Lagos to London: 2 years later
By: Majeed Ahmed
Tags: Relocation, London, Living In London, Lagos, Nigeria

2 years ago, I made the decision to move to London. Here, I talk about what that has been like — enjoy!

Photo by Daria Shevtsova from Pexels

I tried writing a 1 year later post but the lazy part of me couldn’t just get to it but following the feedback I got from my initial post and some questions I still get, I think doing a 2 years later post would be a great idea, I hope you feel the same way.

Looking back at the decision

I wrote about my decision to move here and after 2 years, I think I can look back at the decision and say I did well. I have absolutely enjoyed living in London for this period and I think I have grown to love the city and really consider it home. I absolutely love working with my employer, I have a fantastic partner, I can travel easily due to how accessible London is, and I experience a lot of different cultures — which is an absolute delight! While I have enjoyed my time here, I am going to talk about specific areas that I considered before moving here and how I have fared in those areas so far. I am also going to talk about some of my experiences settling in — and what I have learned since I moved.

Starting afresh

The best part about living in a new city is re-discovering yourself due to the new environment. You get to be aware of how you react to new situations that come up and how your old environment has shaped you. At this point, you start to question why things are the way they are and how easy quality of life improves when certain things are put in place. Take a simple example of electricity — because you don't have to worry about that going off, the way you think about mundane things like charging your phone or ironing your clothes feels different, you pretty much use up resources or do some certain tasks only when you need to and not just because it would soon become unavailable. Sigh, Nigeria.

Is it home yet? Can I go back home?

Of course, I miss home — there are times where I’ve felt really down because I couldn’t be with my family especially during celebrations. Eid al-Adha was a big one for me but I hope I get to see them more often. I miss the food (although, living in London does make it easier to get Nigerian food), I miss seeing so many black people around me. I sometimes miss the chaos — I’m not proud of it, but hey that was what I spent 26 years of my life in. People often ask if I will go back home after some time with the hope of settling or retiring in my home country, my answer is: I really do not think so. Unless Nigeria magically fixes itself (LOL), I think I’ll stay away till retirement and find some warm island to live on when I grow old. I really cannot cope with the struggles of that country anymore. However, I find it interesting to see that Nigerians who were born here do have stronger feelings towards the idea of returning home at some point later in their adult life — but I guess na because them never jam Nigeria, or Nigeria never jam them.

Public holidays, Social life — Is this Halal?

“Is it Halal?” — As a Muslim in Nigeria, I have never had to ask that back home. I was so embedded in the homogeneous environment I grew up in that I didn’t realize Halal was a dietary restriction. I’ve learned to ask that at restaurants now or to list that as a dietary restriction when I’m being given food. I used to understand Halal as anything that isn’t pork but the Halal board in the UK disagrees. I do miss the public holidays in Nigeria, the UK has about 8 public holidays compared to Nigeria which has about 13 in a year depending on when the minister of p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶ ̶h̶o̶l̶i̶d̶a̶y̶ interior announces it. I enjoy the occasional brunch or picnic with friends that I have made here and it's good to see how we have been able to form a community of Nigerians who work in either tech or finance and enjoy similar interests. It gives you that link you miss with home and also helps you figure out this place as a “family”.

Work, work work.

Luckily, I have kept the same job that made me relocate here. I truly enjoy working with my employer and my team and it has been a really good journey so far. A good work-life balance is important to me and my current job affords me that. It's important to note that as a Tier 2 i̶m̶m̶i̶g̶r̶a̶n̶t̶ expatriate in the UK, when you want to change jobs, you do have to reapply for a new visa (crap! I know). The job has to be with an employer who can sponsor your visa and they have to go through the regular process of applying for a visa. Some employers are able to pay for super-priority applications which means you can get your new visa in less than 48hrs (what??!!). I haven’t needed to change my job so I do not have much experience in that department.

Travel

Living in a travel hub does afford you the ease of traveling to a lot of destinations. In the past two years, I’ve been able to do trips to New York, Berlin, Paris, Tenerife, Cancun, Lisbon, Barcelona, Milan, and some other cities within and outside of the UK. As a Nigerian passport holder on a Tier 2 visa in the UK, I believe it's relatively easier to get a Schengen or a US visa than it is in Nigeria. I have been able to get a Schengen VISA three times (the latest one I have would last a year) and I have also been able to renew my US visa without any difficulties. After a couple of my travels, I actually get asked fewer questions when I visit the Schengen area on entry— my last two travels, no questions, just stamps. I think it helps to get there at night as well, the immigration officers are usually tired at that time of the day ;). I do look forward to getting my ILR (that’s what they call PR here) and UK passport someday!

NHS

I actually didn’t care much for universal health care systems before I moved to the UK and not especially after paying the NHS surcharge for a Tier 2 visa mainly because I have never had to use it. That changed a couple of months ago when I woke up with sharp pain and had to go to the ER. It was quite a humbling experience because, under an hour of reaching the ER, I was being prepped for surgery. I had been attended to by two doctors and one surgeon to examine me and help me understand what was going on — this was at about 4 am! On waking up after the surgery (and after having a meal from the hospital), I was able to reflect on the episode and now I am a believer in universal health care! — especially because I got to walk out of the hospital after getting proper and timely care without paying out of pocket.

I was particularly glad this happened in an environment where things worked. I really cannot say how this would have turned out elsewhere.

Finances

Before moving, I spent some time reading about managing your finances in the UK — that was helpful but I had more to learn after I moved. One of the first things I did was to set up a Help to buy savings account to take advantage of the scheme where the government gives you some additional money up to £3,000 towards your first house. Another lesson I had to learn was the need to have good credit — because apparently, debt is a way of life. Another scheme that I started using recently is the lifetime ISA where the government gives you £1,000 for every £4,000 saved.

As a new resident, this can be difficult as you have no history here. I was able to use a combination of voter registration, credit card, utility bills, rent reporting to create and maintain an excellent credit profile (according to Experian). I’m still getting a hang of investing in the UK and the saving plans that are out there but the goal is to be able to plan to raise a family in the near future, plan for a secure retirement and still be able to live the baby boy life now.

I shared an exercise that I do monthly which helps me stay on top of my finances via Twitter a while back.

A thread showing some of the finance management habits

Planning for the future

At 28, I’m starting to think more about what the future looks like for me and the family I’d like to have. After getting through the initial phase of settling into my new environment, I’m starting to spend more time thinking about where I’d like to raise a family and how and that raises a lot more questions than I have answers for at the moment. Questions like; where do I want to live in the UK long term, do I want to start a business, do I need more income, how many kids, where would they go to school, do I need to buy a house, what type of house, where do I want to buy it in, etc. Luckily, I’ve got the best partner to help me figure it out :)

Excited about the possibilities with Z

COVID-19

You know what? Skip!

The next 365 days or the next 2 years?

The last 2 years have been a ride. A very good one at that. I’m really thankful for the new connections I have made, new communities that I have joined or helped create, and glad that a decision made 2 years still feels good. I’m really excited about the next 1, 2 years — and I can’t wait to write more about my journey!

As always, I’m always open to meeting new and exciting people so if you are new in London and would like to have a cup of coffee, please reach out!