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After living 25 out of the last 27 years in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada (two years were in Dartmouth NS but they don't count), our kids have grown up, we've exhausted everything this little place has to offer, and we want to find new adventure elsewhere! After much debate over where to go, we've landed on Belfast, NI. Her grandfather was born in Derry (and she still has family in the area she hasn't met), and my grandfather was born outside of Liverpool, so we both have an avenue towards getting a UK Ancestry Visa. We've both convinced our respective employers to allow us to work remote (FUCKIN YAY), and Belfast seems like the most cost-effective place for us to live downtown in a place with more stuff going on! We have an arseload of questions, some on the visa side of things (which is unsurprisingly complicated), but at this point mostly on the nitty gritty of how to accomplish some basic setup and transition tasks. UK Ancestry Visa Even though the company I work for has a branch in the UK and could sponsor a transfer visa, I want to hedge my bets and get the ancestry visa instead because it provides more flexibility. Besides, I've already done most of the legwork, so it would be a waste not to use it anyway. If the ancestry visa gets rejected for whatever reason, then I'll do the transfer visa. This part is mostly taken care of. I've acquired all of the lineage documentation I need (my birth certificate, marriage certificate, mother's birth/marriage certificates, grandfather's birth certificate), and I have the support funds in the bank (roughly 4k GBP) with a potential application date of mid-August with bank records of the same. There are just a couple of things that I'm having trouble with:
Apartment Hunting
Moving and Miscellany We don't plan on moving any furniture at all overseas, and we only want to take about a single bedroom's worth of stuff with us, so we don't need a shipping crate, but likewise we can't pack it all in suitcases. What is the best way to ship stuff that doesn't end up costing more than it would be to just replace it all? Should we just abandon everything but our clothes and laptops? When it comes to paying deposit on a new place, are we going to need to bootstrap it somehow? It seems to me we'll need a bank account to write cheques against, but how do we get a bank account to write a cheque for an apartment that will be our first address, which we'll presumably need to get the bank account in the first place?
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Jun 24, 2019 02:03
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If your wifes' grandfather is from Derry, she is probably entitled to Irish citizenship, which has the added bonus that Ireland isn't leaving the EU, giving you options throughout Europe that you may not get with UK citizenship when Brexit happens. Irish citizenship also gives you UK residency rights, and I believe would allow the same for you as her spouse. It's worth exploring as an option at least. Irish citizenship rules are here: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent.html
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Jun 24, 2019 20:41
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cormac posted:If your wifes' grandfather is from Derry, she is probably entitled to Irish citizenship, which has the added bonus that Ireland isn't leaving the EU, giving you options throughout Europe that you may not get with UK citizenship when Brexit happens. Irish citizenship also gives you UK residency rights, and I believe would allow the same for you as her spouse. It's worth exploring as an option at least. Irish citizenship rules are here: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/irish_citizenship/irish_citizenship_through_birth_or_descent.html She is actually working towards that as well, because it does give us more options even if we do get the UK visa. The biggest advantage NI has over the Republic is the affordability... it would be tough for us to live near downtown Dublin on our current salaries. New Brunswick is a low-salary market, so I'm currently making about 60% of what I'd make for the same position in Dublin. Honestly though, I'm not terribly worried about Brexit at the moment. The running joke at work is that we'd have a pool on how it was going to end up if we thought it would ever pay out.
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Jun 24, 2019 22:54
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runupon cracker posted:[*]How in the heck does one normally navigate "Do you know where you will be staying in the UK?" I mean, no? But that brings up the big "THIS WILL PROBABLY BE REJECTED IF YOU ANSWER 'NO'" warning. The plan was to stay in an airbnb for a few weeks or something while looking for an apartment. Can I literally use an airbnb address? Or am I screwed if I can't find a person's bed to crash on before I apply? I suspect the immigration checklist is designed to weed out people with nowhere to stay and 'plan' to be homeless. You might get away with putting down the address of an airbnb and a statement that you will be finding a permanent accommodation of your own after arriving [*]we've been looking in PropertyPal.com, but is there a better site? One that maybe includes floor area? It's hard to tell how big (or more accurately, small) a place is most of the time. Rightmove.co.uk zoopla.co.uk The trick is to judge the room size in comparison to the bed in the pics. [*]how can we tell where the fridge/washer/dryer are in the apartment pics? If there isn't an obvious fridge, can we assume it's a mini-fridge? Rental fridges tend to be the cheapest, under the counter fridges - not a hotel mini-fridge. Usually in the kitchen and visible in the photos Likewise washing machines. [*]are window air conditioners a thing? Do rental companies usually have policies against them or anything like that? No and No Also, you can't buy them and the windows are the wrong size. No-one needs aircon in NI - what type of heating is more important (Gas heating is much cheaper than electric, but not as common) [*]furnished apartments aren't typically a thing over here, so we know next to nothing about them. Is it typically acceptable to have rental companies remove furniture before moving in? We want a two/three bedroom apartment, but we'd like to use a bedroom as an office/art room. Will we be able to have "extra" beds removed, or will we just need to find a semi-furnished place? Unfurnished: Kitchen fixtures White goods: cooker, fridge, freezer, washing machine Bathroom fixtures Carpets or other types of flooring Curtains or blinds Furnished: Old shite or cheap Ikea furniture that you will hate [*]speaking of beds, can we straight-up replace one? We really like our NA Queen size, which appears to be a UK King, but like NONE of the apartments have those. Go unfurnished and go wild [*]also for furnished apartments, do they typically come with anything not visible in the pictures? It seems like we need to bring our own linens (typically? Always? There seems to be a more or less even split in the pics but I suspect when linens are shown they're just for show…), but what about dishes? Flatware? Depends on the landlord: table and chairs: yes. Crockery/cutlery: possibly. Linen: No [*]is the process typically contact -> view -> apply -> get accepted -> sign lease -> pay deposit/rent -> move in? We were able to find our last apartment here in a day, is a couple of weeks a reasonable amount of time to expect turnaround on any apartment we apply for? Yup. We don't plan on moving any furniture at all overseas, and we only want to take about a single bedroom's worth of stuff with us, so we don't need a shipping crate, but likewise we can't pack it all in suitcases. What is the best way to ship stuff that doesn't end up costing more than it would be to just replace it all? Should we just abandon everything but our clothes and laptops? Arrive in a single set of clothes with your laptop and a bottle of your favourite sauce. Anything else can be bought for new at less than the cost of shipping When it comes to paying deposit on a new place, are we going to need to bootstrap it somehow? It seems to me we'll need a bank account to write cheques against, but how do we get a bank account to write a cheque for an apartment that will be our first address, which we'll presumably need to get the bank account in the first place? Cash is always accepted. Check your current bank: there is a slim possibility that the have a relationship with a UK bank and can help you open an account. Shut up Meg fucked around with this message at 09:58 on Jun 25, 2019 |
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Jun 25, 2019 09:56
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I really don't think it is a good idea to ignore the possible impact of Brexit - it has the potential to cause immense disruption for both Britain and Ireland and NI is going to be the epicentre of the chaos. If the UK crashes out, NI is going to be in a weird no-mans-land of being a non-EU country sharing an open land border with the EU. How that is going to be managed is at a deadlock - Ireland and the EU are adamant that the UK needs to sort it out without going back to the bad old days of army checkpoints. The UKgovernment is adamant that it'll magically sort itself out all by itself and everyone is being terribly unreasonable in expecting them to come up with a workable plan for the mess they are determined to create. The current peace in NI is both very recently achieved and very fragile after decades of savage sectarian violence. You can see why I'm urging you to have contingency plans for if the situation starts deteriorating rapidly. I'd very much recommend looking into other options alongside your NI plans - if you can get residency in Ireland as well, that'd make your situation less tenuous. Dublin is ferociously expensive but you say you'll be working remotely so I presume you can live anywhere there's a decent internet connection? That's not everywhere, but it's a much wider range of locations than just Dublin.
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Jun 25, 2019 12:10
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^^^ It's definitely a calculated risk. In the end, I think it will work out. If not, we'll definitely have our bets hedged, as it were.Shut up Meg posted:I suspect the immigration checklist is designed to weed out people with nowhere to stay and 'plan' to be homeless. You might get away with putting down the address of an airbnb and a statement that you will be finding a permanent accommodation of your own after arriving Thanks for all the great info! I was hoping furnished was going to work out for us, but alas. My poor goddamn wallet. Shut up Meg posted:Cash is always accepted. I don't doubt that at all, but deposits/rent are something I'll never pay for without a paper trail. Tinestram fucked around with this message at 13:40 on Jun 25, 2019 |
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Jun 25, 2019 12:50
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runupon cracker posted:
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Jun 25, 2019 14:09
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runupon cracker posted:I don't doubt that at all, but deposits/rent are something I'll never pay for without a paper trail. I am in the process of suing a former landlord for failing to protect/return my deposit. Keep a paper trial. They will try and keep your deposit if they can.
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Jun 25, 2019 14:11
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Mr Enderby posted:<great stuff> Thanks! Yeah, it does sound like an AC is going to be redundant. In addition to proof of income/visa/reference from current landlord, I've also written a personal cover letter (hi, we're quiet middle-aged professionals who are quiet and respectful and we won't gently caress up your building and also we're quiet). From that end of things, I don't think we'll have much trouble. I've found answers to a couple of things that are a huge relief: - It looks like we can set up a Monzo bank account remotely, as long as we can find somebody in Belfast we can have the card sent to. It looks like Monzo will allow us to transfer money in from Canada through direct TransferWise integration, and then we can use Monzo to send damage deposit/rent via email. - We *can* use a hotel/airbnb rental as our landing address for the visa, per reports from people who have done so.
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Jul 1, 2019 12:42
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As someone who moved USA-->Dublin a while back (a long while though), I'd advise just going for a short term furnished place for your first apartment and use that ~6 months to figure out where you really want to live. Being in an AirBnB will put the pressure on to find the right place now now now and you'll have a much better idea of the lay of the land and what's important to you and what sort of bullshit the landlords will try to pull after you've been there a while. We lived in furnished places all throughout our 5 years there and it wasn't so bad plus it made it easier to move, which we did pretty frequently. We were much younger then so that does change things but don't just ignore the possibility.
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Jul 19, 2019 12:54
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Belfast is a great city. Visit it first. I don't want to stereotype you being from NB but there's fairly decent pro hockey (between ECHL and AHL in quality) too. The Friendship Four is a fun tournament. PropertyPal is the best site to use, everyone in NI uses it- or Property News. Unless things have changed since I left in 2016, Zoopla and Rightmove aren't useful for NI. What's your budget for rent? If I get a chance I might be able to give pointers. I recommend living in the South of the City as an outsider (good areas would be Stranmillis [studenty but nice] or the Ormeau Road, on the far side of the Ormeau Bridge from the city centre) as it's a bit more diverse and less inclined to sectarian flare-ups. If you don't care about diversity or cultural stuff the new housing developments in the North (eg Glengormley) are quite nice too- they aren't my cuppa but some of my friends who stayed in NI but didn't want to have kids in the city like it there. Have an escape route if it isn't what you imagine, but you'll have a blast. I know quite a few Canadians who've settled there for between 1 and 20 years (mostly hockey players) and by and large they've had a blast. It is very Anglophone, in case you prefer French. Check that your first landlord protects your deposit under one of the statutory schemes, but if you find that they haven't, don't let on until the end of your tenancy. Triple damages. The single biggest cultural difference IMO is the Canadian tendency to go to bed early, and the shoes indoors thing.
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Jul 24, 2019 15:14
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Filboid Studge posted:I recommend living in the South of the City as an outsider (good areas would be Stranmillis [studenty but nice] or the Ormeau Road, on the far side of the Ormeau Bridge from the city centre) as it's a bit more diverse and less inclined to sectarian flare-ups. Don't live in the 'Holylands' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyland_(Belfast) It's university student area with rip off landlords. You will never get much sleep with the parties and drunken asshats. happyhippy fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Aug 19, 2019 |
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Aug 19, 2019 05:09
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You've already said you're going for the ancestry visa so not too big a point, but it's definitely the better one compared to the tier 2 ICU visa. You can't get Indefinite Leave to Remain on an ICU visa, and I believe that maxes out at 5 years, after which you get turfed. Also be careful of thinking you can just switch routes if one fails - home office will ask you if you've had failed attempts at getting a visa and looks down on that.
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Sep 2, 2019 22:50
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Filboid Studge posted:Belfast is a great city. Visit it first. I don't want to stereotype you being from NB but there's fairly decent pro hockey (between ECHL and AHL in quality) too. The Friendship Four is a fun tournament. My wife and I are both experienced computer touchers, so we *could* go fairly high... our absolute max is £1250 but we're really hoping for more in the £600-£900 range. We want to get a 2 br so we have an office/spare bed for when the family inevitably visits. I've received an offer to touch computers very near Cromac Place, so decent walking/busing distance from there is preferable. Looks like Stranmillis and Ormeau both fit the bill for that. We'd definitely like to avoid sectarian struggles. Tell me more about the "going to bed early" thing... do people generally stay up past midnight in Belfast or what's the deal there? Also the shoes indoors... we don't wear ours indoors, is that the norm? Also, happyhippy, duly noted on the Holylands advice. I would also like to report that  I've managed to get a bank account up and running from Canada! , and while it took some digging to figure it out, the actual execution wasn't too bad:- sign up for UK Postbox (doesn't require proof of residency) - sign up for Monzo using your UK Postbox address - when your Monzo card arrives at your UK Postbox account, forward it to your current address as "documents only" It cost me £5, but was well worth it to be able to hit the ground running with a bank account.
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Oct 10, 2019 15:43
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| # ? May 5, 2024 08:30 |
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SubnormalityStairs posted:My wife and I are both experienced computer touchers, so we *could* go fairly high... our absolute max is £1250 but we're really hoping for more in the £600-£900 range. We want to get a 2 br so we have an office/spare bed for when the family inevitably visits. Generally people take their shoes off indoors. Although it does depend on the household. People tend to go to bed around 2230 on working days and 2300-0100 on weekends. Ireland is beautiful but the weather can be a drag. If you’re coming from Canada you will not need all the insulation clothing. Layering is key in the British Isles, you need a rain proof outer layer and layers of thin insulation (e.g. thin wool jumper). Wearing a full on Canada Goose down jacket is unpleasant in the UK 98% of the time. Top tip on sectarianism: never mention it, don’t be drawn into conversation about it. It’s tedious, pointless and you will always offend someone no matter how hard you try. Even the earlier poster calling Londonderry/Derry “Derry” will cause an issue with some people. NI people can be funny as gently caress though 
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Nov 19, 2020 08:56
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