Immigrating to the UK

shadow_man said:
Man that’s madness.

Could earn more in SA. Used to be UK salaries were many multiples above SA.

That and you’re being ripped off, that’s low end desktop support money.
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Yeah, but they don't have to:

- Pay for medical aid,
- Pay for schooling,
- Pay for armed response

And have:

- Access to working public transport
- Working government departments
- Healthy labour market with only 3.7% unemployment

So, it's hardly comparable...
 
I cannot afford go to UK with a salary below 5k after taxes.... difficult to find jobs that really pays well. Did my search some time back with the help of relatives and friends in UK....easy to find jobs that pay 3.5k to 4k but above that was not in my luck may be and I gave up....after all expenses I save 40-50k here in SA and doing that in UK may not be easy....found sponsors who want a big CUT for the sake of sponsoring me.....life goes on
 
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cguy said:
You get what you pay for - there is a reason SA is cheaper. On the other hand, many people get a massive salary boost in the UK, which negates a lot of the above.
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Wages have actually been pretty stagnant over the last 10 years or so. Its quite a big political issue here. Suppose depends what industry you're in.

Fuma said:
I'm 42 software dev (.net space). Never been outside SA. How is the job market in the UK? I feel like I won't struggle that much to settle in the UK compared to other countries. I intend on getting some experience/certs in Azure/AWS to be more marketable.
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My company is seriously struggling to hire decent devs (.NET as well). So if you're worth your salt, you'll find something pretty easily.

Priapus said:
Yeah, but they don't have to:

- Pay for medical aid,
- Pay for schooling,
- Pay for armed response

And have:

- Access to working public transport
- Working government departments
- Healthy labour market with only 3.7% unemployment

So, it's hardly comparable...
Click to expand...

Grass isn't always greener hey. The health care system is actually in a shambolic state. I mean you'll probably be ok if you end up in hospital with something serious, but just don't expect good day-to-day healthcare. Its pretty much non-existent. Especially if you're coming from SA paying a med aid where you can get healthcare on demand. People always bitch and moan about SA med aid, but once its gone, you really appreciate how valuable it was.

In terms of govt departments, you've also never had to deal with how useless HMRC, the DWP and Home Office are. Its bad man!

Working public transport, sure, but you pay an absolute fortune. If you're living in greater London and commute, you'll pay 1000s in rail cards. Its like an extra tax man. Its ridiculous.

For me the biggest thing about living in the UK is the strength of the pound. You're just a lot better off in comparison. So its not all bad ;)
 
bridgeburner said:
Wages have actually been pretty stagnant over the last 10 years or so. Its quite a big political issue here. Suppose depends what industry you're in.
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I’m thinking software developers, but I know that quantitative researchers also do really well, as well as certain IT folk.
 
JSRJJ said:
I cannot afford go to UK with a salary below 5k after taxes.... difficult to find jobs that really pays well. Did my search some time back with the help of relatives and friends in UK....easy to find jobs that pay 3.5k to 4k but above that was not in my luck may be and I gave up....after all expenses I save 40-50k here in SA and doing that in UK may not be easy....found sponsors who want a big CUT for the sake of sponsoring me.....life goes on
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Why are you saving 50K? Seems like you could use that money a little better.
 
JSRJJ said:
I cannot afford go to UK with a salary below 5k after taxes.... difficult to find jobs that really pays well. Did my search some time back with the help of relatives and friends in UK....easy to find jobs that pay 3.5k to 4k but above that was not in my luck may be and I gave up....after all expenses I save 40-50k here in SA and doing that in UK may not be easy....found sponsors who want a big CUT for the sake of sponsoring me.....life goes on
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You really need 5k after taxes/deductions? Are you sure? That's extremely decent money in UK (outside london, to be fair- but that's like another country)
What size house are you planning to buy? Single person or family?
Seconded on the 50k a month savings - that reduces your requirement from 5k to 2.5k very quickly.
 
Sinbad said:
You really need 5k after taxes/deductions? Are you sure? That's extremely decent money in UK (outside london, to be fair- but that's like another country)
What size house are you planning to buy? Single person or family?
Seconded on the 50k a month savings - that reduces your requirement from 5k to 2.5k very quickly.
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I agree, if I was clearing 5k pm I would have cleaning services round twice a week, eat out every night, and order new clothes instead of washing what I currently have.
 
Sinbad said:
I got an offer for you you can't refuse...

I prefer the cleaners to be single, but twins would be OK too
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My GF might be 4'11" and weigh 50kg, but I am sure that if she saw twins cleaning my place I would get a glass bottle to the back of the head.
 
Lets compare apples with apples:
bridgeburner said:
Grass isn't always greener hey. The health care system is actually in a shambolic state. I mean you'll probably be ok if you end up in hospital with something serious, but just don't expect good day-to-day healthcare. Its pretty much non-existent. Especially if you're coming from SA paying a med aid where you can get healthcare on demand. People always bitch and moan about SA med aid, but once its gone, you really appreciate how valuable it was.
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Saying the healthcare is in a "shambolic state" and comparing it to SA medical aids is laughable.

UK NHS = SA public health care (both free to citizens).
UK private health care = SA Medical aid

Form your above statement you almost make it sound like one is limited to the NHS in the UK? There are no restrictions to join a private medical aid.
bridgeburner said:
In terms of govt departments, you've also never had to deal with how useless HMRC, the DWP and Home Office are. Its bad man!
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My personal experience with HMRC, DVLA, Home office, NHS, The Local Council, Royal Mail, etc etc has been nothing short of spectacular directly compared to my experiences back in SA with similar offices.

Please provide some input on what you base this statement on?
bridgeburner said:
Working public transport, sure, but you pay an absolute fortune. If you're living in greater London and commute, you'll pay 1000s in rail cards. Its like an extra tax man. Its ridiculous.
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One could argue that there is reliable, accessible public transport in the UK, and there is very limited such option in SA.
You can make the same argument by saying: "yes, but your utilities are extremely expensive". Certainly true, but I have the option to actually use electricity when I choose too.
 
Tman* said:
My personal experience with HMRC, DVLA, Home office, NHS, The Local Council, Royal Mail, etc etc has been nothing short of spectacular directly compared to my experiences back in SA with similar offices.
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I have to say I agree with you on this.
I haven't dealt with DVLA yet (still driving on my SA drivers), nor have I had to deal with NHS. But HMRC sorted me out over a short phone call with a very helpful woman, Home Office have given me no issues. Royal Mail continues to exceed my expectations (had a parcel delivered to my door, overnight, just this morning), local council keeps the place running well.
I keep telling people back home how amazing it is to be in a country where everything just works.
 
killerbyte said:
I have to say I agree with you on this.
I haven't dealt with DVLA yet (still driving on my SA drivers), nor have I had to deal with NHS. But HMRC sorted me out over a short phone call with a very helpful woman, Home Office have given me no issues. Royal Mail continues to exceed my expectations (had a parcel delivered to my door, overnight, just this morning), local council keeps the place running well.
I keep telling people back home how amazing it is to be in a country where everything just works.
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DVLA is great.... go ahead and switch your license - it makes life much easier (it's acceptable proof of address).
 
Tman* said:
My personal experience with HMRC, DVLA, Home office, NHS, The Local Council, Royal Mail, etc etc has been nothing short of spectacular directly compared to my experiences back in SA with similar offices.
Click to expand...

You forget it's a national pastime for most of the newspapers here to sensationalise and exaggerate most things, there are actually people who believe what the Sun, Express, Mail write...
 
Tman* said:
Lets compare apples with apples:

Saying the healthcare is in a "shambolic state" and comparing it to SA medical aids is laughable.

UK NHS = SA public health care (both free to citizens).
UK private health care = SA Medical aid

Form your above statement you almost make it sound like one is limited to the NHS in the UK? There are no restrictions to join a private medical aid.

My personal experience with HMRC, DVLA, Home office, NHS, The Local Council, Royal Mail, etc etc has been nothing short of spectacular directly compared to my experiences back in SA with similar offices.

Please provide some input on what you base this statement on?

One could argue that there is reliable, accessible public transport in the UK, and there is very limited such option in SA.
You can make the same argument by saying: "yes, but your utilities are extremely expensive". Certainly true, but I have the option to actually use electricity when I choose too.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Compared to SA - the UK services are vastly different. Sure, the NHS has its issues and there are long wait lines. But I'd take that over the free health care in SA, any day.

They also conveniently leave out not paying for armed response...
 
Tman* said:
Lets compare apples with apples:

Saying the healthcare is in a "shambolic state" and comparing it to SA medical aids is laughable.

UK NHS = SA public health care (both free to citizens).
UK private health care = SA Medical aid

Form your above statement you almost make it sound like one is limited to the NHS in the UK? There are no restrictions to join a private medical aid.
Click to expand...

No, I never said you're **limited** to the NHS. Nor was I comparing it to South African medical aids. The OP I quoted said one doesn't have to pay med aid as if that would be a perk of moving to the UK. However, if he goes that route, he'll have to be aware of the problems the NHS has. Or pay for private as you said - which would kind of negate his reasoning in the first place.

I was just saying that med aid in South Africa is actually pretty generous, even compared to something like Bupa (which I'm on). And even SA med aid isn't really on a 1:1 with med insurance here. SA is far more generous with things like existing conditions etc.

Tman* said:
My personal experience with HMRC, DVLA, Home office, NHS, The Local Council, Royal Mail, etc etc has been noting short of spectacular directly compared to my experiences back in SA with similar offices.

Please provide some input on what you base this statement on?
Click to expand...

You're in luck I guess. I've waited weeks for passport renewals (my last SA passport renewal took 5 days when I was in SA late last year). It took 9+ months to get a national insurance number through DWP when I moved here and during that time, I was being emergency taxed which was really annoying. My partner has had endless hassles with her visa and trying to extract information from the Home Office. I'm still waiting for HMRC to process my 2021/2022 tax assessment believe it or not, even though that will be two tax seasons in the past from tomorrow.

Tman* said:
One could argue that there is reliable, accessible public transport in the UK, and there is very limited such option in SA.
You can make the same argument by saying: "yes, but your utilities are extremely expensive". Certainly true, but I have the option to actually use electricity when I choose too.
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Not sure what you're trying to say here. Never said it was unreliable. Just said it was expensive and something to consider.. and not sure what loadshedding has to do with anything? Yeah that's crap but not relevant.

Feels like you're a bit butthurt because I'm saying things aren't always greener. A lot of South Africans who move here get really upset when other South Africans have genuine criticisms of the place. Its like they have to continually justify to themselves how amazing and perfect the place is and how utterly rubbish SA is. If you're gonna emigrate, people need to be aware of things instead of wearing rose-tinted glasses just because they want to get out
 
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Priapus said:
Exactly. Compared to SA - the UK services are vastly different. Sure, the NHS has its issues and there are long wait lines. But I'd take that over the free health care in SA, any day.

They also conveniently leave out not paying for armed response...
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Fair enough
 
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