Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) - Travel (909) - Nairaland
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| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Goke7: 1:23pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
For those who think it’s only the Brits that are emigrating, non-eu emigration keeps rising
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| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 2:23pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Goke7:Thank you |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 2:26pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Goodenoch:This is 100% true and not subject for debate Esp the challenges part Coming from a country where the political and in a way business elite have made it their life mission to destroy their people in multidimensional ways From the lecturer who failed "you" To other structural problems Unconducive environment Dysfunction Rat race struggles All that The riff raffs to be honest are victims of coning from dysfunctional situations , which has warped many of them world views |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by 4ever1: 4:59pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Hmmm |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Raalsalghul: 5:20pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Goke7:Perhaps students and families leaving due to scarcity of sponsored jobs at the bolded? I know a few from 2021/2022 cohort yet to get a job. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 5:34pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Raalsalghul:This January, there will be a lot leaving the country because their Graduate Visa has expired by then and no show |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Raalsalghul: 7:17pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
RodgersAkpafu:Most likely from the 2022 September set. The bubble and bust of the so called 'Boriswave' will be a tale for future generations. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by WanderingChild: 8:35pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
The calculation has changed: what the new settlement timeline really means for Nigerian families Something fundamental has shifted, and I am not sure we are all sitting with what it means yet. When many of us arrived during the Boris wave - professionals in our 40s with young children and careers we had built over decades - the trade-off seemed straightforward. Six years. That was the number. Six years of driving Ubers, stacking shelves, working care homes despite our degrees and experience. Six years, then settlement, then we could breathe again. The passport would open doors. The children would be established in good schools. By our late 40s or early 50s, we would have options. We could return home with British citizenship as backup, restart our careers here with legal certainty, or leverage what we had built in Nigeria with the mobility a UK passport provides. Six years felt manageable. A difficult chapter, yes, but one with a clear end date. Now it is 10 to 15 years for most of us. And that is not just a longer wait. It is a different life entirely. What we are actually trading Let us be honest about what 10 to 15 years means. It means reaching settlement in your late 50s or early 60s. It means your prime working years - the decades when you should be at your peak earning potential, building something, leading, creating - spent in survival mode. It means watching your expertise become dated, your professional networks back home dissolve, your confidence erode. It means your children will grow up watching you diminished. They will go through their crucial teenage years, year when they are forming their understanding of work, ambition, what their parents are capable of, seeing you overqualified and underemployed. They will not remember the person you were back home. They will just know this version. I am not saying this to depress anyone. I am saying it because we need to look clearly at what we have signed up for, especially now that the terms have changed. The questions we should be asking Here is what I think each family needs to sit down and honestly discuss: At my age now, with everything I know about how careers work, how age discrimination functions, how rusty skills become, do I genuinely believe I can restart my professional life at 58? At 62? Not in theory. Not in a motivational speech. In reality. Am I at peace with the idea that my professional story essentially ends here? That these survival jobs might be my peak from now on? Because if the honest answer is "I am not willing to accept that", if there is still ambition there, still a desire to build something, still a version of yourself you want to become, then 15 years might be too long. It might cost you something you cannot get back. Is my child's British future genuinely worth my professional death? That sounds dramatic, but I mean it seriously. We are betting everything on our children thriving in a system that is actively becoming more hostile to immigrants, more expensive, more competitive. We are assuming they will have access to networks, opportunities, wealth-building tools. We are assuming Britain in 2040 will still be the country we imagined when we left Nigeria. What if we are wrong? What I am worried about I see the early warning signs already. Parents in their late 40s who are exhausted in ways that sleep will not fix. Marriages straining under financial pressure and wounded pride. Teenagers who are embarrassed by their parents' accents, their jobs, their lack of understanding of British cultural codes. In 10 years, many of these parents will be in their late 50s, still waiting for settlement, watching their children prepare for university while they are still doing agency work. The cognitive dissonance of that, the gap between who you were supposed to be and who you have become does something to people. I worry about the mental health crisis that is coming. The depression that settles in when you realize the sacrifice did not pay off the way you thought it would. The strokes and heart attacks that come from years of suppressed frustration. The bitterness that seeps into every family dinner. And I worry about the kids. The ones who will be 25 in 15 years, looking back at parents who gave up everything for them, feeling a guilt and resentment, they cannot quite articulate. The ones who will wonder why their parents stayed when things clearly were not working. The ones who will be emotionally distant because they learned early to protect themselves from their parents' pain. What this is not This is not me saying everyone should leave. Some families are exactly where they need to be. Some had nothing to return to in Nigeria, no safety, no opportunities, no viable alternative. Some have children thriving here in ways that would have been impossible back home. Some parents genuinely are content with the trade-off, even at 15 years. This also is not me pretending Nigeria is some paradise we are all missing out on. We all know why we left. What this is This is me saying: the deal has changed. You did not sign up for 15 years. And it is okay to reassess. It is okay to admit that what made sense at 6 years does not make sense at 15. It is okay to say "I thought I could do this, but I cannot." It is okay to change course. What is not okay is sleepwalking through the next decade, pretending everything is fine, telling yourself it will all work out, while the resentment builds and the years slip away and your relationship with your family slowly corrodes. Sit down with your spouse. Look at your actual situation, not the one you hoped for, the one you have. Look at your children, really look at them. Are they flourishing or just surviving? Look at yourself. Are you still you, or have you become someone you do not recognize? And then decide. Properly decide. Not just keep going because you have already invested so much. Not just because going back feels like failure. Not just because you do not know what else to do. Decide because you have looked clearly at the next 10 years and you know - really know - that this is the right path for your family. Because whatever you choose, your children will live with the consequences. And so will you. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by babajeje123(m): 9:06pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Guys, be wary of those who provide unsolicited advice, those who look down on others, and those who speak arrogantly from their privilege positions. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Goodenoch: 9:31pm On Nov 29, 2025*. Modified: 10:31pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
babajeje123:C’est fini. 👍🏿 One thing I'd want to caveat though is that beware of believing everything people say here. People who are truly doing exceptionally well will typically not feel the need to blow their trumpets to impress random people on an internet forum. In my experience it's people dealing with deep-seated insecurities that feel the need to harp on and on about how much better than others they are. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by babajeje123(m): 9:42pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Goodenoch:Such people sound like 'I better pass my neighbour tiger generator'. Too much noise with negligible capacity. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Goke7: 10:40pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
babajeje123:We’ve had them here over and over again. They usually don’t last here on this thread as they only show up when there are unfavourable immigration policies flying around but pretend to be encouragers while they mock others. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 10:46pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
babajeje123:🤡 🤡 |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 10:47pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
Goodenoch:🤡 🤡 |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 10:50pm On Nov 29, 2025 |
WanderingChild:God bless you for this post I really hope ppl get respite because this. is not even funny again While insecure ppl are busy hurting because of "riff raff" commentary, others like yourself have a clear idea 💡 of what is going on and have some clarity Its a painful trade off |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Raalsalghul: 3:00am On Nov 30, 2025 |
babajeje123:Bros, to settle this matter, you have to name names. ![]() |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 3:42am On Nov 30, 2025 |
Raalsalghul:he is referring to folks like me this riff raff talk really hit them like stray bullet To the point of hallucinations That's why they are conjuring spurious scenarios in their head They should point out where anyone said he is bigger or better than other people, or boasting bout being in top jobs No be yeye be that ![]() The fact that they even think that it is by "spending money on school fees that "locals" have not seen" or whatever that exempt someone from being a riff raff is even more laughable Its a primarily behavioural trait That's why we have touts and riff raffs at the helm of affairs Like drunkard Wike talking like a tout to a troop A "lawyer" , former state gov and now minister |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by babajeje123(m): 4:18am On Nov 30, 2025 |
Raalsalghul:I've got no time for keyboard warriors. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by jedisco(m): 5:37am On Nov 30, 2025 |
Living in Britain has thought me that what the fact is matters less. What's more important is how its perceived. The constant villification of migrants has created alot of warped narratives. One being that a cohort of humans by reason of their looks aren't worthy to exist in a place. Or the tired narrative in the anglosphere that folks who came into one country wouldn't be able to get in elsewhere. On the 'Nigerians in Canada' thread, someone once told me that migrants have 'spoilt' the UK. Had to remind him that the UK though double the population of Canada takes in far less people than the later. Among nations in the anglosphere, the UK has been traditionally difficult to get into. This is reflected in it's foreign-born population which is far less than Canada or Australia. Coming to hard numbers- Canada with a population of 40 million is planned to take in 380,000 (+/- 30,000) permanent residents per year for the next few years. This is beside other routes. Australia has also announced their plan. The UK lets uncertainty persist. In all, facts are: 1. The idea that those most who came into the UK aren't 'good enough' to be accepted elsewhere is false. 2. The talk that the UK is a generous outlier in accepting migrants is hardly reflected in the data. 3. The talk that it's thesame everywhere is categorically wrong. Even in Britain, opportunities differ significantly across board.
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| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by jedisco(m): 5:56am On Nov 30, 2025*. Modified: 3:18pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
WanderingChild:There is alot of scaremongering in your post. If the financial gains of owning property in the UK stops working, I'd sell up, bank the gains and invest elsewhere. If I waited until I became a British citizen before I started investing, I'd still have been looking around. I could have easily liquidated my stake and moved with it if it made sense. I wonder if you factored in the many advantages. Following your line of thought, maybe I should rent until I become a Canadian citizen. All said, what should a resident+ family in the UK who might soon be on a 10yr route do as regards housing? Not buy their property and rent or join the 'comical' group of home owners? |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by jedisco(m): 6:19am On Nov 30, 2025*. Modified: 5:32pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
lavida001:Hehe. Almost did not respond to you.... but na weekend and sipping my whiskey, make I indulge. I see I am still living rent-free in your head. Don't worry, I'd soon do some renovation. BTW, do you now call it Canada and not utopia? Hehe I don't even know what group you're referring to. The world is much bigger than your tiny cocoon on social media. I remember you were one of those who warned folks not to buy a place in the UK. How's that advise going for you? Like I've told you multiple times, I have no issue with you looking down on or calling yourself names. Where I draw the line is when you expect me to see the world as you do. Look outside your circle, not everyone talks themselves down. I share my experience so we can see there is an alternate reality as it's easy to think what you see is all there is to life. Afterall, it's been a while since folks here blamed migrants for not being able to see a doctor or for the housing crises. I can only hope you have stop idolising those who denigrate you. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 2:58pm On Nov 30, 2025*. Modified: 3:15pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
jedisco:While this has it's own merit My rebuttal to this is that , my frame of argument is Boriswave UK vs same period Canada What ur data shows is the broader picture Barriers to entry weakened during the Boris wave period for studies, and the data shows that Britain got its HIGHEST net migration figures arguably in history during this period (an undeniable statistical fact) So if we carve out that time period and make it the time series basis for this argument, the former holds If we do a comparative analysis pre and post boris wave, it also holds I can bet that MOST people who took the care / japa via masters route would not have made the cut for express entry as at the time they made that move And if you have had honest conversations with Nigerians here, they will tell you that if there was another way that didn't have to entangle them with school, they would have taken it. You are pre Boriswave, and entered when UK was still in a way entangled with the EU, so una story differ a bit Lemme even do this 1. The idea that those most who came into the UK aren't 'good enough' to be accepted elsewhere is false. Actually, many people who came into the UK via the masters pipeline wont have made the cut for Canada express entry or the Australian point based system. Many didnt have the job experience All they had was the degree and business money, or other things going on for them Go to the UK student visa side (the nairaland thread) Many of them have to explain "wide study gaps" Wide study gaps will already put u at a disadvantage for Canada and esp Australia So ill argue that a significant population (not all, maybe not majority) wouldnt have been able to cross over straight from Nigeria again. not taking a dig at anyone cos you play the cards life deals you, im just stating observations 2. The talk that the UK is a generous outlier in accepting migrants is hardly reflected in the data The net migration figures from 2021 onwards tell a different story I saw the gov.uk data of how many dependant each student brought in for the years after 2021, the Nigerian figures were top 4 highest Husband wife and four kids on one masters program is quite cheap and generous ticket if you ask me My small circle of people who went to Canada via studies were not so fortunate 3. The talk that it's thesame everywhere is categorically wrong. Even in Britain, opportunities differ significantly across board. I can agree to this Not all fingers are equal You make the best of where you are Trudeau at some point removed some guard rails as well, and they are paying for it But Nigerians i would argue (and would like to be proven wrong) didnt benefit from the Canadian windfall as much as UK own for students path It was Indians |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Raalsalghul: 3:33pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
I've never seen a set of immigrants that's as derided as the Boris wave. ![]() On one hand, you have government calling you 'low skilled' with 'micky mouse' degrees and the other hand we have other set of immigrants calling you 'riff raffs.' ![]() Talk about a double whammy. ![]() |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by jedisco(m): 3:42pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
Goodenoch:Many people have deep seated inferiority or self-hate issues and look to reflect their insecurity on others. Folks should read a bit of history and see if European migrants who went to places like Can/U.S or Aus had any qualifications. Not to long ago, same chap was using racial slurs to describe Indians blaming them for his inability to secure a job as a security guard and jubilating on how Trump would 'show them pepper'. I'm guessing saviour Trump did a good job there. Now, he's turned on Nigerians. One can describe themselves in what ever way. It's trying to pull others into a concocted thought process that worries me. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by AKALAMAGBO: 3:42pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
Raalsalghul:Some even call us COS group/groups. Na our set suffer pass 😂😂😂 |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by jedisco(m): 3:54pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
WanderingChild:Didn't take long to come thru. Do you still believe that those who don’t have '£300k to take risk' are useless to humaninty? Or that any youth not in the top 20 cities of the world is also useless to humanity? Waiting for you to come with a quote from Oyedepo or a lecturer at Covenant. You sound far removed from reality. P.s. I'm keen to know why you left your top-20 American city to seek pastures in the UK. |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Goke7: 4:17pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
Raalsalghul:Shebi the number don dey reduce now, that suppose to make everyone happy now if not then another thing dey be that abi you know any riff raff wey still remain? 😂 |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by Goke7: 4:17pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
AKALAMAGBO:cos bandits nko 😂 |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 4:35pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
Raalsalghul:There are the riff raff elements IN the Boris wave They were the ones who gave themselves the bad name No one is saying every boriswave IS a riff raff, but a lot of riff raffs werr captured in the net If we like, we can scoff. pontificate, scorn, punch in the air, stitch up diatribes against me and all that The taste is in the pudding Our yarns here wont change it |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 4:41pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
jedisco:You dont have the boldness to even quote me and mention me by name lmaooo I know u meant me, and tbvh, idgaf. Apparently you haven't forgotten our "p.....t" exchange in the other group last year You can pontificate all u want, but the facts are there to see. You can assume i have "inferiority complex" (which is your fundamental human right) and any other name u wanna call me, but ill keep saying it as I see it. I don't know why we get so pissed when the obvious is being said to us. Look at how the Korean factory episode played out in Georgia You really think it would have ended such way if it was Nigerians or P...ts who were involved ? Shebi now you can see with your eyes how the Indian reputation is in the gutter everywhere, I told u last year, u were busy pontificating over them, now one year after, how far? and yes, Trump actually stuck a needle in their behind How did Vivek end ? Hasn't the Indian for MAGA eyes cleared? Hasn't country caps remained for H1B? And no, I don f with Trump, I think he is clown, but I knew MAGA will never accept the useful. P...t idio...s and one year after, we can see it (again, riff raffery lol) everything i told you will happen has happened Now Canada is tying the knots to boot the ones in their midst out on TFW stream No worry everyone, as time goes on, we will see things more clearly Shebi Hong Kong kept their BNO in this country and they are still on the 5 year path, while we the masses have been thrown to the wolves That's why I really align with the thoughts of @WamderingChild The world is not by sentiment or gra gra It is the realities on the ground we will still deal with AFTER all of us have calmed down from talking here |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 4:46pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
Goke7:lmaooooo Riff raff still plenty shaaaa |
| Re: Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 3) by RodgersAkpafu: 4:47pm On Nov 30, 2025 |
AKALAMAGBO:Weren't we caught up in the COS rackets net? Lets be real nau We know what's happening, but pride will not allow us admit |
Living In The USA - Life Of An Immigrant Part 1 • Living In The Uk-life Of An Immigrant (part 2) • Living In Canada/Life As A Canadian Immigrant Part 2 • 2 • 3 • 4
Canadian Express Entry/federal Skilled Workers Program - Connect Here Part 8 • Canadian Student Visa Thread Part 21 • USA Visit Visa Part 3
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