BlezinR:


Yes you can.,i used ahm

Thank you! Their quote is very reasonable too

Good morning my people, has anyone bought their own OSHC instead of using the uni recommended one? If yes, which did you use please? Asking for a family member

Phayie:


Although police has stated that no crime was committed. But the daughter was 17 when she started sending the images, if what the parents are saying is accurate, I believe he's committed a crime

Age of consent is 16 so no legal crime unless he had a duty of care towards the girl which he doesn't. Plus it is a crime to solicit for pictures from under 18s, but she is saying he did not. Although it is morally questionable.

Zahra29:


Not necessarily. There are many accounts of people who paid in excess of £15000 for passage to the UK. Even migrants from places like Vietnam who attempt to be smuggled in vans and lorries pay tens of thousands of pounds - for what? To go underground and not be able to work legally, rent, use hospital services etc

There was no surcharge a few years ago. And in less than 5 years it has multiplied to around £600 a year. Reality is that it will go up further as pressure on the NHS continues to increase.

Interestingly, for Australia you'd be looking AUD3,000-4000 per person per year for health insurance that's between £1.500-£2000. It covers everything though with some co-pay for specialist treatment.

NZ is bit cheaper at £300 ish per year but each Dr's visit costs £30 a pop which is paid out of pocket. It also doesn't cover dental or mental health and that is out of pocket as well.

Crucially, each applicant has to pass a detailed and pretty invasive medical exams in both countries that can truncate your visa dreams. Anaemia almost stopped mine in it's tracks. I had to be re-tested twice before my own work visa was issued.

Last year, a new immigrant Dr from SA killed her kids within weeks of arriving. She came off her meds to pass the medicals and they were issued a work visa. Due to being in quarantine, she didn't go back on her meds in good time and her mental deteriorated so badly that she suffocated and killed her daughters the first week she was alone with them.

I know of a psychiatrist who's high functioning autistic 10 year old was denied a visa and the rest of the family (2 other children) granted a work visa even though the parents (IT professional and Psychiatrist) offered to bear any costs for the child.

So that leaves Canada with a low entry bar health insurance wise if the UK does this. They all share 'best practice' though so who knows!

Las, las immigration will still continue o!

GraduatesGrant:

Can I use such certificate with fixed deposit equivalent to my POF and attach my bank statement of 6 months with good cash flow ? Because if I should deposit all lump cash into my account it may look suspicious. And I have a good cash flow from my personal account which double my business account.

cc:Ticha

Off the top of my head, I'd say yes you can as long as the fixed deposit is in your name and there is proof that the money is accessible to you once you need it - i.e. a letter from the bank detailing such and then adding your regular bank statements.

If in doubt, speak to the admissions team - all the universities have dedicated visa staff who can reach out to INZ and ask clarifying questions on your behalf.

Did you university ask you to provide proof of funds?? If yes, what did you provide to them as that would also work for INZ

damble:
I usually see a lot of job opportunities in my career field but the issue is that they are ONSITE INTERVIEWS. Is it possible if I can travel on a visit Visa, attend interviews and if successful, travel back to Nigeria while the company that wants to employ me assist to getting work Visa and travel back with it?

No idea how feasible that is. Visa and transport are very very expensive - have you looked at the costs? And it takes an average of 10-16 weeks to get a visit visa from Nigeria. No employer is going to realistically wait for that long to interview you. INZ will also not issue you a visit visa to come attend interviews.

You won't know how feasible it is till you try so go for it!

Ogbaba123:
As a professional with years of experience in a field that is not on the green list, does it mean I do not qualify for the PR path or I cant find a job that offers sponsorship in my field? I'm quite confused on how the whole sponsorship and eligibility criteria works for NZ

Thank you

There are pathways open to skilled professionals. The skilled migrant pathway is open for those who have jobs/sponsorships - it has a points requirement for selection and they have gradually upped the points. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/living-in-new-zealand-permanently/new-zealand-skilled-residence-pathways

It is historically very difficult to get a job in NZ from Nigeria (including almost all developing countries apart from India and SA) but with the severe skills shortage, who knows?

courage54:


Please can you confirm if this those not amount to public funds? Because my daughter was also recommended to see a speech therapist but we are not sure if is not public fund

It's not public funds. You can always confirm with the SLT directly as well. The support is offered to all children regardless of visa or parental visa status.

dude420:

Doesn’t masters have dependent visa ?

Only if the course leads to a job on the green list and majority of those masters (apart from the teacher training one) are 2 years long - google the green list.

dustydee:
Hello all. Please how can I start a shortlet/airbnb business?
Do I have to own the house or can it be a rented property? Does anyone have a guide on how to do this profitably and pitfalls to avoid?

1. Check the rules in your area. Parts of Wales (Cardiff especially and the Valleys), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh), Cornwall, Devon and London have a ban on short term lets in varying degrees. You will even need planning permission in certain areas which takes months and some serious dosh spent to get. Neighbours will rat you out so ensure you have your Ts crossed!
2. It can be a rented property but make sure you have clearance from the landlord and in writing where possible. A normal BTL mortgage expressly forbids using the property as a short let or as a residential property. Some landlords don’t care and some do – so be upfront with the landlord so they can decide for themselves if they’re happy for you to run a short let
3. It can be your own property but a. if you have bought with a residential mortgage, you will be breaching the terms (na who know go open ya yansh). If you have bought with a specialist short term let mortgage, then you will be breaching the terms by living there as well. Some lenders (Halifax for example) offer a residential mortgage where you can also use the house for short lets for short periods of time thus allowing people to rent out their homes when they go on holiday etc rather than as a proper business.
4. Interest rates for short term let mortgages are way higher than regular BTL or residential interest rates. Deposits are also higher -most lenders want between 35-50% deposit. Most lenders class it as commercial lending so the mortgage term is usually also short (between 10 to 15 years max)
5. To be profitable, you may have to be in locations that may not really be family friendly – city centres, near airports or event centres, touristy areas. These areas will also have competition, so you then have to spend money to up your game. Luxury does not usually equal profit
6. If you live in the house and run STL from it, you will benefit from the government rent a room tax free scheme.
7. People are less likely to misbehave and be shady if you live there and just rent out rooms but then you’re sharing bathrooms, toilets, kitchens and shared spaces with strangers daily – think of family safety.

Pitfalls
1. You need to either have a good cleaning crew or be open to spending a good chunk of your time on cleaning otherwise the reviews will kill your business pretty quickly
2. Location, location, location is key – which again ties into the above
3. Most residential flats expressly prohibit short term lets and where they allow it, other flats will also be STLs so there will be competition.
4. On average, you need to be booked for at least 20 days every month to break even. Expenses to think about off the bat - all the house bills are paid by you, updating furniture and fittings as the wear and tear is a lot higher, higher cleaning expenditure, fees to booking platforms (Airbnb takes an average of 18% of all bookings, booking.com takes 15%, VRBO takes 15%), linen and laundry costs (at every booking), providing and replacing toiletries and tea stuff then rent or mortgage.
5. You are not guaranteed a booking. People will cancel last minute. You will have to reduce prices to keep it competitive. There will be down periods – usually December to March that your expenses will keep running when your bookings are down.
6. The booking portals can shut you down at any time and sometimes for frivolous reasons. Airbnb is very good at this. They can also withhold payments to you and refund customers without your approval and there’ll be nothing you can do about it.
7. Neighbours will intensely dislike you – guests are not usually very considerate. They will park anyhow, party, thrash the property, make noise and you will be called out to break up issues.
8. It can easily become a full time job without the commensurate full time pay unless you outsource it and then that eats into your profits.
9. Reviews even when malicious can make or break you.

We turned our family home into an Airbnb when we first left the UK. We restricted bookings to a minimum of 3 nights. It was a larger home (5 bedroom) and could sleep 12 people, so we got large bookings and were able to charge accordingly (£300 a night and fixed so if it was 1 person or 12 people, you paid the same price. Otherwise, people book for 2/3 and sneak the reast in)

2 bookings was break even for us. So we aimed for a min of 3 bookings a month. Even though we didn’t target tourists (it was near a military base, close to a motorway, a speedway and a nuclear power plant), Nov to March was absolutely brutal! So, we targeted contractors and track racers, those would wake, head off to work, come back, drink, sleep and repeat and they were filthy! OMG! The cleaner always had to take rubbish to the tip -which cost money as well.
Christmas and NY were always booked so we often upped the charge for that time to cover us till March. There is a large number of retirees (67% of the population of the town) so their families would book and stay at ours when they came to see, visit or bury their family member.

There’s was always something to be repaired after every booking. People would put the heating on in the summer and just leave it on all day. Our cleaner lived 2 doors away and would hand over keys so they knew she was nearby, people still tried to have parties, sneak people in, hide broken stuff.

Guests will message at all hours of the day for basic things even when we had a comprehensive house manual detailing every single thing. I can’t find the thermostat for the heating – it’s on the wall by the controls. The lights won’t dim – use the dimmer nau! I’ve forgotten the pin to get in (it’s always the last 4 digits of the booking person’s phone number and they can change the guest one to any 4-digit number), I’ve locked myself out (just use the 4-digit pin that you set! It’s a digital lock o! I can unlock remotely but still!), your spoons are not shiny enough, could you please buy round pasta bowls? Can you get me cots? My baby will only sleep in a cot (we don’t provide cots and it’s detailed in our listing and the booking rules), your bedsheets are not Egyptian cotton, I only sleep on cotton sheets – ogbeni carry your favourite sheets follow body o
You will have your customer service face and voice on 24/7. Knowing what I know now, I’ll take Mon- Fri lodgers over short term let guests if I am not doing it full time.

PS - You can check prices and availability in your given area by checking calendars of hosts on Airbnb or VRBO by month (booked dates will be greyed out), open dates will show prices. Play round with weeks (7 days discounts), months (long term booking discount), check how lax their rules are - strictly no refunds or usually means bookings are generally slow. It is more difficult to do that on booking.com so to check viability for booking.com, use the search function and check which cheap hotel chains are in the area - Travel lodge etc as those will be your direct competition

foxybingo:
I wrote my will last year and added my kids as beneficiaries to my house. I m also paying monthly payments which will finish next year to add them to a trust

My question is there any disadvantage of the trust?

If I decide to sell the house. Can I? Or are they the new owners

Depending on how you structure the trust - it's an entity of it's own so can sell and buy assets. The trust directors/ managers have to work in the best interest of the trust beneficiaries. Be aware of tax implications as well. However, one of the major reasons of creating trusts is to prevent assets being sold off or out of it. So it's well worth getting some professional advice

babajeje123:
Please what's your opinion about a school recommending a child to see a speech Therapist? The child is 4 but her speech is not clear. Sometimes she uses her hands to express herself and some other times you hear clearly what she says. It's only her big sister who understands her clearly and their parent would need to ask the big one to repeats what the little one says.

It's not an issue to see or use an SLT. My son needed an SLT. He wasn't even speaking clearly at 4. Now I bribe him to stop talking.

Joyfuljoyful:
Hello everyone.

My son turned 4 this May and his words are not clear enough. Whats your take on it please?
Thanks.

There's no stigma for accessing a Speech and Language Therapist and his words not being clear isn't a condition yet - not until 1. It continues and 2. There's an official diagnosis. You may well see the SLT and they decide all is well. Or you see the SLT and it turns out your child needs extra support.

Access and receive any support that your child needs.

Pearlyfaze:
Good afternoon Elders,

I need advise on certain decisions especially as regards the proposed 8years Skilled Worker Route to ILR. This proposal is currently causing riot in my head.

Remember, it is just a mooted idea for now. Why not hang on till you decide where you want to be? It just gives you more time to save.
Nigeria is full of crawling things and you lived there for a good chunk of your life. We spent one month in April traveling round Australia and I didn't see one crawling thing! Even when we went snorkelling in the middle of the ocean.

Ewadoyin1983:
Pls can anyone guide me for PhD/ Master admission. I already had my masters but am not sure if I should go for my PhD or redo another master.

Did your masters have a thesis or research component? If yes, do a phd

dude420:
Can one drop out of phd and become a dependent ?

Yes but not if the other person is on an undergraduate or master student visa

binkslove:
Pls is there any age limit in New Zealand universities, am 37 I have OND in Business Administration and I want to apply for a BSC degree in business.

There is no age limit - undergraduate students are not allowed to bring dependants though

EngrEgghead:
@Ticha and all other notable NZL members. What's is the feasibility of converting a visit visa (once you arrive at NZL with it) to a work visa.
I am keen on using the visit visa route (even though I don't know anyone in NZL) and then using the opportunity to secure a job over there so l can bring my wife and kids. Is this possible?

It's relatively easy and allowed. You do need to get your ducks in a row and ensure your application is accepted first time

Adunnishugar:



Thank you for the response.

I’m not trying to set the pace or determine his career path. I have asked him severally what he wants to do personally and I think the cyber security was what he seemed genuinely interested in. But on starting the course he said it seems too complicated. And we also don’t know any one currently on that path that can mentor him in it.
So I am just trying to get suggestions on other jobs he can easily switch to with no prior training or experience.

Also in the past I didn’t dictate, we both had the conversation and we both decided moving to the uk was suitable for both of us given our current situation then. Yes I presented the idea, but I didn’t force it on him.
My parents initially wanted my sister and I to go through the US route instead (which she later did) but I decided to go to UK because we both did not want the relationship to end.

Where do you live? If he wants to continue the Marine Engineering route then he needs to be where those jobs are - Southampton, Portsmouth, Felixstowe, Lowestoft and the Glasgow/Edinburgh axis. Quite a lot of those jobs are also FIFO but not sure if he can get FIFO straight off the bat.
Otherwise he can upskill in the same specialisation (if he wants to continue that pathway) and get into work that way.

There are free career coaches at the job centre or find a Crisis Skylight if there's one near you. They offer career advice as well.

koonbey:


Ma, could you kindly expand on this a bit more?

My thinking had been that it would be best to buy a much less expensive house than one can afford and then overpay to pay off the mortgage in say 8 - 10 years.

How does that rationale compare with buying a more expensive one up front?

Because I have no desire to pay off any mortgages till I am at retirement. The easiest investment vehicle to recycle and maximise your funds into and out of is property. Having usable equity means you don't have to worry about getting a deposit for your next purchase as you can just re-mortgage and pull those funds out for a deposit, or a new kitchen, car, travel etc.

Historically, mortgages have the lowest interest rates of any borrowed funds (still is by a good margin in most cases) so people would often add borrowing onto the mortgage than borrow from elsewhere. A huge downside is that of course your monthly payments would increase as you'll be owing the bank more money but in our case, that's why it's rented so we're not adding any more personal money in.

Basically I buy properties that will go up in value so I can withdraw that equity tax-free by borrowing against the new value. However, the amount will be capped by either the property’s rental value (if taking out a new buy-to-let loan on your rental property) or your own income (if you’re borrowing against your main home)

[quote author=KAssybabe post=123228608][/quote]

It most likely means you were not selected

Solumtoya:


Yes o... Not financial advice, but which would you advice: Get a lower rate fixed for 5 years OR Get a higher rate fixed for 2 years?

Quite tricky since Rates could be higher or lower in 2 years.

Will you happily live there for 5 years? Or will you want to upgrade houses?
Can you overpay? If yes, I would go for 2 tears and overpay to bring the LTV down.
If no, then 5 years for surety of payments.
I think rates will fluctuate a bit as there's tinkering with the market.
It's next to impossible to predict how they'll go.

Akhat:
I need advice please. I got an internship role in Development Engineering, to assist my employer with research on an ongoing project.
Please how do I approach this, because I am expected to resume the internship role next week.

Take unpaid leave from the care home job.

lightnlife:
Hello,

Please is it necessary for a pregnant Nigerian in the UK to take tetanus injection?

I know it was compulsory in Nigeria.

Thanks

No whooping cough is the only vax recommended for pregnant women and you can opt out should you choose to - it's usually to protect the baby as mum's pass thr antibodies on till the newborn can get their own vax

Santa2:


Funny thing is that I got a call from a friend this afternoon, he is a permanent resident due to get his Canadian passport by the end of the year. He was asking what it took for a canadian citizen to relocate to the UK. I was taken aback and asked why he would want to do that, He gave a long list of reasons that were similar to reason why some people here in the uk want to go to canada. Me wey still dey put one eye for canada. Our preliminary search while still on the call showed that Canadian citizens still need sponsored visa(t2) to live and work here. Who would have known? I have come to realize that people would move across the world for various reasons , even now, there are people moving back to naija even though throngs of people are japaing from there in droves. Abeg aphrodite keep one travelling bag for me make I stowaway inside as you dey go.

I say that all the time here. People move for many reasons and some move just because. The husbot works in a global civil engineering consultancy. The company actively encourages staff to move and work in other branches and a lot of the staff take advantage of it! They won't sponsor your visa unless you fill a particular niche but if you ask for a transfer, the answer will be yes! You don't even need manager approval, just HR.

Someone called me greedy because I said we were thinking of moving to Canada or the US - our pull to leave NZ is not even an economic or health one. We have Nigeria on the list of countries to consider because we will be going as expats so it works for us at this time (husbot's company has a branch there). We're at a stage in our lives and careers where we can move just because and it's a great place to be!

Fortunately or unfortunately, we've decided the next place we move to, we have to be there for 6 years minimum so the children can finish secondary school. This means, depending on where we move to, we may end up with another passport which is not necessarily a bad thing! It creates freedom of movement.

I can't wait for them to head off to university. I will move countries every 2 years!

Lexusgs430:



Some jobs, are much better hands on, than uni certifications.......

Nurses, many years ago in the UK. Never went to university (those nurses were much better than all this university nurses)........

Same as teaching. About a decade ago, they brought back direct training in the classroom again. Certainly going back many, many years ago, doctors trained as apprentices. Maybe they're onto something...

Medicine and Dentistry are a few of the courses you cannot get a student loan for and have to be self sponsored

KOVIC19COVID20:


Do you mean Barclays already offer 100% mortgage?

Yes they do. But you need a family member to lock away a certain amount of money with them and leave it untouched as a guarantee for the mortgage incase the borrower defaults. It's called a Springboard mortgage I think

Loughborough Building Society also used to offer guarantor mortgages.

Zahra29:


Another vote here for Skipton - very straightforward, sensible, Northern folk😁

I posted this news on the other forum earlier. Interesting how much of a buzz it's made as there are already 100% mortgage providers on the market like Barclays. Maybe it's because no pseudo deposit is required in the form of a guarantor. I wonder what the detail will look like - lending and affordability criteria and APR

I'm watching with keen interest! They've already put a sort of cap on the purchase price by linking the affordability to rents paid in the last 12 to 18 months. It may that they stick to a % above current rent.

Interest rates will be the koko.

KOVIC19COVID20:
I read somewhere that a housing association wants to start a 100% (no deposit) mortgage…

Was glad to read that

Just read it too. Skipton is one of the lenders that are very flexible and sensible when it comes to lending. We have an expat mortgage with them with very reasonable rates and fees - practically unheard of in the expat mortgage space.

Details below for the 100% - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/may/08/uk-mortgage-lender-100-loans-skipton-building-society

To add a caveat - those that the great financial crisis of 2008 hit very badly were people with 100% mortgages who fell into instant negative equity. If anyone goes for this, try and build equity by overpaying as much as possible. One good way to do this is to ensure that the mortgage payments are not at the maximum that you can afford which then gives a buffer.

PS - building equity also means if Skipton rates are high to start with, then once the initial fixed rate is up, one can move to a more rate friendly lender.

shabazz1776:
Hello everybody
I’m trying to apply to study in new Zealand and the schools I reached out are asking me to use an accredited agent of theirs, pls how do I go about this . I need help urgently on how to apply

All the unis will have an agent list. Ask them for it. Lincoln Uni uses an agent in India

semmyk:


[Edit] I see @Ticha just explain early repayment. A good take that links it to 'surplus'. Thanks ma.

Ese sir!

Oh and the interest rate bands can vary quite a bit as different lenders apply different bands.

For example:
For lender 1 - anything under 90% ltv falls under one interest rate band, then 80-89%, etc
For lender 2 - anything under 85% ltv falls under one band.

For our last re-mortgage, the interest rate band after 60% ltv was 40%! So basically 41% - 59% ltv attracted the same interest rate. That difference would give me a deposit for another BTL!

So it's sometimes not just a matter of a low deposit. Some lenders also start adding fees once the ltv drops - which I find weird - so when calculating total interest, you also need to look at the product fees if there are any.

But you're right Semmyk - it depends on the person, their goals and financial capabilities. My personal rule of thumb is to use as little of my own cash as possible at the beginning, buy the biggest house I can afford within my parameters and then overpay. I see the overpayment as forced savings - one day, I shall be taking that equity out for something else even if na new kitchen

deept:


This thing sometimes is like playing kalo kalo. House prices does not wait for anyone. It takes a lot to save the 5% not to talk of 30% considering the cost of living.
By the time you have the 30%, the cost of houses could have gone up and your 30% would amount to less and the person that bought with 5% would have more than 5% equity because his borrowing is still same. Life is time and chance, prayer is that our decisions favour us in the long run.

Plus you can always overpay on your mortgage (almost all lenders allow 10% of the loan per annum), and when things get hard, pause the overpayment. Not using all your available cash also means having reserves for any repairs that crop up. One of the things a lot of first home buyers ignore is the amount of little work here and there that ends up wiping you out or you ignore it and it becomes a bigger issue. There's no landlord to call on!