Well hello there... Moving to London!

Hello fellow Canucks Abroad!

I'm in the final few months before my move to London, UK and wanted to get some insight from those living there. I’m arriving in the city 16 January 2012.

- I want to register with some hiring/recruitment agencies before I go, I work in PR/media relations, non-profit and tech now but I'm more than willing to work in admin etc. got any recommendations for agencies?

- Where to stay - I'm not too worried about where in the city I'm going to live until I find a job. So, in the mean time I'm looking at short term lets or hostels. Any suggestions?

- Bank accounts – I’m actually an EU citizen by birth (Ireland) but coming from Canada. I’ve got my Irish ID (passport, birth cert etc). Does anyone know if this will make things easier for Banking? Other than Lloyds TSB (who are over-charging) any banks you can suggest that hopefully offer cheap international transfers. Also, in terms of documentation what bank expect from you to open an account in the UK. Let me know

- NI number - I've heard this takes weeks to get, any suggestions for ensuring I've got all the right paperwork would be great!

Any help would be appreciated.


p.s. I've already read through a lot of the forums, but any new insights (up-to-date information) and direct links to relevant forums would be appreciated!

1) I don't know specifically about PR, but reed and cv library are good general sites to upload your CV. I would just start googling - there are multiple recruitment agencies in literally every industry. If you are looking specifically for jobs in the not for profit sector, i'd recommend: third sector, charityjobs.co.uk or http://www.harrishill.co.uk. I sent mine out to some agencies before coming and they yielded nothing at all, but if you have experience in PR or media, you may have a better chance since there appear to be no shortage of PR/media jobs in the not-for-profit world. On this note, I recommend applying for jobs about a month before you leave Canada. This way when you arrive you can hit the ground running with interviews all set up. I know you didn't ask, but there you have it.

2) Check gumtree for short-term lets. Alternatively, roomft.com is a good place to find cheap rooms or couches in people's homes. I have used them before and it yielded very positive results. I got rooms that were cheaper than the hostels and ten times cleaner and quieter.

3) Can't help much with this. I still haven't bothered to get a local bank account because it seems to be a long process unless you already have a job. Barclay's told me that if I don't have a job, I have to come back with specific documents and that it will take two weeks to open, as they send my stuff to their head office. Thinking that I would probably have a job within two weeks, I put it off, and now, three weeks later, I still don't have an account. If you have been a resident of the UK for less than three months, I do know that you will need to provide either a foreign bank statement or utility bill.

4) NI number took me less than two weeks to get. I called the number, they sent the papers out right away. I filled them in, sent them copies of my passport with visa and had my number in hand a week later. Very easy process.

Hope this helps a bit.

Hi!
Very exciting times for you!

2) It might also be worth checking Airbnb's website I hear they are about to allow for long term stays/bookings.

3) The challenge with getting the bank account is proof of address, you need a bill of some sort of official piece of mail as proof of address, which when you first move here you won't have that. I got my account with Barclay's before I had a job (on my first day in the country) so unless something has changed I don't think that is always true. I did have to wait for the bank card to be mailed so it takes about a week or so of processing.

So it's best to focus on getting a place, if you have a friend in London possibly you can use their address. I had signed up for a Next account on-line with a friends address and a used bill from them mailed to my friend which is what I used for proof of address. That with my passport/visa and I was sorted. It also gave me a safe place to have my bank card sent to.

Good luck! It all works it's self out in the end as stressful and overwhelming as it all seems at the start.

Hi!
Very exciting times for you!

2) It might also be worth checking Airbnb's website I hear they are about to allow for long term stays/bookings.

3) The challenge with getting the bank account is proof of address, you need a bill of some sort of official piece of mail as proof of address, which when you first move here you won't have that. I got my account with Barclay's before I had a job (on my first day in the country) so unless something has changed I don't think that is always true. I did have to wait for the bank card to be mailed so it takes about a week or so of processing.

So it's best to focus on getting a place, if you have a friend in London possibly you can use their address. I had signed up for a Next account on-line with a friends address and a used bill from them mailed to my friend which is what I used for proof of address. That with my passport/visa and I was sorted. It also gave me a safe place to have my bank card sent to.

Good luck! It all works it's self out in the end as stressful and overwhelming as it all seems at the start.

Just read your post and wanted to say thanks for sharing will be moving in with my boyfriend early next year (fingers crossed) and was a bit worried about proof of address but now that I've read your post that's put me at ease a bit, thanks .

I work in media and am having an AWFUL time finding a job!! My problem? Everyone says my 2 year visa isn't long enough (it's usually that I don't know the UK media landscape but mostly the visa once I make it to the interview process). I am so frustrated beyond belief I have no idea what to do anymore except book a flight home and give in.

Getting my NI Number was super easy - I had it within 2 weeks of arriving. It took me a month to get a bank account...not because they didn't want to give me one but because the idiots forgot to let me know they had some additional questions (there is more to that story).

I work in media and am having an AWFUL time finding a job!! My problem? Everyone says my 2 year visa isn't long enough (it's usually that I don't know the UK media landscape but mostly the visa once I make it to the interview process). I am so frustrated beyond belief I have no idea what to do anymore except book a flight home and give in.

Getting my NI Number was super easy - I had it within 2 weeks of arriving. It took me a month to get a bank account...not because they didn't want to give me one but because the idiots forgot to let me know they had some additional questions (there is more to that story).

Oh wow yeah I could see employers doing something like that. I have a question then: I know you can't renew or get another visa while in the UK but is it possible that if you get a good job, you could get a permanent residency permit so you could continue on after the two years?

hey natcat - to get an ILR visa, you have to live here I believe 7 years - for which if you began living/working here on the Tier 5 YMS visa, that does not count towards your overall number of years living/working in the UK.

The only way to stay is through sponsorship - even then, you'd have to leave (go back to Canada) and re-apply unless you can get some sort of European citizenship. What I'm finding is that employers aren't practical....they think that 2 years isn't enough when in fact, most people aren't in their jobs much longer than a year - especially in the media industry.

I'm pretty lucky. I have EU citizenship through birth (I was born in Ireland).

Something to investigate would be if your parents or grand parents were born in an EU member country. The UK for example has an ancestry visa that you can get if 1 parent OR 1 grand parent was born in the UK (this includes republic of ireland if they were born before 1929 in Ireland). So, you get a 5 year visa through bloodlines. A friend of mine has this and had no problem finding a job in media.

Otherwise, some EU nations offer citizenship to those with parents or grandparents born in the country. Once you have an EU passport you can pretty much live and work in any of the EU member countries.

I'm using my cousin's address in north London for banking, NIN# docs etc. I'll be crashing at her's for a few weeks too. I'm lucky to have family in and around London.

claviclekiss, you're really lucky that you can do that! I doubt I'll know anyone overseas when I move And as for the ancestry visa, I didn't know it counted a parent as well! I thought it was just a grandparent. Are you totally sure? My dad was born in Stockton on Tees in 1956 but moved to Canada when he was like 2 or something. I don't think he has dual citizenship because back in that day I dont think you could even do that, but if he has it somewhere in a document that he was born there would that still count? If not, I'm out of luck My grandparents are all from Poland and Russia/Belarus. (re-reading this post I guess I could look into Poland? Can't speak the language though.)


And lynz, thanks for the info. That's too bad that the 2 years on the visa don't count. It seems pretty darn near impossible to be able to stay there longer than the two or five years! Of course I've never been there so I don't know if I'd like it or not, but if I do I would like to be able to check out my options. By sponsored do you mean the employer keeps me in the country to work for them? So if the job doesn't work out I'd get deported.. ahh. A lot of things to think about I guess! Good thing I'm not planning on going for another 2-3 years at least; it will probably take me that long to get things figured out, let alone save up money!

NatCat: I met a guy here who is in the same situation as you -- his grandparents were from Poland, but immigrated to another country in the 1930s or 1940s. He doesn't speak a word of Polish either, but managed to get his citizenship which allowed him to work in England indefinitely (and any other EU country he wants). I think it's tricky though because your grandparents can't have renounced their Polish citizenship. You also have to write an autobiography in Polish, but if you know anyone who can translate it, then I think you'll be fine. It's worth looking into really. You're lucky that you may have that option if you want a career in Europe. I would kill for an EU passport right about now.

If you do decide to go that route and have any questions about the process to get polish citizenship, let me know and I can ask him directly. I'm sure the consulates are very familiar with this question too. Suddenly everyone wants that Polish passport for access to the EU.