Our daughter moved back to England mid November and some things have changed in the last few years that have made it easier than when we, and our son moved back in 2016 and 2017.
1. Wise accounts are easy to open from overseas, provide a UK style bank account and sort code and is even easier to send money and pay bills.
2. Instead of buying a new SIM card for your phone you can buy an “e sim “ and have your old and new phone numbers on the same phone. Much easier to use for the transition period.
3. You no longer need to prove residence when opening a UK bank account. In fact our daughter sat on the couch one evening shortly after she arrived and within 30 minutes had opened a Chase UK bank checking account online and received her debit card a few days later. Within minutes of her opening the account I sent her a few GBP from my UK bank app to test it was working already.
4. You no longer need to attend a Jobs Center Plus for an interview to get a National Insurance number. She did it entirely online which included uploading a copy of her passport and also a photo of herself holding her passport. She did need to provide proof of address but I had already added her name to our utility company a month before her move so she uploaded a pdf of last month’s bill. The NI number arrived by post 5 weeks later.
Has anyone noticed any other major changes to the moving back process?
