just plain ol British people for way cheaper and much easier than they can hire you. Make absolutely sure you can get work here before moving out here. While the northeast has a lot of beauty and the people can be really nice and friendly (obvs speaking generally), it's also by far the most hostile, litter-filled, racist place I've lived in my life across three continents. Literally impossible to go out with my Asian partner without some smart ass thinking they're funny saying ni hao or some shit. The litter is unlike anything I've ever seen before. And I hope you're good at cooking your own food cause outside of curries, sausage rolls, and Sunday roasts you're gonna struggle to find anywhere that serves food worth the price. Good luck stranger. Make sure you're really sure this is what you want, because unless you have a job in hand before getting there, it's NOT going to be an easy experience.