Moving abroad later in life

Dandy, as soon as you have an english address you will need to contact Newcastle to get your NI number reactivated. I hope you were shrewd enough to keep an english bank account opened since you lived there before, it will be handy for getting a mobile contract and potential employers will be asking you for it. If you haven't got one Lloyds TSB will give you a basic current account. Like you I left England in the nineties to bring up a family in Ireland, I dont have any regrets though, Ireland was and still is a great place to bring up kids. I am very happy to be back in London its like a new beginning all over again. I would honestly go demented trying to cope with the unemployment problem at home.

billybobmac - If you do consider going to the UK, do your research well.

Have your CV's and job references available

Totaljobs.com is a very good website for jobseekers.

Here is some information on how to go about getting a

The [broken link removed]is an Irish agency in London offering support services in housing, employment and welfare to newly arrived immigrants.

It might work out better for you if your partner went over first to suss things out and then when your kids finish school in the summer you will both have a good inkling if this is the best move for you at this point in time. If you need any further more information please pm me and I will be glad to help.
 
Cashier, Unfortunatley I closed my acc. with Lloyds as I never anticipated going back. Do I still need a permanent address to open a current and if so what else will they look for? Like you I am looking forward to this move as a new start as our kids are all grown up now and we will have the freedom to do as we please. Thanks for the tips.
 
As a kid my family moved around between countries so I'm not against doing it myself with my own family. I'm not yet at the point, of emigrating myself, but it wouldn't take much to get to that point. tbh I think the whole family would be better off.
 
You don't need a permanent address maybe you have a friend or relative who will let you use their address or you will more than likely have a temporary address when you move over, there is some more info here for Lloyds http://www.lloydstsb.com/current_accounts/new_to_the_uk.asp

You will need proof of address when opening the account, most people get round this by arranging for their Irish bank account to be updated with their english address, if you only have online statements contact your bank and ask them to update your account with your new english address and arrange for a statement to be send to your address in England shortly before you arrive yourself.

Try these as well, they offer a basic current account but there is a monthly fee [broken link removed]


Ps The Visa Debit card available with HBSC is very convenient and is accepted practically everywhere here
 
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We left Ireland recently and are now living in the UK. We are in our forties with a young children and it is not so bad here. There is a recesssion but it is not as bad as Ireland. There is life in the shops, restaurants and business seems to be carrying on as usual. We both have degrees and my husband took a job here first, got settled and I followed. It's not an easy move...but the language is the same.
I would not recommend Spain at all. I have lived there and unless you speak the language fluently it is hard to survive not to mention find work.
Be aware that you pay poll tax in the UK but you do not have to pay for medical care and you have no irritaing charges lile social charges, bin charges ...the list goes on. The cost of living is cheaper...houses are expensive in the nicer areas. There is a lot to do here..plenty of nice countryside if you keep away from the inner cities.
My advice is rent a house for a while, get both names on as many bills as possible....proof of address is so important. You can open a bank account once you have an address but you need a few bills e.t.c.
Sell your car in Ireland..if seriously planning on moving to the UK in the long term. Cars are much cheaper here. Watch out for schools and do your research carefully...you can read all the school reports on the Ofsted website...and remember Catholic good schools are oversubscribed.
The advantages are you are near Ireland if you want to go back...you are escaping the doom and gloom.
Children, particularly young children adapt quickly to moving. We have now bought a house here and feeling more settled...it's not something you should do without thinking it through but if you plan it properly it can be done.
Best of luck in whatever you decide to do....
 
Cashier that's some great advice and links for people setting up in the UK. Maybe bits of the posts could be made into a key post as so many people are emigrating.
 
bronte . Thanks, I will work on a more structured post over the next few days.
 
Hi Billybob,
came accross your post just browsing. First of all I really think you have worked yourself into a right state and no longer able to think clearly. In this day and age mid 40s (in this context) is definately not what it used to be. If you go to many European cities you will find people of all ages having uprooted and remade their lives. One poster here recommended Holland which I agree with. Both Holland and Belgium have so many multinationals in their capitals that you couldnt possibly be out of place. Also in both these countries , especially holland, people rent their houses as they are owned by the government - and you can find accomodation to suit all budgets. (esp in Belgium) Most people speak English, evening language classes are given in the 'communes' (state owned) for next to nothing. Schools and health care are excellent. Work can be found in bars or hotels as a way of getting on the ladder. Get a great CV done and present yourself as willing and friendly and your there! And maybe you could rent out your house here?
Good luck!
 
Hi Billybob,
came accross your post just browsing. First of all I really think you have worked yourself into a right state and no longer able to think clearly. In this day and age mid 40s (in this context) is definately not what it used to be. If you go to many European cities you will find people of all ages having uprooted and remade their lives. One poster here recommended Holland which I agree with. Both Holland and Belgium have so many multinationals in their capitals that you couldnt possibly be out of place. Also in both these countries , especially holland, people rent their houses as they are owned by the government - and you can find accomodation to suit all budgets. (esp in Belgium) Most people speak English, evening language classes are given in the 'communes' (state owned) for next to nothing. Schools and health care are excellent. Work can be found in bars or hotels as a way of getting on the ladder. Get a great CV done and present yourself as willing and friendly and your there! And maybe you could rent out your house here?
Good luck!
 
Good luck with it all Billybobmac, you sound as though between you and your partner you have fantastic experience and track record of employment - hopefully that will really stand to you at the interview stage, even without the third level qualifications.
 
Hi BillyBobMac,

I really feel for you. Half a dozen years ago (I was in my early 30's) I lost my job in Paris and after several months, I still had nothing, so I moved to the UK where I quickly found an 'entry-level' job (like you, I don't have a degree). I was studying p/t with the OU, and hoping to graduate by 2012, and then land a good job and get on the property ladder: the future was smiling at me!

Then, in 2008, along came the financial crisis. I've managed to remain employed by moving 'entry-level' jobs and putting up with being bullied. My salary is lower than what I made in Paris back in 2001, university fees have increased, food prices have increased, electricity bills have increased, my rent + council tax is 60% of my salary. I had to shelve my OU studies for 2 years while struggling to remain employed so I definitely won't have a degree by 2012.

So, like you, I'm looking to move countries once again, though not back to France, as the jobmarket has become worse since I left, and in France not having a degree is a huge handicap. I'm not that young either and can't do the warehouse and cleaning jobs I used to do in the past: my back just won't take it.

I gasp at the thought of packing my clothes, books, CDs, and DVDs again, and selling or donating my furniture and crockery again. You're very brave to be considering this option with 2 children on your hands.

If that can comfort you, in France, I've known, not just 40-something, but also 50-something who uprooted themselves and moved to a different country, because that's where the jobs were. One 50-something lady I met at my branch in 2008 was relocating to Dubai. She probably lost her job there around 2009 though: my 2 next-door neighbours in Paris, a French-American couple, also relocated to Dubai in 2008 (after graduating from a private business school in 2007 and looking for work in vain for a whole year); in 2009, they were back. Luckily for them, their parents were well off and could pay their removal costs, and their previous landlord hadn't managed to sell the flat, because of the recession, and agreed to give them another lease.

So you have to be careful when choosing your country of destination, especially with children in tow and a shrinking eggs nest. Another option is for one of you (usually the husband) to move abroad for work, and live stintingly in a bedsit, sending back as much money as he can to the other parent at home in Ireland. This could enable you to keep the house and continue pay off the mortgage, but it's hard on both of you: I've known several French people who did this, including some of my relatives, and basically, the fathers would travel back to France nearly every weekend if they were working in Germany, and only once a year if they were working in Africa or Asia.

If you do choose to relocate abroad, you could try and look for a 'bilingual' or 'international' school for your children. It would help them feel less isolated, as they would be with other expats' children (less risk of bullying as well), and they would maintain their level of English while learning another language. These schools are usually fee-charging, but some of them do have 'scholarships', or will agree to negotiate affordable fees with you.

One thing to be wary of is the exchange rates. When I moved to the UK, £1 would buy me about 1.45 euros. Now it's worth 1.11 euros, and it's made life very difficult for me: saving for retirement in France, or paying for French private health insurance is just impossible. I can imagine that an Irishman who had got a mortgage in Ireland back in 2007, and was paying it off their salary in sterlings in the UK, could be in difficulty now. Nearly happened to me as well: back in 2007, I was considering buying a rental property in France... So now I'm looking for a country which uses euros, although if Marine Le Pen gets elected in 2012, she wants to go back to the Franc...

I hope everything goes well for you, and once again, thumbs up for your courage!
 
Hi Lingua and Lou34,

You should create a thread about relocating to the Netherlands, you both seem very knowledgeable!

Did you have to take the Inburgeringsexamen, or a language exam? Can you recommend a Dutch language method which is geared towards such exams, and includes relevant vocabulary/everyday situations, such as opening a bank account; getting a job contract and getting through the relevant paperwork with HR; using Excel 'in Dutch' etc.? I've started browsing 'bol.com' for DVDs and contemporary books which I could read.

What about the 'incentives' to get on the property ladder mentioned by Lou34 in another thread? One reason I relocated to the UK is that it was much, much easier to get a mortgage (and a job) than in France (especially Paris) at the time. Now I'm struggling to remain in work, so there would be no point in applying for a mortgage.

Renting in the UK has been a real hassle so far and I'm really concerned I might get the same problems in the Netherlands. My current flat is in a building which was 'reconverted' from offices to bedsits, so the other tenants and I could not get BT to reconnect our landlines as for BT the flats 'do not exist' (i.e. are not in their database). We had to put up with squatters (heroine addicts) for nearly 8 months: the landlords never answered or returned none of our numerous phone calls (20 flats, 30 tenants...) and the police told us they couldn't do anything about it. Then, last year, we learnt that our landlords were not paying their mortgage and that the flats had been repossessed by the bank. They didn't kick us out, but they sure tried hard to make us leave (like insisting for months that we were several months behind with our rents; changing the locks to the letter boxes without giving us new keys; changing the doorcode without telling us...), they increased our rents, and we still don't have new rental agreements. I'm so tired of this, it's an additional reason why I want to leave the UK. If there are more tenants in the Netherlands, including 'natives', and not just aliens and students, possibly landlords and real estate agencies treat tenants with a little more respect?
 
Yes, it was a tough situation during recession, but nowadays many people are shifting to Dubai. It may be due to their job requirements. One can shift themselves safely without any confusion with the help of the international relocation services.
 
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