Rylie_was_here

Hi
I have bought my flight to the UK and need help with where are good places to live, how do i get work and how hard is it really to open a bank account as a new arrival? Not sure how to go about all this stuff.. Can anyone help with this initial stuff?
Cheers!

suze

What is your home country (passport, citizenship)?

Rylie_was_here

Australia! I have an Australian passport and travelling on a Working Holiday Visa to the UK...

sheila

Rylie, go and look at Gumtree. When you say "UK" do you mean London? If not, where do you mean to start out? Any family here?

Bank won't be a hassle. Bring plenty of CURRENT ID with you, tho'. Passport, driving licence, existing bank statement. In fact you could probably get NAB to open you an account with the Clydesdale, which they own, whilst you're there, then you'd be ready to raock and roll when you get here.

When are you arriving?

flanneruk

Go to Thorntree as well, where they talk of pretty well nothing else.

Sheila's an expert on migration, but you really do need to plan around the bank account before you come here. Unless you've got your Oz bank to set an account up for you before coming, money laundering laws can create all kinds of catch-22 problems for someone arriving here and trying to start an account without a permanent UK address and lots of evidence they live there.

There are workrounds - including using your ATM card to tap into your home account - but advance planning means you won't get destitute, and the Thorntree regulars have all been through the whole thing.

jamikins

Banking takes forever to set up (and my company set up my acct). It took about a month to have online banking and a bank card that worked, so be sure you have access to cash some other way.

Also, rent is quite expensive and you will need references and I believe in most cases at least a months deposit.

bilboburgler

Skill base? Some Australians work in bars but some are lawyers. London is the obvious place but unless you know someone in the OZ community you may sink without trace a bit.

Other big cities include Manchester, Leeds or Birmingham. All have a community that is easy to access and costs (and wage) will be lower than London.

Finally before you leave Oz, chat to your own mates. Many people have been before so they may give you a better first off objective which is beyond "go to Earls Court and buy a van"

afterall

I'm surprised you didn't do some research before applying for the WHV.

But if you really haven't, then you'd be better checking out the Thorn Tree cos, I suspect very few people on this although you have had had some great reponses here, that's where you will find up to date info.

If you happen to arrive in London still clueless, then pick up the free "TNT" mag, available outside mainline stations, and maybe even at Heathrow.

Don't fret. Same language!!

RM67

I was going to recommend you a NatWest Step account, which I don't think is credit scored, and as such is usually fairly quick and easy to set up, with minimal/no documentation needed (money launderers heaven!). It also has a debit card and online banking, though no chequebook.

However, when I was trawling through the T&C I noticed a strange clause specific to Australian residents about the application for and availability of financial products to Aus nationals. I think you need to look into this quite carefully to find out whether you can indeed legally open a UK based account before you get here.

Cholmondley_Warner

All banks are obliged to offer a basic bank account (no credit checks etc).

You do need an address and valid ID.

sashh

Some banks do special working holiday accounts. When my housemate went to Oz his was set up with city bank - they sent the bank card and cheque book to his UK address before he left. He did have to go into a branch with his passport on arrival to activate it. Check whether your local bank does a similar scheme.

Sarah_Taylor

Hey Rylie,

When i was in the UK I went through 1st Contact, they helped me set up all that stuff but particularly helpful with the bank account. I just went into the office when I arrived and they had a bank account opened for me by the end of the week.

Rent can be expesnive but its realtive to the dollar over there.

As for a place to live you could try gumtree, or stay in a hostel until you have something more permanent!

Cheers

jkbritt

I would stay at a easyhotel.com or a hostel or other cheap place until I found a place to work. I would book a place and then look at gumtree.com rentals. There are shysters out there preying on people needing rooms. I ran into this when looking for a room in Ireland. Luckily, a friend on a chat line checked the places out for me and found me a good place to stay. Tell them you will do a deposit once the room is seen.

Gumtree does work. I rented a room from a wonderful lady who had an extra bedroom for two weeks while wife and I visited London 4 years ago.

Once work is found, then I would start looking for a permanent abode close enough to work that I could walk it if needed. I keep reading about tube strikes and bus strikes. Walking works, plus it saves cash, helps keep you in shape and you learn the neighborhood. On bad weather days, then the bus/tube comes into play. Just walk around the work place, block by block, and look for places that have signs -for rent or stop by a local real estate office and ask them what is available. I just checked, and you can search gumtree.com by postcode. Take the postcode of where you work and put it in the search engine on the left. That way, you can search places to stay by specific area. If you have a place to stay when you arrive, the looking becomes less stressful and you can pick and choose.

Bring minimal stuff with you. I would bring clothes mostly. Wear coat, hat and sweater on plane to save space in suitcase. Second hand and pound stores are all over the place and you can buy what you need as you need it. Great places to buy cooking stuff if needed.

fairfax

When I moved from the US to the UK, it took six weeks to open a bank account. I was working for part of that time and couldn't get paid because very few employers issue actual paper cheques, they just do electronic transfers. The bank I used ran me through the loops before they'd let me have an account. I make sure I keep some money in it because it was so hard fought and won.

KayF

We moved to the UK from Australia a few years ago and opened a bank account while still in Australia, through HSBC and Travelex. The minimum deposit was pretty hefty but it meant when we arrived, we had access to an account pretty quickly. I would definitely recommend doing that, if it's still available.

Costs for transport, rent and food are higher in London than other areas of the UK but wages are probably better in London.

I would suggest contacting some recruitment agencies before you leave and have some appointments set up for when you arrive. Jobs can take a while to get and the Aussie dollar doesn't go far.

Good luck with it all, it can be hard work but worth it.
Kay