Immigrating to the UK

xcaliber said:
By that logic. Your truth is also not reality.

Therefore, reality does not exist.
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Point I think most of us are getting at here is that while those events do happen, it’s rare that they all happen to a single person. Separate things experiences by individuals does not = everyone’s experience.
The positive experiences for individuals far outweighs the few negatives.
There are exaggerations in there too. For example, phone snatching. How can it be completely normal for women(my observation) to carry their phones in their back pocket if phone snatching is a norm? People adjust their behaviour based on their environment. Also, if South Africans are such a vigilant bunch, why are their phones being snatched?
If all of that was experienced by an individual I’d hazard a guess that they are not very resourceful and poor planners. Both of which are advantageous qualities for an immigrant.
 
Paul Kemp said:
Point I think most of us are getting at here is that while those events do happen, it’s rare that they all happen to a single person. Separate things experiences by individuals does not = everyone’s experience.
The positive experiences for individuals far outweighs the few negatives.
There are exaggerations in there too. For example, phone snatching. How can it be completely normal for women(my observation) to carry their phones in their back pocket if phone snatching is a norm? People adjust their behaviour based on their environment. Also, if South Africans are such a vigilant bunch, why are their phones being snatched?
If all of that was experienced by an individual I’d hazard a guess that they are not very resourceful and poor planners. Both of which are advantageous qualities for an immigrant.
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100% agree which is why my first comment was its some peoples truth.

Just because a few people here have had good experiences with NHS, most would now say that is far from reality . Which was my 2nd comment.
 
Watched this last night and thought it was relevant re: only advantage is the odd cheap med from @6spdmanual post. Which is a major plus point in my book.

A tad bit of pisstake but I find them entertaining.

 
December marked three years in UK for our family.
We’re on a 5 year path(2X2.5 year visas) so are on our second leg of visas. A costly privilege, but we have always been aware of this so no use complaining.

Work is good although we’re in the Midlands so it can be frustratingly slow at times. Brits can also be super weird. They’re too nice and don’t like straight talk which feels a little dishonest. Navigating people and cultures is always the difficult part of integrating. Not insurmountable. My boss has given me a few “temper your view” type chats but overall I get good reviews.(Had one on Monday)

Missus has a great job now. She took the first year off work and then struggled to find her fit. Not fun but I’ve been there for her and there has never been any pressure or need to stick out jobs that aren’t right which is very much against her character. Got there in the end and even earned some work award for her efforts.

Kids are doing very well in school and socially. My youngest is a reserved personality and struggled initially but has a nice friend group now. We’ve done the uni tour thing and will do it again(although different field) later this year for our youngest. They are both in Sixth form now, so young adults, and are very independent here. Organised their own drivers license, walk themselves to doc and dentist appointments and generally live much like I did growing up. Very free.
Kids here can be wild but if you’ve got well adjusted kids, they mix with other well adjusted kids.

I still don’t get the weather here. Temps can be zero and you’re comfortable outside but then other days it’s +5 and I’m frozen to the bone.
Transition from summer to winter catches me out every year. I get on with it but it always takes a bit of internal talk to get going. My antidote is to face it head on. Wash cars in the rain, walk in the cold temps, take the hard route cause it’s ultimately a better aproach.

Still miss my mates. I mix with people here but none are truly my mates. But that’s on me. I’m a small groups person and won’t easily invite you into my space.

3 years on and we can now finance things more easily but really all we want and need is a house mortgage. My credit rating is still fair ‘cause I’m absolutely useless at this building credit for the sake of it thing.
 
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Paul Kemp said:
3 years on and we can now finance things more easily but really all we want and need is a house mortgage. My credit rating is still fair ‘cause I’m absolutely useless at this building credit for the sake of it thing.
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Have you tried Halifax?

My Mortgage broker guy recommended them for expats. He also commented that a credit score isnt everything. They rather consider your overall risk, ie: income lever relevant to mortgage, time at company, existing credit in place etc
 
Tman* said:
Have you tried Halifax?

My Mortgage broker guy recommended them for expats. He also commented that a credit score isnt everything. They rather consider your overall risk, ie: income lever relevant to mortgage, time at company, existing credit in place etc
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Haven’t actually tried any at all but thank you, will give them a call when we do get serious about it. This rental thing is 100% interest and that does not sit well.
 
Tman* said:
Have you tried Halifax?

My Mortgage broker guy recommended them for expats. He also commented that a credit score isnt everything. They rather consider your overall risk, ie: income lever relevant to mortgage, time at company, existing credit in place etc
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The banks are strange.
Lloyds denied me a credit card (just wanted one to use to help build the credit record).
Barclaycard gave me one with a massive limit and 22 months interest free.
 
killerbyte said:
The banks are strange.
Lloyds denied me a credit card (just wanted one to use to help build the credit record).
Barclaycard gave me one with a massive limit and 22 months interest free.
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This is why I say credit score in this country is largely meaningless. Every credit provider has their own (secret) way to evaluate your risk profile. Your credit score is a very small part of it.

But the credit score companies learnt awhile ago they could sell you services related to your score and hence why it’s always brought up.
 
Paul Kemp said:
December marked three years in UK for our family.
We’re on a 5 year path(2X2.5 year visas) so are on our second leg of visas. A costly privilege, but we have always been aware of this so no use complaining.

Work is good although we’re in the Midlands so it can be frustratingly slow at times. Brits can also be super weird. They’re too nice and don’t like straight talk which feels a little dishonest. Navigating people and cultures is always the difficult part of integrating. Not insurmountable. My boss has given me a few “temper your view” type chats but overall I get good reviews.(Had one on Monday)
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The only advice I can give you on this...
If you're ever offered a job by a French company, just walk away. Regardless of how much they offer. You won't enjoy the environment.
 
ghaye said:
The only advice I can give you on this...
If you're ever offered a job by a French company, just walk away. Regardless of how much they offer. You won't enjoy the environment.
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Yeah, same goes for any UAE based company.
 
AstroTurf said:
Monday!

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Not much will happen; the MAC review will only end in June I think.

Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means MPs will not vote on the request of the petitions at the end of the debate. Instead, the aim is to give MPs an opportunity to discuss the issues raised by a petition, and get a response from the Government.
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So basically, it’s “okay we hear what you said. Now time for some tea”
 
AchmatK said:
My wife has finally agreed to actively look for opportunities in the UK after I've been trying to convince her for a good few years. The only reason why she finally agreed was that she does not want to have any regrets later in life if we do not even try.

There are however a few concerns that we have. We are 41 and 42. Have we left it too late?

My wife was born in the UK and qualifies for a British Passport. She moved back to SA with her family when she was 4. We have tried to get a passport for her but could not complete the process as we could not provide a copy of her father's unabridged SA birth certificate. Both her parent were born in SA but also had UK passports. We did get a Certificate of Entitlement to Right of Abode which was placed in her South African passport. This expired when her South African Passport expired so we are applying for a new one to be placed in her current SA passport. The Certificate of Entitlement is basically a visa in a non UK passport confirming her UK citizenship. The cost is about R8k. When she is in the UK she can apply for a British Passport without needing to supply her parents birth certificate and only her full UK birth certificate which I already obtained through the GRO website.

I will be applying for a Spousal Visa which costs about R29k.

There is a possibility that her current employer can transfer her to their UK office based in Essex but this is not guaranteed. It would be better if we can get the transfer from her employer but we will be going irrespective.

Our other bigger issue is our 8 year old son who has been placed with us in foster care since he was 3. He was abandoned at birth and was in a children's home. He know's no other parents or family and we would want him with us. Social services has managed to trace the identity of both parents but they cannot be found. We do know that the father is a foreign national and is no longer in South Africa. We will be applying for an adoption order when we know for certain when we will be leaving. My wife will also register the adoption in the UK in order for him to get a British passport.

A further complication is that we found out about two years ago that he has a biological sister from the same mother and father and that she is also currently in a children's home. She is now only 4 years old. We have been picking her up over weekends to spend time with us and her brother and are planning to foster her as well. The current issue is that they cannot find her birth certificate in order to place her in foster care with us. Social Services has requested a copy of her birth certificate from Home Affairs. We have told them that they are brother and sister.

A family visa for the two children would probably be a lot quicker but more costly than finalising the adoption and then registering it in the UK. We already have permission from Social Services that they can travel with us on any overseas trip.

We haven't decided on what to do with our property yet. We have one property that we are renting out to a very good tenant who has lived there for about 5 years. I will also need time to sort out everything this side before moving over.

We are probably looking at having everything done in the next 6 months.
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Did you ever move to the UK?
 
Priapus said:
Not much will happen; the MAC review will only end in June I think.



So basically, it’s “okay we hear what you said. Now time for some tea”
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I believe that the debate will be taken into account as part of the evidence for the mac review but more importantly Labour MP's have been completely quiet about the MIR, as in completely ignoring questions asked by opposition or news, not willing to say anything even in replies to emails sent to them (by my wife for example) except for the usual generic responses.

It may just be a window into how labour will respond to the MAC Recommendations.
 
AstroTurf said:
It may just be a window into how labour will respond to the MAC Recommendations.
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I think they’re just waiting for the MAC recommendations before they make any public comments on the matter.

I think best case scenario is they leave the MIR as it stands and dot raise it.

I’m not convinced they will lower it.
 
Priapus said:
I think they’re just waiting for the MAC recommendations before they make any public comments on the matter.

I think best case scenario is they leave the MIR as it stands and dot raise it.

I’m not convinced they will lower it.
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I think best case is back to 18500 but most likely is it stays as is.

The entire UK visa/migration system has been around since 1983 and has had multiple patches and plasters, fixes and changes and political whims applied to it since.

It reminds me of an UNO I once had, It first belonged to my uncle, he had an accident and repaired it, then it went to a different uncle who drove it between Pretoria and Cape town multiple times and had two more accidents, then my grandfather kept it as a spare for a while. My mother got it and it became the school taxi, often with 6 passengers and their school bags, She drove it to KZN and back multiple times and also had an accident or two. Finally it became mine and I also totalled then repaired it, drove it for another 7 odd years and finally gave it away as at that point I had children.
 
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