I have decided to join my girl and live in Ukraine, I am not too bothered about the conditions being poorer than in the west, I can put up with that.
I believe you can get a 90 day visa and just leave the country every 90 days and come back in to get your passport stamped.
I was thinking of getting a visitor/entrepreneur visa and try and look round to either start or maybe buy an existing business as the chance of getting a job for someone in their mid fifties with limited Russian speaking would be remote
The question I have is do I actually have to work or can I live off the money I receive renting my house in Uk and living on the interest?
I could sell my house and buy a place for cash in Ukraine as another alternative.
I could possibly do a TEFL course and try and find work on a self employed basis teaching English if this is allowed. I am only looking to make a small income as I know the economy isn't great.
Any advice welcome or contacts that could help me
Haven’t seen you here before so you must be like me, what the veterans of this forum call a “newbie”
Like you, I also live here in the Islamic state of “Great” Britain. And, like you, I’m off, within about 2yrs. I think I read in the Daily Mail back in January that around 3 million people a year leave this hell hole, and never return. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, France and the US are all favourites to live for us Brits, the FSU wasn’t on the list!
I’m looking into all that you are Jin, renting out my house and living off that, selling it and buying an apartment in Ukraine, teaching English to earn a modest living out there etc. Perhaps we could share info as we discover it?
And I’m still looking to meet someone from this forum who is interested in sharing a DRIVE to Ukraine, or maybe the coach, sometime before Christmas, I wonder if I’ve just found him???????!!!!!!!!
Hi JinUK I'm planning on doing the same. You can stay 90 days with a 180 day period, but yes if you stay 90 days then you can't enter for another 90 days. If you stay out of the UK for a year then your taxed as a non resident even if you come go back and work for 3 months every 3 months so there are some tax advantages. I won't consider it if you didn't have at a minimum $2000 a month available not including travel expenses. You can probably get a long term visit visa if you can prove you have funds to support yourself, but I haven't looked into this.
And I won't sell the house until you have lived there for a while. I am lucky as I can still keep my current job and still live there and I travel enough for work to be out of the county for 6 months in a year, its just the expense of flights thats the disadvantage.
I ve lived in east Ukraine for nearly three years already, own property, a few business interests, and life here for the most part is good; different, but good.
timmy21
tell all of us how is life different? i am coming over for the first time within the month or two. i have sold off several of my businesses within the last couple of years and i still have a "fire in my spirit" drive as a entrepreneur. i dont have anything that holds me in the u.s. but capital is not what i will need, its proabably acess
question- does the local populace have the get up and go to make a economy flourish?
Why the hell would you want to go live in Ukraine when you can live in New Zealand?
Ok, maybe the Crimea, but you honestly want to live there if you had a choice? Its just for the women?
Corruption is rampant and you don't mind? Do you guys speak fluent Russian?
Hey I'm from NZ and I would. Cost of living is less and your closer to Europe and the middle east so there’s lots more business opportunities and you can live there tax free if you know what your doing. It’s where my wifes family and friends are so she can keep herself busy.
JinUK, SirDaniel and Goodguy4life,
I’m new also but already living in Kiev with my Ukrainian wife. First don’t be fooled by living conditions out here, yes in East Ukraine things a cheaper and I guess a bit more like most rural areas of most former FSU countries, but here in Kiev, around 10th most expensive city in the world, the building and rebuilding of tower blocks and shopping centres is at an extraordinary rate. A huge population of Kiev are car owner/drivers, and a lot are new cars, and there are some seriously rich Ukrainians here, and lots of entrepreneurs. My wife works for a University lecturer who married to a very successful director of a major building company, they have one grown up son, yet own 7 brand new BMW’s (own), there house is just off this planet.
The visa thing – come here on a 90 day visa, rent apartment long term, get the landlord to sign your document then you can extend every three months up to one year. PM me for further information.
The south island. Possibly if I had to choose between the two then Wellington, but I don't like wind and it would probably get to me, however do like hills and Wellington has lots of hills. On a fine sunny day Wellington is very beautiful and its also just a ferry away from the south island. Auckland is humid and more international which I don't like when I'm home, and has traffic problems but on the other hand then theres lots more to do in Auckland.
I understand it's very difficult to relocate to places like New Zealand,Usa etc. I would move to Ukraine to be with ny woman and put up with the conditions which I realise are not up to UK/USA standards. My problem is I would have to go and try and decide what, if any business opportunities are there. I am not going to try and make a fortune as I doubt the economy will ever be good enough in my lifetime. I thought with the 90 day visa you just had to literally pop out of the country for an hour or so then come back in for another 90 days ( I have read that on other sites of people doing that)but Ben says differently? I just would like to get in the country without restrictions on what I do. i.e. working or buying property and renting it maybe, just not being rushed into doing anything to give me time to weigh every thing up, in other words getting the best visa for that purpose without worrying too much about visa resrictions
JinUK
I'm not sure if its that easy, it maybe for the Ukraine. It is the case for moldova anyway
http://www.moldovanembassy.org.uk/index.php?text=42&page_add=3
Bu t it would be interesting to know if this was the case for the Ukraine
I beleive you can buy property in the ukraine no problem and if you do you can get a residence visa or something like that.
Lots of new wealth in Odessa and Kiev. I have no clue why anyone thinks its cheaper. Construction and Real-estate are at a premium in those cities, especially Kiev which has an international audience gateway to the EU and Russia...
I wouldn't live there. It's why I warn guys about what they are getting into thinking they can woo a Kiev beauty. Listen, there are hundreds of young, successful local Ukrainian men who got in on the ground floor of this new economic boom. I have already encountered it.
Sorry to burst your bubbles thinking you can be moderate-average income and expect to impress any girl there... But maybe you all are male models and under 30...
Funny how I have been to Ukraine..Kiev...many times and have not encounted what you have. Yes a few are reaping the benefits of the boom but they are few and far between. Most guys I saw were too busy drinking and partying with their friends....the light has not gone off yet. You say hundreds of guys..........you must have spent more time with the guys than the girls. I agree, I did see plenty of new construction thou!! I just think only the enterprising indidviduals are going to get rich.
I don't plan to impress girls with $$$$, if that is case I'll just stay home. If you get girl by buying your way in....eventually she will find someone richer, I'm sure Apal you know this very well! The idea is to find a girl that is looking for the right guy, open to finding him from a foreign country. If she is the hot young babe chances are very slim you will get her to stay with you. Biggest hurdle for guys is not $$$$ or looks or other guys or even local guys..... it is getting a girl to leave her country
apal, well if theres a the economic bloom you talk about then making good money would be easy if your smart. And trust me its cheaper than London (50% cheaper and thats not living cheap), I don't know where in the US you live but London is more expensive than Kiev. Also if you want to make money you could hire a team of software engineers and contract them out to US/EU companies. The lower wages there means your costs are lower. Also its pretty low profile and if you have experience in the US/EU IT industry then finding such projects isn't hard. Another idea would be buying and selling estate, if you have the cash to invest you could do well.
Ben - tried the software outsourcing angle with an Odessa software firm that oursourced programmers living in Moldova. :)
Kiev programmers want a litle more money and I have been told you have to keep on top of them every day (from a Ukrainian software developer).
If I wanted to go somewhere with cheaper labor costs, I'd try Chisnau. It's a tax free zone. Let me know how it goes. I'm looking for a partner with an adventurous streak like yours. What type of software development did you have in mind? Websites? or Client/Server? Java or .Net?
Tell me more about the "Hell Hole". I'm from the UK and have lived in Sydney for the last 17 years. I'm thinking about going back to the UK to be with family. Also I have a Russian girlfriend soon to be wife who lives in Serbia.
I'm from the South of England namely Southampton, Brighton, Bournmouth. I've been back many times over the last 17 years and seen the place change. Still you live there you will have a more objective view. I'd love to hear people's thought on the UK of today.
My life is Sydney is wonderful, not too crowded, great weather, opportunities, beaches, parks etc. I have to admit I am a little concerned about making the move back. Never liked the weather there that's why I moved here in the first place. Still I'm getting on now and all my family live in the UK. Parents are getting old so I have a sense of responsibility to return.
Anyway your thoughts would be most welcomed.
PS: I lived in Krasnoyarsk for 2 weeks in April this year. It wasn't all that bad. I could live there for a little. It does go down to -40 in the weather!!!!1
Interesting Apal. I would think finding the right people there is very important. Never heard of Chisnau being a tax free zone, how so?. Thats where i'm going infact. I think web based or phone/pda solutions are the way to go and i would tend to lend towards java. Probably easy to get one off projects like building websites but ideally you want to develop a product thats sellable.
I would imagine it would take some research and time to set up and a well defined business plan. Its something I am considering doing in my spare time when i'm there.
I was born in London (Streatham) Have lived here in Northampton (about 60 miles outside London) since I was 8yrs. Obviously I know of the places you mention -Southampton, Brighton, Bournemouth.
Where do I start without it going on and being boring for others who aren’t interested?
Being English and daring to celebrate Englishness is practically outlawed, a few tentative flags sheepishly poke out from car windows up & down the motorways on St George’s Day. Compare this with July 4th in the US, when the whole country is awash with American pride and you’ll get an idea of what I mean.
America is the biggest soup of different nationalities on earth, but, unlike the Islamic state of “Great” Britain, it welcomes immigrants on IT’S terms, it doesn’t hand the country over to those it has been kind enough to welcome. It basically says…..”You people, wherever you are from, can come live here, participate, go after the American dream if you wish, but, this is OUR country, America, and you will fit in with us” And that is the way it SHOULD be done.
There are practically no more English living in London, go visit, and you will see (and hear) for yourself. They don’t teach English history in schools no more, too English you see, and the millions (and I mean MILLIONS) of immigrants that bother to turn up for a day of our schooling just don’t care about our history. And it’s the immigrants, especially the Muslims that are of utmost importance here!
Too may “special recruitment drives” for just about every sector of industry, for just about every colour of skin, except Caucasian, of course. No capital punishment, the average sentence for murderers is 9yrs, colour TV’s, Play stations and day trips out throughout the 9yrs is normal now. Do-gooders run Britain, politically correct nerds and douchbags. Matey mentions in a few posts above this about London being so expensive, he ain’t kidding, and why limit it to just London, the whole of this country is outrageously too expensive, the government steals from us citizens daily – tax – tax – tax – then goes and spends it on wars we don’t support and more immigration centres for the “poor unfortunates” that flock here in their thousands, EVERY WEEK.
Fine, because an estimated 3 million English are leaving every year, and never returning, within the next 2yrs I intend to add another 1 to those numbers!
Don’t come back here, unless you absolutely HAVE to, you’ve been warned friend!
SirDaniel,
With all due respect please check your passport, it is a passort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and European Union, it states that your nationality is British and absolutely nowhere on it does it state the word 'English'.
Thus if you are of English nationality then you are one of a kind.