Immigrating to the UK

signates said:
Working and living in Chelmsford.
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Aaah Brilliant.

Is she working for her previous SA employer?

I used to work for a Financial Services firm that has offices across the globe, inclusive of Chelmsford, just wondering if its the same place. ;)
 
J-10-M said:
Aaah Brilliant.

Is she working for her previous SA employer?

I used to work for a Financial Services firm that has offices across the globe, inclusive of Chelmsford, just wondering if its the same place. ;)
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Yes she is and it might be the same company as there are not many financial services companies in Chelmsford.
 
How long should you be there in order to get a job? (I have a UK passport).

I wanted to quit my job in SA and just bugger off to the UK, but I have had a number of conversations with people close to me and they all think it'd be better if I rather take a month (I do have more than enough paid leave - could possibly stretch to six weeks. I could also take non-paid leave if I felt close to getting a job) off and go to the UK, but I'd thank that is a bit too short?

Is it feasible to at least organise interviews for a particular month? I'm thinking of taking the whole of September off to visit the UK - summer holidays soon in the UK, I think September is a good month to start. I will definitely upload my CV to the websites mentioned by @The Voice . I am not in the IT sector, I am an economist although I am also interested in getting involved in strategic communications, technology start-ups and the like.

I'd also like to live away from London - places like Warwick etc. but I guess I can't be too choosy initially. Just seems that it jobs are very concentrated in London but my heart is 'in the green and pleasant lands' outside London...
 
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I'm in IT (security). Got a job within a month of landing in the UK via LinkedIn with one of the top 10 big IT companies. As other posters pointed out, LinkedIn is big here.

Work in the North West. Been to London a few times and couldn't bear to work there again (Worked in London for 2 years in 1990's on a 2 year holiday visa and then had to return to SA) Overcrowded, expensive and too busy. But each to their own. You do get paid more in London, but then houses etc cost a lot more.

Warwick is a great location. Have to go their once a year to perform disaster recovery. Small place though, so not sure what companies are around there. (But there is a great pub called Cape of Good Hope)
 
The Voice said:
You say you work in "IT". That's a very ambiguous term. In SA, a company could have one or two "IT guys" who handle an estate, and do almost everything. Here, it's very niche. A company will have a network guy, Wintel guy, backups guy, virtualisation/cloud guy, security guy, etc - and they ONLY do that.

Saffers (your new moniker when you get here) also specialise, but don't limit themselves and tend to be able to do more than one thing, which is useful - whereas locals are more "siloed". We're also able to adapt a lot quicker because of that. When I left SA on 4 November 2015 I was a service delivery manager for an IT supplier to Nando's. 26 days later I was doing Identity and Access Management for one of the largest IT companies in the UK. And I had the flu for 3 weeks when I landed here, too, and wasn't able to even look for work (they found my CV online and rang me, actually). But, results may vary.

Also, pro tip: people will try and screw you and lowball you with the "you don't really have any UK work experience". IT works exactly the same in the UK as it does back in SA - just tell them to remember that.
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Thanks for the helpful info.

I am an IT developer (3rd Gen Lang), so pretty niche.

My SO and I are discussing whether I go first (or we all go together) and get a job. She will then look after kids and keep her job. once I secure work, they will then come over.

I hate being far from home and family though....
 
Daruk said:
Given that the details are top secret, probably not. Contact the UK consular.
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thanks, do you have a contact number? All the documents I possess state that there is a FAQ, otherwise you can have a PAID telephone call (billed by the minute) with the immigration division
 
jack_spratt said:
Thanks for the helpful info.

I am an IT developer (3rd Gen Lang), so pretty niche.

My SO and I are discussing whether I go first (or we all go together) and get a job. She will then look after kids and keep her job. once I secure work, they will then come over.

I hate being far from home and family though....
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My wife went over first (I'm here on her ancestry visa, but stayed in SA for 6 months to tie everything up - she was rehired by the company she worked for 10 years earlier). Being apart IS tough, but you'll manage, and suddenly you're together again. That's the thing with emigration: from the offset it's daunting and seems like it will take forever, but blink and it's already over and you're in your new country!

They actually screwed up my visa. They're no longer stuck in your passport, so once it's issued you have 30 days to get to the UK to claim your biometric residency permit card (the actual visa). I'd completed the form with the entry date as the first week of December, but they'd issued it with entry as the first week of November, and only got it in October. So yeah, I had to haul ass, and could only work 2 weeks notice. Boss wasn't impressed...

Of course, you have a passport (and I assume your wife does now, too), so you don't have any of the additional headaches the rest of us do.
 
jack_spratt said:
Thanks for the helpful info.

I am an IT developer (3rd Gen Lang), so pretty niche.

My SO and I are discussing whether I go first (or we all go together) and get a job. She will then look after kids and keep her job. once I secure work, they will then come over.

I hate being far from home and family though....
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What passports do the wife and kids have? If SA, then prepare to jump through a shedload of hoops to get the souse and dependent visa's sorted!
 
Me - EU and wife - South African, were given pre-settled status today. So easy. We have no fixed abode and they never asked either of us for our financial situation. We were worried about this but had to apply early before Boris takes over and makes things more difficult for immigrants.
 
marco said:
Me - EU and wife - South African, were given pre-settled status today. So easy. We have no fixed abode and they never asked either of us for our financial situation. We were worried about this but had to apply early before Boris takes over and makes things more difficult for immigrants.
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Regarding pre-settled status and leave to remain.

When do you need to apply? Brexit officially occurs on the 31 October...

EDIT: Decent info here
 
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What is the cost of living in the UK?

How much do you need per month or week, per person / per child?
 
jack_spratt said:
What is the cost of living in the UK?

How much do you need per month or week, per person / per child?
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Rent and transport will be your biggest cost. The closer to London, the more expensive it gets. My wife is currently looking for a new place to rent and for a 2 bedroom flat she's looking at between £800 and £1200 per month. This excludes council tax, water, electricity and gas. My wife is on her own there now and spending between £30 and £50 per week on food. This is not eating out and we don't drink alcohol. For our family of 4 we looking at a weekly budget of between £150 and £200 for groceries. He rent currently in a shared flat is £520 per month including utilities and uncapped Internet.

She's also viewing a few properties this weekend that we might buy. Our budget for buying is between £200k and £250k. This is in Essex County which is about 40km outside of London.
 
jack_spratt said:
What is the cost of living in the UK?

How much do you need per month or week, per person / per child?
Click to expand...

That's relative to where you want to be based. You can easily see how much houses cost to rent by checking out rightmove.

We average around £150 per week for food for a family of 4. Of course it can be done for less, there are always specials on.
 
We pay £ 950 pm for a 3 bed house in the Cotswold which is a more expensive area as it is called "The garden of England" and Prince Charles has his estate Highgrove and his farm store here in our town of Tetbury.
A similar home in a village outside of the Cotswold would be about £ 850 pm.

Council tax is very high at £ 2 020.00 pa payable over 10 months. Uncapped internet is £29 pm with Vodaphone. We watch TV via ChromeCaste for now. No idea on gas, water and electricity yet as we just moved in.

Some foods such as beef and lamb is expensive so we only buy chicken at £ 2.95 a kilo and beef/pork mince at £ 4.25 per kilo. We also buy some Salmon fillets at £ 12.00 per kilo. Veggies are rather cheap and we will grow our own as the soil is very fertile.

Red wines start at around £ 3,40 per 750ml bottle with white wine a bit more expensive. I have gotten used to apple cider 5% alc at £ 2 for 2 liter plastic bottle. Tastes like cold drink though. Cider is popular here but the pear cider is a bit harsh for me.
Most people here say LIDL is the cheapest supermarket overall but we shop according to specials advertised. We earn ZAR so we have to be cheapskates.
 
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