There are thousands of people who choose to migrate to the UK every year but not everyone is aware of what is actually involved. The media does not always give an accurate portrayal of what it costs and what it’s like for an immigrant to the UK so read on to fill in any gaps of your knowledge about migrating to Great Britain.
Visa
If you are planning to emigrate to the UK, you will need to get your visa sorted out. This process can be time consuming and complicated in countries all over the world and it often takes significantly more time if you are planning on moving to a country, rather than just visit it as a tourist or for work.
You are likely to need an entry visa that allows you to stay in the UK for a set amount of time and then you will need to apply for permanent settlement. This process can be helped along by enlisting immigration solicitors who will have a vast amount of knowledge that will help you to deal with the application.
Living costs
You should do your research in advance so that you know how much it will cost to actually live in the UK. You will need to take into consideration the cost of food and rent and also look into the process of getting some official identification. You might have to follow some processes to sort out your driving licence and buy a car. Similarly, you should factor in the cost of public transport so you know you have some way of getting around.
It can help your case if you already have a job lined up before you arrive in the country as you will then have some form of income coming in straight away. This will allow you to have something to fall back on should you encounter any unexpected costs or charges during your first few weeks of moving to the UK.
Building a life
Once you have your home and the basics sorted out, you will need to start building a life for yourself. When you first move to the UK, you won’t appear on certain systems and you also won’t have a credit rating in Britain. This takes time to build up so you should take steps to start working on it. Open a bank account when you first arrive and start having money paid into and out of it. This will start to bring you up on various databases and can make it easier for you to get credit later on.
If you want to take out a mobile phone contract or get something on credit, you may find that the company asks for a deposit because you are not currently showing up on the system. This is the sort of thing that you should expect and budget for when you first arrive in the UK because it can take people by surprise if they are not aware of how the system works. Once you start to show up on various systems, you may find that a lot of processes become easier.
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