Immigrating to the UK

The Voice said:
Took a while for us to stop looking over our shoulders. But don’t automatically lock the car doors anymore, and can safely drive with the windows rolled down in summer.
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I miss being able to freely wind down my windows as I see fit, always being shut up in a box is not great. Now if it’s not muggers sticking a knife in my face at a robot it’s beggars whining and getting miff so the windows just stay permanently shut :(
 
airborne said:
I miss being able to freely wind down my windows as I see fit, always being shut up in a box is not great. Now if it’s not muggers sticking a knife in my face at a robot it’s beggars whining and getting miff so the windows just stay permanently shut :(
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You used to stay in the UK?

I go back often (Once a year) and going again in July for three weeks. It's nice driving there, no stress, can have windows down and doors unlocked and not even give it a second thought.
 
Priapus said:
You used to stay in the UK?

I go back often (Once a year) and going again in July for three weeks. It's nice driving there, no stress, can have windows down and doors unlocked and not even give it a second thought.
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I used to stay in a smaller town in South Africa that was pretty safe, virtually no beggars and I often drove with my windows down without much worry. Now I’m in Cape Town and that’s not even remotely an option unless I plan on winding that window up and down every 5mins.
 
airborne said:
I used to stay in a smaller town in South Africa that was pretty safe, virtually no beggars and I often drove with my windows down without much worry. Now I’m in Cape Town and that’s not even remotely an option unless I plan on winding that window up and down every 5mins.
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Or just stay in the CBD of CT and never drive outside of it. No beggars there of course LOL
 
The Voice said:
Random question: when you tell people where you live, do you say England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland or the UK? I still use the latter, even though I live in England, which is in Great Britain, which is in the United Kingdom.
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England or United Kingdom, even though GB has a political use now it's more accurately a geographical reference to the largest island in the British Isles.
 
Dave said:
England or United Kingdom, even though GB has a political use now it's more accurately a geographical reference to the largest island in the British Isles.
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I've never used the word England - to me UK is England and the rest are just tag alongs :laugh:
 
Tman* said:
Update: So I have spoken to a few visa agents....

They use some form of bots / scripts (whatever its called) to snatch up all the appointments once they become available. This is apparently a huge problem for embassies, hence why most have captchas on multiple steps when trying to book an appointment.

So you have to pay a rogue agent a fee for an appointment (I think this is similar to whats happening with driving licence renewals in SA?)

The only other option is to go via Orange Carpet for a business visa (my SO just did this and was awarded a 3 year visa).
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For any fellow members unfortunate enough to have a South African passport looking to obtain a Schengen - I can provide a small update:

Basically due to the above post you can forget about getting a visa appointment in the next few months, until the issue of appointments is sorted (if ever - VFS dont seem to care)

The Orange Carpet option does seem viable (I applied today):

1. You will need to ask your employer to apply for an Orange Carpet registration number of sorts (plus you need to support why. ie: you have offices in The Netherland, you need to travel frequently etc.

2. Once you have this number you can take it to your local VFS office and apply for a Schengen as per normal, WITHOUT needing an appointment. You just present your docs and get a ticket.

3. In my case I managed to apply via my SO's employers registration as a spouse, which was a real lifesaver. (so essentially as a family you only need to convince one employer between the 2 of you to register)
 
Tman* said:
For any fellow members unfortunate enough to have a South African passport looking to obtain a Schengen - I can provide a small update:

Basically due to the above post you can forget about getting a visa appointment in the next few months, until the issue of appointments is sorted (if ever - VFS dont seem to care)

The Orange Carpet option does seem viable (I applied today):

1. You will need to ask your employer to apply for an Orange Carpet registration number of sorts (plus you need to support why. ie: you have offices in The Netherland, you need to travel frequently etc.

2. Once you have this number you can take it to your local VFS office and apply for a Schengen as per normal, WITHOUT needing an appointment. You just present your docs and get a ticket.

3. In my case I managed to apply via my SO's employers registration as a spouse, which was a real lifesaver. (so essentially as a family you only need to convince one employer between the 2 of you to register)
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wtf
is that for entrance to any schengen country (since you're supposed to apply at the embassy of your primary destination)
 
Sinbad said:
wtf
is that for entrance to any schengen country (since you're supposed to apply at the embassy of your primary destination)
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I applied for a visa via France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain & Belgium and none of those had any appointments MONTHS in advance . Also, when they release appointments they are all instantly snatched up.

Only when I started phoning travel agencies did it all make sense when I learned they charge up to GBP700 per appointment.
 
Tman* said:
I applied for a visa via France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain & Belgium and none of those had any appointments MONTHS in advance . Also, when they release appointments they are all instantly snatched up.

Only when I started phoning travel agencies did it all make sense when I learned they charge up to GBP700 per appointment.
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So it's the same scam as the companies buying up drivers license renewal slots?
 
GhostSixFour said:
So it's the same scam as the companies buying up drivers license renewal slots?
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Exactly the same.

Problem is these travel agencies are not affiliated with the embassies in anyway so you have no guarantee of actually getting an appointment if you pay. I have heard of people getting turned away on the day of their appointments, because the wrong passport number was used. Others are simply scammed outright.
 
Ok, finally got my Visas and everything lined up. Leaving for the UK in about a month. I hope we manage to find a place to stay quickly, but the sounds of it - it can be pretty tough
 
2023 said:
Ok, finally got my Visas and everything lined up. Leaving for the UK in about a month. I hope we manage to find a place to stay quickly, but the sounds of it - it can be pretty tough
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Did you go skilled worker route?
 
2023 said:
Ok, finally got my Visas and everything lined up. Leaving for the UK in about a month. I hope we manage to find a place to stay quickly, but the sounds of it - it can be pretty tough
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It's not that tough, just difficult to find something you're 100% happy with as the best properties are snapped up quickly.

Once you're in something and have a bit more time it's normally not too bad, check with @KillaByte as I think he's been here around 6 months now.
 
2023 said:
Ok, finally got my Visas and everything lined up. Leaving for the UK in about a month. I hope we manage to find a place to stay quickly, but the sounds of it - it can be pretty tough
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Any plans about where you intend to end up?
 
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