Living in Canada my whole life, perhaps I'd begun to take certain things for granted. Nothing too earth-shattering; just things like letting a flat ('renting an apartment') or having a bank account. Moving to a new country has introduced a few surprises in this regard. Some of which, I suspect, are a continued fall-out of 9/11. And as a professional from Canada, I suspect that I might still get off quite easy.
The things that I thought might be difficult - getting a Visa to allow me to work in the UK, for example - were thankfully easy given Alette's UK citizenship. The predicted turnaround time of 12 weeks for my Spousal Visa turned into just 5 days.
Getting a mobile ('cell phone') should be easy, and this is true if you're ok with getting a 'pay as you go' plan. But since we'll be here for a while and didn't want to get a landline, we wanted a longer-term arrangement. However, to get anything more, you have to be able to pay with your debit card from a UK bank.
Unfortunately, getting a bank account isn't as easy as you might think. An ability to work and live in the UK isn't sufficient. You'd think that a job offer letter might do it? Close, but no (and not really close either). You have to provide one item to prove your address (see p. 10 examples from RBS). The one that I'm closest to being able to provide is a utility bill. Unfortunately, at our current short-term flat we don't pay the utilities. So, in about another month I should be able to get an account. It seems I'd be out-of-luck if we were only going to let flats short-term.
Well, it turns out that letting a flat can likewise be difficult. Letting something short-term is relatively easy as you just pay up front. Long-term letting (6 months or more - which is more affordable) seems to require that you have a debit account in order to pay your monthly rent. Hmmmm, do you see the catch-22? I can't get a bank account without utility bills, and I can let a flat (in order to get utility bills) without a bank account. Sigh ...
Luckily, Alette already had a UK bank account that was still active. So we were able to get a longer-term flat. I'm just not sure what other people do in a similar situation ...
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6 comments:
Believe me Sonny, Britain (or the UK as you call it) and probably all of Yerp is mired in Catch-22 bureaucracy dating back at least to World War II. Probably before that. Nothing to do with 9/11
You're right. Perhaps I need another viewing of 'Yes Minister' to remind me of such bureaucracy.
In Canada the banks have the incentive to give out accounts so they can charge obscenely high service fees for accessing the account or simply having the account without maintaining a certain balance.
Are main streets of Edinburgh inundated with cheque cashing service locations like Ottawa?
when Kathryn & I went over 5 years ago we were lucky enough to have set up a bank account ahead of time.
however, when we got there and wanted to establish our National Insurance numbers in order to perhaps work, we ran into a classic Catch 22.
we called up, thinking we could just bring our documents and eventually get registered. but we were told that the only ways we could get our NI numbers would be if we already had an employer lined up who applied on our behalf, or if we were signing on for the Dole.
it took a lot of time hectoring various people on the phone before someone relented and permitted us to come in and present our documents.
in retrospect, we probably should have signed on for the Dole!
Michael Vickers
Yes, we have noticed a number of cheque-cashing services as well. They also charge similar fees on bank accounts and credit cards. Not sure that it's a money thing - more likely bureaucracy that they are incapable of changing.
Getting my NI (National Insurance) Number was surprisingly easy for me. Go figgur. When I called, I was told that I just had to bring in my passport (which includes my Spousal Visa) and I should be ok. I had a letter from my employer, but it wasn't clear that was needed.
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