Immigrating to the UK

Neuk_ said:
5 to 10 years before you can apply for ILR?
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Dave said:
Proposed changes to immigration rules that may come in.
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Which is mirroring exactly what many other countries in the EU are doing. Portugal - 10 years after residence before citizenship. France considering the same with deep language qualification requirements, that many are unhappy with. To be frank - if after living 8-12 years in a country, the test should be easy. If you can't still speak/write the language then the problem is you

I see NZ doing the same soon for all the migrants coming in (that they welcome) Too many people are using NZ as a transit point to get to Aus. It also doesn't help that NZ citizens themselves are leaving for Aus because of cost of living is become too much in NZ. In Aus, they get paid better and it's cheaper relatively.
 
TedLasso said:
I have had some interesting discussions with UK born people in the past months who have moved to SA ..

in summary, yes , this country has some issues, but they love the friendliness of the people, helpfulness, quality of food, access to healthcare. One guy said he will never want move back to UK.

Many just think their country is going down. They think their kin are just so miserable, outlooks bad, etc.

Frankly - it astounded me. For one of those people, they had shuffled between the two for short periods of years and now they are permanently here.

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This week, at my kids school, chatting to a couple who had recently just got their citizenship by descent and had gone over to activate etc and I guess are planning to move. They were surprised by how rude everyone is - they were in the north. Talking about how generally treated on her bus , including by other citizens (apparently many are grumpy) who didn't give them benefit of doubt for not knowing something inate to the locals.

They had also gone to Paris and were surprised that the French were more helpful in public spaces even though they could not speak their language. I told them they were lucky. That one is a lottery with some people who will not engage in English at all. But with some real experience , they are a nicer people. Paris > London IMHO

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My family has citizenship too , I will use the passport having done my time there to get it , but I will never willingly move back there. But always happy to visit family and friends.

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I can tell you ,as many people who have moved to another country , grass is not always greener - but if you know what you want - you do it - even if you heart still belongs to South Africa.
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The grass is NOT always greener, you are 100% correct.

Doesn't matter if you are moving from SA to the UK or the USA. There will always be trade offs. You trade security for weather, career prospects for a smaller house etc.

For anyone wanting to leave SA I would urge you to compare stats (ie: unemployment, crime, median household income per capita etc) to SA, as opposed to anecdotal experiences.

You can speak to 10 people on a bad day and they can all tell you "how rude" the English or the Irish etc are, but it doesn't really mean thats how everyone is.
 
There's a difference between being rude and not suffering fools.

Neuk_ said:
And stay the 5 years to apply for ILR and then citizenship.
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It may be that I can pass-on my citizenship - that's what we're trying to establish.
 
Tman* said:
You can speak to 10 people on a bad day and they can all tell you "how rude" the English or the Irish etc are, but it doesn't really mean thats how everyone is.
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Also, there’s massive selection bias in talking to UK people who are in SA. Additionally, Paris is a tourist hub, north England, not so much.
 
TedLasso said:
They were surprised by how rude everyone is - they were in the north. Talking about how generally treated on her bus
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Christ knows where in the north that was, I find it too friendly a lot of the time (I like my own company better than interacting with random strangers) but here you can be in a bus/metro/shop queue or out walking the dog and it feels like everyone wants to say hello and have a chat.
 
Dave said:
Christ knows where in the north that was, I find it too friendly a lot of the time (I like my own company better than interacting with random strangers) but here you can be in a bus/metro/shop queue or out walking the dog and it feels like everyone wants to say hello and have a chat.
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Probably Grimsby
 
bwana said:
It may be that I can pass-on my citizenship - that's what we're trying to establish.
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An expert would need to assess your specific situation, I wasn't able to pass my citizenship onto our boys via double descent, they would only be eligible for ancestral visa's. My wife got her citizenship via a specialised application that takes in to account potential historical maternal line discrimination. We have applied for our boys citizenship via my wife, essentially along the same line s my wife after consulting with Sable International who handled my wife, her sister and her parents citizenship applications.
 
Neuk_ said:
An expert would need to assess your specific situation, I wasn't able to pass my citizenship onto our boys via double descent, they would only be eligible for ancestral visa's. My wife got her citizenship via a specialised application that takes in to account potential historical maternal line discrimination. We have applied for our boys citizenship via my wife, essentially along the same line s my wife after consulting with Sable International who handled my wife, her sister and her parents citizenship applications.
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Fortunately my local mp is an immigration lawyer. Hopefully he’ll be willing to assist.
 
theratman said:
Officially submitted everything needed for my son's UK citizenship application. I had to go over to Germany for a few days as I had to be present for the biometrics at VFS (as the main applicant, couldn't just be his mother).

The blikems didn't even check my ID when we went for the biometrics. Anyway, will have to wait a couple months for the decision. Overall the process was fairly painless though, other than having to go over for the biometrics.
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Well that was quick. Just received the certificate of Citizenship for him, fortunately no need for him to attend a swearing in ceremony :) Will be doing the passport next. Took under 3 months, was expecting to only hear back in around March next year.
 
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theratman said:
Well that was quick. Just received the certificate of Citizenship for him, fortunately no need for him to attend a swearing in ceremony :) Will be doing the passport next. Took under 3 months, was expecting to only hear back in around March next year.
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My daughter’s citizenship came through today too. Much joy. Little bit of envy. 😀
 
This reminds me I need to sort out my son’s British passport. Think I can do it all online and have it posted to me.
 
Priapus said:
Excellent news! All straightforward I assume?
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The process wasn't as straightforward as say for myself or my brothers whose father is born British. Our boys would have been eligible for ancestral visa's via me but my wife got her British citizenship a few years back taking advantage of changes to maternal descent and applying them historically. We went a similar route with the boys so needed assistance from Sable International who handled my wife and inlaws applications for British citizenship. Neither of the boys has to attend a citizenship ceremony, we just wait for their citizenship certificates and can then apply for British passports.
 
Sinbad said:
Jeez that was an epic shitshow. Who was it again? I hope he's OK.
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I don't want to tag them but I think it was this thread...

AstroTurf

Thread 'How to leave a man with nothing.'

I am not sure just how far back I will go with this little soap opera but let me start with a quick bit of background,

Married 18 years, have two children (11 and 17), we decided to emigrate to the UK.

Wife left in April 2024 (UK Citizen and spousal visa requires her to prove she earns the minimum income threshold), I looked after our children with a reduced household income and no financial help from her till May 2025 when I sent them over.

In order to maximise the amount of money I can save as well as to pay back all the debt I made with sending her and the children over, I gave...
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