₦airaland Forum

erico2k2:
Well done Bross for the calculation I could not have put it any better. I feel that bross never go 9ja for a while now. Nigeria Rumple as we speak, things are very xpenssive.We discovered that someone with a take home salary of N500k is now poor imagine. I know people who run thier household with N3m each month and still no fantastic life regards them things they cannot control.

Bro, it’s so tragic what is happening back home. I don’t think it gets enough global coverage. How can a currency collapse from £1/600 to £1/2,200 in 16 months and yet everyone is going about like it’s normal? Which salary increase can accommodate that level of devaluation? Especially with our demand for foreign goods, from petrol to education & even medical trips.

I did undergraduate studies when £1 = 280 naira. My parents were modest earners. Which middle class parent wan try that one now

Anyone advocating for anything Naija (investment or relocation) is clearly not looking at the current trends.

giselle237:
You are allowed to have your thoughts most assuredly. If I got 5m naira monthly in Nigeria I would not come here.
Rent is once a year. She pays her 7million out of 60million and is sorted. Rent is monthly here, this already makes both unequal to compare.
Iphone will not be bought every month. School fees is also not paid in Nigeria every month for 12 months.
Little or no tax in Nigeria. What is better about the Uk in terms of her starting salary? Nothing. Other luxuries would come easy and cheap.
Can she afford a driver, child minder, nanny and cook on the NHS starting salary as a nurse and still pay rent, council tax, water, electricity and cost of living in the UK from roughly £2300? NO! She can easily afford her luxuries every month in Nigeria and still be ok and have her family support childcare with a net of 5 million and no sweat. Her husband would also be working and bringing in his own income.
Only the childcare issues alone in the UK with children aged 5 years and 7 years and her shifts… she will start her cries..
yes there is insecurity in Nigeria but most people here still have majority of their families living in Nigeria, let me assume they dont care about their families—> most still have their biological parents living in Nigeria with the insecurity, what makes her different from your parents that are still living in the midst of this very drowning insecurity even though it breaks our hearts but we can not do anything ? Why is her own the highlight?
@nursegrace if the 5 million naira job is certain, take it!!!! It is a good sum to come in monthly for a WOMAN living in a low income, low taxed country like Nigeria. I am talking real life situation here, not internet. Your husband would easily be able to financially support his home.
Your workload in Nigeria can never be compared to the workload of an NHS nurse who still needs to go back home and be a wife and a mother. The burnout is real from all fronts.
For me, I can not compare a monthly take home of £2300 in the UK to that of 5 million naira in Nigeria and choose UK. I would be telling lies to you as I have earned way more than twice your NHS starting salary in here while going to work every single day completely burnt out but still showing up and in hindsight I would take a 5m option to live in Nigeria with my luxuries if I could. Easily affordable and accessible childcare for starters!!! . At least I would enjoy this 5m for the next one year first
Leave no room for regrets. This typing space is too small for me to write everything.

My brother, like we said, it’s a personal choice. It’s a topic that’s open to debate. Roughly speaking, I have lived both lives (not 60M per annum salary, but close in a multinational. Also not £30k pa salary, a bit more & different industries).

If I put myself in OP’s shoes, I’m assuming a total annual family income of 70M (regular civil servants don’t earn much plus the husband is advising her to take UK job, means 10M pa is generous from my side).

My budget pa (Lekki, Lagos) on 70M pa
- Rent, 7M
- School Fees, 6M (3M per child)
- Utilities , 3M (service charge, NEPA)
- Feeding, 4M (1k per meal X 4 mouths X 365 days)
- Transport, 2M (with fuel scarcity and lots of stress)
- domestic staff, 3M
- Miscellaneous, 1-2 M

TOTAL 🟰 23 - 25 M. Left with 45M (£20k as at today, may be worth significantly less in a short period of time). Most Nigerian families want to train their kids abroad or give birth abroad (if in they’re in child bearing stage), to secure their future.

UK Budget on family income of £4,000/month
- Rent, £1000
- Childcare, £1,000
- Utilities & council, £400
- Feeding, £400
- Transport, £100
- miscellaneous, £100

TOTAL 🟰 £3,000. £1,000 savings monthly. £12K left over per annum.

With the UK option, free education for my kids, pathway to citizenship to increase their chances at making it in live. I know rich men in Nigerian that are crying over foreign tuition fees. One of my mentors calls me every now and again to ask me UK tuition fees (I told him to budget £20k/pa, 45M naira. He has 3 children in Secondary school). Canada and US are not cheaper/better.
So in summary, it depends on your long-term vision for your family. To each his own, no qualms.

giselle237:
For 5 million naira monthly I will take the Nigerian option. You would have access to family support and childcare support from your family. Never underestimate the importance and value of a support system… I will choose this over the nhs a million times.
You would also easily pay rent of 5 million a year and have the remaining 11 months of the year to be relaxed and still have your 55 million intact.
On this amount- 5m monthly your family can sustain easily on your salary alone unlike here where more financial stability/freedom would be from 2 working individuals.
There’s just a lot to say.. but this is my honest opinion.
If it is for travelling abroad on holidays or to give birth abroad with 60m you would be able to have more than a robust financial picture.

Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, but not in today’s Nigeria. I know firsthand, people with oil company jobs relocating to Canada, UK etc. When you ask them why, the reason is simple:
Economy & forex instability: that bumper salary is not giving them good value for money. For example, if you’re working in Chevron, your house rent in Lekki and environs will be like 7 - 10m naira pa. Then there’s service charge/Band A Nepa bills 3 - 4m naira, millions for children’s school fees (decent school for an oil worker), cost of buying car (again oil big boy go drive better SUV, easily 10 or 20million), iPhone 15 (2million naira) etc. You get the point? You won’t enjoy your high salary with all the attendant issues in Naija…insecurity/kidnapping, further fix deterioration etc.
Forget giving birth in US or Canada. Too expensive. And foreign trips will be reduced because of the flights & spending costs. Not worth it at all

NurseGrace:
Please I need to make an important decision in my life and I need opinions expecially from people in the Uk. I am a Nurse in Nigeria who just got 2 job offers, the 1st is with an oil company in Nigeria with a monthly pay of 5million monthly and the second is a job in UK with the NHS. Please I need suggestions please, if you were in my shoes which will u choose. This decision is very important to me. And by the way I am 35yrs with a husband who is a civil servant here and 2 children (5years and 7years).

Congratulations on your job offers. Well done on having multiple options!
I really like this kind of analysis/debate. Let’s break it down:

*SCENARIO 1* - oil company job (5m monthly / 60m per annum)
Nurse - great salary for you & your family. Although the economic woes in Nigeria (hyperinflation) will eat into it and reduce the comfort this could have afforded you a few years ago, it is still decent (especially if you’re in a low cost city, not Lagos or Abuja). You can look forward to a long and fulfilling career in the clinic/hospital and rise to Chief Matron/Chief Nursing Staff

Husband - he can continue in his civil service job, no disruption and continue to strive to great heights in his career

Children - provides stability in the short term. They can continue their education in Nigeria, and perhaps study abroad at university age?


*SCENARIO 2* - relocation as NHS nurse Band 5? (Salary of £30k pa)

Nurse - starting afresh in a new country. Work for 5yrs to attain ILR/citizenship etc. Career growth not as easy as the oil company (no racism). Starting salary not great (especially if in London/South East England). Some nurses stay for a few years and migrate again to USA (more money).

Husband - major disruption for him. Needs to find a new job in the UK. Not sure of his line of work, if it’s easy to secure a job with his experience. Worst case, he will have to work menial jobs to augment family income while upgrading his skills to land professional job.

Children - coming into a new country. Free education at primary/secondary level. Can attend uni as a home student after attaining citizenship after 5/6yrs on sponsored visa.

Personally, if I were in your shoes, I would deeply reflect on my family’s long-term goals, and the kind of life I envision for my children. Most people want a decent life (security, good infrastructure, jobs opportunities, education for kids etc.), while some others swear that they cannot live outside of Naija because of our jovial and family oriented lifestyle (plus weather considerations). I’m in the camp of the former! I need a sane environment to function and I need a bit of predictability to plan my life, hence Scenario 2 for me.

Hkana:
Congratulations. Your post has given me a bit of hope. I'm currently learning to drive using a manual and I'm almost at my wits end. Lol.

Was yours a manual test?

Pele, manual is a bit more complicated (clutch down, brake first, biting point etc. stressful). I learnt with manual when I learnt to drive ages ago, so already had the fundamentals. My wife took the automatic test and life was a lot easier. Except you need a manual licence for work purposes or need access to cheaper manual 2nd hand cars in general, my advise is for new learners to chose automatic. Besides, the future is automatic (manual cars are going to be phased out in a couple of decades)

dibunotion:
He just went on a cruise with his new jet. The thing dey shack am

And for medical top up in London

jedisco:
Lol... it was a comedy of basic errors. For most, it's anxiety which didn't appear to be an major issue with you.

I think you were being over-confident and undermining the test cos its straightforward. Confidence should come from knowledge no be only bravado.
Perhaps, if you had settled down, taken 10 - 20hr spaced-out lessons, you might have pulled through on your first attempt.

💯 agree.
It was all this scare mongering that made me overthink the test with my many years of driving in Nigeria.
The UK driving test is so basic, it’s beggar’s belief the hype around it (maybe if you’re a new driver without prior experience in moving a car). I did mine just once (manual test with only one minor).

With the plethora of information online in 2024 (YouTube & TikTok especially), plus 3 sessions with driving instructor and endless practice on my own (one year intl driving licence), there’s really no excuse to throw away money more than two times (maximum).

Amigoss:
See as legend just dey zuo,this egbon dey vex me walahii.....Na wetin see finish dey cause be this,e get some nigeria ex legends wey osimhen no fit try this nonsense with

I agree. Osimhen no fit try the rubbish with Okocha, Kanu, or even Mikel. Finidi George no carry himself well, both as an individual and as Nigeria head coach. See how respected Eguavoen is…. That said, he’s stupid to rant online with zero evidence. No wonder he’s following twitter influencers and VDM…na there e brain reach.

Miramonica:
it's a sad situation my brother. If someone had told me 10years ago that Nugeria will be like this, I will tell the person to go kiss a toilet seat


But it's happening now, this clearly shows that the country can never get better.

But a determined person will still look for an escape route out of this Country.

I understand you perfectly!
10+ years ago, I returned to Naija to work for a “multinational”. In the last few years, I’ve had to re-japa inspite of the “huge” salary. Worse still, I know of dozens of ex-colleagues earning 40,50,60 million per annum choosing to japa abroad to start all over again. I ask them why and the breakdown is simple:
Say you earn 50M (pre tax) and live in Lekki, married with 2 kids. After tax, maybe you get 35 - 40M.
- Rent in Lekki 7M
- Service charge/fuel/phcn band A - 5M
- Car 10M
- School Fees 6M
- iPhone 2M
- Total 30M without others like feeding, miscellaneous.

You can’t even buy flight ticket for your family to enjoy vacation abroad. Your naira savings has been eroded and embassies will reject your family application. Truly sad. There was a country

Miramonica:
Anyone that wants to enjoy a better life(not necessarily monetary), should start making plans to leave the Country.

It’s too late bro. Japa is now out of the reach of average Nigerians, just exclusive to the wealthy now. £ is 2,150+ today

Harddiskng:
Congratulations to the people slated for second interview this week. You are almost there. Don’t forget to pay your tithe, success is from God.

When you tell someone that 1st interview would weed them and their bad character out, they think you’re wishing them bad not knowing you are just stating the fact

Wow, just wow. You’re a nasty piece of work!

Pls does anyone know how much the TA position pays i.e annual compensation package.
Also does anyone know the salary/grade structure for e.g
Grade A (entry level), 20M naira annual compensation.
Grade B/40M pa
Grade C/60M pa
Etc.
Someone is considering the viability of relocating in the event they are successful. Many thanks for any pointers.

Solumtoya:
At this point, we need to consider opening a "UK - Politics" thread so we can leave this thread for "Life in the UK"...

I pity new folks who would want to read through the thread to gain knowledge like some of us did when we landed here. Nowadays, no one asks questions anymore because the thread is so heated with far-this and that arguments. When people ask questions, there's barely answers. Even US Politics goes on for days and I wonder.

It was almost tolerable before the Elections since it was assumed to be campaign but now it's just name-calling and ideology-dragging talk that barely benefits anyone.

Again, maybe the group has matured so much that people don't need those childish yarns about jobs, housing, driving, visa, credit, travel, etc and are now more focused on the big British talk

Thanks for speaking our collective minds. Moderator also needs to take responsibility, he/she needs to wake up and not get carried away with all the political debate and pontificating.

Ormohlawlah:
Thank you. I intend to mention this part in her application. I have also made arrangements for him to stay with my sister temporarily for the 14-day duration and would mention that as well.

Thanks for your response

Change the trip duration to 5 days. The shorter the better. When she gets the visa, she can stay for as long as she wants (up to 5months+)

Ticha:
Broker is trying to make his money. From experience, most insurances cancel each other out because insurance companies will do everything not to pay out. So having seemingly useful (on the surface) multi insurance packages will just bleed you money.

Pick one and stick with it.

Before we had kids, we only took life and critical illness insurance as we travelled all the time. Only to find out when we started IVF that if critical illness paid out, the life insurance premiums will drastically increase 🙄

Husbot has a very generous death in service which gets more generous with each year of service so we now have no insurance for him and life insurance for me.

To throw a spanner in the works, you don't really need any of the insurances full stop. You can just save that money into stocks and shares till you need it.

Broker is trying to earn a commission so ignore him completely and think about what will meet your needs now and in the near future.

For death in service benefits, I thought the person has to kpai during a work assignment (at office or in the field), does it cover you if you at home chilling on a Saturday or God forbid suffer critical illness? because wifey and I work for a great company and have not gone through the policy yet. Just wondering out loud, if I need any of the covers.

Radesola758:
Please, did you pay for priority consideration? I did my biometric on 19th June, and I haven't heard from them.

No regular but it was TLS PHC (which is more expensive as standard)

donteebalo:
This is just an acknowledgement Email that your application has been received, pray not to get any other Email except the one that your passport is ready for collection 😊

You were right ooo. Thanks for all your help. Visit Visas approved for my parents.

Timeline:
TLS biometrics - 26th June
Collection email - 8th July
DHL delivery - 10th July

I just uploaded the REQUIRED documents, no pictures, no tenancy agreement etc.

Goodenoch:
Unfortunately all I can see between those lines is the dark background.

Is there something else?

You no sabi ball. More pics for the benefit of others…
Come 2027, expect UK to be a robust voice for democracy rather than the nonsense Rishi did when APC rigged senselessly!

Goodenoch:
It's not because of a congratulatory message.

Both Labour UK and Nigeria are affiliated with and primarily funded by (some would say they are offshoots of) labour unions in those countries and those organisations are themselves affiliated internationally (via the ILO, etc.), so it's natural for them to work together.

Read in between the lines…

RefKing:
Hello
My mother-in-law visa was refused, Please what changes should will effect for her to reapply and when can she reapply

The answer is staring you in the face: no birth certificate/proof of relationship uploaded

Quelme:
We shall all see how Osimhen will end.

At least Finito has he is fondly called,retired a legend.

Osimhen na mumu na, he think say na by following VDM and Charles Okocha and co. Rubbing shoulders with Davido…nothing Dey the guy brain. So pompous that he cannot apologise for reacting to fake news

Another reason to vote Labour. It seems Peter Obi has an alliance with UK Labour since Rishi Sunak was the first world leader to congratulate Tinubu after the controversial elections. Impressive!

missjekyll:
"I m alright, jack" . Could never be me.
That precious pension depends on freaking immigrants. Your homecare depends on immigrants. The NHS that you use heavily depends on immigrants . *Just incase you think you are too rich for the NHS, critical care is not available on the private sector. Everyone ends up on the NHS if they are sick enough*.

Turkeys and Christmas.

I agree with you on this point. For allowing the NHS to deteriorate to this point and not having a real action plan to reverse the slide, the Tory’s deserve to be booted out. Healthcare is so bad now, everyone should just pray not to ever need the NHS. Spent another 7hrs+ in A&E over the weekend, only to be told to go to my GP for referral to a specialist (nothing can be done ant A&E level), and private isn’t really an option because they can’t handle the after care demands, not to mention the thousands out of pocket. How can one be relatively financially okay and yet, cannot receive prompt medicare (unless you’re literally dying) ?! This is something I will never understand. And it’s happening everywhere

Excellent documentary by C4 Dispatches:
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/undercover-ae-nhs-in-crisis-dispatches

excelchips:
Hello, a sister is expecting baby in 3 months time and needs to invite her mother from Nigeria. Please, we would be gratefull if we could get a pointer on the required documents needed to applying for grandma visa. Thank you

For Grandma:
Bank statements
Travel history proof
Land/house docs
Cover/supporting letter

Maybe different if grandma is not in regular employment/pensioner


For Uk Sponsor/Daughter:
Bank statements/payslips
Introduction letter from employer
Invitation letter
Biodata page of passport/UK visa status/BRP
Tenancy agreement/hotel booking or accommodation
Birth certificate/Baptismal card

Please I applied last week and 2 days later received this mail below. From all the hypotheses on this thread…does it mean visa has been approved? Let me start celebrating in advance

****$
Dear Customer

Thank you for your Visa Application which has arrived at the UKVI Decision Making Centre and is now awaiting consideration:


Depending on the service you purchased, we aim to process:

- Super priority visa applications the day after biometric submission
- Priority visa applications within 5 working days of biometric submission
- All other visa applications within 15 workings days of biometric submission*

You will be contacted by the Visa Application Centre when your passport is ready for collection. Please do not attend the Visa Application Centre until you have been invited to do so.

*Please note the above about current processing times and extremely high demand. We strongly recommend that you do not buy a non-refundable, non-flexible ticket to the UK, until your visa application has been approved and you have received your documents.

If you enrolled your biometrics at a US Dept of Homeland Security Application Support Centre (ASC) then the processing time on your application will start as soon as we receive confirmation from the New York Scanning Hub that your supporting documents have been received and uploaded to our system. If you attended a VFS Premium Application Centre (PAC) then the processing time starts on the day you enrolled your biometrics.

Please refrain from contacting the enquiry service within the processing times. You will be contacted again when your application has ….etc

Kind regards

Visits UK

***
End

jedisco:
Congrats... more blessings.

BTW, in what currency did the Lord buy the house?

Thanks, Senior man.
The Lord bought it for us with divine grace and heavenly favour/open doors

I’m a simple man, sometimes I think back to my story, I just weak. I remember colleagues pitying me when I took the leap of faith to relocate a few years ago. “Why leave a well paying Naija salary?” “Why not Canada instead of Uk?” “So what will you do for money?” Etc.

God has answered all those questions for us🙏🏾

mex551:
. Please how many months bank statement did Halifax demand from you? Some said they demand only one month bank statement

I used Threshold Mortgages and they requested last 3 months bank statements

mex551:
congratulations. Is that leasehold or freehold?

Thanks. Freehold but with an annual maintenance fee.

Testimony time

(Ushers please be on standby with the offering basket )

The Lord built (bought) us a house!!!!

Signed, sealed and delivered. The bunch of keys dey our hand now. Very heavy lol.

Jokes apart, just an appreciation post for everyone ‘s contribution on here (as well as Chidera Peters on YouTube). The guidance received from this forum has been invaluable. Visited over 12 developers/sites; didn’t care about the fuel burnt because a house is a big deal and even if I didn’t like some houses/locations, it helped us narrow it down as we discovered what we liked/didn’t like.

KEY DETAILS
House type - Newbuild
Developer - Persimmons
Lender - Halifax (90% LTV)
Incentives - 5% deposit boost plus flooring package
Mortgage rate - 4.97% ,5yrs fixed (although rates dropped to 4.87% when it was 2 weeks to completion)
LISA bonus - £6k (my wife and I) in the space of 15months, took advantage of the tax windows
Mortgage adviser - Threshold Financial Services (got the recommendation from this thread)


Ps - send funds because everywhere don dry. Surviving on tap water till further notice.

Who cares? Kenyan youths are liberating their country. Us we are concerned about Chivido kor Chivita ni

Orlu13:
Nigerians won't do shit..they don't have d balls nd will to pull such becos of lack of Unity...Tribalism has finished us

It’s more lack of balls than tribalism. Nigerians are cowardly when it comes to challenging authority.

[quote author=WeezyTip post=130661620]@giselle237 @cashmadam @humblemoi @justwise and other gurus in the house, please help look into this. It’s a long read, but please help out. Anyone that has experienced this or being in a situation like this too can help out.


IMHO, their financial/economic situation is currently too complicated. They need to calm down and simplify everything otherwise they risk rejection.
1. The son needs to be self-employed with tax clearance and “clean” bank statements for 6months. He needs to pay himself and income sufficient for someone willing to travel to UK for vacation/graduation.

2. The mother needs to do likewise. Avoid things like lump sum payments to build account etc.

3. The UK based brother can provide all kinds of documents to support the application, but mother and son’s application needs to stand on their own merit. It must pass the scrutiny from ECO.

Good luck!