My experience in the UK

[chromatisity]

Here is briefly my experience in the UK so far.

I am a fairly successful software developer from Bulgaria.
Made good money back home, could save money, afford to eat in a restaurant with my wife daily and
my rent was 10-15% of my paycheck.

It's a well known fact that there isn't enough developers in the software industry.
That spawned a lot of recruiters searching for devs all around the globe.
I had a job offers from several recruiters to work for software companies in the London area.

From listening to so many British people cry on TV how foreigners abused their
system for benefits, i had mixed feelings about coming to the UK.
I had the wrong impression about UK benefits.
I didn't want to be in a place where i would feel not welcome.
What changed my mind was the logic that basically i would pay
my fair share of taxes and there was no reason for me to feel bad.

I accepted the offer, which was the biggest mistake of my life, we will
get to that point later.
Basically coming here amazed me how complicated it was
for a European to actually live, which should not be the case
for a Eu country.
I got in the old "My bank wants an address and NIN, lettings agency wants bank and NIN application needs address" circular paradox.
Renting from a dodgy private landlord was the only escape from this insanity, meanwhile
i was paying 85 pounds a night "hotel".
Cheapest in town, if i may add.

After staying 2 months in a terrible house share, which i paid 600 pounds (for a bad room)
i got my bank account, NIN and i found an apartment that looked like humans
can live in.
I had to pay 350 pounds (non refundable) and wait 2 weeks for a background check that
gave me no guarantees that i would actually get the place.
Also, i got weird questions like where was i working,
how much money i was making and
where did i live for the past years.
Private questions which were very distasteful in my opinion.
No one except government organs should ask you
for personal information like that.

I felt like i was being treated like a criminal and
that really rubbed me the wrong way since
i have been a law abiding citizen my whole life.

I paid a ton of money and i felt like they (the lettings agency)
are doing me a favor by sheltering me.
Why was a private lettings agency trying to imitate
the role of the immigration office is still a mystery to me.

Then i had to pay 2500 pounds for a deposit and first month's rent
for a 45 square meter unfurnished apartment that still had hair in
the bathtub.

10 months later i get sick of the London expanses.
Not only i didn't save more money in the UK than home,
i spent more than 6 thousand pounds of my savings to
actually fund my life here.

I have no idea why British people think their benefits
are worth for someone to abuse them.
Your benefits are laughable,
lower than any EU country.
No law for paid overtime.

So, to cut on my little rant.
I got tired of London so i found a job in the midlands
only to find out that i have to go through the whole
process again.
I pay 5 figure taxes and i haven't used ANY
government service.
Why should a guy who is already renting legally
and all the other things be forced to prove
that i have the right to rent, again??

This country makes no sense at all.
I will try to make up the amount of money,
in the midlands, that i lost in this country.
Then i will be going anywhere else including
back to eastern Europe is a lot more profitable
than this country.

This was my rant, take it as you will.

[noajthan]

Welcome.

At least no complaint about the weather.

You have experienced free movement, it has given you an opportunity you may not otherwise have had.
You have been able to experience and investigate and then validate or disprove conceptions (and misconceptions or prejudices) previously fed to you by the media.
You have seen how a vibrant market economy operates (even despite Brexit).

Thanks for sharing your dev experience with UK companies; no doubt you were able to compare notes with and even learn from your main competition - some of the T2 devs who have also made it to UK.
Perhaps it has got you thinking and sown the seeds of some start-up ideas.

And one day you may be able to laugh about it all anyway.

You may now repeat it all again in a.n.other memberstate - that is the purpose and beauty and elegance of free movement.
Viva free movement!

[chromatisity]

Welcome.

At least no complaint about the weather.

You have experienced free movement, it has given you an opportunity you may not otherwise have had.
You have been able to experience and investigate and then validate or disprove conceptions (and misconceptions or prejudices) previously fed to you by the media.
You have seen how a vibrant market economy operates (even despite Brexit).

Thanks for sharing your dev experience with UK companies; no doubt you were able to compare notes with and even learn from your main competition - some of the T2 devs who have also made it to UK.
Perhaps it has got you thinking and sown the seeds of some start-up ideas.

And one day you may be able to laugh about it all anyway.

You may now repeat it all again in a.n.other memberstate - that is the purpose and beauty and elegance of free movement.
Viva free movement!

I will be going home, there is no place like home.
300 pounds mortgage for a house (150 square meters, propert inner walls, not wood) in the city.
Home, where the only thing you need to rent or buy anything else is the actual money for it, crazy concept!
Home, where people hire based on skill, not on how much you kiss their mule on the interview.
Home, land free of bureaucracy, (job) references , (landlord) references.

Home, where it's illegal for non government entities to require personal information.
There is no place like home.

[rubyracer2]

I can relate to your experience and you might not believe it but Tier 2 software devs have it much harder.

I haven't suffered any major prejudice or beloved in the UK but institutionally systems are set up to make immigration as hard as possible.

I lost my job a month ago but only 2-3% of all companies want to go through the visa sponsorship process. More than 1-2 months of my productive career lost at a time when I could be working and paying taxes. And as far as benefits go, Tier 2 migrants are not eligible for *any* benefits except the NHS.

[ILR4PVM]

Fascinating account OP! Here is a fellow Software Developer's experience and I will keep it to the bare minimum facts, I promise From a CommonWealth country, worked and traveled in many countries before and I was offered a Software dev job here and accepted in 2010.

I have stayed in 6 rental accomodations including house share in 4 different cities and the latest being London. References were provided in each case, but rental/letting agent fees alone should total to more than £60K along with all the hardships you have outlined.

Between me, my wife and child going through visa inititation to 2 times renewals to ILR to naturilisation, we would have spent £15K along with mountains of documentation dating back years. I am not even mentioning the amount of time and effort gone into the homework and preparation for each of these applications.

With my wife having no UK work experience, we flavoured what it means to be a young person in this country looking for work with no work experience when everyone needs an experienced worker [chicken and egg again]. Throw in her dependant visa status and most employers didnt want to take the chance. But she has been in work now for 4 years and it was no cake walk, a story in itself probably for another time.

I have been jobless and homeless with a newly married wife living out of a suitcase in hostels with no security net of social benefits whatsoever, owing to being on a no recourse to public funds visa. Irony of the situation is that the total amount of taxes that me and my wife paid so far should easily cross the £150K mark.

From opening a brand new bank account (again with references of course) with £0 in it, we managed to put down a deposit for a house in outer London in 7 years in spite of all the difficulties that a first time buyer faces in this country. That deposit was the sum total of very many eat-ins, window shoppings and travel brochure oglings

My story is in no way different or special to the thousands who visit this forum. What I have gained by choosing to take the chance is the wealth of life itself and the experiences that come with it. I fully appreciate that home is where the heart is, but at the same time where there is a will there is a way. Isnt that what immigration is all about ?

[Sheffield_Marketeer]

Fascinating account OP! Here is a fellow Software Developer's experience and I will keep it to the bare minimum facts, I promise From a CommonWealth country, worked and traveled in many countries before and I was offered a Software dev job here and accepted in 2010.

I have stayed in 6 rental accomodations including house share in 4 different cities and the latest being London. References were provided in each case, but rental/letting agent fees alone should total to more than £60K along with all the hardships you have outlined.

Between me, my wife and child going through visa inititation to 2 times renewals to ILR to naturilisation, we would have spent £15K along with mountains of documentation dating back years. I am not even mentioning the amount of time and effort gone into the homework and preparation for each of these applications.

With my wife having no UK work experience, we flavoured what it means to be a young person in this country looking for work with no work experience when everyone needs an experienced worker [chicken and egg again]. Throw in her dependant visa status and most employers didnt want to take the chance. But she has been in work now for 4 years and it was no cake walk, a story in itself probably for another time.

I have been jobless and homeless with a newly married wife living out of a suitcase in hostels with no security net of social benefits whatsoever, owing to being on a no recourse to public funds visa. Irony of the situation is that the total amount of taxes that me and my wife paid so far should easily cross the £150K mark.

From opening a brand new bank account (again with references of course) with £0 in it, we managed to put down a deposit for a house in outer London in 7 years in spite of all the difficulties that a first time buyer faces in this country. That deposit was the sum total of very many eat-ins, window shoppings and travel brochure oglings

My story is in no way different or special to the thousands who visit this forum. What I have gained by choosing to take the chance is the wealth of life itself and the experiences that come with it. I fully appreciate that home is where the heart is, but at the same time where there is a will there is a way. Isnt that what immigration is all about ?

Your story/experience resonates with me as my husband and I have had a similar series of events culminating to a a final closure (citizenship in the UK). Immigration is a life experience, and to those who have been lucky or unlucky to have it, they will interpret it bringing in their unique perspective.

[Wanderer]

60k in rental fees? 150k in taxes?

Doesn't stack up unless you are Jennifer Lawrence.....

[ILR4PVM]

60k in rental fees? 150k in taxes?

Doesn't stack up unless you are Jennifer Lawrence.....

Yes and Yes - total for the 7 years, me and spouse combined

she should be having the best accountant ever if she was paying only this much !

[Wanderer]

60k in rental fees? 150k in taxes?

Doesn't stack up unless you are Jennifer Lawrence.....

Yes and Yes - total for the 7 years, me and spouse combined

she should be having the best accountant ever if she was paying only this much !

Jennifer Lawrence is mine, stay away!!

[O_Relly]

Fascinating account OP! Here is a fellow Software Developer's experience and I will keep it to the bare minimum facts, I promise From a CommonWealth country, worked and traveled in many countries before and I was offered a Software dev job here and accepted in 2010.

I have stayed in 6 rental accomodations including house share in 4 different cities and the latest being London. References were provided in each case, but rental/letting agent fees alone should total to more than £60K along with all the hardships you have outlined.

Between me, my wife and child going through visa inititation to 2 times renewals to ILR to naturilisation, we would have spent £15K along with mountains of documentation dating back years. I am not even mentioning the amount of time and effort gone into the homework and preparation for each of these applications.

With my wife having no UK work experience, we flavoured what it means to be a young person in this country looking for work with no work experience when everyone needs an experienced worker [chicken and egg again]. Throw in her dependant visa status and most employers didnt want to take the chance. But she has been in work now for 4 years and it was no cake walk, a story in itself probably for another time.

I have been jobless and homeless with a newly married wife living out of a suitcase in hostels with no security net of social benefits whatsoever, owing to being on a no recourse to public funds visa. Irony of the situation is that the total amount of taxes that me and my wife paid so far should easily cross the £150K mark.

From opening a brand new bank account (again with references of course) with £0 in it, we managed to put down a deposit for a house in outer London in 7 years in spite of all the difficulties that a first time buyer faces in this country. That deposit was the sum total of very many eat-ins, window shoppings and travel brochure oglings

My story is in no way different or special to the thousands who visit this forum. What I have gained by choosing to take the chance is the wealth of life itself and the experiences that come with it. I fully appreciate that home is where the heart is, but at the same time where there is a will there is a way. Isnt that what immigration is all about ?

Excellent account! and such a positive outlook. Happy to see such posts.
Cheers!

[benjus]

Welcome.

At least no complaint about the weather.

You have experienced free movement, it has given you an opportunity you may not otherwise have had.
You have been able to experience and investigate and then validate or disprove conceptions (and misconceptions or prejudices) previously fed to you by the media.
You have seen how a vibrant market economy operates (even despite Brexit).

Thanks for sharing your dev experience with UK companies; no doubt you were able to compare notes with and even learn from your main competition - some of the T2 devs who have also made it to UK.
Perhaps it has got you thinking and sown the seeds of some start-up ideas.

And one day you may be able to laugh about it all anyway.

You may now repeat it all again in a.n.other memberstate - that is the purpose and beauty and elegance of free movement.
Viva free movement!

I will be going home, there is no place like home.
300 pounds mortgage for a house (150 square meters, propert inner walls, not wood) in the city.
Home, where the only thing you need to rent or buy anything else is the actual money for it, crazy concept!
Home, where people hire based on skill, not on how much you kiss their mule on the interview.
Home, land free of bureaucracy, (job) references , (landlord) references.

Home, where it's illegal for non government entities to require personal information.
There is no place like home.

I think this is probably the key point - there is no place like home.

British bureaucracy seems quite simple and harmless to British people because we have everything we need to deal with it with little hassle.

The experience with bureaucracy as a native is usually very different to the experience as a foreigner - and not being a native speaker of the language doesn't help either. I wonder if a foreigner coming to live in Bulgaria would fine things as easy as you do.