Aberdeen

Mystery Egg wrote: »

I'm afraid as an EU citizen I have automatic residency here so I have no experience with visa issues.

However I know a lot of ex-pat couples here where one partner is an EU citizen and they've experienced relatively few visa issues, apart from the large annual renewal cost. If your husband is a UK citizen and you wish to stay here long term, you may be able to naturalize.

Regarding the comments above about accommodation, rents have decreased by about 30% since I moved here, due to the downturn in the oil industry. However I would suggest lowering your expectations as accommodation is not great here in general. I rent a good 2 bedroom flat in a poor area with no amenities (although it is only about 40 minutes walk to the city centre) and it sets us back £700 per month (this is slightly over the odds right now, but I don't want to move as landlords are notoriously bad here and I have an excellent, attentive landlord). However for this we have no balcony, no garden and no fireplace (things I considered basics in a rental in Ireland), and we pay council tax at the rate of about £125 per month, as well as the usual bills.

I strongly advise a week's visit to Aberdeen before committing to move here. It is an ugly city with few resources and little culture - unlike Glasgow, Edinburgh and even Dundee and St Andrews. However, Americans do seem to like it here and you would have no shortage of American friends. Making friends with the locals is extremely difficult, so apart from one colleague and one neighbour, all my friends here are ex-pats.

It's also very, very cold and dark, even for Scotland! The weather up there actually feels quite Scandinavian which makes sense I suppose considering it's jsut across the water from Norway.

Mystery Egg wrote: »

Rent has dropped a lot. You can get a 1 bed apt for£450/500 now, a 2 bed for £600.

Come for a weekend and check it out. It's a bleak place. You need to know what you're getting into!

Check out the employment agencies and job sites for construction work. It won't be as well paid as Ireland but will probably be more consistent. Good luck!

I was over last weekend haha. My girlfriend has moved over she's in Robert Gordon uni but in student accommodation.
Would a construction worker take home £600 with them?

Mystery Egg wrote: »

Dyce is the most convenient location for the airport for sure.

£100 a week in shared accommodation will definitely be possible, you could go as low as £75 currently as there are tons of vacant flats right now. If you'd like your own place you'll negotiate a 1 bed for£450. Try Citylets and Gumtree to find a place. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply , if i can get a 1 bed for that price I'll be all over it. Never house shared before so would much prefer that.
Cheers I'll start looking on those sites today

Mystery Egg wrote: »

If you find a place you like for £500, offer them £450. It is a renter's market just now.

Are you planning to drive or use public transport? It is a small city so if you are driving you can live anywhere with easy access to the airport in under half an hour. I live in AB24 and it's 15 minutes drive to the airport from here. It would be longer on public transport but not hugely.

Don't live in Torry or Altens though, as you will have to cross a traffic clogged bridge that can take a very, very long time.

Perfect thanks, i will bring my car over as there is a VRT rebate on it which makes it more cost effective than selling it and buying again when i arrive.

Due to the early/late starts + standby shifts i would like to be 15 minutes tops from the airport to cut down on commuting times.

Great advice about Torry/Altens, knowing my luck i would have ended up living there:pac:

Mystery Egg wrote: »

With a car, pretty much anywhere in the city centre, Tillydrone or Bridge of Don will be fine. It's not a pretty city though, be warned! Most places look a bit slummy, including where I live.

I would suggest Rosemount as a pleasant city centre area, and you'd drive to the airport from there in 20 minutes, off-peak. When you're not working you'd have a pleasant locale and walking distance to town.

Use google maps to check the distance from any flats advertised to the airport but remember that the further south you live, the worse the traffic is getting there. Centre/centre-north of the city is the way to go.

thanks for the reply once again. i think ill book into a airbnb for a couple of weeks to get the feel of the place while looking for an apartment. I was thinking of trying to organise one before arriving but with airnbnb being such good value it is probably best not to. Rosemount was recommended to me by a friend of a friend also so ill make that top of the search list.

Been living in the Aberdeen area for a year now (13 miles out from city center)
Talk of "bleakness" is nonsense in my experience. While temperatures may be on average 5-8 degrees C less than what you'd be used to in Ireland, I find it is much drier and brighter overall. The city's architecture and history is really good. There are loads of beautiful parks too. Unlike the likes of Belfast and Dublin it's not a dirt hole with a huge quota  of decrepit people.
The surrounding countryside is fabulous; rivers, hills, forests, valleys, rolling countryside. It's a wonderful gateway to the Highlands. If you like the outdoors - cycling, walking, flying, fishing etc.  it's a bit of a paradise.
The locals are definitely not as out-of-the-way friendly as Irish people, but at the same time they are very docile and lacking aggression. I've never seen anyone lose the head, even when driving. A huge proportion of people there are blow-ins. I would say they are practical people (probably due to so many engineers about)
What Aberdeen does lack is arts and culture. There is some, but it's extremely limited.  Like mentioned above, the buzz you get in the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow is entirely absent in Aberdeen. People seem more interested in the latest model of RS Audi than entertainment culture.
House prices are laughable. I'd say on average they are 40% dearer size-for-size with houses in Ireland. Plus, most of recent constructions (10+ years or so) are papier-mâché timber-framed crap that was flung up over a long weekend.  
The other glaring thing is the lack of really good looking women. In a year I've never seen a total hottie. It's the  definition of average. Go to Belfast or Dublin, it's sch-wing everywhere. Aberdeen - might as well be wearing burkas as you'd never recall a face.

el tel wrote: »

Been living in the Aberdeen area for a year now (13 miles out from city center)
Talk of "bleakness" is nonsense in my experience. While temperatures may be on average 5-8 degrees C less than what you'd be used to in Ireland, I find it is much drier and brighter overall. The city's architecture and history is really good. There are loads of beautiful parks too. Unlike the likes of Belfast and Dublin it's not a dirt hole with a huge quota of decrepit people.
The surrounding countryside is fabulous; rivers, hills, forests, valleys, rolling countryside. It's a wonderful gateway to the Highlands. If you like the outdoors - cycling, walking, flying, fishing etc. it's a bit of a paradise.
The locals are definitely not as out-of-the-way friendly as Irish people, but at the same time they are very docile and lacking aggression. I've never seen anyone lose the head, even when driving. A huge proportion of people there are blow-ins. I would say they are practical people (probably due to so many engineers about)
What Aberdeen does lack is arts and culture. There is some, but it's extremely limited. Like mentioned above, the buzz you get in the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow is entirely absent in Aberdeen. People seem more interested in the latest model of RS Audi than entertainment culture.
House prices are laughable. I'd say on average they are 40% dearer size-for-size with houses in Ireland. Plus, most of recent constructions (10+ years or so) are papier-mâché timber-framed crap that was flung up over a long weekend.
The other glaring thing is the lack of really good looking women. In a year I've never seen a total hottie. It's the definition of average. Go to Belfast or Dublin, it's sch-wing everywhere. Aberdeen - might as well be wearing burkas as you'd never recall a face.

True, it's not a terrible city but it's definitely the least liveable in Scotland. Even outside of Glasgow or Edinburgh both Inverness, Dundee and the 'cities' of Stirling or Perth are better places to live than Aberdeen.

Also if it's the outdoors you're after you're not really much closer in Aberdeen than any of the others.