Immigrating to the UK

bwana said:
Newcastle... need I say more?
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Just seen on the local news that apparently we do have some crazy cat ladies knitting tat for the postboxes like @Sinbad showed earlier.


Knitted_Crown.jpg
 
Sometimes the service offered by the UK government and Postal service is impressive.

Had to get a copy of my wife's birth certificate. Went online to the General Register Office on Wednesday Put in her details and sure enough her records showed up. Placed an order for a copy of the certificate - got an email from Royal Mail to say it will be there before 1pm today.

Just got another mail to say it has been delivered.

Must be nice to live in a world with such service.
 
Priapus said:
Sometimes the service offered by the UK government and Postal service is impressive.

Had to get a copy of my wife's birth certificate. Went online to the General Register Office on Wednesday Put in her details and sure enough her records showed up. Placed an order for a copy of the certificate - got an email from Royal Mail to say it will be there before 1pm today.

Just got another mail to say it has been delivered.

Must be nice to live in a world with such service.
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Yep, Royal Mail (strikes aside) is outstanding, especially after having to deal with the SA postal service for years with mail arriving months later - or sometimes never.
 
Priapus said:
Sometimes the service offered by the UK government and Postal service is impressive.

Had to get a copy of my wife's birth certificate. Went online to the General Register Office on Wednesday Put in her details and sure enough her records showed up. Placed an order for a copy of the certificate - got an email from Royal Mail to say it will be there before 1pm today.

Just got another mail to say it has been delivered.

Must be nice to live in a world with such service.
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What is funny about it is that it is not outstanding service. Everyone is just doing what they are supposed to so things get done.

Can also be a little weird at times, almost backwards. Like when you sign a work contract and they send it in the post with a self addressed return envelope. Or your rental agent who you communicate with over email then mails you a notice for gas inspection. Things you stopped doing simply because SAPO can’t be trusted.
Even with the strikes delays aren’t massive and your stuff turns up a few days later.
 
The Voice said:
Yep, Royal Mail (strikes aside) is outstanding, especially after having to deal with the SA postal service for years with mail arriving months later - or sometimes never.
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Paul Kemp said:
What is funny about it is that it is not outstanding service. Everyone is just doing what they are supposed to so things get done.

Can also be a little weird at times, almost backwards. Like when you sign a work contract and they send it in the post with a self addressed return envelope. Or your rental agent who you communicate with over email then mails you a notice for gas inspection. Things you stopped doing simply because SAPO can’t be trusted.
Even with the strikes delays aren’t massive and your stuff turns up a few days later.
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First world things.

In other news; I am preparing to apply for my Son's Certificate of Entitlement; for our visit there in July. Since he is a British Citizen (Mother and both her parents were born in the UK) - I am unable to apply for a visitor visa for him - and we don't have enough time to apply for his UK Passport (I was told we needed a vault copy of his birth cert) but that is no longer the case - since we were given an unabridged birth cert within 30 days of his birth last year (He is 11 months)

So we wasted a lot of time around that and now it's too late to get his passport for July. But do have his SA passport.

The UK site is so unclear on exactly what documents we need. I've establish we need the following

1. Mothers proof of UK citizen ship (We have UK passport and unabridged birth certificate)
2. His unabridged birth certificate (Has full details of both parents on it - issued within 30 days of birth)
3. His SA passport obviously 4. Consent letter from parents to obtain CoE and agree to UK address arrangements (He isn't staying there -we just visiting - so not sure about that part.
4. Marriage certificate? Maybe?
5. Proof of finances? (Mother has a UK account in her maiden name with few thousand GBP in it)

Anything else, if anyone knows?

The visa costs R9k - so not wanting to just wing it. I contacted immigration consultants - they want 8k to do the application (On top of the 9k the UK want for the visa)
Or I just use the immigration services...
 
Priapus said:
First world things.

In other news; I am preparing to apply for my Son's Certificate of Entitlement; for our visit there in July. Since he is a British Citizen (Mother and both her parents were born in the UK) - I am unable to apply for a visitor visa for him - and we don't have enough time to apply for his UK Passport (I was told we needed a vault copy of his birth cert) but that is no longer the case - since we were given an unabridged birth cert within 30 days of his birth last year (He is 11 months)

So we wasted a lot of time around that and now it's too late to get his passport for July. But do have his SA passport.

The UK site is so unclear on exactly what documents we need. I've establish we need the following

1. Mothers proof of UK citizen ship (We have UK passport and unabridged birth certificate)
2. His unabridged birth certificate (Has full details of both parents on it - issued within 30 days of birth)
3. His SA passport obviously 4. Consent letter from parents to obtain CoE and agree to UK address arrangements (He isn't staying there -we just visiting - so not sure about that part.
4. Marriage certificate? Maybe?
5. Proof of finances? (Mother has a UK account in her maiden name with few thousand GBP in it)

Anything else, if anyone knows?

The visa costs R9k - so not wanting to just wing it. I contacted immigration consultants - they want 8k to do the application (On top of the 9k the UK want for the visa)
Or I just use the immigration services...
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Can’t answer that but would try calling Move up in the Cape. They were very helpful wrt what documentation is required before we paid for their services. Jason is who we dealt with there. Worth a try.
 
Paul Kemp said:
Can’t answer that but would try calling Move up in the Cape. They were very helpful wrt what documentation is required before we paid for their services. Jason is who we dealt with there. Worth a try.
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Thanks. The issue I have is I paid for consulting services from an immigration place to tell me if I have a valid application for my son. They said yes. But They are very vague and say “will give full list of requirements once payment is made” for them to have the mandate to submit an application.

That just leaves me uneasy. Like I want to know what all the documents are needed before we start. But they are highly recommended.
 
Priapus said:
Thanks. The issue I have is I paid for consulting services from an immigration place to tell me if I have a valid application for my son. They said yes. But They are very vague and say “will give full list of requirements once payment is made” for them to have the mandate to submit an application.

That just leaves me uneasy. Like I want to know what all the documents are needed before we start. But they are highly recommended.
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Sable? Move up were far more open. Our process took a long time to get in order and they gave us all the requirements long before we went ahead. Sable gave me call centre, just a number vibes.
 
Paul Kemp said:
Sable? Move up were far more open. Our process took a long time to get in order and they gave us all the requirements long before we went ahead. Sable gave me call centre, just a number vibes.
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Breytenbachs.

The UK government says this visa should take around 3 weeks for a decision. Which is perfect as we fly in 8 weeks.
 
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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Did you end up coming right?
 
Priapus said:
In other news; I am preparing to apply for my Son's Certificate of Entitlement; for our visit there in July. Since he is a British Citizen (Mother and both her parents were born in the UK) - I am unable to apply for a visitor visa for him
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I don't understand that part. My kids have held UK visitor's visas in the past even though they are entitled to UK citizenship. These days thought they travel overseas on their US passports.
 
bwana said:
I don't understand that part. My kids have held UK visitor's visas in the past even though they are entitled to UK citizenship. These days thought they travel overseas on their US passports.
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That’s what I’m told so I’m not sure. I didn’t want risk a refusal so close to flying.

I guess the CoE is better as it means the next visit he won’t need a visa if for some reason we have difficulty getting his passport.
And the CoE application needs less documentation- just it’s a lot more expensive.
Also your kids having US passports helps I guess.
 
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