Moving from South Africa to Uk for a period...

from_sa_to_uk

My family is moving to the UK from South Africa for a couple of years because we have an opportunity in our lives to do so. I am originally from the uk but my wife and son have never been.

Any tips on how not to get into financial trouble and any tips of how to make the most of our time and how best to save money and send back home to SA?

We plan to be based either in Peterborough/Cambridge or in Sussex depending on which job I take.

Look forward to hearing from you.

:beer:

izzybusy23

from_sa_to_uk wrote: »

My family is moving to the UK from South Africa for a couple of years because we have an opportunity in our lives to do so. I am originally from the uk but my wife and son have never been.

Any tips on how not to get into financial trouble and any tips of how to make the most of our time and how best to save money and send back home to SA?

We plan to be based either in Peterborough/Cambridge or in Sussex depending on which job I take.

Look forward to hearing from you.

:beer:

Be vigilant with your money and don't be swayed into buying a house at the moment..

From south africa to the UK... seriously, are you mad???

from_sa_to_uk

I have a certain madness in me.

SA is wonderful for a holiday but not so great for living in at the moment. High crime and many racist policies such as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) make life a little tough. BEE is making it impossible for me to find work that pays well enough. 13 years experience counts for nothing as the colour of my skin is just to pale. Hence right now I have an opportunity to move to the Uk for a while

Superheavy

Hey man....you seem to be bucking the trend in the UK at the minute, as the rate of people emigrating seems to be spiralling upward at the moment.

However, Britain still has its nicer areas (In the blessed silence of the Welsh mountains, away from everyone else for example) and I'm sure you'll be fine. Once advertising companies realise you have a job and income, they'll be trying to flog you cards, loans and all types of insurance, so my main tip would be to keep a tight grip of your information, and to ignore and/or recycle any advertising mail enticing you to borrow.

Good luck mate.

pisces72

I am originally from Oz so have been through a similar move.

I found that opening a UK bank account from Oz was the best thing that I did. Many of my expat friends have found it really hard to open UK bank accounts due to a lack of credit history in the UK, and it can be particularly tricky to open a credit card account.

Draw up a budget now of your estimated expenses for your first couple of months. It can take up to two months to receive your first pay packet. The currency exchange rate works against you, the sooner you can pay with ££ the better it is!

Housing and transport were our big expenses the first couple of months. We looked at real estate sites online to get an idea of how much rent was likely to cost.

Make sure if you are planning to rent that you have someone who can act as a reference for you - we used our real estate agent in Australia. Factor in additional costs for drawing up the lease, rent in advance etc.

I also brought a copy of my Australian credit reference with me - this was particularly useful for renting, bank accounts, mobile phones and utilities! Hints on this board will help you to keep some of these costs quite low.

Depending on your type of work you might be better off setting up a company, but it would be best to speak to an accountant about this.

TNT magazine is a great free magazine which has lots of expat stories and services advertised in it. You can access it online.

Good luck!

Grumpelstiltskin

Be aware that Peterborough has problems, this is the local newspaper website.http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/newsspecialreports/RAF-uniform-row-March-2008.3856105.jp
As many British citizens are leaving the country their places are being taken by immigrants.

sealady

Good Luck with the move! Move from from sunny Durbs 10 years ago! Best move we have ever made! The UK is great yes it has it's problems but these are small fry compared to SA! I still have family there so have a pretty good idea !

If you need help in anyway PM and I will give as much advice as you need!