How does a Russian live in England. Comparison of Russia and the UK - the pros and cons of life for a Russian immigrant

Today on the site we will tell you about what you need to know about life in England.

The full name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but more often this country is still referred to in one word - England.

And the British themselves also emphasize the separation of the Scots, the British, the Welsh and the Irish. And there is also a huge army of those who came to this country from Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe.

Great Britain is the largest trading and financial center of the world. The British are rightly proud of having made a huge contribution to world culture and economy.

Great Britain is one large island and many small islands. Only a narrow thirty-kilometer strait separates the country from continental Europe. But the difference in the mentality of the British and other Europeans is huge. Traditions, habits - everything is typically "British".

Many foreigners visit the UK every year. All of them receive various rights and benefits. And today there are sometimes more people from Asia and Africa on the streets of London than native Englishmen.

Many in England and our compatriots. Someone went to London to live their millions, someone came to the UK to study at Cambridge or Oxford. And someone just went in search of a better life.

Marrying an Englishman is not so difficult. On many you can see profiles of the British.

The English language is no longer a barrier to happiness for our women, as it was a couple of decades ago. A huge number of courses helps to learn the language for communication and a comfortable stay in the country for the first time. And then it remains only to improve it.

If your chosen one lives in Scotland or Wales, it will be more difficult to get used to, but all this can be overcome.

When you move to Britain, you will have to abandon the standard system of measurement and start getting used to feet, pounds, inches, miles, dozens, etc. It's hard to get used to it at first. To make your life easier, you can install an application on your phone that will convert data from one metric system to another.

A feature of the UK is left-hand traffic and separate taps, which constantly surprises visitors to the country.

The tradition of guarding the royal palace by guardsmen from the noble family of Gordons is sacredly observed. The colorful form, the beautiful ritual of the changing of the guard attract crowds of tourists.

Books and films have shaped the image of the Englishman as a polite, cold and withdrawn person. Yes, the British are really very polite. Even when addressing their child, they always say “please”, “thank you”. At every opportunity, these phrases are heard in a conversation.

But here is a common misconception about the lack of sociability of the inhabitants of foggy Albion is fundamentally wrong. For the most part, they are very cheerful, cheerful, talkative people who will gladly support the conversation and answer any of your questions. But they have one major drawback. The English are snobs. They do not like third world residents who have moved to their own country. Pakistanis, Indians, Iranians, settlers from Africa annoy the British, despite the fact that they do dirty work for a penny, which the natives of the island would hardly have done.

The British are an amazing mixture of conservatism and craving for everything new. They honor their traditions, but at the same time they are happy to get acquainted with new cultures, people, cuisine of other countries. In other countries, you can meet quite a lot of traveling Britons who went for new experiences.

The famous English “five o clock” is a tribute to an old tradition. This is an opportunity to meet and chat with close friends or relatives. The tradition of five o'clock tea was adopted by the Americans and many Europeans. Serving something to the table for tea drinking during short friendly gatherings is not accepted here. Both tea and coffee the British drink a lot, in large mugs. Small coffee cups are not infrequently used here. The British love nature and animals. Many families go on weekend walks or short trips around their country.

The surprising devotion to the mail of the majority of the British is able to surprise any person. Here it is customary to buy dozens of postcards when traveling and send them to all relatives, friends and acquaintances. An interesting point is that often the British arrive before their parcels arrive, but traditions do not change. If a grand party, celebration or event is planned, then letters are also sent to all invitees. Even those who live next door. Here it is customary to send cards and congratulations on holidays, and not just say kind words in person. Almost every Briton has a list of friends and acquaintances to whom he will definitely send a postcard for the New Year or for his birthday.

The concept of friends among the British is slightly vague. Here, a close person who is always there can be called a friend, and one with whom meetings take place once a month over a cup of tea. But the inhabitants of Albion have an interesting tradition - to periodically gather in a complete set of the old company, even after a couple of decades. You can often encounter such a phenomenon that school friends, wherever they are, come to a meeting once a year or even sometimes more often.

Millions of employees work in London, Manchester and other large cities, as these cities are the location of the headquarters of large international corporations and trusts, banks and funds. British salaries are quite decent by the standards of most Europeans. But no wonder the UK is considered one of the most expensive countries in the world!

Tax, insurance, paying the bank for housing or renting an apartment, especially in London, eat up the lion's share of the income of a young family. Here, young couples rarely live with their parents. Therefore, until their own housing is purchased, as a rule, both spouses work in the family. And only after its purchase and the birth of a child, a woman can leave work and stay at home with a child. Not only because he can afford it, but because of the high cost of babysitting. It is not customary to leave children alone, even in adolescence.

Private entrepreneurs in the UK do not complain about their lives. A good doctor, lawyer, architect or dentist aspires to become a private specialist, not work for an employer. Private entrepreneurs have many responsibilities that they constantly remember. They must pay taxes, contribute the necessary amounts to their own pension fund, pay for health insurance, and so on.

Most English people do not have a specific diet. Only breakfast matters here. Units do without it. In general, British cuisine is simple and unpretentious. They love meat, sweet sauces for it, boiled vegetables, arranged separately into piles, and fast food. Many people like Indian cuisine, but dishes from other countries are sometimes treated with caution. If you decide to treat your chosen one or his friends with delicious Russian borscht, pilaf, meatballs and other dishes, it is not a fact that they will be enthusiastic about this. Although the share of curiosity will be present.

English pubs are known, probably, to everyone. Beer is a favorite drink here. In Britain it is not customary to go to pubs alone, and if you come alone, you may be asked where your friend is. Sitting with friends over a glass of beer is the favorite pastime of most Britons. And if there are still masts on TV, then you can’t imagine better. This is one of the most drinking nations. Many residents of the UK follow sports events and prefer to be aware of the news. Sports broadcasts are rarely watched alone. Usually people gather in a group in a bar or pub, sometimes with one of their friends. The British love to be members of various sports clubs or interest associations. It is simply impossible to get into many clubs without a solid recommendation.

The banking system in Britain is very developed, and the services of banks are actively used. Even for children, it is customary to open a bank account, where money is credited for petty expenses of the child. It is often possible to find that if the wife does not work, the husband also transfers money for housekeeping not to her personally, but credits it to her account.

The British are known for their careful planning. They are not temperamental and rarely do things that are not characteristic of them. If they have planned something, then the probability that something will change is too small. Orderliness in everything is one of the main features of the British.

As a rule, people in this country get married late, after 30 years. The average age of having a child for most couples is 32-35 years.

A true inhabitant of this island is proud of his country and even the bad weather. It is not customary to complain about climatic conditions here. Despite the rain and strong wind, the British can go on a walk outside the city.

Many people imagine life in England as cloudless and prosperous. And little is known about its reality. After all, to go as a tourist, where everything is inclusive, is one thing, but to live in a real situation is a completely different matter.

Everyday life in England is no different from other countries. People are also born, go to kindergartens, study at schools, institutes, meet and visit, get married and have children, go to work, and then return home. The difference is only in the level of this life. Read more about the pros and cons of living in England in this video.

Therefore, it is worth telling about each individual side of it for Russians in this country. Let's start with the cost of living and salaries.

taxes

Tax deductions are directly dependent on earnings - the higher it is, the greater the percentage. Receiving from 20,000 to 38,000 pounds a year, it will be necessary to give the state 20 percent. Income of 38-70 thousand is subject to 35 percent. Then 42 and with earnings of more than 300,000 - half of the income will have to be paid to the state treasury.

Income by profession

High incomes are received by doctors, lawyers and financial workers, as well as owners of their businesses in various fields. In money it turns out from 50 to 100 thousand pounds per year. Over one hundred thousand can be received by people in leadership positions and those who are business partners. Teachers approximately £30,000 - £50,000. In general, it is difficult to talk about something average for everyone - gender, industry, city and experience play a role.
Subtract taxes and you get £2,000. Now about the consumables.

The cost of renting apartments

Prices in the UK for renting a decent studio apartment are about £900 per month, without electricity.

Payment for a communal apartment

For electricity, water, telephone and Internet use, you will need to pay 120 pounds. To this is added a mandatory tax to the municipality, equal to the same one hundred and twenty pounds.

Loans for students

If the visitor is a student, the state allocates funds for him to pay for his studies in England, which he then deducts from his income. It equals 100 pounds.

Fare

It costs £100 to buy a monthly tube ticket to travel around central London.

Nutrition

It takes about 400 pounds a month.
After all these expenses, the amount of 660 pounds will remain. Now let everyone draw his own conclusion - whether life in England is expensive or not.

Medical services in England

A feature of the British health care system is its existence on funds coming from taxpayers. And medicine in England is free, which is a real achievement in the capitalist world. But the quality of service, as elsewhere, will depend on which specialist you get.

Another feature of medicine in the UK is the lack of clinics in the conventional sense of the word. Upon arrival in the country, in order to be able to seek medical care, one must register at the place of residence.
Another feature is that when you are in the UK as a tourist, businessman or on a private visit, you will have to pay for treatment. If there is a refusal to pay, then in the future this will entail not issuing a visa. Free procedures for such a contingent are:

• Treatment of meningitis;
• Malaria;
• Acute dysentery;
• minor injuries;
• Providing urgent psychiatric care;

The same range of services can be obtained by university students and foreigners who are employees of a British company and with those with whom bilateral agreements have been signed. And this applies to all countries of the former Soviet Union.

1. The following categories of citizens are entitled to free treatment:
2. Those who have lived in England for a year, except for those who have arrived in the country for treatment.
3. Those who received a spouse visa or members of their families.
4. Those who returned to the country for permanent residence and their registered partners.
5. British pensioners living in a non-EU country or those who have lived 10 years or more in England and are now in any EU country.

If a citizen is not related to any of these categories, then he is required to provide the entire list of services with its cost. And also he will have to sign the consent, make payment for the assistance provided. In case of refusal to pay, only first urgent assistance will be provided.
When you receive a referral to a specialist, you should be prepared to wait a long time for this moment, the process can drag on for a couple of months. One recommendation - if you suspect something serious, you need to independently study all the information about the symptoms, go to a large hospital and describe everything in detail there. Thus, you can get to a good specialist in a short time and do all the necessary examination on the spot.

They pay in England only for medicines in a pharmacy, and not all of them - children get everything they need by prescription. A pregnant woman and a child can also be served free of charge in dentistry.

Life in the UK, its duration, is higher than in the Russian Federation. But this is more connected with the economic situation and a calm life without crises. But, according to statistics, tuberculosis is very common there and these numbers are growing. The same applies to AIDS. This situation is not surprising, because a lot of emigrants from third world countries go there.

Employment, vacation and unemployment

To compare wages in the UK and the US, the analyst's earnings in the first case is 33,019 pounds per year or $51,109, and in America - $55,970.
The British go on vacation without focusing on work and spend a well-deserved vacation in pleasure. And it lasts in England for 28 days, in some cases reaching up to six weeks. Processing is not accepted in this country, as the British try to live harmoniously and balanced, where there is a place for work and leisure.
With all this, there, too, as in any other country, there is unemployment. Its current level is 5.50 percent. That is, we can talk about a positive situation - unemployment is low, which gives grounds for an effective job search.

Those who are in search of it, the state pays benefits on which it is quite worthy to live. Many people use the services of the state all their lives and at the same time have their own housing. Permanent residents of England have weekly unemployment benefits at a maximum of 111 pounds.

Unemployment and benefits are dealt with by a specially created service called Jobcentre Plus. An appropriate application is submitted there, and citizens receiving unemployment benefits once every two weeks must come to check in and report the results of their job search. There are 2 types of unemployment benefits in the country:

1. If a citizen has paid enough contributions to compulsory insurance for the last 2 years. And it is paid up to 182 days inclusive.
2. This view is given to those who have managed to accumulate 16 thousand English pounds - based on all family members.

The amounts of unemployment benefits paid are directly dependent on the amounts contributed to the compulsory insurance account, age and social status. Unemployment benefit recipients aged 16 to 24 are paid £56.25 a week by the state, older citizens are paid £71. Unemployment benefits are £111.45 for the poor and £71 for parents raising a child alone. .

Certain categories of residents of the UK can apply for benefits:

• Citizens who spend at the workplace less than 16 hours a week;
• Those who have reached the age of majority, but have not reached retirement age;
• Not studying at the time of application;
• Citizens living in England, as well as Scots and Welsh residents.

Unemployment benefits are suspended for up to 13 weeks in the following cases:

1. There was a failure to appear at the appointed time in the SZN.
2. No attempts were made to find a job, the proposed events were not attended.
3. Not participating in training seminars or schemes.
4. If careless attitude to the process is allowed.

Up to 3 years, payment is suspended if:

• Refusal to apply for a job offer.
• Refusal to accept a job offer.
• Leaving work or dismissal due to non-compliance with the labor regime.

Observing all the conditions and rules proposed by the employment service of England, you can live quite decently on state support.

Housing in England

Emigrants who have made a decision to live and based on all of the above will not be able to rent an apartment. They will only have access to a room, which will cost £600 per month. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that there will be no central heating in it. That is, you will have to equip yourself with a comfortable environment at your own expense.
To be able to watch TV, you will need to buy a license, the cost of which depends on the TV equipment itself - color or black and white. In the first case, the pleasure costs 145.5 pounds per year, in the second - 49. People who have reached the age of 75 can enjoy watching TV for free. If someone dares to watch TV without a license, he will be fined £1,000.

In the UK, they mainly renovate old housing, which is municipal, where low-income families live. New ones are also being built, but not in such volumes as in other countries. In England, people like to live in their own homes, which 2/3 of the British manage to achieve.
If you want to buy your own home, you should know that prices in the UK for a 2-room apartment in London range from 300 to 400 thousand pounds. And when buying it in a mortgage, the first installment will be from 30 to 40 thousand. Although there are those who agree to such conditions and then for many years work only for a mortgage and cannot afford to simply relax.
Therefore, the decision made will entail working hard without any entertainment and travel.

White spot Russia

By Vladimir Milovanov (36 years old, in the UK since 2003, Birmingham)

... I have never, in all ten years of my life in England, read or heard anything good about Russia on official TV. Little is written about us, and if they do, it is only negative. Moreover, they manage not to speak even when it is impossible not to say.

When Chagin and his KamAZ won the Dakar Rally four times, the commentator simply fell silent. Imagine, for 40 minutes a report about the rally with all the details, and then at the end in silence a tiny picture of where the truck is driving. I recognize KamAZ, but the rest do not.

And in Oslo, Norway, there is the famous Fram Museum dedicated to the history of Norwegian polar expeditions. Nansen's expeditionary ship, the Fram, also stands there. There is a huge map of the Arctic Ocean and the Arctic. So - as usual on the map, all countries are signed: Norway, USA, Sweden - everything. And instead of Russia - a huge white spot without the name of the country. I was stunned.

Our rush today

Narrated by Anna Glaser (45 years old, in the UK since 1994, Manchester)

... I have been living in England for many years. I must say that few people at work know that I am Russian. My first name is neutral, my last name is my husband's, I speak without an accent.

I work in a bank, my colleagues are financiers and economists. We usually don’t talk much about politics – it’s not very accepted here. We exchange a couple of phrases about the weather, families and pressing matters. In addition, talking with the British about politics is a difficult and thankless task. The brains of more than half of them are brainwashed by television even more than in the USSR of the 70s.

I have long understood that the attitude of the inhabitants of Albion to public affairs is easy to determine by what newspaper they read. It is clear that my colleagues all without exception prefer the Financial Times, but fans of The Guardian are different from fans of The Times. The latter are analogous to those who believe in Izvestia and Channel One. But you can talk with readers of The Guardian. By the way, they are, perhaps, the only ones who support the same Snowden.

The rest react to the story about the fugitive security officer like this: “Yes, it’s not very comfortable to understand that our conversations are being listened to, but thanks to such total control of the special services, it is possible to neutralize the terrorists. And this is more important, so in principle I don’t mind, as long as there are no terrorist attacks.”

This is especially true for international politics. Among my colleagues, most of those who believe that, for example, Gaddafi was a terrible tyrant and monster, and it was impossible to do without his assassination. Not to mention Syria.

In principle, it is clear why: Great Britain is a key partner of the United States. However, believing that, say, bin Laden collaborated with the USSR is too much...

Suddenly, about six months ago, I began to notice that discussions about politics during lunch became livelier and lasted longer than the usual “what else will our prime minister come up with.” What was surprising was that my colleagues, who used to remember the Middle East only as a vacation spot, became interested in Egypt, Tunisia and what was happening there. Moreover, the accents were placed clearly not as presented by the BBC.

When I heard a complimentary dialogue about the late Chavez, I simply could not help but ask: where do you get this from? The answer struck me - six out of nine of my office neighbors watch Russia Today, and with pleasure and regularly. For me, who has not turned on TV for many years, it was a revelation that RT is included in the package of free channels in the UK. (Later I learned that the channel's management paid the government for this.) Moreover, the British confidently said: this channel gives us an alternative to our biased broadcasting in regard to Latin America, Syria and other events in the world.

Never in eight years - and that's how long I've been sitting with these people in the same room - have I wanted to tell them that I'm Russian. Not that it didn't make sense. There was no reason. And then it just flew out of me ...

"Andrew, where is Eddie?"

Andrey Smirnov (42 years old, in the UK since 2000, London) reports

…I work as a financial analyst in London. My colleagues from all over the world are the same analysts: smart, cynical. Everyone knows that I'm Russian, but we have a multinational company, and we usually don't talk about it.

But after Snowden settled into Sheremetyevo, my morning began with a general greeting: “Andrew, where is Eddie?” (“Andryukha, where is Eddie?”)

It just so happened that on July 31 I flew to Moscow on vacation. I must say that vacation for the British is a sacred thing, no one will ever call you or even write an e-mail, no matter what happens. On Thursday, I received dozens of texts: "Oh, now you're with Eddie, hello to him!"

Loneliness of Boris Abramovich

By Viktor Belyaev (34, in the UK since 2000, London)

... Russian oligarchs and the rich do not intersect with those Russians who work in London. I only read about Abramovich in football newspapers, I haven’t seen Chichvarkin either. But I watched Boris Abramovich.

On December 9, 2011, when Moscow was just about to rally against unfair elections, we also held a rally. In front of the Russian embassy, ​​those who voted gathered.

By the way, there was a queue at the elections to the embassy. People were going to vote for the Communist Party or "Fair Russia". When it became known that Russian residents of Great Britain allegedly elected United Russia to the parliament, I went nuts. You see, I'm not the only one.

So: on Friday, December 9, the rally was spontaneous, they didn’t even create groups on Facebook - for example, I heard about it in the news and drove up. The people were angry, with posters “Bastards! They stole my vote" ("Bastards! They stole my vote"). Everyone quickly got to know each other and felt some unusual unity. We thought the same at that moment, we were equally angry, we were Russians, and not a handful of lonely foreigners in a big city.

And suddenly Boris Abramovich drove up with a tall bodyguard. With posters very different from the rest, they were not about elections at all. "Put in Trash / Putin - trash!" - that's what was on one of his banners.

Berezovsky stood alone, his people not only shunned him, but somehow flowed around him. He was a stranger and lonely among us. Like in the crowd, but separately. And his mood was different - not anger, but fatigue and hopelessness.

He stood for a while and left. And we all went to drink vodka together.

Material prepared: Ksenia Fedorova, Alexander Gasov

As a rule, all sorts of pictures that employees of travel agencies and employment assistance offices paint in the imagination of Russians are largely at odds with reality. Even visiting the shores of Foggy Albion as a tourist, one cannot get to know life in England as it is in reality.

And only after moving to live in this country, starting to work there and earn your daily bread, you can get acquainted with the so-called wrong side of life, with what is hidden behind the magnificent facade.

It cannot be said that such a wrong side consists entirely of negative impressions. Rather, it is the accumulated experience that people get, including by stuffing themselves with bumps.

Salary and taxes

The first question asked by Russians who want to know about the peculiarities of life in England is the salary. In the capital of England it is higher, however, everything else is higher here. So, if you take the percentage of salary and cost of living, then the result will be the same.

The minimum wage that can be expected for those who want to work in this country is 6.19 per hour, without taxes.

If we take into account that the tax on the English “minimum wage” is 10 percent, then 884 per month comes out. and potatoes and have a minimum pocket money.

If food costs increase, then pocket money will disappear. Taxes in England are a flexible system, tightly tied to the level of earnings. Depending on how you work, they range from 20-54 percent..

That is, the biggest rich unfasten more than half of their earnings to the budget. And this is only the first confirmation that the features of life in England are noticeably different from Russian national features.

The most prestigious professions

The most prestigious professions in terms of money are a lawyer, a financier and a doctor. And it means only that lawyer who, in the rank of a lawyer, has the opportunity to work for himself, having built a worthy practice for this.

In the capital of England, such a lawyer can receive about 50-70 thousand rubles a year, and if this is a job in an international company, then 100 thousand rubles.

However, one should not deceive oneself too much, since a demanding employer, for such money, rips off three skins at a pace that Russians are not used to.

A doctor working in the public service also receives about 50-70 thousand. And in order to receive 100 thousand or more, one must work as a manager, company director or partner. Apparently, you can live happily on such money!

A school teacher has a salary of 30 thousand a year, but in England, as in Russia, earnings depend on many difficulties, including length of service. The director of an educational institution receives 1.5-2 times more, but, you see, not every Russian who wishes to live in the UK will be able to work as a teacher!

But representatives of labor professions, that is, those who can work qualified as an electrician, plumber or taxi driver, receive in England no less than lawyers and doctors. But with one condition: it must be your IP.

Of course, only data "from" and "to" are given here. It is quite difficult to determine the average salary that you can live on in the UK, here you need to take into account gender, length of service, field of activity, place of residence, and so on.

What is the cost of

Let's forget about prestigious professions for a while and calculate how much a more or less normal life costs in England. To do this, let's take a salary level slightly above average (? 32 thousand per year) and assume that you are 30 years old, have a diploma of higher education and a fairly high qualification (in England, this is not the same thing).

Such a “white collar” living in the capital of the UK has the following living expenses (we take, again, based on practice):

• the cost of housing (let's take a rented one-room apartment, which is located not on the very outskirts), without the cost of light, will be approximately 900 monthly;
• all bills for the use of electricity, water, telephone and Internet combined will result in a sum of about ?120;
• payment of municipal tax - ?120 monthly;
• payment of a student loan, which a student receives upon entering a university, and then gives back some time after he has completed his studies and began to live like an adult -? 100;
• transport costs (subway pass if people move around the city center) - 100;
• the cost of home food - order? 400;
• if you take into account that you have to live with Friday bar trips (the British can’t do without it!), then this type of expense (4x50) will cost ?200.

As a result, about 50-60 remain on hand. And this is without taking into account the cost of clothing, sports, medical insurance (so as not to stand in lines at state medical institutions).

From paycheck to paycheck

That is why those who intend to work and live in the UK are forced to rent not even one-room apartments, but separate rooms. A normal, spacious room, and not a rectangle in which a bed can hardly fit, will pull on 600 per month.

This factor, as well as significant savings on bills, gives about 450 pocket money.. This kind of life in England provides an opportunity to eat at least once a week in a restaurant (100), buy some clothes (100) and visit friends who may live in another city (100).

However, these can be trips to the bosom of nature, which, however, will cost about the same. In addition, Friday bar trips can be refocused on going to the theater or funds that will be spent on hobbies.

The result, in any case, is the same: even if you work normally, then postponing, with a good rest, does not work. And this is not the worst option for employment, but vice versa!

If you live in England on 20-22 thousand a year, then the money you earn is barely enough to make ends meet. But people live!

Over the past decade and a half, they have moved to the shores of Foggy Albion from all the republics that were part of the former USSR, about 200 thousand people!

Mortgage is an unattainable dream for most migrants

A two-room apartment in the capital of England costs about 300-400 thousand. The first installment, if you are going to take out a mortgage with adequate interest, is 30-40 thousand. Question: how can you save up such an amount if the Russians here, for the most part, are forced to make ends meet ?

True, there are those (there are many of them not only in England, but also in Russia) who live on credit and are forced to work only to pay off the amount previously borrowed from the bank. In this case, there is no question of a decent quality of life.

It should be noted that approximately the same situation is developing in other European countries. The conclusion is as follows: if you decide to live abroad, then you need to tune in to energetic work by the sweat of your brow with a slight minimum (or even complete absence) of entertainment.

Our people abroad

A little about those of our compatriots who live in England. They can be divided into several fairly characteristic groups.

London is the capital of Great Britain - without exaggeration, we can say that this expression is familiar to almost every inhabitant of the earth. England is also called Foggy Albion, and in recent decades - the birthplace of Harry Potter. This is an amazing country with slightly eccentric people who consider themselves to be the British elite. Here it is customary to eat oatmeal for breakfast, have tea parties and not leave the house without an umbrella. This is what life is like in England.

How to get to London?

You can read thousands of times about how people live in London, but it's better to see everything with your own eyes. To do this, you will need not so much: desire, finances and a visa to England. Contrary to popular belief, there are no monsters in the embassy who, with bloodthirsty enthusiasm, refuse to issue a visa to every second person. The main thing here is to fill out the documents correctly and meet the requirements.

A visa to England can be done independently by submitting all the relevant documents to the consulate, or you can contact the visa centers, where specialists will do everything for a small surcharge. Usually, people who work unofficially apply to visa centers, and therefore there is no one to issue a certificate to them. However, it is worth remembering that such agencies, although they can draw any “linden”, do not guarantee that the visa will be approved.

Required documents

To get to England, you need to collect a whole package of documents. The first thing to do is fill out a form. Information must be provided as accurately as possible. Any discrepancy with reality - and the consequences will be deplorable.

In addition to the questionnaire, you need to take care of a color photograph measuring 3.5 by 4.5 cm in advance. Then you can start collecting all the missing documents:

• Passport with two free pages and a deadline of at least six months from the date of application.
• Photocopy of the first page of the passport.
• If there is, then the old passports, which will show the history of movements.
• Printed and signed application form.
• Photo.
• Documents confirming marital status.
• Certificate from study or place of work. It is important that it indicates the position, salary and the fact that the workplace is assigned to the future tourist.
• A bank statement confirming that you have enough money for the trip.
• Information about the booked hotel and air tickets.
• Medical insurance. This item is not mandatory, but will affect the decision to issue a visa.
• Receipt of payment of the consular fee.

Such a package of documents is typical for a visitor or tourist visa. To obtain a student or work visa, you need to provide additional documents: certificates confirming knowledge of the language, and documents confirming the availability of an educational or working place.

Foxes and estates

And now about life in England. The first thing that surprises visitors from Russia is the absence of homeless animals. This is carefully monitored in the country, so that cats and dogs are full-fledged members of English families. But wild foxes are often found in cities, but it seems that the British are used to them, but an unprepared person may be frightened. And by the way, the legendary British accent can not be found in every city.

Also in the country there is still a division of society into the lower class, middle class and aristocrats. You can't confuse these people with each other, they not only look different, but also talk differently. Representatives of the middle class earn about 2,000 pounds a month (165,000 rubles) and actively buy property on credit. The British prefer to live in their own houses, and not in apartments, as is customary in Russia. Already almost 70% of the British live in private sectors, where there are houses with a separate entrance. Renting such housing costs about 1 thousand pounds (87.5 thousand rubles) per month, plus you have to pay separately for utilities - ≈ 15-20 thousand rubles.

Fish and chips

It surprises with its cuisine. The signature dish here is batter-fried cod with French fries. In the morning, they usually serve oatmeal or a classic English breakfast, which includes eggs, sausages, beans, bacon and mushrooms.

The British also consider themselves the most musical nation, since it was in the UK that such groups as The Beatles, Queen and The Rolling Stones were created. The argument, of course, is so-so, but let them believe it if they like it.

And along with all this, it is worth understanding that life in England and tourist idleness are not the same thing. Someone says that the country can only be visited for sightseeing or for study. The life of emigrants in England is not as rosy and carefree as it might seem.

Features of migrants

Russian people learn about life in England mainly from the words of those who came from there. But many migrants have one distinguishing feature: they lie about their status, career success, earnings and quality of life. In fact, these people can be understood, because not a single person voluntarily admits that he lost, so migrants lie godlessly.

If a person manages to get hooked on some decent job, he will greatly exaggerate his success. And if it didn’t work out, and he had to return, he will say that migrants are being pressed, they are not hired, and in general, it’s impossible to break through at least somewhere.

The second feature of migrants is, oddly enough, hostility towards their compatriots. Emigrants do not like each other and try to avoid meeting. True, this is valid only for Russian-speaking citizens. Lithuanians or, for example, Poles are trying to stick together in a foreign country.

Why is it not necessary to go to England for permanent residence?

Here it rains 200 days a year, it's easy to get depressed, especially if nothing works out with work. But in addition to rain, the country is often wrapped in an impenetrable veil of fog and there are strong winds. This kind of weather is not for everyone.

Some visitors claim that medicine is bad in England. There is no such thing as a preventive examination. If you come to the doctor, then he asks the reason for the visit, when it is not there, then the person is sent home. Before going to a specialist, you need to get a referral from your family doctor.

The life of ordinary people in England is too measured. Outside the capital, a migrant is unlikely to find any entertainment. Cinema, cafes, shops, theaters - all this is available only in London, and in other cities it is not so easy to find them. In addition, establishments work according to a very strange scheme: banks can close at two in the afternoon, and shopping centers - at nine in the evening, no later.

Standard of living

In general, living conditions in England are quite good, but to achieve them, you need to work tirelessly. Here, the average salary is high - about 179 thousand rubles, if translated into Russian rubles, and in London - all 290,000. Highly paid specialists are brokers, lawyers, doctors, company executives, sales and marketing managers.

Those who first came to England should not count on mountains of gold. The life of Russians in England begins with job searches (if they were not invited to the company in advance). The maximum they have to count on at first is £6 an hour, which is the minimum wage in England. For a month a person can get about 1000 pounds (depending on who, how and how much will work). This money is enough to rent the cheapest housing, for the minimum food and also for free expenses. If a person wants to eat normally (almost like an aristocrat), then he will not have free money.

Although the standard of living in England is high, people have to spend too much. The cost of a rented apartment is 900 pounds, food will also cost much more than we are used to. Yes, and public transport will have to spend at least 100 pounds per month (about 8 thousand rubles). Also, do not forget about taxes - the higher the salary, the more you give to the state.

Work questions

In a word, one cannot come to England (or any other country) “from the lantern”. There is work in England for Russians, but you need to take care of it in advance. No developed country will refuse a highly qualified specialist with knowledge of the local language. But even if a person is far from a master of narrow specialization, the British authorities provide for a whole list of work visas.

Basic requirements for working in England: knowledge of the language and qualifications. To get a good job, you need to have a certificate confirming knowledge of the language. Knowledge of other languages ​​will be an added advantage.

As for qualifications, it's not so simple. Education and work experience obtained may not meet the requirements of labor law in England. To check your qualifications, you can use the NARIC online service, which operates on behalf of the British government.

Also, to get a job, you need a sponsorship certificate - this is a kind of letter of guarantee from the employer that the applicant for the job is a highly qualified specialist.

Intermediary firms will help you look for a job. But you can try to do it yourself, via the Internet. It is best to look for a job in London, where the local labor market absolutely cannot cope with the high pace of development.

Life in retirement

Most of all migrants are attracted to England by the life of pensioners. Older people who spend their days in cafes and restaurants with a glass of wine or travel the world cannot but arouse envy.

In 2016, the UK carried out a pension reform, which resulted in the establishment of a "new state pension" and raised the retirement age to 66 years. To receive a "new state pension", you need to have at least 10 years of work experience. This refers to the experience in the UK. Also eligible for an English pension are those who have received National Insurance credits for at least 10 years and those who have voluntarily paid pension contributions.

So, how do pensioners live in England? On the covers of glossy magazines and on TV screens, we see what is good. But they are unlikely to be able to live carefree only on state benefits, here the system is focused on self-sufficiency. Of course, the government does not allow pensioners to live in poverty, providing various benefits, free medicines and additional social benefits, but if a person wants to have a comfortable old age, he must save up for it himself.

Positive points

As in every country, living in England has its pros and cons. The pros and cons of life in England are seen differently by every migrant. It is difficult to find a job here due to the high level of competition, if nothing serious has happened to your health, then it is extremely difficult to get medical care, and it also rains all the time here.

But the country has an unusually beautiful nature. There are many reserves and parks here, which make the country look like the England that existed in this place several centuries ago. The same feeling is reinforced by ancient castles and fortresses.

History lovers can settle not just in old, but in super-old houses that are already over 400 years old. Although they have low ceilings, such buildings are always equipped with fireplaces, as large as in the past.

People here are sociable, smiling and easy to get in touch with. In England, it is customary to talk to strangers on simple, abstract topics. It's almost impossible to make close friends. It's not that the British are cynical and heartless egoists, they just have a different mentality. They are reserved in expressing their emotions and are not inclined to share their experiences over a cup of tea, but they are always ready to help.

Here, alcohol, cheese and dairy products are available, but good quality vegetables and fruits are extremely difficult to find.

It may sound strange, but in England there is practically no crime, so you can safely walk late at night and not be afraid of robbers.

in England

At first glance, it may seem that life in England is no different from the foundations of other European countries, but if you look in more detail, you can find a lot of differences.

As already mentioned, the British love to live in private two-story houses, which is not only a tradition, but also a confirmation of their status. Also, the inhabitants of this country save electricity, water and gas. Washing dishes under a stream of water running from a tap is, in their firm opinion, the height of wastefulness. In winter, no one heats houses around the clock. It is believed that it is enough to turn it on for a couple of hours in the morning and in the evening - that's all heating. Here it is considered in the order of things to walk around the house in two sweaters, three pairs of socks and go to bed in an embrace with a heating pad.

The British do not wear dressing gowns (except when going from bed to the bathroom), stretched tracksuits and slippers. Home clothing usually consists of comfortable trousers and a T-shirt or sweater. do not like to spend time preparing food, and even more do not like to stand in lines every day. Therefore, they buy semi-finished products on Friday or Saturday for the whole next week.

The British are by nature hospitable and sympathetic people. But here the concept of hospitality is very radically different from that to which the Russian people are accustomed. No one comes here without an invitation, and you should not expect a magnificently laid table “on two floors” either. If the meeting was agreed in advance, then the person will certainly be met in a good mood and will be treated with great respect. The British will never discuss their problems with guests; they always have “Everything is fine!”

Here it is, life in Foggy Albion. Here it rains 200 days a year, ancient castles are hidden among the green crowns of nature reserves, double-decker buses travel around London, and at five o'clock in the evening the whole country sits down together to drink tea. Living in England, on the one hand, is difficult, because it is a foreign country, but, on the other hand, there are many places worth visiting, many unknown customs and traditions that would be nice to know. Echoes of bygone years still hang in the air, wide fields of farms stretch under a leaden-gray sky, similar houses line up in a row in the suburbs. It is quiet and almost boring here, but no one complains, because everyone has too many thoughts that require careful thinking over a traditional cup of tea.