Moving to LONDON from australia???

Question

hey their im moving to london from australia next week!

i was planning to be going over with my mate but his visa got denied so now im going over solo! so now im pretty nervous about the whole situation, im definatly still going over! im a 21 year old male and a carpenter by trade, does anyone have any tips on the ins and outs?? bassicly tips on accomodation, finding work.

also i have around 2000 pound will this be enough to get me on my feet???

Answer 1

Hi Terry,

First of all, congrats on getting your visa and get a chance to live an exciting life in London. There're so many things to see and do here in London and of course is an excellent base to travel Europe (there're lots of flights and eurorail coming in and out of this city). You will get to meet lots of people, see lots of cool band.

Having said that, London is quite pricey to live but a lot of people gets by living here :). Most of our cash go to rent and travel (as train ticket is quite pricey).

£2000 is certainly enough to get by for a month or two while as you arrive you shall be actively looking for a job.

To give you an outline, Once you get off the plane, you should sort out accommodation (something to put roof over your head), after that you shall sort out for work. once the work is found, you could sort out your social and travel life then slowly adjusting your life into a routine :).

ACCOMMODATION

Lets talk about accommodation. Living in Central London can be exciting as it's really close to actions but it can be pricey. Depends on your budget and area you'd like to live.

London has an extensive and quite reliable public transport (ranging from underground rail/tube, overground train, and buses) - check out the map below.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/T...

The distance between the stops approx 2 minutes each. That's how I estimate my travel time. Otherwise you could use the journey planner at http://www.tfl.gov.uk (It will give you the detailied itinerary as in which train lines you should take and how long does it take).

Most young working professional live in zone 2 or 3 of central london. Zone 4 is livable but can be inconvinient if you want to meet up with mates who live on the other side of town as the tubeline is generally finishes at midnight. No need to worry though, most people hang out at their local pubs. London consists of mini 'city' within each region/borough. So there're plenty of cafes, restaurants, shops, bars/pubs in each region.

If you look at the map above, east london is generally cheaper to live than west London. This is because the area historically is known to be a bit 'rough' (Stratford onwards). I have lots of mates that live in east London and they have cool bars and lots of cultural food (especially Indian). I sometimes watch bands too. If you look at area  such as stratford/leyton, expect to pay £85-£120/week for rent plus bills.

My tip is just find an accommodation and expect to move 2-3 times until you find the right accommodation (as in you like your flatmate, the area, the house as well as within close proximity to your work and mates).

I'd suggest before you arrive (3 days or so) start e-mailing to make an appointment to see flats. By the time you arrive, you could start doing many inspections :). The best website for this is http://www.gumtree.com/

Most Australians, NZ and south africans tend to live in the west (Acton, Hammersmith, Shepherd's Bush, Fulham) or north (Kilburn, Dollis Hill, Willesden Green) or South (Clapham, Southfields, Tooting).

There're several option for accommodation:

- Dossing -> This is the term we use when you couch crashing at your mates or acquaintances until you find your own place. The rule of dossing is, if you outstay (usually you stay for approx 2 weeks), expect to offer to chip in £5/night minimum.

- Hostels -> Many hostels offer a long term rates. Weekly rates ranging from £80-£150

- Sharing -> You can share a room for approx £55/week, a room for one in a share house will cost starting at approx £80/week

- Bedsit -> This is if you decide to get your own studio apartment will cost you a good £100-£150/week.

If you look at the website (gumtree) above, Most rental or houseshare advertisements will sometimes tell you it includes rent only. So expect to pay bills such as gas, electricity, phone, TV license (yes, you have to pay an annual tv license to watch a freeview tv here in UK) , water, council tax.

Sometimes if you rent a flat, they'd ask you for a bond, usually consists of up to 1 mth rent (make sure you get a copy of a receipt for your bond) and you tend to be asked to pay your rent 1 mth in advanced.

If you sign a lease expect to get tied for 6mths or 12 mths.

JOB

Trader (Carpenter) is a highly valued skills so you'll have no problem finding a job.  You're not entitled to social security (similar to centrelink in Australia) unless you're a british citizen.  However, You are entitled to services such as police, roads, NHS (medicare equivalent of free health) and a pension scheme through National Insurance (similar to Tax file number in Australia) .

TRAVEL/COMMUTING in LONDON

Travelling in London as I mentioned above is not cheap. You could catch tube (underground train) buses, DLR (Docklands Light Railway - smilar to tram in Melbourne) and national rail (overground train). Tickets can be purchased depending on where you want to travel to and the length of time the ticket is valid. You could get single or return trickets or travelcards for a certain time period but I shall suggest you get an Oyster card. Oyster card is an electronic ticket in a size of a credit card which you could top it up wtih cerdit cards or cash as you need to. It can be obtained directly at the train station/tube station or online at www.tfl.gov.uk

Buses are cheaper than the tube and expect to pay approx £2 per journey in all zones unless you're using an oyster card where you could pay only 90pence. If you purchase a travel card for zone 2, you could use it to ride buses in zones 1,2,3 and 4.

BANK ACCOUNT

You could open your UK bank account from Australia (if you bank with HSBC). Major banks in UK is HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds TSB. It's quite difficult to open a bank account in UK. You will need as much ID as possible such as passports, proof of address (bills, rent receipts or lease), a letter from your employer/job agency, bank statements and a letter from your bank at home. Maestro cards can be used to access ATMs and as debit cards in shops. Getting a credit card can be difficult as you need to have UK credit history and this is non existence.

TAX

You should get a NI (National Insurance) number. You could make an appointment for this. If you have no National Insurance number, you will be charged at maximum tax rate (waht they'd call an emergency National Insurance number) - See section below for more details)..  When you start working, you must pay tax. Rates range from 10-40% and you have a tax free threshold of £5225/year.  

NATIONAL INSURANCE

National Insurance/NI pays for pensions and health services. Most employers require your NI number before you start work. NI is issued through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and getting one can be such a hassle as services in UK is generally slow and hopeless. You could call 0845 600 0643 from 8am-6pm Mon-Fri to arrange an appointment. Make sure you have your passport, a letter confirming you are employed or registered with an agency and 2-3 other forms of ID. Within 8 weeks you'll get a number in the post.

If you've already started working, your employer may be able to apply for a NI number on your behalf. Ask for a CA5407 form, which is completed by both the employee and employer and then sent to Jobcentre Plus in Glasgow. For more info, go to http://www.hmrc.gov.uk or go to the nearest Job Centre.

PENSIONS (Superannuation)

You have several options for pensions here in UK, check what your employer has to offer and check whether there's a possibillity to transfer it to Australia when you leave UK.  Check with tax office whether you could get a rebate when you move back to Australia.

HEALTHCARE

In UK, we call this NHS (instead of medicare). Make sure you get registered (Call NHS direct on 0845 46 47) for a list of GPs. Doctors' consultations are free. You could use NHS walk in centre as well. You need to pay for medicines but contraceptive stuffs are free (pills, condoms, etc).

You could register for Dentist too with NHS but you need to pay anything for cosmetic treatment as a private patient. Go to www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk or call 0845 46 47

Good luck :)!

Answer 2

Get a copy of Time Out when you get there, it has listings and advice. Yes the $2000 will be enough for about 2 months but you will need to get a credit card and check out the papers for jobs too. My suggestion is shared accommodation. Warning though London is a bit more expensive than Sydney & Melbourne are.

Answer 3

Accommodation is hard to find.  Work for tradesmen is easy to find.  But if you do what the Irish do and take the first job that comes along with hopes to jump into the one you want - look out - they hate that and will find you and beat the holy f-uc-k out of you.  Seriously, take only the job you really want because people hate scabs who job hop here.

Answer 4

if you want some good clubs etc go to the 02 arena club or faces in hodderston. Accomodation is hard to find it would be good if someone you new was there im shore u will b fine