suesmalls Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Hi All Could I please get some advice on various details I would need to do upon arrival in England (for the first time - never lived in England before). I've got my bank account and NIS number meeting all organised - done through 1st Contact here in Australia Phones - so currently I've got Telstra mobile here in Australia. I guess I'm going to have to keep it on so I've got some form of communication upon arrival? Is this what others have done. My phone is on a plan until September and paying out termination may exceed monthly rental costs (trying to negotiate this out now - given I've been with Telstra 17yrs you would think they would budge - joke). Will work out if keeping plan ticking over until it expires or terminating is better. Any tips on better plans and phone providers in England - how do you set up first account with no history Do we buy new phone (going to have to be cheapy) and buy prepaid? Car insurance - I'm going to get RAC to demonstrate our no claim bonus history Who would be better provider to start with in England? Any details we need to consider or be aware of? Pet Insurance - our cats are Seniors (11 & 13) and both have medical history. The 11yr old has allergies, however a lot of these will disappear in England (peppermint, melaleuca and eucalyptus trees - all which are directly in our garden and park next door). The 13yr old has Hyperthyroidism - has transdermal ear cream to keep it in check Do pet insurance providers have age barriers like here in Australia - cats over 9yrs can't get comprehensive insurance if signing up for first time. Any suggestions on better pet insurance providers for Seniors GP's etc - I have a few medical blips that will eventually need seeing a GP - in the event I need medical treatment within first 3 months as a British citizen and not finished my "habitual residency period" of 3 months - will I be able to see a GP. I've got my GP to give me medications for next 6 months and getting another few months to be sure Getting all my medical records handed over electronically Superannuation - any advice on rolling into stable long term fund - will be following this up with Vista. I'm sure there's more to do - any advice / tips Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottieGirl Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 (edited) Phones keep your Aus phone for at least a month. You probably have bank accts and email addresses linked to it and you will need the security codes sent to the old phone when you update your profile with the new one. A trick for new players! Buy a monthly mobile here, I used Vodafone. You can convert to a contract when you have an address and bank acct but the monthly packages are very good so I haven't bothered. You can also unlock the SIM here if you want to change provider later for a mimimal fee Drivers licence you need to sort out ASAP. Technically you can drive on your Aussie licence but as you have sold your house the address is not valid so this could be an issue if you have an accident. I imagine there is a grace period but get onto this pronto. I nearly got refused a hire car when I said the address on my Aus licence was out of date. Fortunately my Aus licence had a second one on the back as I had moved whilst in Aus so I talked my way around it. Insurances I use Direct Line as I get family discount. Comparethemarket operates over here so use them for comparisons. You will be covered for any emergency health issues before the 3 months are up via the reciprocal agreement . You can always go to A and E if something happens before you regii9ster with a GP. Find a vet and inhale sharply when you get their bill, think there will be age limits on insurance Have a decent Indian takeaway and a glass of a nice French Chablis ? Edited July 4, 2017 by ScottieGirl 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 Thanks @ScottieGirl I thought we would need to keep Aussie phone - might buy myself some international package for a short term period to ensure I'm not whacked on costs. The monthly mobile you have - you bought your own phone outright and then use Vodafone sim / prepaid? I just did some recent payments and had sms confirmation on my mobile so I've been getting more of those security protection verifications via sms. Great security - pain in bum when traveling. So you arrive at the equivalent of our Department of Transport in England to get drivers licence converted - do I need to do anything at this end before we go? I was going to get international licence before we left for the immediate use in England (or is this not necessary). We've thought about tacking onto families insurance and may go down this path - we will still get evidence of our insurance no claim bonus etc with local insurance provider (RAC). Great to know about medical. I'm actually suspending my private health insurance here in Australia for 12 months for "just in case" and then I can do it once more towards the end of first 12 months. Been on private health insurance for 20 years. I was also going to get travellers insurance for 12 months (& can be extended another a second 12 months) and then get private health insurance in England when I get my first job. As I have pre-existing issues my travellers insurance can be called in event of emergency. I had total knee replacement November 2016 - in some years my left knee may need a partial replacement. So I will have pre existing and wondered if I should cover myself off. So the real question is, if in the next year or five years, my left knee decides it's time - would I get good surgery on the NHS scheme? This could open can of worms about the NHS. Pets Insurance - I need to go back through an earlier question I raised (along time ago) linked in with someone who had worked some time on pet insurance in UK and helped set it up over here in Australia. Just don't have time to scroll through and find at present, Lose access to desktop computer, printer and scanner on Thursday afternoon - so starting to stress I've got everything from a document perspective sorted. Defintely need that Chablis right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottieGirl Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Yes bought phone outright and got prepaid. When you log into your email with a new device you will have to verify you are you via your security links. Make sure these are not old work emails that you no longer have access to. Driving licence is done online https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/driver-and-vehicle-licensing-agency For the knee issue I would check out private HC. You need to be ordinarily resident to be eligible for full NHS treatment. Not sure what the qualifying period is. Check it out here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-overseas-visitors-hospital-charging-regulations I now have to prove I have funds to buy house which is going to be a pain in the arse as have put into online account with very high level of security so all print outs are de identified. Sigh.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 Thanks @ScottieGirl Thanks for update. If you have to prove you have funds - which I can understand so they know you're not just wasting time - also though they get to see how much you have and can they use this to push you up? Or has price been agreed before you show your funds / balance? Good luck and hope you get the one you want. Definitely a pain in bum when you have new phone and starting new apps or emails; that's why I'm trying to sort now as I can't even remember some of my instagram / Facebook passwords - grrr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 UK driving licence - Read this https://www.gov.uk/exchange-foreign-driving-licence If you've been resident in the UK (as per the Gov. requirements) then you'd be eligible for a knee op on the NHS (if it is still going as is). There could be a wait list if its not urgent or you could opt to pay privately if the wait time is longer than you fancy. Pet insurance, you'd not get cover for them at their ages I don't expect. Be prepared to find a decent vet and either save some money in an account or see if you can pre pay monthly perhaps in advance in case of needing expensive treatment. Some vets do this. Most vets will want payment before you walk out the door after your pet having treatment. Very few will invoice at a later date unless you've made prior arrangements or are on a payment plan. I'd not go onto the families insurance with the car. Just get your own when you buy a car and be done with it. You are older so should get a decent deal (on an average car) and it could stuff up the families no claims in event of you having an accident. You've proof of no claims and some places will accept it without issue, others won't. Just shop around and find a deal that suits. ETA - You don't need to bother with an international licence if you are changing over to a UK one asap. The only aspect you may hit a roadblock on is if you want to hire a car on an Aus DL but are resident in the UK, ie, not on holiday. Some places won't hire out a car in that situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottieGirl Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Yeah I have no intention of showing the total in my savings acct as it is way more than I offered.The offer is still subject to survey so could fall through and then my negotiating position would be stuffed! So I have to move funds to my current acct which to my surprise takes 5 days or get a solicitor to verify. In the mean time the house remains on the market. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottieGirl Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Sue do you have British citizenship? If so I think the qualifying period for full NHS treatment will be less than 5 years but taking out travel insurance for the first year sounds very sensible 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 Yes I have British passport - but will be entering for the first time to become resident on 27 July. I think I'll go with the travel insurance option then - ouch another $1000 down. Having a hard time selling cars - have reduced and we're the lowest priced and have good cars - getting very nervous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 What a pain in the proverbial @ScottieGirl on the funds transfer. I guess once it done it means you're ready to act on purchase. It doesn't seem like there is lots of other interest on the property (hopefully) if that's the one you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottieGirl Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 No way of knowing, estate agents are not known for their transparency. The market here is odd, daily reductions on asking prices but some go quickly a house I looked at that I thought was over priced sold within a week. Seems like school catchment areas are a big factor. Good luck with the cars, it's all very stressful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Just a couple of things, since the other posters seem to have covered most things. With regards to your phone, I will have to pay off a contract here (with Vodafone), and will just go and get a pre-paid sim for my phone once we get to the UK. We've not had trouble doing that on holidays, even with the same contract phone which I used with an overseas sim last year. I will arrange with Vodafone Australia to keep my contract running for three or four months, so that if I need to transfer money from my Aus bank account, I can easily do that (the authorisation codes go to my phone). With your cats, I can't offer any advice about insurance, but it is worth having a look at Petlog. I think it costs 16GBP or something like that to register your details and your cats microchip numbers, so that should the worst happen and one go on a walkabout, the details are in the UK's Petlog system. I'm pretty sure that this is the one that vets use, and it is who we registered our cats with when we lived in the UK before. Have a look at uSwitch.com and the MoneySavingExpert websites. You can compare things like car insurance on uSwitch, and there might be advice on pet insurance (amongst other things) on Money Saving Expert. I've just also found a website called Money Supermarket which compares things like insurance, including pet insurance so that might be worth a look. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VERYSTORMY Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Have a look at the main insurance comparison sites. Our little one is now regarded as older and just had another look for him at a possible change in his insurance and there were a number of policies available for older cats and dogs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoDemocracy Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 17 hours ago, suesmalls said: Hi All Could I please get some advice on various details I would need to do upon arrival in England (for the first time - never lived in England before). I've got my bank account and NIS number meeting all organised - done through 1st Contact here in Australia Phones - so currently I've got Telstra mobile here in Australia. I guess I'm going to have to keep it on so I've got some form of communication upon arrival? Is this what others have done. My phone is on a plan until September and paying out termination may exceed monthly rental costs (trying to negotiate this out now - given I've been with Telstra 17yrs you would think they would budge - joke). Will work out if keeping plan ticking over until it expires or terminating is better. Any tips on better plans and phone providers in England - how do you set up first account with no history Do we buy new phone (going to have to be cheapy) and buy prepaid? Car insurance - I'm going to get RAC to demonstrate our no claim bonus history Who would be better provider to start with in England? Any details we need to consider or be aware of? Pet Insurance - our cats are Seniors (11 & 13) and both have medical history. The 11yr old has allergies, however a lot of these will disappear in England (peppermint, melaleuca and eucalyptus trees - all which are directly in our garden and park next door). The 13yr old has Hyperthyroidism - has transdermal ear cream to keep it in check Do pet insurance providers have age barriers like here in Australia - cats over 9yrs can't get comprehensive insurance if signing up for first time. Any suggestions on better pet insurance providers for Seniors GP's etc - I have a few medical blips that will eventually need seeing a GP - in the event I need medical treatment within first 3 months as a British citizen and not finished my "habitual residency period" of 3 months - will I be able to see a GP. I've got my GP to give me medications for next 6 months and getting another few months to be sure Getting all my medical records handed over electronically Superannuation - any advice on rolling into stable long term fund - will be following this up with Vista. I'm sure there's more to do - any advice / tips Thank you Try Aviva online as they will accept overseas no claims discount notiifications so long on properly headed paper. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinbjulieb Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 I agree with LKC regarding the phone contract. I kept mine going for a few weeks and simply bought a pay as you go SIM from Vodafone. They do good bundles and a £20 "big value bundle" gets you 4gb of data, 500 mins of calls and unlimited text messages. I just used to put the new SIM card in my phone and occasionally change them over to check my messages. However be aware of carrier roaming charges!!Definitely look on Money Supermarket to compare just about anything. We got our car insurance through Confused.com and the insurer we chose was underwritten by Aviva and accepted our Australian no claims.Can't help with pet insurance, sorry. Get yourself on the electoral roll as soon as you can this can help with credit scoring etc. It doesn't matter if it is not at your forever address you can easily change it online when you move. Also register with Gov.UK, you can access lots of info through here and you will need a National Insurance number to register. You can get good one way travel insurance through Insure4less. Some people might not know that you can't get normal travel insurance on a one way ticket. This means that all your luggage and any belongings you take with you will not be insured until you set up home insurance. On one way insurance, which includes health insurance you can choose a date in the future and extend it online if you need to. [emoji4]Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Little things, too, like if your major email address is your service provider in Aus - like an iinet address or a telstra address, set yourself up with a global email address like gmail and make sure everyone knows and you've changed the email on all sites you usually visit. Your provider email will be shut as soon as you stop paying for it. Vodafone do a cheap deal whereby you can keep your Aus phone number and it has international roaming - but you wouldn't want to use it for anything other than receiving sms - might be useful if you retain an Australian bank account and ever want to transfer funds from it to your UK account. I think mine costs me about $15 a year but I wouldn't be sending anything with it or answering calls on it. In UK you can pick up sims for payg with quite decent allowances - most of the payg won't tether though if you should need to use your phone for your laptop or tablet's internet. Do check the coverage maps though, some telcos don't cover some places quite as well as others. If you are going to buy a new phone, and were thinking of lashing out on an iPhone, buy it in Australia and claim the GST back at the airport - works out quite a bit cheaper than buying in UK. The same may go for other brands, I don't know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssiri Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 Credit rating is very important and hard to establish if it's your first time in Britain. If you are eligible to vote, get yourself on the local electoral roll (great for proving stability, so make sure you intend to stay at the address for a little while - up to three years). If you intend to move regularly/often it may not work to your advantage. Also open a local bank account. I was with Natwest and HSBC - it takes about six months to a year to establish credit-worthiness (this may have changed). As for mobile phones, if you intend to travel to and from the UK to Oz, 3 (owned by Hutchinson), allow calls from Oz to UK numbers on their 'feel at home', option at no extra cost than your pre-paid tariff. When you go contract, it'd be part of your inclusive minutes. So if you were in Oz, you could call any UK number from your U.K. Phone, at no extra roaming cost. It worked a treat for us when I moved over and had to call UK banks, utilities etc to chase up final bills, close things down etc. Also when I was on hols, and needed to call Blighty[emoji108] Apart from that as Scottiegirl said, have a good curry, glass of wine/cider and enjoy the British summer [emoji41] Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted July 5, 2017 Author Share Posted July 5, 2017 Thanks everyone. Got some great info from that. Going to copy it into my document I've been compiling from this forum and print it off tomorrow while I've still got a printer. Finish at work tomorrow so no more printer & scanner after that. Going to get crazy from here. But at least I'm going to be at home getting things sorted. Sold my car today. Dropped the price considerably. One more to go & that one is more important. We've dropped the price to be cheaper than any others. Cross fingers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoDemocracy Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 On 7/4/2017 at 08:56, suesmalls said: Yes I have British passport - but will be entering for the first time to become resident on 27 July. I think I'll go with the travel insurance option then - ouch another $1000 down. Having a hard time selling cars - have reduced and we're the lowest priced and have good cars - getting very nervous. Travel insurance won't do it, you need international? health cover, there are specialist brokers. Travel cover will only cover from home back to original home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BacktoDemocracy Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 23 hours ago, Martinbjulieb said: I agree with LKC regarding the phone contract. I kept mine going for a few weeks and simply bought a pay as you go SIM from Vodafone. They do good bundles and a £20 "big value bundle" gets you 4gb of data, 500 mins of calls and unlimited text messages. I just used to put the new SIM card in my phone and occasionally change them over to check my messages. However be aware of carrier roaming charges!!Definitely look on Money Supermarket to compare just about anything. We got our car insurance through Confused.com and the insurer we chose was underwritten by Aviva and accepted our Australian no claims. Can't help with pet insurance, sorry. Get yourself on the electoral roll as soon as you can this can help with credit scoring etc. It doesn't matter if it is not at your forever address you can easily change it online when you move. Also register with Gov.UK, you can access lots of info through here and you will need a National Insurance number to register. You can get good one way travel insurance through Insure4less. Some people might not know that you can't get normal travel insurance on a one way ticket. This means that all your luggage and any belongings you take with you will not be insured until you set up home insurance. On one way insurance, which includes health insurance you can choose a date in the future and extend it online if you need to. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yes but check whether the cover on one way covers you once you get to your destination 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinbjulieb Posted July 5, 2017 Share Posted July 5, 2017 Yes but check whether the cover on one way covers you once you get to your destinationOurs did, and I made sure it was in force for 6 weeks after we got here Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suesmalls Posted July 6, 2017 Author Share Posted July 6, 2017 Thanks @Martinbjulieb Do you mind saying which provider you used? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinbjulieb Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Thanks [mention=258443]Martinbjulieb[/mention] Do you mind saying which provider you used? CheersWe used "Insure4less"online. But you can also call them up to discuss.[emoji4]Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simmo Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 Description Save Mobile phone number ************ Tariff £10.00 Usage Contract (24 Months) Status ACTIVE as of 16/05/2017 Safety buffer £2.50 safety buffer ACTIVE as of 16/05/2017 Change my safety buffer Allowances - Monthly allowance 500 mins, 5000 texts (FC) - Monthly bundles 1 GB Data ACTIVE as of 16/05/2017 Add or change a bundle Family Perk - 500MB extra data a month ACTIVE as of 16/05/2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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