Newbie Alert!

[theycallmeysa]

Hello everyone, another newbie here.

My name is Ysa, and I'm still currently living in the Philippines, at least for the next 4 weeks. As I am moving to London soon, I want to seek advice about a few things.

I have been granted a UK spouse visa that is valid for 33 months. My question is, am I allowed to travel outside of UK within those months? Say, travel back to the Philippines for holidays, or do I need to stay the whole time if we're planning to apply for ILR in the future?

Next thing would be, what's the best and safest way to transfer my savings there? Haha and being a girl, I don't know if others have the same problem as me on this one or maybe it's just me.

Any advice about packing my things? Like, should I just leave most of my things here and just bring what's necessary? What really makes me sad, is thinking that I might need to leave my books behind. And I don't really buy as many shoes or bags or clothing or make up as other girls.

I read couple of posts about being homesick, and I fear that too. Should I expect now - and just accept - that I'll be homesick once I am there, or should I stay positive and fail anyway? Haha

Would be nice to hear from you guys and any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[imagine]

Hi Ysa, Happy New Year and welcome to the forum, you will get lots of help and info here.

There are other members here who can help you with the info you are asking.

From me though, for now, I would think your peso savings will not be worth very much in UK. If you will be holidaying back to Phil anytime, why not leave it here for then? If you have a PNB account, maybe you can get access to your money in UK if you also open an account with PNB Europe in the UK.

I'm sure there must be a way. Perhaps some members will have a better suggestion - or may correct what I have said - if I am wrong.

Good luck - and wrap up warm for UK!

[Michael Parnham]

Hello everyone, another newbie here.

My name is Ysa, and I'm still currently living in the Philippines, at least for the next 4 weeks. As I am moving to London soon, I want to seek for advice about few things.

I have been granted a UK spouse visa that is valid for 33 months. My question is, am I allowed to travel outside of UK within those months? Say, travel back to the Philippines for holidays, or do I need to stay the whole time if we're planning to apply for ILR in the future?

Next thing would be, what's the best and safest way to transfer my savings there? Haha and being a girl, I don't know if others have the same problem as me on this one or maybe it's just me.

Any advice about packing my things? Like, should I just leave most of my things here and just bring what's necessary? What really makes me sad, is thinking that I might need to leave my books behind. And I don't really buy as many shoes or bags or clothing or make up like other girls. I read a couple of posts about being homesick, and I fear that too. Should I expect now - and just accept - that I'll be homesick once I am there, or should I stay positive and fail anyway? Haha

Would be nice to hear from you guys and any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

A very warm welcome to the forum. You won't need too many clothes from Philippines as your going to have to purchase some much warmer clothes when you arrive here. Also, with ref to money, you can carry approx. Php420,000 but ask your bank to exchange it to £ sterling - about £6000 at the moment - no need to declare it. Then, when you arrive in the UK ask your husband to open a bank a/c. Congratulations on obtaining your Spouse Visa and good luck for the future!

[theycallmeysa]

Why hello there, and happy new year to you to dearie. I know this forum can be very helpful, I remember reading so many posts back then during my application process.

The only reason I ask about transferring savings to UK is 'cos I know I won't be able to work right away once I am there. And I want to somehow help my husband with the expenses. But yes, I completely understand what you're saying. Is PNB better than BPI? Thanks for your response

[raynaputi]

Welcome to the forum!

Of course you are allowed to leave the UK and have holidays whenever you want within those 33 months.

About your savings, I'd rather leave it there in your Philippine bank account. Like what imagine said above, it won't be worth that much in the UK (well unless you have hundreds of thousands..haha) and would be best used whenever you travel back to the Philippines. Make sure though that you do make your account active and not let it become dormant (transfer a few money monthly so you'd have transactions and the bank won't close it).

About packing your things, leave most of your summer clothes there. Majority of the year here in the UK is cold. Summer months probably have the same temp as in Tagaytay.

With regards to your books, I sent all my books (along with other things I need/want like shoes, bags and toiletries) to UK via Philpost EMS at a price. Well, I spent around 12K Pesos for a 27kg box. If you are prepared to shoulder the price, then it's worth it if you really need your books and stuff.

About being homesick..well I've been here for already 3 years and 2 months and I still feel homesick at times, especially during Christmas and New Year. Just make sure that you'll have plenty of things to do here in the UK, i.e. getting work, having new friends, being accepted by your husband's family and friends, etc. and you'd be okay eventually. Plus, stay connected here in the forum and you'd be good.

[Michael Parnham]

Welcome to the forum!

Of course you are allowed to leave the UK and have holidays whenever you want within those 33 months.

About your savings, I'd rather leave it there in your Philippine bank account. Like what imagine said above, it won't be worth that much in the UK (well unless you have hundreds of thousands..haha) and would be best used whenever you travel back to the Philippines. Make sure though that you do make your account active and not let it become dormant (transfer a few money monthly so you'd have transactions and the bank won't close it).

About packing your things, leave most of your summer clothes there. Majority of the year here in the UK is cold. Summer months probably have the same temp as in Tagaytay.

With regards to your books, I sent all my books (along with other things I need/want like shoes, bags and toiletries) to UK via Philpost EMS at a price. Well, I spent around 12K Pesos for a 27kg box. If you are prepared to shoulder the price, then it's worth it if you really need your books and stuff.

About being homesick..well I've been here for already 3 years and 2 months and I still feel homesick at times, especially during Christmas and New Year. Just make sure that you'll have plenty of things to do here in the UK, i.e. getting work, having new friends, being accepted by your husband's family and friends, etc. and you'd be okay eventually. Plus, stay connected here in the forum and you'd be good.

Good one Rayna

[grahamw48]

Bring (or send) clothes like your favourite jeans and shorts, as they will be more expensive here, and perhaps not as easy to find in your correct size.
Same with shoes.

Most other things (electrical goods, toiletries, books etc) are actually cheaper or the same price here...and usually better quality.

If you like books and reading, we also have public libraries, from which you may borrow several books at a time for up to 2 or 3 weeks...free of charge.

Your mobile phone should work ok here, with just a change of sim card.

[Terpe]

Hello Ysa, welcome aboard Filipino UK

[irishman12]

A very warm welcome to the forum. You won't need too many clothes from Philippines as you're going to have to purchase some much warmer clothes when you arrive here. Also, with ref to money, you can carry approx. Php420,000 but ask your bank to exchange it to £ sterling - about £6000 at the moment - no need to declare it. Then, when you arrive in the UK, ask your husband to open a bank a/c. Congratulations on obtaining your Spouse Visa and good luck for the future!

Michael - what do you mean by can carry approx 420,000? If I'm not mistaken, the most you can bring is 10k?

[theycallmeysa]

Hello all, and thanks for replies and information. I'm confused though, 'cos I've written 2 other replies for Michael and Rayna and I don't see them. Am I doing something wrong posting a reply? Shame 'cos it was a long one

[Terpe]

Michael - what do you mean by can carry approx 420,000? If I'm not mistaken, the most you can bring is 10k

I think Michael meant equivalent in Php

Here's what he said:-

.......you can carry approx. Php420,000 but ask your bank to exchange it to £ sterling about £6000
...

Well, that's how I read it anyway.

I always prefer a softer approach

[Terpe]

Hello all, and thanks for replies and information. I'm confused though, 'cos I've written 2 other replies for Michael and Rayna and I don't see them. Am I doing something wrong posting a reply? Shame 'cos it was a long one.

I've searched for your posts in our moderation queue but didn't find anything.
Sadly looks like you lost them somehow.

If you're going to make some longish posts it might be better to copy and paste.

There is a pretty quick auto-save feature also so if anything got saved you should see a restore feature also.

Good luck

[Michael Parnham]

Michael - what do you mean by can carry approx 420,000? If I'm not mistaken, the most you can bring is 10k?

You can carry up to $10,000 or approx. p420,000!

[theycallmeysa]

To Michael, Thank you for your welcome and infos. The whole time I thought I am allowed to carry not more than £10,000 or I need to declare it. But looking at this link: www.gov.uk/bringing-cash-into-uk

Looks like I am allowed to carry less than 10,000 Euro that equals to £7,000 yea?

To graham, thanks for the info I am actually looking forward to libraries and I know what you mean when you said better qualities, me and hubby we sometimes buy the same book and read at the same time and sometimes he would read to me and he'll be reading about 2 pages that I don't have on my copy :P he usually tease me that we have lite version books.

To Terpe, thanks for the welcome. So you're in Davao? I've been there once, such a lovely place.

Any advice which would be better bank, PNB or BPI? In terms of transferring money and remittance fees?

[theycallmeysa]

To Rayna, thank you for the welcome.

Yay, so happy to know that I can travel back whenever I need to, although I will probably try to stay there for the whole 30months to be honest, for practical reasons. Suppose it's just important to know that I have that option that I can if I need to for whatever reason, makes me somehow feel at ease being away from family that I've been with my whole life.

About savings, it would be nice to know that I will be able to help my husband with our expenses. I can imagine it would be hard for him as well, from living alone and just spending for himself to now have another human being depending on him. Just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping I can find a job soonish when I am there.

How long did it take before you got your package from Philpost EMS? I was already thinking about the same thing, but was planning to do it with DHL as I don't know how reliable Philpost can be. Like in the past, when I needed to claim some packages sent to me, I was asked to pay for those again which I don't understand cos obviously the sender already paid for it. Even worst, if it's suppose to be a gift, they will ask you what's inside and if you don't know they will ask you to open it and put a price on it. They said it's "tax" but we already know how bad corruption here. So I am just wondering if I'll encounter the same problem sending.

Oh surely, I will stay connected in the forum it will be a good support system. And I have to learn to do a lot things when I am there. Cooking is one Maybe someone can start a thread about simple cooking and recipes for people like me

[Michael Parnham]

Looks like I am allowed to carry less than 10,000 Euro that equals to £7,000 yea

Yes you're about right Ysa, don't ask me about Euro's because I've never seen or used them yet and don't even know what they are worth!

[raynaputi]

My package arrived the UK in 2 weeks. It arrived at the doorstep and hubby just had to receive it. Philpost EMS is quite good in terms of posting stuffs out of the country. The only trouble it would cause you is you have to bring your stuff to the post office and they will pack the box themselves in front of you. Probably one way of checking you're not sending anything illegal as well.

[Arthur Little]

aboard filipino/uk, from me, Ysa ... congratulations on recently obtaining your Spousal Visa and wishing you a safe and enjoyable trip to the UK within the next 4 weeks.

[imagine]

Why hello there, and happy new year to you to dearie. I know this forum can be very helpful, I remember reading so many posts back then during my application process.

The only reason I ask about transferring savings to UK is 'cos I know I won't be able to work right away once I am there. And I want to somehow help my husband with the expenses. But yes, I completely understand what you're saying. Is PNB better than BPI? Thanks for your response

I'm with PNB, but I understand that BPI is also a good bank.
But speak to either of them, for advice about transferring money to UK. I don't know what their charges or exchange rates would be.

[theycallmeysa]

Hello Arthur, thank you for your welcome

[Anne2014]

Welcome to the forum Ysa. We have similar concerns before I came here in the UK. I feel you for leaving your books behind but Rayna's suggestion sounds a great idea. In my case, I handed them over to my sister and almost all my clothes (sleeveless tops, shorts) are all distributed to my relatives.

About homesickness, I miss my family back home, yes, but I haven't felt it for the last 4 months since I arrived, to be honest. Thanks to Skype, Facebook, WeChat and Viber.