How To Move To The UK On A Visa

TMP 91 - Jaime
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Jenn: Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Travel Mug Podcast this week I'm super excited to bring on my friend Jaime. We grew up in the same town and now she lives very far away. So she's gonna tell us about her experience moving, to the UK from Canada. So welcome to the podcast, Jaime. I'm so excited to have you here.

Jaime: I'm a huge fan, so I'm very excited.

Jenn: Yay, . So first tell us like a little bit about yourself. Maybe your favorite travel destination, that you've been to so far, and maybe somewhere that's on your list that you haven't made it to yet.

Jaime: I'll give a brief little synopsis on my life. So I was and raised in Nova Scotia. I moved to Florida at 16 and finished high school in Orlando and moved back when I was 20 to Nova Scotia. And I started dating my now husband and he was moving to England. So I followed him and we did the working holiday visa and stayed here for two years and then went back to Nova Scotia and kind of rode out the pandemic. And now we're here. my favorite travel destination is very hard. Of course. It always is tough question. I have a couple honorable mentions that I have to say.

they're Paris and Split Croatia.

Jenn: Okay.

Jaime: two places that we went to and we were like, we could live here. So those are honorable mentions, but I think my

favorite spot is Kotor, Montenegro.

Jenn: interesting.

Jaime: Blew me away with the mountains. Uh, it's just such an underrated destination and it is beautiful. And somewhere I really wanna go is the, Positano in Italy. I've been to

Jenn: Okay. Yeah.

Jaime: Italy, but I've never been, by the sea. And I just really wanna see those beautiful buildings.

Jenn: Yeah.

Jaime: Or California or something like I, I don't wanna go everywhere.

Jenn: Yeah, I mean, same. We, we have problem too. And funny that you mentioned Montenegro because I was supposed to go there in 2020 and it's kind of how I ended up reconnecting with your husband. 'cause I went to high school with your husband and uh, we were planning this trip and you guys had just been there.

And so I was chatting with him and then all of a sudden it was pandemic and then it was like, oh God, what is.

Jaime: Just

Jenn: So it's uh, someday I'll make it there.

Jaime: I, I recommend it. And going to Croatia and driving down, that's what we did. It was such a beautiful drive. yeah, definitely recommend.

Jenn: So I wanted to bring you on because so many people dream of moving abroad and have like no idea how it works. And we know like every situation is obviously really unique and it depends on where you live now and where you wanna go. But I feel like. It's, the information is still helpful to people to like, know where to start looking.

So, rewind back and tell us about, your experience with the working holiday visa when you first went to the uk.

Jaime: The, my experience with the working holiday visa was actually very seamless. And I dunno, I dunno if it's because, being Canadian we're part of the Commonwealth, so I think that. The whole purpose of it is to get people to go over there and just basically make money and spend money. and for us it was very easy. So very thankful for that little connection to the motherland of England. Um, but. You basically just fill out the application online, and you need a certain amount of money in your bank account. I can't remember exactly, how much it was back then. This was 2017, I'm sure it's more now. Obviously with the cost of living going and everything. , and you have to go through an interview process as well. that was back when Halifax had interview slots every single day. They had an office in the four Points downtown. So it was very easy to get an appointment. So basically you filled the application go for your interview and you find out a couple weeks later.

I think I finished my process within 3 weeks, for the working holiday visa. I actually found out that I got accepted when I was in, in a meeting with my boss, and was we were having a one-on-one, and I was looking at my computer typing and I got a notification being like, oh, you've been accepted, you're, you know, congratulations.

And I was just like, oh, I'm Because at that point, my husband had been here for about nine months, so I was missing him as well.

Jenn: Okay.

Right.

Meggan: did you have a job when you applied for the working holiday visa or you were able to wait and get that once you got there.

Jaime: So you can wait and get one once you get here. That's kind of the purpose of, them requiring you to have a certain amount of money in your bank account. They wanna make sure that you can set yourself up and that you're not going to be, um, I guess leaving right away or I don't think that you would qualify for council housing, but they just wanna make sure you can sustain yourself basically. Um. So neither of us had any jobs lined up for the working holiday visa.

Meggan: Okay, makes sense. I think that's a helpful point for sure. So let's, uh, flash forward and bring us to the present. So what was the first step to getting your current visa? So sort of fill in the gap there, uh, in terms of that type of visa, or what type of visa do you have? And then go from there.

Jaime: I am actually here on dependent partner visa. It's a very similar process. It's a bit more involved. Um, I was actually very, concerned with it because I couldn't even find the application online like I was, I was Googling dependent partner visa as you do.

And a lot of the applications, or I should say all of them are on the UK government website, but I couldn't find it for the life of me. They have family Visa on there which is if you're related to someone who is British, I had look for it on YouTube. I looked up, literally dependent partner like wife applying like word for word in the YouTube search bar. And I came across a video of a woman explaining it and she had the link in her description and I was like, I don't know how people found this because.

I, I needed a lot of information from Sean. I needed, , like the numbers for the license, his company has, I needed copies of his visa. I needed a lot from him because was dependent on him, essentially for my visa. It was a lot more stressful, I will say. Um, mostly because the company that had the interviews in Halifax, I think that they switched ownership or they shut down and a new company has opened up because now Halifax has two interview days a month instead of every day. So they book up quickly, to fly Ottawa. For my interview, um, which, you know, was just inconvenient. I was like, oh, we'll go to Toronto or St. John's, like have a little vacay. I had never been to Ottawa, so I didn't really know what it had to offer, but Ottawa was the only place I could go for the interview. Um, but it was actually really nice trip and with my mom had a little girl trip.

Um, really good, but this application was very similar. You needed a certain amount of money in your account. , For us, that wasn't the case specifically because his company kind of vouched for us and said that they would take care of us until I found a job. They didn't have to do that. Luckily they they

could do. So.

Jenn: Right. Yeah. That. How long though did it take, um, ,and I'm laughing because I know, 'cause I know you, but like tell the people how long it took versus your working holiday Visa,

Jaime: Uh, so this process, well actually, you know, it wasn't as long as I expected. I started this process at the beginning of July, this past July, 2023, and I found out. Mid August, which, it doesn't sound like a long time, but I, at the interview in Ottawa, I had paid for priority, which is a lot of money, but I was just like, I need to get there.

I miss my husband. I already gave the notice to my landlord, like, I have nowhere to go. I need to get out of here. And I think that they guaranteed me to find out within a week or two, and I found out in three weeks. So that whole last week I was like stressing. I didn't know what was going on.

Jenn: Yeah,

Meggan: that would be, that would be incredibly, incredibly stressful. So. With that one, were you alerted by email? Like how did you find out and then sort of what was the process or steps from there? Or was it essentially, you've got your paperwork, let's go. Like how did it work once you found out sort of mid-August?

Jaime: So I actually got the email when I was at work. My shift had just ended and. It was just me and two of my colleagues and I looked at my phone. 'cause at this point I was checking my phone every five minutes. Like, good thing didn't find out I I was working at a restaurant and I was going back like every, every time I could, like scrolling, scrolling. but I opened up email and it basically just said, you know, congratulations, uh, you have your visa and I. I've never cried that hard in my life. I'm not crier. I'm, yeah, I keep my emotions inside, but I blub like a baby just 'cause it's something you've wanted for so long. Um, and it's just funny that you find out in email.

It's like you, you, you want like fireworks to go kind of like when you, me holiday and have the fireworks. I. Attached acceptance letter. Goodbye But, um, after I got that, I went home. I was planning to book my flight right away, but you do have to wait for your passport to come back to you. So when you go to the interview process, you provide, , all of your documents in hard copy. You also upload them on the website, um, and you have to send off your passport as well. They put the entry, it's, it's a vignette essentially. It's not your actual visa, but it's just say that you're coming here to get your visa, it's fine. So I had to wait for my passport to come back because I'm one of those people that I can't plan everything or anything until everything's sent in place.

You know, it's like, I know I got my visa, but I can't book the flights until the passport is in my hands.

Jenn: I need to be holding it.

Jaime: lost the post like or something. Um, so I waited until that got back, which was about three days later and I booked my flight. And then when I got here, they had my visa all set up to my local post office. So I went to pick it up, I think the day after I got here and I got my visa.

Jenn: right. Ah, that, and it's nice because like you got there and like Sean's already been living there, so you don't have to like find a place live or like find, um, that kind of stuff. So did Sean, when he was going back over, did he have a place like set up before he got there? Like how did the housing work for him?

Jaime: So we're quite lucky because Sean's uncle lives here. He was born and raised here, so, um, we always have family nearby. They're about 10 minute drive away, so Sean lived with them I think about a month or two. And then he start for a flat for us, kind of around the time that I would be coming over. Uh, he moved in

in August and I moved in September So he was just here for a month before me, but he had the whole place set up, which was really nice. But obviously a lot of hard work.

Jenn: Yeah.

Jaime: But

Jenn: Yes. Yeah. A lot

Jaime: flip side, packed up our whole flat in Halifax which was

Jenn: Yeah. Fair

Jaime: both, you know, a lot of grunt work.

Jenn: Yeah, for sure. And it's nice because like you'd obviously lived there before, so you kind of know like Sean knows where he is gonna be working, you know, like what neighborhoods maybe that you like, like or is like close to where his work is and like getting around. cause I find that part like really stresses me out. It's like where, like what area? And like where would you go?

Jaime: Totally. is something I. I kind of, um, resented living where we live now back in 2017, just because we're zone six. So we're the very, like we're cusp Surrey and London. I think our county is technically Surrey, but I say I'm in london 'cause I'm within the commuter belt, you know,

Jenn: right. Fair.

Jaime: I. I'm, I'm so comfortable being in Halifax, like when you're born and raised in a spot, you know it like the back of your hand. And even Orlando, I lived there, but I had grown up visiting there all the time, so I was so comfortable being there. But the last time that we had moved here, I, I kind of hated it, like just where we were living specifically, because I was like, I dunno where anything is. I'm not in the city. What is this? But coming back, I, I appreciate it so much more because I know where everything is and what I'm doing. know, the good grocery stores, the train routes and all that,

so,

Jenn: Yeah. Makes it like just slightly less overwhelming to like up your entire life and.

Jaime: Yeah. Yeah.

Jenn: So obviously all of this visa stuff isn't cheap, so maybe enlighten the people on the fees that they might encounter out there.

Jaime: I have the fees outlined. I did a little, um, TikTok video of the fees as well, because I think that's a, I mean, very relevant question.

Jenn: Yeah.

Jaime: Okay, so the first fee is the IHS fee. So that is paying for your healthcare, so you have to pay for Your healthcare for the whole time you plan on living here on your visa, which is a lot of money. Um, that's actually a big reason why we've just done a two year visa. Typically Sean's visa would be five years, but we did two. We can always extend. It's not a problem. We were like, we can't pay five years of healthcare. I'm so sorry. So sorry. okay, so the, the IHS fee is about $800 per year, and this is Canadian dollars.

I've converted all the fees to Canadian dollars. Um, oddly you pay them in American dollars. Don't ask me why, because

Meggan: of course you do.

Jaime: applying from Canada and I'm on the UK government website, but it's fine. Okay, it's 800 Canadian dollars per year. So we spent about $1,600 on our healthcare for two years, which is great. It's very similar to Canada. We can go to the hospital, we can go to the doctor, um, just for basic checkups, you don't have to pay for anything. There is a flat rate fee here for prescriptions, which is a bit different than at home. I feel like at home, um,

Jenn: Yeah.

Jaime: prescriptions can be quite costly. And of course there are costly prescriptions here as well, but a lot them will just be that base price. The last time we lived here, it was about like eight pound 50 for prescriptions.

I'm sure it's more now. I haven't gotten a prescription yet, but course everything's more now, so no, no surprise there. the Visa fee specifically was $1,100, so that's just for the application. Also important to note that all of these fees are non-refundable. If you don't get your visa.

Jenn: Right.

Meggan: Of course not.

Jaime: Adds the stress of it all. And then the next fee would be, your biometrics appointment, which is the interview I was talking about, um, previously. you do have to pay for that interview and flights and hotel as we have to travel for it. the biometrics appointment was $150. Which is kind of crazy for an interview, but that's fine. We'll move on from that. and those are actually all of the fees, but I had a couple more fees, which I think are more unique to my case. I did pay for priority because I missed my husband. I wanted to move. I find out, so I paid $450 for priority. And it was one of those things where I walked in and I wasn't planning on doing it because dependent partner visas, they would never allow you to purchase priority. And I went in there and I inquired about it and she said, no, we don't do that. And the lady helping me kind of went away and asked her colleague and she said, oh, last week we actually started allowing And I was like, well, if that's not a sign, I.

Jenn: Yeah, take my money. Yeah.

Jaime: Uh, didn't find out in the time I was supposed to, but that's fine. I'll forgive them. And then randomly, a couple weeks after my biometrics appointment, I got an email saying that I had a top up payment that was due. I still have not investigated that, and actually looking over the notes for this episode, I was like, I need to contact them because I totally forgot about this, but they emailed me saying I owed another $550 and I don't know why. So,

Jenn: Yeah. Look into that.

Meggan: Yeah, definitely look into that and hopefully that's not a, a typical thing for people to have to

Jaime: No, and that's a lot of extra money, right, when you're already paying thousands of dollars. Um, but honestly at that point I had gotten an email saying that my case was, was not straightforward, which is why it took longer for me to find out.

Jenn: Right.

Jaime: so when I got that email saying I owed money, I was like, pay it. I'm not even gonna ask questions like, I just wanna find out. I don't want this to investigate later. Forgot about it. I.

Meggan: We're glad we could remind you. So. Well, that's a really good overview and I, I think that's a big part of it. I'm sure obviously everyone's circumstance is different, why they would be going, so that's individual to you, but I'm sure there are other people in your situation, but it's even good just to have a broad overview of what you paid so people can understand what they could be paying essentially.

Jaime: Yeah. Yeah, And, and the amount of money that they require you to have in your account as well, you would have to provide proof of your, um, accounts. Like I said, we didn't have to do that this time around, but for the working holiday visa, I believe I had to have about plus or minus a bit, $3,500 in my account. Um. Like I said, I do think it's more now, especially because now we're on actual working visas, so I do think that we would need more. But I, yeah, I don't know the figure, but it is a few thousand dollars so.

Meggan: Yeah. Yeah. no, it worth it, in my opinion, for such an amazing, amazing experience. But I do have to ask, I have a packing problem, so I do have to ask about your actual moving, 'cause you did mention packing up your own apartment here, so. How much stuff did you take with you? How did you figure that part out?

Jaime: Uh, It's not for the faint of heart. Okay. I did this, I've done this probably four times in my life moving around and it doesn't get any easier, I narrowed it down. I had two check bags and one carry-on suitcase.

And personal item. I also do have cardboard box full of things in my dad's basement. Um, like a couple nice, like a, like a winter coach, my Uggs, some sentimental things I'm keeping. So he'll send that over piece by piece. But that is all I brought

Meggan: Nice. Did you sell your furniture? Like here you sold everything else?

Jaime: Yeah, we sold a lot of our things. It was actually quite, um, lucky the situation I was in because I was home when the manager of my building was showing my flat and it was like a cute little young couple moving out for the first time on their own. And so I was like, oh, do you need a sofa or bar stools or anything?

Jenn: You can have all you see here.

Jaime: All the things you want. So they actually ended up buying, uh, our bar stools, our sofa and our carpet. So I, or our rug, I say. I, I was thinking that would be good, but then the manager said, you need to have it out for the inspection. So these poor kids had to come with their friend's truck and lug it all out in a rainstorm just lug it back in a week later.

Meggan: That's mean.,

Track 1: That sucks.

Yeah.

Meggan: but lucky for

Jaime: was lucky for me. I bad. It was lucky for me.

Jenn: Yeah, I guess like all the like electronic stuff, you would need UK plug stuff, so it's not like you're dragging a bunch of like electronics over,

Jaime: sadly, husband's dismay, he had to gift his PS4 to his brother.

Meggan: Oh no.

Jenn: I'm sure his brother hated that.

Yeah.

Jaime: he, definitely did. He resents him for it, I think. Um, but yeah, all we need, all converters, but you know, they don't work the best. I won't lie. I think, you know, for my electronics, I need to just bite the bullet and go to the store and buy a UK plug because the amount of times I have to plug my iPad in before it actually starts charging is ridiculous.

Meggan: Yeah, that would get old.

Jenn: Um, so if there's one thing maybe you could tell people before they start this process, or maybe even after they land in their new country, what would your, what would your advice be, or your biggest piece of advice to help them with their expectations?

Jaime: Um, my advice would be related to banking because this is something I had a lot of trouble with the first time I moved here.

I would advise you to open a bank account that has a branch in your city or country and the country you're moving to so you can transfer your money. Because when I moved here in 2017, I did not have that. I am with RBC at home and we don't have that here, So I had the problem of trying to find a job without a bank account. Um. I couldn't, yeah, I couldn't get a job without a bank account, but I couldn't get a bank account without proof of income because I've never lived in the before. Uh, it was a very weird situation. luckily I stumbled upon a cafe. Um, I only worked there for a little while, but they kind of, you know, they hired me without a bank account and then I was able to, you know, kind of do it in a roundabout way. But it was extremely stressful. I won't lie.

Jenn: Yeah, that's something that I wouldn't have thought of at all. Like I feel like I'm like, oh, walk into a bank, and open an account.

Jaime: No.

You need a job. And it's like, oh, but I can't get a job without a bank account. I can't get a phone without a bank account. What am I supposed to do?

Meggan: Right. Round and round you go, it sounds like. So this time around, what did you do?

Jaime: for banking? So

I actually still had the bank account I had in 2017. Uh, it's HSBC. So if you're in Canada and you're moving to England, open up an HSBC account, because that'll help you in the long run. Um, so I just reopened my account. I still had 25 pounds in there. I was rolling it

Meggan: Nice.

Jaime: I was, my goodness. It is, yeah. Wholeheartedly look into finances and get familiar with that, whole situation because at the branch when I was opening up or reopening my account a couple of months ago, he's like, oh, what a shame. You should have put it in this type of account and you would have a few thousand pounds instead of. Because you would've accumulated,

Jenn: Like, Like, great. good to know.

Jaime: of course. I'm not gonna think about that. You know what I mean?

Meggan: No

Jaime: Silly.

Meggan: thanks for the late advice though, sir. right. I love that. I love that. So, I guess a, a question I would have now that you're there, I know it's not been too, too long, but you are there and of course you were there before. So tell us what you're sort of loving most about being in your new home country.

Jaime: Everything. Oh my gosh. It's, I know, it's such a, it's just a lame answer, but I, I mean, we wanted to come back for a reason. I just feel like when, you know, you love a place, you just love everything about it. Um. Uh, the lifestyle is a huge thing. The whole work-life balance. Um, people really value their holidays, which is an amazing thing. You know, I swear at work there's always two people gone. It's crazy. Like people are always, you know, booking their trips to Prague for the weekend or wherever they're going. Um.

Jenn: because you can do that from there.

Meggan: Yeah. Yeah. That's really So ease.

Go to the weekend. Yeah.

Jaime: of travel amazing. Also, just so much to do. Um, and I know Nova Scotia has so much to do, but I think it just depends on who you are and your personality and, and what you value.

You know, Nova Scotia is a lot of, um, outdoor activities, which is great. Um, but that's not for me. I'm an indoor gal. I love to go to a museum. Um, one of the thousand museums that we have in London, um,

Jenn: and they're Free So like

Jaime: or very cheap. Or if it's you can

Jenn: Yeah,

Jaime: just get like a subscription of some sort. Like there's always some way to save money on those sorts of things.

Jenn: Yeah.

Jaime: Honestly. Yeah. That, that's basically it. Just the lifestyle change, it's, it's, it's much more relaxed. Um, the cost of living is a lot less, which you wouldn't expect. Rent is obviously not included in that because rent is ridiculous. But, But,

Jenn: everywhere.

Jaime: But like your phone bill, your utilities, your groceries, it's all less. So that.

Jenn: Yeah. Every, every time I've been to the UK I've been like, groceries are so cheap. Like it's ridic. Even when you do the conversion of the currency conversion, you're like. Why is this so much cheaper here? Maddening

Jaime: It's all the farms.

Jenn: I guess. Yeah. . Uh, is there anything, or what's like the biggest thing you miss about Canada now that you've been gone for a bit outside of, you know, family and friends and loved ones? Obviously

Jaime: I was gonna say that.

Track 1: I think thats the obvious one right?

Jaime: Know know.

Jenn: Yeah.

Jaime: Um, I would say comfortability. I mean, I was born and raised there. It's, it's nice knowing your way around and, and just being somewhere you've always been. Basically also the, the, the people in the sense of, um, kindness and, and friendliness.

You know, when you're walking around, someone will say hi to you when you're walking by. It does not happen in London. ,if you were to say hi to someone, they'd be like, uh,

Meggan: Why are talking to

Jaime: Outta face. uh, miss, I miss, I miss that for sure. I, I miss the food as well. Um, a lot of that we don't have here, you know, get some lobster like. Expensive lobster and just the seafood in general. Like, I mean, you both know Halifax, it's like if I want oysters, I have about a million places I wanna go to,

Jenn: right. Yeah.

Jaime: and it's just beautiful. And Nova Scotia is so beautiful and I just, I didn't appreciate it until I moved away the first time. And mean, when you leave a place, you really come to appreciate it, which is a really sad fact.

Meggan: It's, no, it's, it's true though. I could, I, and all the things you mentioned, I'm sure exactly sound like the things that I honestly would miss as well. I would love living abroad, but I do think those would be things that I would miss for sure. Of course. As well as the humans and animals like you mentioned.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: I guess to finish things off then, you know a good way to summarize this. Is there anything you wish you would've known that someone would've told you about this process before you started?

Jaime: I honestly wish that I had just known somebody that has gone through it.

Meggan: Hmm.

Jaime: I was so stressed the whole time I That's all I thought about was the process and getting over here. Um, I feel like I didn't fully enjoy my last summer at home because I was just so focused on this application, and it is a huge gamble. You know, you're, you saved all this money to kind of fulfill a dream that you've had and it's not guaranteed. Um,

but I wish I had just known someone to kind of talk me off that ledge. But I was lucky 'cause my husband was being really nice about it and my mom stayed with me for a lot of the summer to spend time with me before I left. And she was like, it's gonna be fine. You know, why would you not get it? Which is so true.

Like, why, like, I'm not a criminal I have what I need, know, it's gonna be fine. But I think that that is the, a big takeaway. For me definitely is just be patient, which

Jenn: Mm-Hmm.

Jaime: valuable.

Jenn: Yeah, and I think that that's exactly why I wanted to bring you on to have you kind of share your experience is because a lot of people don't know anyone who's done anything like this. And so if they're thinking about it, they're like, I don't even know.

I. Where to start. And something that I just wanna mention, like if you're listening to this and you're under 30 years old and you want to go somewhere, like look for like a youth mobility visa, like wherever you wanna go, because those are options that are out there.

And like you said, when you did it, like you found out really quickly and . It's just, it's a lot more, um, it's an option for people and I think that people don't realize it. And you know, now that I am over 30, I'm like, why didn't I do this

Jaime: You know, some countries have until you're 35

Jenn: I got a year and a left

Jaime: you can apply the day before your birthday. So.

Jenn: yeah. Ah, perfect. Get on there.

Like, honestly, and I, you know, that's something that I, I wish my husband and I would've done this before we bought a house and like got animals and like really, quote unquote settled down, right? Like, I think that sometimes people are in a rush to do, uh, you know, the, the college. You know, dating, marriage uh, house kind of pipeline, that they don't think that there are other actual options out there and that you can do them. So Google it and go do something fun.

Meggan: Do it for our sake now that we're over the age of being able to, so ,please live our dreams. Well, thank you so much for coming on, Jaime. I think this will be really helpful for a lot of people, and even if someone's not considering it. At least, at the very least. Very interesting. So we really appreciate your time. of course, as our listeners know, you can follow the Travel Mug Podcast on Instagram and Facebook and Threads at Travel Mug Podcast, or our website, travel mug podcast.com. Uh, you can support the show through buy us a Coffee. Link is in the show notes. And leave us, uh, a review on Apple or Spotify. I'm sure on our social media for the couple of weeks that Jaime's episode is out.

Hopefully we'll get some great photos of our new locale that we can share with you. So stay tuned for those. Um, and until next time, thank you so much as always, for your support.

Bye.