Immigrating to the UK

@signates

The TLS website also doesn't know what a UK Ancestry visa is. I selected UK Ancestry on the visa4uk website and filled in the form. When I tried to fill in the form on the TLS side, I saw that they had no UK Ancestry visa option.

Of course they don't have a phone number so you can't contact them. I emailed them, and the first time they responded clearly indicating that they had not bothered to read and understand my question. Eventually, I got them to understand what the problem was, and they said that I must select another visa type on their website, and they would correct it when I got there for my appointment.

So, that is what they did. My visa type on the TLS website now says other non-settlement.

On the plus side, my experience at their centre in Joburg was good. I was in and out in 20 minutes.
 
signates said:
Can we change it now?

The status has changed to "Received by UKVI"
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I don't know. Mine was changed at the application centre before it was submitted.

I suspect it might not matter too much. Think about it from the point of view of the person examining your application. What are they going to trust - your Visa4UK form or the TLS form?
 
Ancalagon said:
I don't know. Mine was changed at the application centre before it was submitted.

I suspect it might not matter too much. Think about it from the point of view of the person examining your application. What are they going to trust - your Visa4UK form or the TLS form?
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I hope so too.
 
Update

Decision on my wife Certificate of Entitlement had been made. It should hopefully be ready for collection next week. 3 weeks is not bad.

I was reading some immigration forums and the average time for Certificate of Entitlement is about 3 to 6 months. Hopefully they made the correct decision and it has been approved.

Our backup would be to apply for her British passport and I have requested copies of her parents unabridged South African Birth certificates as this is the only documents that we do not have and is needed for her British passport application. Timeline from home affairs for this is 3 months. Screenshot_20181129-162700_Firefox.jpeg
 
Received certificate of entitlement today for my wife.

Next up is the long process of getting my spouse visa.
 
Caved into my wife yesterday and booked her a ticket to London for a week. She's leaving on the 13th and back on 21 December and she going alone. She hasn't been back to the UK in more than 35 years.
 
Another major consideration is whether we sell or properties or not.

We have our primary property and a rental unit.

Our rental property has a good tenant renting for 5 years now and rental income more than covers the bond.

Our primary residence we can possibly sell for R2m. It's a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with of grid water, pool, corner plot with two entrance and on a 1000m² stand. 20181202_105924.jpeg20181202_113802.jpeg
 
As for renting or selling, both have their pros and cons.

The major con of selling at the moment is that the market is bad and you will get less than the property is worth. It might also take longer to sell.

The pro of selling is that it reduces your exposure - should South Africa go further down the toilet, you won't lose any more money. You can "wash your hands of it" and make a new life. You won't have to worry about admin with the rental tenants.

Myself, I am renting for 2 years and then I will try to sell.
 
signates said:
Another major consideration is whether we sell or properties or not.

We have our primary property and a rental unit.

Our rental property has a good tenant renting for 5 years now and rental income more than covers the bond.

Our primary residence we can possibly sell for R2m. It's a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with of grid water, pool, corner plot with two entrance and on a 1000m² stand. View attachment 586588View attachment 586590
Click to expand...

Will keeping properties not cause tax complications? Like having to do two tax returns indefinitely? Also, since you'll be tax resident in the UK, bond interest is no longer tax deductible, including overseas properties.

I'd take the knock and get the cash out now. But only some into GBP - no-deal Brexit could devalue the GBP considerably over the next 6 months. Unless May's deal goes through or they cancel the whole thing.
 
My wife landed in Gatwick this morning and staying in Finsbury for the week. Besides the coldness, she is loving London so far, after leaving the UK when she was 4 years old more than 35 years ago. This is her first trip back.

When she landed, she went to the normal queue at passport control. The officer there looked at her South African passport and when she saw the Certificate of Entitlement, she said, "Oh, you one of us. You should be in the UK Citizen queue."

She will see how the rest of the trip goes and if she can see us living there for the next 20 years.
 
signates said:
My wife landed in Gatwick this morning and staying in Finsbury for the week. Besides the coldness, she is loving London so far, after leaving the UK when she was 4 years old more than 35 years ago. This is her first trip back.
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She timed that well, it’s forecast to be the coldest weekend of the year this weekend :p.
 
JayM said:
Will keeping properties not cause tax complications? Like having to do two tax returns indefinitely? Also, since you'll be tax resident in the UK, bond interest is no longer tax deductible, including overseas properties.

I'd take the knock and get the cash out now. But only some into GBP - no-deal Brexit could devalue the GBP considerably over the next 6 months. Unless May's deal goes through or they cancel the whole thing.
Click to expand...
Busy negotiating with my current tenant to buy the property. Hopefully we can get this finalised in the next 3 months. Selling it even if we do not immigrate.

We will be keeping our primary house for now and decide on what to do if we do move.
 
Property market is kak atm.. was hoping for a quick sale, but coming on 2 months and not an offer. Hopefully in the new year. Everywhere is bad I believe.. Need to sell end of Jan to get the transfer before we want to leave. Going to be our startup capital. Holding thumbs for Jan.
 
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