Moving to the UK

Moving to the UK

Moving to the UK 

22 Mar 2021

People involved in the international relocation business in Hong Kong have seen a surge in interest in moving to the United Kingdom. Given Hong Kong’s historic roots as a British colony for 150 years or so, that should come as no surprise. Many Hong Kong people consider a UK education, and accent if they manage it, be a badge of honour, an imprimatur of a privileged position in society.

One of those reasons may be that beginning January 2021, and the United Kingdom opened a Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa’ for BN(O) citizens and their close family members. The new route, the details of which were presented to parliament on 22 October 2020 in a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, will allow all British National (Overseas) citizens who normally live in the UK, Islands, or Hong Kong, to come to the UK with their close family members for five years. After five years of residence in the UK, they will be entitled to apply for settlement (also known as indefinite leave to remain). After one further year of residence, they will apply for British citizenship. Click here to read the rules and regulations in greater detail.

So once you understand all the legal and statutory requirements, it’s time to get down to fundamental, granular details. A quick and high-level checklist would include: 

  1. Organize your documents. 
  2. Get your vaccines 
  3. Set dates for your move, your departure, and 

Finally, at the time of this writing, the global shipping network is in a state of chaos. There are many reasons involved, but the main ones are COVID, Brexit, huge backlogs at main international ports, equipment (i.e., containers) shortages, lack of space on container ships, and an historic imbalance whereby empty container have piled up in the USA and Europe, when they are needed in China and other large Asian exporting nations. 

The upshot of all these factors coming together to produce a 380% increase in the cost to ship a 40′ container from HK to Felixstowe (the main gateway port to UK destinations.) So, what cost you $2,500 in November 2020, costs you $12,000 in January 2021.

Do plan ahead, contact your international moving company, and buckle up for some rough seas.