My wife and I have just gone through the process of relocating to the UK from SA. Along the way we have discovered loads of interesting sites and picked up valuable tips from friends see below:
British Citizenship and Passport
If applying for British citizenship and a passport before your relocation ensure that you give yourself enough time as these can take up to 6 months to process. Also factor in the time for collecting the relevant documentation required from home affairs. Here is a link to the website used to help with the processing of my application: http://ukinsouthafrica.fco.gov.uk/en/passports/. Note that if your mother is of British descent and you were born before 1983 then you are eligible for a British passport. That was news to me…good news!
Visa
We used a company called 1st Contact to help us with the process of applying for my wife’s spousal visa. The reason for this being that it can be tricky figuring out all the documentation you need to send with the application. You don’t want to waste R 8,000 on a failed application. They handle all the paper work and admin which is great. Their services cost about R 2,000. I, along with a number of my friends in the UK, highly recommend them. 1st Contact also offer loads of other helpful services.
Money
So how do you get money into the UK? Here are a couple options that we considered.
FNB offer a Visa Travelex Card which you can load pounds onto and draw from any ATM in the UK. There are fees which you are charged for drawing this money on the other side, obviously these need to be considered. If you are interested go to the Forex desk at FNB and ask for a Travelex Card or phone 08601 FOREX (08601 36739). You should be able to buy similar products from your bank or a local Forex company.
An SA credit card comes in handy in the UK, especially if you are looking to rent a car when you arrive. You have to have worked for a period before a UK bank will give you a credit card over here and car rental companies will only accept credit cards for payment. Your credit card can also be used as an alternate source for loading money on to, which you can spend when in the UK. Double check the expiry date on your credit card before leaving.
Opening a UK Bank Account
UK bank accounts are not easily acquired as most banks require a utility bill with your name on it before opening an account. To help us with this process we signed up for 1st Contacts Kickstart package. As part of the service 1st contact organise an appointment with a selection of UK banks (Lloyds, Barclays, or HSBC) and write an accompanying letter, which the bank accept as an alternative to a utility bill. This allows you to quickly set up a bank account upon arrival while starting the process of applying for jobs…very helpful! The Kickstart package also includes O2 SIM cards and loads of other use full information and extras.
Flights
When booking flights, naturally, you will always look for the cheapest options. We booked one way flights through Student Flights and found their service fantastic.
One thing to consider when moving country is the baggage restrictions of the airline that you are flying with. We flew Virgin Atlantic, they restrict passengers to one large bag weighing up to 23 kg and one piece of hand luggage of up to 6 kgs per passenger (Hint: they don’t usually weigh this). There is a chance that you could be charged up to $ 25 per kg for overweight bags when checking in. This all however depends on the mood of the person booking you in on the day. Most airlines will allow you 5 kg leeway, in my opinion though, stuffing in that extra book isn’t worth the risk. If you have the cash and need to send over extra baggage calco cargo and u-bag.com offer unaccompanied baggage transfer services, which are worth considering.
One bonus discovery that I made is that most airlines offer a free allowance for golf clubs. You can transport 14 golf clubs, boots, umbrella and 12 balls. Pity they don’t have a free musical instrument allowance – had to leave my guitar behind, bleak! You can pick up a decent golf travel bag at theProshop for around R 800 (see below).
Searching for employment
My advise is to get your CV out on one of the websites below upon arrival. Make sure that you include your correct UK mobile number – school boy error I made first time round! I was fortunate enough to be picked up by a specialist IT recruiter – Eurobase. There service has been fantastic and with their help I have managed to secure a job within the first month of being here. Here are a couple more good websites for job searching:
For any further information regarding applying for jobs and finding accommodation take a look at the 1st Contact website. Hope you found this info useful – you welcome to comment with any further suggestions for other readers.
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