jorgiandkate

life abroad - moving to the uk

Somewhere in between our normal lives last year of uni, work, family and football, we started feeling like it was high time for an adventure! We started discussing ideas of travelling and moving abroad to Spain or England. We talked about it for ages and finally we said, "Let's just do it!" So, Jorgi began his research on University Exchanges, Kate started looking into working visas and we both kept working hard and started saving every penny. After months of anticipation, Jorgi was lucky enough to be accepted into the University Exchange Program. His first preference was Sheffield Hallam University and he got in. Yay! As soon as we heard the news, we both started applying for Visas. Jorgi needed a Student Visa and Kate needed a Working Holiday Visa (more info below). The three applications (Uni Exchange, Student Visa and Working Holiday Visa) were a lot of stress, with a bunch of confusing paperwork, but nothing worth having comes easy! So, we kept on top of the paperwork and paid all the necessary fees. We even had to travel to Adelaide (about 4-hours drive from where we lived at the time) for a 5-minute appointment, to get our fingerprints scanned for our Visas.

All of this sort of came at the last minute and we still hadn't found a place to live!

visas

Youth Mobility Scheme Visa (Tier 5) - (Working Holiday Visa)

Visa - approx. $400AUD
Compulsory Healthcare - approx. $500AUD
Proof of Funds via bank statement - approx. $3,000AUD
Appointment at an embassy office in any capital city (in our case the UK Embassy in Adelaide, South Australia) for fingerprints scan. Cost of this little expedition depends on your location - we lived 4-hours away from the closest capital city, so we had to pay to get there and for accommodation.
Sending documentation and passport away in the mail registered express post, with return envelope - $20AUD

All information can be found at this website: https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-youth-mobility

Short-Term Study Visa

Visa - approx. $200AUD
Appointment at an embassy office in any capital city for fingerprints scan

All information can be found at this website: https://www.gov.uk/study-visit-visa

accommodation

Before moving to Sheffield we obviously had to find some accommodation. This was not an easy task! We were unable to stay in student accommodation, as Kate is not a student, and they only allow students to live in student accommodation. Sounds stupid, yes, but we figured if we're paying the rent, one of us is a student and we're only taking up one room and one bed, then why does it matter? But anyway, after many hours spent searching the internet and emailing real estates back and forth, we eventually found a place through Noble Design and Build called The Printworks. We have loved living here so far. We've made it a nice little home for ourselves. It is in a great central location close to supermarkets, bus stops, pubs, uni, library and anything else we need, really. Sheffield isn't massive so it's only a ten minute walk anywhere from where we live.

The building comes equipped with a laundry room (with coin operated washing machines and dryers), as well as a games room with pool tables and, the big selling point for us, a 24-hour gym! All of which is included into our rent, as well as our own post box. It is a bit on the pricey side, but we were happy to pay a bit extra for the comfort and convenience it provided. We pay £695 per month, which includes all utilities/bills and unlimited internet. This works out to about $300AUD per week for both of us ($150AUD per person) which isn't too bad. Especially if you take into account the council taxes you have to pay if you rent privately in the UK. We highly recommend looking into the council taxes if you are planning to rent a house privately or ask your real estate agent about it. In Australia the person who owns the house has to pay the council taxes, but in England the person renting has to pay rent AND the council tax. Crazy. For more information see their website: https://nobledesignandbuild.com/portfolio/printworks/

sim cards

When we arrived in the UK one of the first things we wanted to do was get our hands on a sim card with a good data deal. We did a bit of looking around and found VOXI, which is a sim card owned and operated by Vodaphone. They had the best deal going at the time that included 6GB of Data & Endless Social Media browsing for £10 per month! We also added on 100 minutes of international calls for an extra £3 per month, so we could keep in touch with our families back home. So, for a total of £13 pounds per month (approx. $25AUD) we were set! This network works anywhere in Europe as well, so we knew we would always have data wherever we go.

For more information about VOXI see their website: https://www.voxi.co.uk/

bank cards, money and currency conversions

This topic is a very boring, but also very important topic that needs to be discussed. Before heading to the UK we both did a lot of research into travel money cards and bank cards in the UK. Kate got a Commonwealth Bank Travel Money Card and Jorgi decided to use his ING Orange Everyday Account, but we recommend you do your own research. Compare banks and look into the fees and exchange rates that the banks charge. Don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions, because it's your money, not the banks!

"Will I be charged every time I transfer funds into my travel money card account?"

You may not get charged for transferring funds, but you will lose money exchanging AUD to GBP. We found this out the hard way. When we came over the Aussie Dollar wasn't looking too flash.

"Will I be charged when I use the card in ATM's overseas?"

Maybe! Some travel money cards may charge you a fee each time you withdraw money from an ATM. Some don't charge, just be aware.

"Will I be charged when I use the card in EFTPOS machines overseas?"

Again - maybe! Most cards don't charge you a fee when you make an EFTPOS transaction, but some credit and debit cards may incur a 3% fee, as well as higher exchange rates. So, be careful when using EFTPOS in shops - it may be more beneficial to withdraw cash. Also, some EFTPOS machines will give you the option to pay in AUD or in the local currency - be very wary of this as you may be losing money without realising it.

Many types of credit cards and debit cards are fine to use overseas too but they have high usage costs.

If you are not aware of these things you can lose a lot of money in hidden fees and exchange rates. A few dollars here and there can add up very quickly!

When we arrived in England we needed to get a UK bank account for us to get paid into when we worked, and it helped us avoid a lot of fees. For this we went with Monzo. Monzo is an online bank with no fees, an easy sign up process and a flawless app. They are able to provide such low fees, as they're a solely online company (similar to ING), thus they have no overheads, giving them the wiggle room to beat the big banks at every turn. There are heaps of online banks in Europe and the UK, so it's up to you to do the research and find which one suits you best. Monzo cards work in all European countries so it's good if you plan to go travelling, and you get a cool fluro pink card delivered to your door in about 2 days!

What do you do once you've got a UK bank account with no money in it?

We used a third party company (Transferwise) to transfer a lump some from our Australian bank accounts into our new Monzo accounts. This is a good option because you only pay the exchange rate once (per lump sum transfer), it's usually a really competitive rate and, probably most importantly, it's secure. You will, however, have to pay a small transfer fee. For us it has ranged from $5-15AUD per transfer, depending on how much we transferred at any one time. We calculated that paying this once off fee and having Pound Sterling on a UK bank card was far more economical than paying a fee and/or losing money in the exchange rate with a travel card or credit/debit card.

We were also able to use Transferwise to pay a deposit on our accommodation while we were still in Australia.

Handy Tips:

To get a live exchange rate we simply google "currency converter" and use their currency conversion system. It's simple and usually more "live" than any other system. We use this almost everyday and people seem to take it for granted when travelling
If you haven't read The Barefoot Investor already - do it!

Read about both options on their websites:

https://monzo.com/

https://transferwise.com/

international drivers licence

Before we left Australia, we went into our local RACV office to get our international drivers licences. We knew we wanted to do a bit of driving around the UK and Europe and thought it would be a handy thing to have! It was really easy to get, all you have to take is a spare passport photo (or they can take one for you for a small fee) and your Australian drivers licence. Then we paid about $40AUD each and it was all done in about 15 minutes!

We hope this blog post has helped some of you guys with any questions you may have about moving to the UK. We know we had a lot of questions before we moved! If you have any more questions you would like to ask feel free to contact us and we'll try our best to help. If we don't have the answer we're sure we can at least point you in the right direction.

Show us some love and ask any questions or leave a comment below!