The cost of immigrating
Applying for a visa, moving, and getting settled
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Hi friend,
It’s been a little over two years since I left Canada and moved to the UK. People often ask why I decided to move here, and my answer probably sounds vague but is true: I just wanted to try it out. It’s difficult to explain something you can only feel in your body and mind, and know nobody else will ever be able to fully understand about you. I’ve also spent most of my life feeling as though I need a “good” answer to these kinds of questions; like I need to present my case, or prove my point, so that I can feel understood, accepted and supported. But the truth, in this case, can truly be summed up by my answer. It was an idea I got back in 2018/2019, and I just wanted to try it out.
Instead of the initial “why,” I think the more interesting question to ask someone is: what happened after you made the decision to move to a new country? That’s what I’d like to start sharing with you—in a short series of 3-4 posts.
You might have a sense of where I’m from (Victoria, BC, Canada) or where I am living now (in the North East of England). But relocating to a different country doesn’t end when your plane touches down. It’s part of your lived experience every single day. Before leaving Canada, I (very naively) hadn’t actually considered that the word expatriate (expat, for short) would become part of my identity. But, of course, it is. I am someone who resides outside of my home country. I felt it when I first arrived. I felt it when I started getting setup. I felt it when I began to recognize how complicated this decision could be, as time goes on. And of course, I feel it when I think about all I’ve left behind.
There’s a cost to immigrating. It also costs money to immigrate—and that’s what this first post in the series is about. You might find this interesting, if you’re an expat yourself or are considering immigrating to a different country one day. Or, you just might be curious about the numbers. I’m happy to share.
Let’s look at what my first year cost me financially…
The Application: ~$7,500 CAD/$5,500 USD/£4,400
First, let’s take a quick look at how much this decision initially cost me. Before getting to the more exciting stage of booking a flight and packing my bags, I had to apply for a visa. In my case, I was eligible for a UK Ancestry visa, which would allow me to live and work in the UK for 5 years. I started the application process in September 2021, submitted in October, and got my visa in early November.
There were four costs associated with applying:
the UK Ancestry visa application fee (paid online)
the immigration health surcharge (paid online)
an appointment at a visa application centre (booked and paid online), and
for me: a trip from Victoria to Vancouver, to attend said appointment.
Altogether, the decision to simply apply and see if the UK would let me move over cost me ~$7,500 CAD/$5,500 USD/£4,400. The biggest cost was the immigration health surcharge, which at the time was around £3,200 (nearly 3/4 of the total cost). But that was my way of paying into the healthcare system and meant I could start accessing the NHS right away, if required. If my application had been denied, I would’ve gotten a refund for that amount, but lost the rest of the money.