Immigrating to the UK

The Voice said:
My wife’s father is British, born in Rhodesia - his father was born in Leicester, and registered his birth as British. Her oldest brother was registered as British at birth in South Africa, so has citizenship and a passport. Her birth, for some unknown reason, wasn’t registered as British, or they did it too late - regardless, she’s a naturalised South African, and all she was entitled to was an ancestry visa because of her British grandfather. I came over as her dependant, and after 5 years on the ancestry visa and then holding ILR for a year, we’ll soon be applying for citizenship.

Not sure if Breytenbach’s argument has any legs, and you may eventually only be entitled to an ancestry visa via your grandmother (if she was born in the UK).
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This is my route right now, it's so expensive (NHS x4)
 
Tman* said:
Not really.

Think of it as your medical aid contribution paid upfront for 4 years.
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Yeah, it 'pays itself off' over the years in UK, but to pay it all at once is quite a dent in the immediate funds for sure.
 
The Voice said:
My wife’s father is British, born in Rhodesia - his father was born in Leicester, and registered his birth as British. Her oldest brother was registered as British at birth in South Africa, so has citizenship and a passport. Her birth, for some unknown reason, wasn’t registered as British, or they did it too late - regardless, she’s a naturalised South African, and all she was entitled to was an ancestry visa because of her British grandfather. I came over as her dependant, and after 5 years on the ancestry visa and then holding ILR for a year, we’ll soon be applying for citizenship.

Not sure if Breytenbach’s argument has any legs, and you may eventually only be entitled to an ancestry visa via your grandmother (if she was born in the UK).
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I'm already here on an ancestral visa, but I want a quicker route.

In your wife's case, there was no legislative unfairness. In my case, there was.

It costs £80 and some time to apply, so that's what I'll do.
 
2022 said:
Yeah, it 'pays itself off' over the years in UK, but to pay it all at once is quite a dent in the immediate funds for sure.
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We are on a 5 year path. Our health surcharge was 2.5 years up front and then we pay it again after 2.5 years when we renew.
Once you are here you’ll find saving for it is fairly easy.
Not sure I’ve posted in this thread before but I’ll share the other costs to keep in mind. Getting a rental was difficult so we paid the equivalent of 6 months rent in our first months for the short term “air bnb” style places and then had to pay 6 month rental up front once we found an agent that would help us. It’s far easier to vet a resident so agents don’t want the extra work.
Add to this buying cars, furniture, appliances and insurance etc. will all make the health surcharge seem inexpensive.
Worth every penny.
 
Tman* said:
Not really.

Think of it as your medical aid contribution paid upfront for 4 years.
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Nope - you’re paying for past missed contributions. Still going to pay the full NI, part of which goes to funding health care.
 
Paul Kemp said:
We are on a 5 year path. Our health surcharge was 2.5 years up front and then we pay it again after 2.5 years when we renew.
Once you are here you’ll find saving for it is fairly easy.
Not sure I’ve posted in this thread before but I’ll share the other costs to keep in mind. Getting a rental was difficult so we paid the equivalent of 6 months rent in our first months for the short term “air bnb” style places and then had to pay 6 month rental up front once we found an agent that would help us. It’s far easier to vet a resident so agents don’t want the extra work.
Add to this buying cars, furniture, appliances and insurance etc. will all make the health surcharge seem inexpensive.
Worth every penny.
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Anyone else have some advice on how they managed to rent or buy before/during the move across?
 
2022 said:
Anyone else have some advice on how they managed to rent or buy before/during the move across?
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I was in airbnbs for the first 6 months but managed to get a mortgage after 4 so we bought after 6.
I had a mortgage broker who helped out immensely in finding a loan for us. Ironically I was disadvantaged by not having a permanent job (was one a 1 year fixed term contract)
I am a citizen too, I believe it's a lot harder to get a mortgage without having at least ILR.

For renting...
You have to be super quick. Go and see a place the minute it's listed. Be prepared to have a hefty deposit or offer to pay the full rental in advance. The market is very very competitive at the moment.

Not sure if it would help but if you have references from a landlord in ZA it can't hurt.
Don't take the agent's word for anything. Speak to the owners where at all possible.
 
Sinbad said:
I was in airbnbs for the first 6 months but managed to get a mortgage after 4 so we bought after 6.
I had a mortgage broker who helped out immensely in finding a loan for us. Ironically I was disadvantaged by not having a permanent job (was one a 1 year fixed term contract)
I am a citizen too, I believe it's a lot harder to get a mortgage without having at least ILR.

For renting...
You have to be super quick. Go and see a place the minute it's listed. Be prepared to have a hefty deposit or offer to pay the full rental in advance. The market is very very competitive at the moment.

Not sure if it would help but if you have references from a landlord in ZA it can't hurt.
Don't take the agent's word for anything. Speak to the owners where at all possible.
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Another thing to get used to with renting here is making “offers”. Say rent is advertised as £2000 per month - that doesn’t mean that’s what you’ll end up paying, because you basically end up in a bidding war with other people interested in the property, with the “winner” paying like £2500 per month.
 
Has anyone had any luck renting before even leaving? Is it even possible or do you need to show like a UK bank account statements?
 
2022 said:
Has anyone had any luck renting before even leaving? Is it even possible or do you need to show like a UK bank account statements?
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I did in 2005 :) Got a character reference and paid the deposit.

Friend recently did so too, but paid 12 months in advance .. he lived in UK before (10 years ago)
 
2022 said:
Has anyone had any luck renting before even leaving? Is it even possible or do you need to show like a UK bank account statements?
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It's do able but be prepared to pay huge amounts upfront. Otherwise it's tricky as you will fail credit checks and can't give 3 months UK bank statements.
 
2022 said:
Has anyone had any luck renting before even leaving? Is it even possible or do you need to show like a UK bank account statements?
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You need to prove right to rent, which is pretty trivial. We also had to pay 6 months of rent up front on account of lack of credit history.
 
Out of curiosity, all this immigration to the UK, are you all looking at getting into England, Scotland or Wales, even Ireland / Northern Ireland?
 
Whright said:
Out of curiosity, all this immigration to the UK, are you all looking at getting into England, Scotland or Wales, even Ireland / Northern Ireland?
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Ireland isn’t in the UK. But may be worth a shot if you have an EU passport.
 
Looking at Northern England, maybe even Scotland
 
gregmcc said:
It's do able but be prepared to pay huge amounts upfront. Otherwise it's tricky as you will fail credit checks and can't give 3 months UK bank statements.
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If I can get a UK bank account a couple of months in advanced, throw some cash in there, do you think that would help?

Sounds more and more like I'm going to have to bnb for a while before renting. Heck, I might just end up bnb then buying instead.
 
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