Immigrating to the UK

Thanks man.

The weather was a major adjustment. Especially the sun setting at 16h00 and only rising at 08h30 the next day.

On the plus side, we are through the worst of it and the days are slowly getting longer.

I've gotten a phone account but haven't done the other stuff yet. Can I register on the voting roll even if I am not a citizen? I am here on a spousal visa.

Ah, the short winter days are ****, my biggest hate of the UK.

I don't think you can register on voters roll while on visa, you may have to check though.

Is the phone account PAYG or a contract? You want a contract so that they begin updating you credit profiles.

Loqbox is a service I used to also build credit. It's basically a "loan" except you never get given the money you "loan". You pay into an account every month to pay off the "loan", and they update the credit bureaus with the payments. I think I did £500 over 12 months. At the end of the term, you can cash out the amounts you paid minus I think £35 as a fee.

Once you have a a few of months from above, you can then register at the 3 credit bureaus (Clearscore, Experian, Credit Karma aka TransUnion). They will want 3 years address history, so just bullshit it and give your address you have been staying at for a 3 year period.

Have you opened a bank account at a high street bank (Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC, Barclays, etc)? If not, you should!

Also, as you don't have a job, I wouldn't apply for credit card until you have at least 6 months of history on credit bureaus. Once you have a job, probably wait 3 months before applying at your bank where the salary gets paid into.

What else? Did you bring any TopDeck with you?
 
Thanks. Driver's done at least. My SA license was close to expiring so it was one of the first things I did after collecting my British Residence permit

IGNORE, I don't read properly

Actually, hold off swapping your driving licence until the 11th month as you can't get given points on a SA licence for traffic violations.

5d3b5931dce667f147c7640a563fb39a.gif
 
@x32 welcome and hang in there, things will work out.
I’d hang 5 on the voter reg until you have a permanent address.

CreditKarma/Transunion for credit scores. Experian charge for full access and are way off on their scores.
 
Today marks 1 month since we have arrived in the UK.

We are currently staying in Guildford with the long term intention to relocate to North West London.

Guildford is a beautiful part of the country and the people are really friendly.

Not worrying about loadshedding or constantly looking over my shoulder has been great too.

The single biggest challenge that I have been facing is finding work. I am a qualified attorney with 10 years experience in SA. I have recently done the conversion and have qualified as a solicitor of England and Wales.

Although I have applied for a number of jobs as a solicitor, I haven't been able to secure any interviews. I am assuming that the lack of UK experience is hurting my prospects. I have been dealing with some recruiters but, for the most part, they haven't been particularly helpful.

Has anyone in the legal field come over recently and gone through something similar? I would appreciate any insight/tips regarding finding a role.

Guildford is nice from what I have seen. I randomly decided to rent in Wokingham, have no desire to leave as of yet. Any reason you want to NW london?
I loved the city part of the UK when I lived here a fairly long time ago, now I absolutely loathe going in and avoid any cities (but London especially) at any and all costs.
 
@x32

Also be aware of parking lots. A lot are run by private firms and you need to be aware if the T&C when parking. A lot use a phone app now, other have a machine where you prepay by guessing the duration you'll be parking, others you pay when you return to lot to leave. Just pay attention.

Also, going through Dartford Tunnel or QE Bridge, you have until midnight the following day to pay the toll fee? I think it's now £70 penalty fee per entry/exit if you forget to pay.
 
  • Like
Reactions: x32
IGNORE, I don't read properly

Actually, hold off swapping your driving licence until the 11th month as you can't get given points on a SA licence for traffic violations.

5d3b5931dce667f147c7640a563fb39a.gif

Bad news: when you commit a traffic offence on an SA license, DVLA creates a "Ghost licence" profile with the points. As soon as you get your UK licence, the points are transferred to that.
 
Bad news: when you commit a traffic offence on an SA license, DVLA creates a "Ghost licence" profile with the points. As soon as you get your UK licence, the points are transferred to that.
Bastards

Oh well, was a good idea anyway
 
Ah, the short winter days are ****, my biggest hate of the UK.

I don't think you can register on voters roll while on visa, you may have to check though.

Is the phone account PAYG or a contract? You want a contract so that they begin updating you credit profiles.

Loqbox is a service I used to also build credit. It's basically a "loan" except you never get given the money you "loan". You pay into an account every month to pay off the "loan", and they update the credit bureaus with the payments. I think I did £500 over 12 months. At the end of the term, you can cash out the amounts you paid minus I think £35 as a fee.

Once you have a a few of months from above, you can then register at the 3 credit bureaus (Clearscore, Experian, Credit Karma aka TransUnion). They will want 3 years address history, so just bullshit it and give your address you have been staying at for a 3 year period.

Have you opened a bank account at a high street bank (Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC, Barclays, etc)? If not, you should!

Also, as you don't have a job, I wouldn't apply for credit card until you have at least 6 months of history on credit bureaus. Once you have a job, probably wait 3 months before applying at your bank where the salary gets paid into.

What else? Did you bring any TopDeck with you?
emoji12.png
After I arrived, and based on advice received from this thread, I opened an account with Lloyds. It was super easy.

Also opened an account with Revolut but I'm not keeping much cash in it. It's more of a back up than anything else.

The SIM is PAYG for now. I figured I should wait to get a job and payslip before applying for any form of credit. If I apply now and get rejected, it wouldn't bode well for my credit score.
 
Welcome to Surrey, check PM
You've only been here a month, don't stress yet. Just keep on applying for any role that appeals, and update your CV on all portals you're registered on (all you have to do is change one word), so that your activity is current.

Just be patient and something will happen.

Guildford is convenient - my office is about a 30 second walk from The Friary Centre.

PS. The reply was for x32, lol.
 
Guildford is nice from what I have seen. I randomly decided to rent in Wokingham, have no desire to leave as of yet. Any reason you want to NW london?
I loved the city part of the UK when I lived here a fairly long time ago, now I absolutely loathe going in and avoid any cities (but London especially) at any and all cost

More than anything else it's because the greatest concentration of our friends in the UK stay in North West London. So we figured we would look to stay there for a sense of 'community'.

The reason we moved to Guildford initially is because a family friend offered us a short term rental of his place while he is abroad. And even though I am really enjoying it here, I do think that ultimately it would be better to move closer to central London and be around people we know.
 
Today marks 1 month since we have arrived in the UK.

We are currently staying in Guildford with the long term intention to relocate to North West London.

Guildford is a beautiful part of the country and the people are really friendly.

Not worrying about loadshedding or constantly looking over my shoulder has been great too.

The single biggest challenge that I have been facing is finding work. I am a qualified attorney with 10 years experience in SA. I have recently done the conversion and have qualified as a solicitor of England and Wales.

Although I have applied for a number of jobs as a solicitor, I haven't been able to secure any interviews. I am assuming that the lack of UK experience is hurting my prospects. I have been dealing with some recruiters but, for the most part, they haven't been particularly helpful.

Has anyone in the legal field come over recently and gone through something similar? I would appreciate any insight/tips regarding finding a role.
Congrats.

Not sure I can offer much advise abour solicitor jobs as I'm in IT but one thing I noticed is that companies look around a lot on LinkedIn. I didn't use it much until I got here. Got both my job offers through LinkedIn and didn't even go via agencies.
Get pinged almost every week with a offer.
 
After I arrived, and based on advice received from this thread, I opened an account with Lloyds. It was super easy.

Also opened an account with Revolut but I'm not keeping much cash in it. It's more of a back up than anything else.

The SIM is PAYG for now. I figured I should wait to get a job and payslip before applying for any form of credit. If I apply now and get rejected, it wouldn't bode well for my credit score.

The mobile provider should call you after 2 months or so and offer you a contract, which you haggle a bit and accept. That's what EE did for me, my wife and a couple friends.

I applied for Capital One credit card with £500 limit after 6 months of credit history. In fact, from what I recall, the offer actually came up in one of the credit bereau apps, either ClearScore or Experian. I wasn't even working yet LOL. This is why getting some credit history is paramount. Go check out Loqbox

Revolut is ok, just be aware they are not a registered bank in UK as they are yet to be granted a UK banking license.
 
You've only been here a month, don't stress yet. Just keep on applying for any role that appeals, and update your CV on all portals you're registered on (all you have to do is change one word), so that your activity is current.

Just be patient and something will happen.

Guildford is convenient - my office is about a 30 second walk from The Friary Centre.

PS. The reply was for x32, lol.
Thank you. Been to Friary a couple of times now. Great little centre that and the shops around it are pretty decent too.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X