r/IndiansInUK

Hi Folks,

Thanks for your help. I am a technology entrepreneur from the US who is looking to move to London. I have kids who will go to primary school and we are leaning independent schools.

There is lot of news about safety issues in London recently. I wanted to help understand the reality on the ground.

We are flexible on budget and will have access to cars. I will be mostly working from home, so commute is not a constraint.

Can you please recommend some good areas to live.

Hey everyone,

I’ll be moving back to India in about a month and need to send a few personal belongings from the UK, mainly clothes, utensils, shoes, and some miscellaneous household stuff. Nothing super expensive or fragile.

I’ve been looking into cargo/shipping services and came across CargoForce. Their pricing seems pretty reasonable, but the reviews online are really mixed. Some people say they had a smooth experience, while others mention delays, damaged parcels, or poor customer support.

Has anyone here personally used CargoForce for shipping from the UK to India?

Would you recommend them?

PS- I’d also really appreciate suggestions for any other reliable and reasonably priced services you’ve used recently

Hi everyone,
My family is considering a move to London later this year and I wanted to reach out to this community for honest, practical advice from those who have actually lived it — especially Indian families who have navigated the move with young children

Our situation briefly:
We are a couple in our mid late 30s. I am moving for a corporate role. My wife will not be working initially as she requires additional education to work there. We have a 15-month-old son who has a confirmed neurological diagnosis requiring daily medical management. He is on multiple medications, is developmentally on track and doing well, but needs careful daily routines — specific feeding schedule, environmental sensitivity management, and an established care protocol. He is currently under an excellent specialist in India and the transition of his medical care is our biggest practical concern.

We are coming from India where we have full family support, a known medical system, established specialist care, a nanny, and a cook. We are under no illusions that London will feel the same initially — but we want to prepare as well as possible rather than land and figure it out.

What I would love your honest input on:
On the NHS:
• How quickly were you able to register with a GP on arrival and get a referral to a paediatric specialist? We have a complex paediatric case — how did the NHS handle urgent specialist referrals for a young child with an active neurological diagnosis?
• Has anyone accessed tertiary paediatric care through NHS referral rather than privately? How long did it take and what was the realistic experience?
• For those with children on medications — how smooth was the prescription transfer process from India? Any gaps we should prepare for?
• Is private health insurance worth having alongside NHS for complex paediatric cases or is NHS sufficient?
On finding the right nanny:
• Any experience finding nannies specifically experienced with medically sensitive or complex children in London? Which agencies, communities, or platforms were most useful?
• For Indian families specifically — how did you find Indian cooks or part-time household help? WhatsApp groups, temple communities, any specific platforms or approaches that worked?
• What should we look for and what should we avoid when hiring a nanny for a child with specific medical needs?
On the spouse transition:
• For non-working spouses who moved with partners — how did you find community and social connection in the early months? What helped most and what did you wish you had done differently?
• Any Indian women’s networks, professional communities, or cultural organisations in London that were genuinely useful?
• For those who pursued professional requalification after moving — how did you manage study alongside full-time caregiving? What support structures helped?
On first-month practicalities:
• What should we absolutely sort before landing versus what can wait until we arrive?
• Any India-to-UK specifics we should know — bank accounts, National Insurance, GP registration sequence, anything people typically miss?
• What were the unexpected challenges nobody warned you about — especially with a young child?
One specific ask:
If anyone has navigated the UK system with a child with ongoing medical needs requiring specialist paediatric care — we would genuinely love to hear from you directly. The medical transition is our biggest anxiety and ground-level experience is worth more than anything we can research online.
We are approaching this with open eyes. We know the first six months will be hard. We are not looking for reassurance — we are looking for honest practical advice from people who have actually done this.
Thank you in advance.

Anyone here who has experience with visa on arrival for Egypt as an Indian passport holder who lives and works in the UK? I am in dire need of this information as my flights are all booked for July 😭 please any help would be appreciated

Anyone who lives in manchester whos looking for a guy for a FWB relationship?

I need to vent for a second because I feel like I’m losing my mind.
I’ve always loved the idea that language is supposed to unite people. I’ve gone out of my way to be friends with people from all over—multilingual, "linguistics" types, people with cool backgrounds. But lately, I’ve realized that instead of bringing us together, it’s being used as a tool to completely shut people out.
Does anyone else deal with friends who just… forget you exist the moment someone else speaks their native tongue?
I’ll be out at dinner or hanging at a house, and two of my "friends" will just dive into a conversation in a language they know I don’t speak a word of. And I’m not talking about a quick 30-second clarification. I’m talking hours. I’m literally sitting there, eating my fries or staring at my phone, while they laugh and debate and have this deep connection right in front of me.
It feels so incredibly unwelcoming. It’s like being a ghost at your own hangout. When I try to jump in or ask what’s up, I get a half-second summary like, "Oh, we're just talking about work," and then they go right back into it.
What is the word for this? Is there a specific term for people who are "linguistically cliquey" or just completely socially oblivious? It feels just straight-up conversational exclusion.
I used to think learning about different cultures was about opening doors, but right now it feels like I’m just standing outside a locked one. Am I being too sensitive, or is this just common-level rudeness now?

I have to renew my Indian passport and need to change my Indian address. Based in London currently and as per my understanding of the vfs page, I can do this under tatkal service (I might be wrong here)

I am not sure what documents I need to show for Indian address proof as none of my Indian documents (Aadhar, PAN etc) have the new address updated

Does anyone have any idea or information for me? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have a short timeline between my Indian passport expiry and UK ILR eligibility.

Hey everyone,

I’m from India and I’ll be joining WBS this September. I’m currently trying to book my flight from Delhi to Birmingham, but I’m honestly quite confused about which airline to choose.

My main priorities are:

1.) Good luggage allowance (since I’ll be moving for studies)
2.) Budget-friendly options
3.) Decent comfort for a long flight

I’ve seen options like direct flights with Air India and connecting ones via Emirates, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, etc., but I’m not sure which one is actually the best overall.

From what I’ve seen, some airlines offer around 30- 40 kg check-in baggage depending on the fare , but I’d really like to hear real experiences rather than just what’s written online.

If you’ve flown this route recently (especially as a student), which airline did you choose and how was your experience in terms of:

1.) baggage allowance
2.) comfort
3.) overall value for money

Also, would you recommend going for a direct flight or a 1-stop option?

Would really appreciate any suggestions or tips 🙏

Hello,

I'm working on digitising my mom's 20 year old Indian Ethnic Wear boutique and rebranding it by enabling e-com and building a positioning on socials. This is a widely disorganised sector in India and I see more potential for it to grow as a brand- especially internationally as the market is much less cluttered there.

I have some ideas that involve building a boutique shopping experience online as that's a niche culture dying out, but not one without potential. And for that, I'm looking to speak with Indian/NRI woman aged 20-40 for better shopping and behavioural insights. Any little information would be of great use! Please feel free to DM or reply here.

Thanks x

I’m moving from India to London for work soon and I want to avoid repeating a bad experience I had earlier.

During a recent 2-week UK trip, I used my OnePlus 11R 5G (India variant) and literally none of the local physical SIM cards worked properly. I tried multiple carriers/SIMs and the phone basically got no usable signal.

Now I need to buy a new phone before moving.

What exactly should I check while buying a phone in India so it works properly in the UK long term?

Is checking LTE/5G bands enough?
Are there certain brands/models/India variants that people should avoid for UK usage?

I’m currently thinking of buying a temporary android phone for a few months and later upgrading to the next iPhone launch cycle.

Would appreciate advice from people who moved from India to the UK and faced similar issues.

Here are my two cents on my journey in the UK, spoilers, it's not all bad, but I needed a lot of trial and error to get it right. Currently working as a Marketing Executive in a good company in the UK.

I came to the UK in 2023 sept to study an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich. I was 26 at the time. I had a gf (24F) at that time. I did not take any education loan, and everything was paid from my pocket. This will come in handy later.

So, I came to the UK with hopes to only retrieve my money invested, aiming to stay for 3 years (1 year student visa + 2 years Graduate visa)

I then started looking for jobs and trying to find friends, I had quit, smoking, drinking, late night outs and partying and looked at masters in UK as a second chance in life, each day was costing me roughly £25-£35 just accommodation, travel and food excluding tuition fees, so I was really cautious on not wasting time in UK and do my studies and get a job.

Initially, many of my friends got jobs in restaurants and pubs. I had a cleaning job, but I quit after 2-4 weeks since I had to get up really early at 4 am and go to the job, which didn't even pay well.

I quit that job and tried finding different jobs. I kept going to university job fairs even when some of my roommates said that ‘the jobs there are useless.’ (THANK GOD!)

I found a teaching assistant job in the UK, and I had to assist students under year 6 with their studies, which was pretty simple but taxing on the mind. I did not mind that since it was really good pay and only had to work from 8 am - 3:30 pm, and I was home and ready to chat with my family and GF (who is also my wife now) and plan my future actions.

My gf was a really great support, and I had someone to bounce my ideas off, make sure my mental health is good and give me advice on lots of things. 

During my university studies, I knew that an MA in creative writing was not going to bring any jobs, so I studied marketing courses from YouTube and Udemy. I also had 3 years of writing and marketing experience before I came to London. I found Senator, we run ads and his video on “How he would start marketing all over”. It's a great piece of advice, and he suggests going in on one marketing field like (SEO, PPC, SSM) and giving it your all and going in depth.

He also suggested creating marketing portfolios, yes, case studies of companies that are hiring. There’s a third piece of advice I will give you that will get you a job in the UK later.

So I did, I studied marketing, read business books, entered a business competition at my university, and came in the top ten in that business competition. 

After my graduation, I tried a lot to get a job, optimised CVs, made case studies and applied to almost 300+ jobs. I got around 5-6 interviews, and I did not get a job. I had lost all hope in July 2025, and since the vacation started in August, which meant I did not have a job for almost 5-6 weeks, which was fine, since I had savings. 

After I got super bored one evening, I just decided to go along my high street and start asking if they required marketing help, and I can do that as a freelancer. That decision alone changed my life.

I went out, and I saw an ad for a ventilation company requiring marketing assistance, and I went in and gave my C.V I was called for an interview, and I went in with my case study. The interviewers, my current managers, asked me questions for 3 hours + which was great because no one in the past year had bothered to even look at my case studies.

After three hours, I went home, and in two weeks, I started working there. I have eight months until my visa expires, and I have to make the decision to go back home. But I have achieved what I came here for, and I don’t have any regrets. 

To tie everything together, my GF at home and not taking a loan was amongst the best things I could have had before arriving in the UK, which allowed me to only focus on being hirable for a job and getting one.

So, that’s what I had to say, making it in the UK is all about focus, learning new things, being humble enough to understand that other people can provide value, saving as much money as possible so you can use your free time to find jobs, ensuring you don’t think about doing as many shifts as humanly possible and just do jobs during your student life. The amount of resources and extracurricular activities you can do here is immense, and they help you a lot.

So I would end this super long post by saying this, “Work hard, study well, and eat and sleep plenty” — Master Roshni (The Turtle Hermit Way)

Hi I am currently pursuing LLB in India From a Tier 3 college. I always wanted to work abroad but i had only eyes for being in law. So I'm Thinking of possbility of Practising Law in UK.(Clearing Exams per UK Standards ofcourse ).I may take a LLM From UK after my graduation Since corporate Law jobs are practically non existent for Passouts From Tier3,4 colleges. The career i wanna have in UK seems Long and Nobody I know Have Successfully Branched Out to UK without Changing Professions.also I heard Even if I Pass the exams per UK Standards, They will always give preference to UK origin Lawyers (like any other country, I'm not blaming or anything ) but i can't stay unemployed in a Foreign country after LLM too.

My cousins all are either working or Studying in Health care sector. One of them is nurse who's successfully going to UK in a few months. It seems I'm only one left out but can't chase my dream because of the profession I chose.

I’ll be moving to the UK this September for my Master’s, and everywhere I look, people say that finding a part-time job during studies is quite difficult.

A part-time job is pretty important for me to manage my daily expenses, so I wanted to understand the reality on the ground.

● How difficult is it actually to find one?

● How long does it usually take after arriving?

● What kind of jobs are most commonly available for students?

● Any tips to improve chances (before or after reaching the UK)?

Would really appreciate honest insights, especially from students currently there or who’ve recently gone through this.

Thanks in advance!

Hi are there any Indian Bankers/Finance professionals here? I have been let go 3 months into my role and would really appreciate if any one that works within Banking/Finance would be willing to have a chat with me.

I could really use any advice possible. Thank you in advance.

If helpful, I'm on the Corporate Banking Coverage side and could greatly use any help possible.

I am an Indian student thinking of doing masters in UK. I have some questions :

Is their any work permit required for part time jobs and is it difficult to get part time job?