My UK Move

Getting a National Insurance Number

2008-07-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't written anything on this blog in months, but people have been posting comments so I guess this is information that people need to know.

I'm self employed and to keep everything legal, I'm supposed to register as self-employed with the HM Revenue and Customs office. I thought I needed to get a National Insurance Number (NINO) first so I called the Jobcentre Plus office to get that and they told me that I couldn't get a NINO until I was registered as self employed. So, I called Revenue and Customs and they said they'd register me. I was supposed to receive my registration number in the mail in four to six weeks. After four to six weeks of patiently waiting, I received a letter from Revenue and Customs saying that I couldn't register as self employed without a NINO. Craziness!

When I called Jobcentre Plus again, the woman on the phone said, "We just changed the way we issue National Insurance Numbers this week."

She took all my information over the phone. There was no interview like I was told they'd be. Four weeks later my NINO arrived in the mail. I'm still waiting to receive the actually NINO card.

I haven't gotten a UK driver's license. You can drive on a US license for up to one year after entering the country. I'm still using my passport as ID.

Jobcentre Plus Website
telephone #: 0845 641 5025

Newly Self-Employed Website
telephone #: 08459 15 45 15

Proof of Address

2008-05-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

Everything you do here requires proof of address. Whether you want to get a library card, register with a doctors office, or rent a flat.

"How can I give you proof of address when I just told you I don't have an address," I asked the estate agent when he said he needed to see proof of address before we could sign our new lease.

He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just bring what you have."

Luckily, we'd opened a bank account few weeks earlier and the bank had sent the first statement to us at our friend's address.

That bank statement has really come in handy because when we signed up for our broadband service and our phone service they needed to see proof of our previous address. It had to be a UK address. They wouldn't accept anything from the States.

My advice is that even before you have a permanent place to live get something official looking sent to you at the place you're bunking at for the time being.

Utilities

2008-05-05T08:44:00.001-07:00

The other day I was cooking and I heard a beeping noise coming from the cabinet where the electricity meter is. I had no idea why the electricity meter would be beeping so I called my landlord. She told me that it was beeping because the meter was running out of money.

Apparently, I have some kind of pay as you go electricity here. I have to take a key out of the meter, take the key to the shop and put money on it. I'd never heard of such a thing before. They must not trust people to pay there bills.

I also got a fright when the water bill arrived the other day and it was more than two hundred pounds. After reading it closely, I realized that the two hundred pounds was for the whole year and I could chose to pay the bill in monthly payments if I wanted.

I haven't gotten my first gas bill yet. I don't know how that's going to work out.

Renting a Flat in the UK

2008-04-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Most people who move to the UK start out living in a flatshare. Sharing a flat is the quickest and easiest way to find a place to live.

If you're like us, that isn't an option for you. We're a family of three so a flatshare wouldn't work out for us. We looked at lots of flats online and tried to figure the average price for what we wanted. Then we saved the money we'd need for two months rent and a deposit. Unfortunately, when we arrived here and started looking in person we found out that that wasn't enough.

When you apply to rent a flat they do a thorough credit check. They check your bank information, past addresses, tax records, and references. The problem is that they only accept UK records. If you can't pass this intense scrutiny because you have no UK records, they require six months rent up-front. That's a lot of money. After weeks of getting rejected, we borrowed money from family to pay six months rent up-front.

If you can rent from the landlord directly and not go through an estate agent, you might be able to rent without paying that much up-front. It depends on the landlord. Check Gumtree and Loot for ads from landlords. Most of the ads on these sites were estate agents when I was looking, but there were some landlord's listings on there. There isn't really a way to tell. You just need to call and ask. You might also consider going to the area you want to live in and checking shop windows for rental fliers that individuals have put up.

Before you come to the UK get some reference letters from past employers, your past landlord and anyone else you can think of. This will help a lot when you're trying to find a flat to rent.

If you are looking at flats with an estate agent be sure to explain your situation to them so no one's time gets wasted.

What You Should Do About Banking in the UK

2008-04-06T02:08:00.000-07:00

When I decided to move to the UK I did some research about what to do my bank account. Bank of America is affiliated with Barclays and I thought that it would be a good idea to get an account with them. This way I could withdraw money through Barclays ATM's with no fee and the exchange rate is usually much better that way.

We got a Bank of America account and at first everything was fine. We could withdrawal the money we needed from the UK ATM's and when we checked our account online the exchange rate was good.

When we tried to rent a flat our bank account became a problem. Because we didn't have a UK bank account people were reluctant to rent to us. So we had to get a UK bank account quickly.

HSBC has a Passport Account that is ideal for people who are trying to establish themselves in the UK. We were not required to show proof of address to set up the account. We only needed our passports and one other ID. Our American driver's licenses were fine. When opening the account you can opt to pay an upfront sixty pound fee or pay six pound every month. If you decide to pay six pounds every month you must keep the account open for a year.

Opening this account helped us to be considered more legitimate when we tried to rent a flat. If you are going to rent a flat when you move to the UK, I recommend that you open a HSBC Passport Account. If you can, you should set up your UK bank account three months before leaving for the UK. This will give you a banking history that will look better to landlords. It will make things easier for you.

Shipping Your Stuff Overseas

2008-04-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Since the USPS no longer ships things overseas via surface mail, it's difficult to find a cheap way to move your belongings overseas.

I looked into using an international moving company but they all wanted to charge us at least $1200 to send our stuff to the UK. We aren't shipping any furniture. We just have some clothes, books and my husband's recording equipment.

I decided to go the freight forwarding route after reading about it on some other sites. I looked into a few companies. Safeco Exports seemed like a good company to me. They were helpful and easy to reach. The actual cost for shipping our goods was reasonable but the addition cost to send our good to the port was too much. If you live in a port city and can drop your stuff off to be shipped yourself, I'd recommend them.

We ended up using IQ Global Logistics because their cost for transporting our goods to the port was less. We didn't have them pick it up at our house. We took our things to a warehouse to be shipped.

In order to use these companies the things you ship must be boxed. That might rule out taking furniture.

The shipping process should take about thirty days. We'll have to pick them up from a warehouse. We haven't gotten our stuff yet. I'll let you know how that works out. We'll see how banged up things get.

Never Fly with Three Airlines at Once

2008-03-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

No matter how cheap the tickets are and how tempting it may seem don't fly with more than two carriers at a time. We had a really cheap flight to London but it was booked through three airlines with two layovers. The problem was that delays kept causing up to miss our connections. What should have been smooth trip to London started on Thursday morning and we didn't get to London until Saturday morning. During that time we got to know the Tampa Airport very well.

Whenever delays were announced and we tried to get help because we had to make a connecting flight we were told that we couldn't get help because we were flying with to many different carriers. We finally got here but our luggage didn't.

American Born Child of a British National UK Visa Information

2008-02-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

My husband, who is British, has a son from is first marriage that will be going to the UK with us. He was born in the United States and has an American passport. My husband was under the impression that his son could enter the country with us without getting a visa or a British passport because he is his son.

When we called World Bridge to find out some information about my visa we found out that was wrong. My stepson must have a settlement visa or a British passport to enter the country. Since the passport costs US$175 compared to the settlement visa cost of US$1050, we decided to get him a UK passport.

Get British passport information here.

Applying for Your UK Visa

2008-02-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

If you're anything like me, you've read your visa application, scoured the website and still have questions. The problem with applying for a UK visa is that the application is quite complicated and the visa is expensive. You don't want to waste your money by getting rejected because you didn't understand exactly what documents to include.

The visas for the United Kingdom are processed by a company called World Bridge. That's probably why they're so expensive. After much searching, I found these two telephone numbers that you can call to find out more information about documents needed for your visa application. The problem with calling these numbers is that just like everything else tied to getting your UK visa it'll cost you big bucks. You can call 1-900-656-5000 (cost is US$3.00 per minute plus tax), 1-212-796-5773 (cost is US$12.00 per call).

I called the number that costs a flat US$12 rate per call. It's a good thing we did call because I found out some important information that I'll share with you in my next post.

Getting a UK Settlement Visa

2008-02-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted here in a million years but my moving date is growing near and I wanted to give you some useful information. I applied for and received my settlement visa from the UK this month. It was a nerve racking experience for me.

I applied for my settlement visa online because that seemed like the easiest solution. Some of the visa questions are vague and I wasn't sure how to answer them. I also had some problems with the online application. This caused me some problems at my biometrics appointment. The most frustrating thing is that you can't call anyone to ask questions.

They want a lot of information for the visa. You need to show the amount of money in your bank account, prove that you have a place to stay in the UK, prove that you are able to be employed, and many other things.

My husband and I are both self-employed and proving employment is a little tricky for us. We both wrote employment statements in which we described our jobs and told them our income. We each signed and dated our employment statements. My husband included a list of all of he gigs he worked last year and what they paid. I was going to include my 1099 in the packet but forgot to. When I realized I forgot to include it with the application I was very nervous, but everything worked out anyway.

Once the British Consulate got my visa application they emailed me to tell me they received it. Four days after I received their first email, I received another email telling me that my visa was approved and had been put in the mail. They also emailed me a tracking number. My visa arrived via UPS the following day.

New Visa Process

2007-12-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

As of this week biometric fingerpint scans and digital photos are required for all US citizens applying for visas in the UK. It's just one more step I have to try to figure out. This article explains it pretty clearly.

Dental Care

2007-11-28T18:46:00.000-08:00

I take pretty good care of my teeth. I brush and floss and get checkups ever six months.

Dental care in England scares me. That's not something I'm looking forward to. I've seen the stories on the news--pictures of people standing in mile long lines to get signed up to see a dentist. I've seen stories about people forced to pull out their own teeth with pliers. Bad teeth are part of the British identity. We've all seen Austin Powers.

My interest in British dental care led me to this article from the BBC News. I hope you enjoy it.

Re-Entry Permit

2007-11-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

So what I wrote earlier was partially true. My husband can apply for a re-entry permit that allows him to live outside the country without loosing his resident alien status. The permit only allows him to live abroad for two years--not the three that I thought. Of course it costs money. Everything does. There is a $305 filing fee and you must file US income taxes every year.

He's going to apply for it, because we're just trying this moving to London thing out. We might want to come back. Really, I don't think we will, but keeping his green card is important to him.

Here's the link to get the form and information.

Are You Sure?

2007-11-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

The other day I watched the video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve on You Tube with my husband. The whole time he was saying, "Are you sure you want to move to London? Look at how dreary it is."

Yes, I'm still sure I want to move.

You can watch the video here.

Resident Aliens

2007-11-12T10:03:00.001-08:00

My husband is a resident alien here. He doesn't want to lose his resident alien status when we move to England. If we decide to move back here, it would be difficult for him to get another green card. He heard from another resident alien that there is a form that he could fill out letting the government know that he's leaving for awhile. If he does this he can be out of the country for up to three years without losing his status. So far this is only a rumor. We need to check it out. I'll keep you informed.

How should I ship my things?

2007-11-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

The other day I wrote about freight forwarding as the best way for us to move our things overseas. Today I was trolling the Internet and I found this website. It talks about the different options for shipping things overseas. I thought it was very useful.

Freight Forwarding

2007-11-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

We've decided to send things via freight forwarding. It looks like the most economical option for sending my husband's keyboards and my stepson's desktop computer. It should cost a little more than $800 from what I've seen. We'll also be able to send some boxes of clothes and books in the freight. I still don't want to bring too much.

My husband is so excited about the freight idea that he keeps thinking of new things he wants to bring. "We could take the futon," he said the other day. "And how about the bookshelves?"

I can understand wanting to take the futon, but we bought the cheapest bookshelves we could find at Target. The shelves are bowing and they're falling apart. They are not worth taking to England. I'd rather stack my books on the floor than have these shelves follow me overseas.

To Bring or Not to Bring?

2007-10-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to figure out what we should bring with us and what we should sell. This can be a difficult problem to navigate when you have an overly-sensitive fourteen year old who wants to keep everything he ever owned in his entire life. His closet is filled with Legos, stuffed animals with the stuffing falling out, the flags of every country that ever existed in various sizes, magnetic car sets, unfinished ship models, and stacks and stack of drawings that include every piece of paper he's ever scribbled on since he was a two years old. Each thing has value because of this, that or the other thing and in his opinion everything must come with him to England. I don't think he even realizes that we won't be taking the tarantula yet.

My husband has musical instruments ship and he has been researching some ways to do that. We could rent a freight or ship things UPS or pay for things as excess baggage. We still have to figure these things out.

We sold some books to a used bookstore and my husband has started putting things for sale on Craig's list. I don't have much stuff of my own and what little I do have I don't mind parting with.

Here's an interesting website I found while looking for information about shipping. This site talks about what you have to pay duty on.

Visas and Passports and Fees, Oh My!

2007-10-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

My husband is a British national. This makes my visa situation quite simple. I don't have to worry about applying for a work visa and getting sponsored by an employer or anything like that. I can get a spouses visa for just over a thousand dollars. I can work with that visa. Why do visas cost so much? What are you paying for exactly? I haven't figured that out. Of course, the visa I need is the most expensive one.

My husband was married before and has a son. He will be going to London with us. We were wondering if we needed to get a British passport for him. We started our online search and ran into a snag. On the website for the British Consulate there is no information about what we should do in this situation. I've searched on the web and can't find any concrete information. All of the phone numbers listed for the consulates have written next to them "for emergency use only". The email address listed says that all inquiries about passports will be disregarded because you can find the answer to your question on the website. Well, I've thoroughly searched the website and can't find the answer to my question. I emailed my question to them about a month ago and I assume it was disregarded because I haven't heard anything back.

My husband has also let his son's old American passport expire. We have to get him a new one but in order to get it we need to get notarized form from his mother giving permission for him to have a passport. There is no standard form for this on the website so we were going to make something up until my husband came across some information that said we didn' t need permission if the child was fourteen or older. He turns fourteen at the end of the month so we'll wait until then.

We've decided against getting the British passport. We'll wait until we get there and see what happens. Hopefully, things will work out for the best.

What to Consider?

2007-10-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

Moving overseas is a big step. There are a lot of complicated considerations. Here are some things you need to consider.

What type of visa are you eligible for? How much does it cost to apply? What information do you need? How long will the application process take? You can find out about visas at this site.

List the items that you have. What will you take with you? What can you bring on the plane with you? How much will it cost to ship things you can't bring on the plan with you? Will you have to pay duty on any of these items? What can you sell? How much money will you make from selling these items? What will you have to give away?

How much money will you need to move? Consider costs of airplane tickets, shipping costs, and the first month's expenses in your new home--food, rent, utilities, transportation and entertainment.

Start looking for a place to stay when you move, now. It is important to gage the cost of living in your destination. I look on these sites ( gumtree, foxtons, find a property) to see how much rent will in the area of London we want to live. You might consider getting a short term lease that you can extend if you like it. This way after you get to know the area better you can find better accommodations if you need them.

These are just a few things to consider before you move. The sooner you start planning the better.

The Decision

2007-10-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

My husband is a British national who has lived in the States for roughly 14 years. When we married, I causally mentioned the idea of moving to the UK. He seemed open to the idea. After a year of marriage, he seemed to be backing out so we started looking to buy a house here. I didn't really want to live here but renting doesn't make much sense. The housing market was falling and I thought it would be a good time to buy.

Then we had a medical situation. Neither of us have health insurance because we are both self-employed. I'm a massage therapist and he's a musician. The reality of the heath care situation here finally hit home for my husband. He went to London for a few weeks and found out that he could easily find work there. With this information we made our decision to make the move.

We have six months until our lease runs out. That's not really much time to plan a move overseas. This blog will chronicle all of the things we need to do to make the move. I will include useful tips and links. I've had a hard time finding information and thought it would be great if it were all in one place.