Bob and Pushkins arrive in the UK from South Africa, via Dubai

We were adopted by Pushkins in 2012

We adopted Bob in 2013

6 months later

In December 2014 we moved to Dubai taking them both with us.

Last week they completed their journey after 5 years in Dubai with their arrival in the UK, which will be their final home.

We're having a lot of fun so far, lots of walks, new sounds, smells and places. I'll update you on their experiences next week



You can read more of our Repatriation story below:

Some of these links aren't yet live and will be updated.

Repatriation or Operation Relocation

Part 1 Things we have to do

Part 2 Starting to get organised

Part 3 Transfer of Residence

Part 4 Relocating pets. Dubai to UK

Part 5 Sorting out our new home in the UK

Part 6 Bob and Pushkins arrive in the UK. What do they think of it? February 2020

Part 7 Renting an apartment in Dubai May 2020

Part 8 Vacating a Villa in Dubai May 2020

Part 9 Moving Day May 2020

Part 10 Relocation

Repatriation Part 4 - Relocating the cat and dog to the UK

We brought Bob and Pushkins to Dubai from South Africa Now we're taking them both to the UK. Entry requirements to the UK are far less complicated or so it seems at this moment in time, but as with all relocations, things do get thrown up and tend to cause a lot of stress at the last minute.

Bob in South Africa

Pushkins in Dubai

We're paying a relocation company to help us with the move, they've provided all the information we need and links to UK government websites to avoid tax and duty.

All their injections are up to date. The vets have the forms they need to complete and sign to confirm all injections have been given and that both the animals have a micro chip.

Micro chips must be implanted prior to giving the rabies jab and the pets must have at least 30 days left before the next one is due to be able to travel. Bob the dog must be treated for tapeworm and fly within 5 days of the tablet being administered by a vet.

The cat and dog need to travel within 5 days of my flight and can only fly into Manchester, Edingburgh, Gatwick and Heathrow, so I'm arranging for them to be processed and transported from the airport.

I don't know what airline they will be flying with as the relocation company will book the flights. Pets have to fly cargo out of Dubai, regardless of the airline and the price is per kilo, including the weight of the crate.

We kept the pet crates after the last move, but not sure if the dog crate is up to standard. We will attempt repairs, but it's looking likely we'll need to purchase a new one. The cat's crate has been stored indoors and is ok to use.

The dog needs to be measured.

HOW TO MEASURE YOUR DOG LENGTH _______________ cm From the tip of the nose to the base of the tail (i.e. excluding the tail itself). 
LENGTH OF FRONT LEG _______________ cm From the ground to his or her elbow (left or right will do!). 
WIDTH _______________ cm With your dog standing, and you standing over top of him or her and looking straight down, find and measure the widest part of his or her body, wherever that happens to be! 
HEIGHT STANDING _______________ cm From the ground to his or her highest point (normally the top of the head, or in some cases his or her perky ears!). 
HEIGHT SITTING UPRIGHT _______________ cm Again, from the ground to the highest point.

The cat's breed as per the booklet book and information if the cat is particularly tall or long bodied.

Pushkins has been an indoor cat for the past 2 years due to her getting in frights with strays and over eating with the food put out by neighbours. Her new home is also on a busy road and as she's almost 11, she'll continue to be an indoor cat.

I'm hoping Bob will like the UK, not sure what he'l think of the rain and cold, it's not something he's used to. In South Africa the winters are cold in the night but warm in the day and dry. It's the summer it rains and it doesn't last long.

He's never seen snow, but the UK is much better suited for owning a dog than Dubai is with this heat and ability to take him places. He adapted to Dubai, I'm confident he'll adapt to the UK and I have bought him waterproofs.

The cost for their relocation is AED 12,000 approximately £2,500

I'll let you know how they're settling in.

Sorting out our family home in the UK

We've had tenants in our family home for the past 9 years. We've had really bad tenants who trashed our house and we've had really good tenants. Our first agent really let us down and was paying our rent from his own account as the tenants were late and missed payments, then when he could no longer manage this he told us, we issued a section 21a, he messed up their eviction and in total with lost rent, mortgage payments, replacing stolen items and repairing the house, along with court and bailiff fees, we suffered badly. We also had to sort out their debts and utility bills also.
Our current agents have been brilliant, mediating payments and finding us 3 sets of good tenants over 8 years.

Our current tenants vacated the property on time, but asked to keep the keys for a further 6 days to allow them time to clean and remove the rubbish. The agents agreed, but billed them for the extra days.

I was back in the UK early December, the house needs quite a bit of work doing to it, the locks have been changed, utilities switched over, the contents from the flat are now in the house so I can live in it until our furniture arrives in May/June and the flat is being rented out to fund the running costs of the house.

I'll be writing separate blog posts on the renovations.

But for now here are some pictures of the work we need to do to return the house to an acceptable standard. The tenants are liable for redecoration, repairs, new doors, carpets, rubbish removal and the cleaning, but their deposit will only cover just over 60% of the total costs.

Fire automatic door closures were removed

A whole door is missing

What doors remain are damaged

Window handles broken

Sky cabling just lying loose over the conservatory

Sky cables everywhere

 Broken furniture and waste left behind

Pull cords and light fittings damaged so I can only shower during daylight hours

Steam mop purchased as normal cleaning won't suffice

I only cleaned 10 tiles so I could take delivery of a fridge freezer

Boxes glued to the walls, along with 101+ nails and screws removed

Damaged flooring

Broken bathroom tiles

Carpet is beyond cleaning

Oven needs cleaning as does extractor fan and cupboards are covered in grease. Hob is badly scratched.

Neighbours have been written to about their plants, shrubs over growing my property and damaging the fence

Neighbours shed has collapsed, breaking my fence, until their shed is repaired and garden cut back, we are unable to replace the fence panels.

There are several jobs we want to do also but for the meantime I've requested additional quotes for complete redecoration, new carpets, bathroom, tiling, matching all the internal doors and a new kitchen.

We're currently in arbitration with the tenants claiming this damage is where and tear or not their responsibility. The 6 new doors that need replacing, due to damage, well actually 1 door is missing all together is apparently my fault as the automatic door closures for fire safety requirements as per building regs and insurance were all damaged by the wind blowing them shut, the carpet is wear and tear, the mess in the garden is due to it being winter and that's how gardens looks, they cleaned just not to my levels of perfection and the junk left behind was furniture I left in the house in the first place and it obviously just broke.

Repatriation Part 3 - Transfer of Residence

A couple of weeks ago I acquired all the paperwork needed for Operation Relocation and my Transfer of Residence ToR and started the job of filling it all in.

I need a ToR to apply for approval to transfer my normal place of residence including animals which allows me to import goods into the UK and not pay import duties and charges.

I qualify to complete a Tor if I meet the following conditions:

• have lived outside the EU for 12 consecutive months
• have used and had possession of goods for at least 6 consecutive months
• have used the goods and are going to continue using them in the new place of residence in the UK for at least the next 12 months
• be importing the goods within 12 months of coming to live in the UK
• not lend out, pledge, give away, hire out or transfer the goods within the first 12 months after the date on which they were imported

I need to also provide the following documentation:

• black and white copy of the photo page from my passport
• a signed list of goods I wish to import
• proof of residency in the country I'm transferring from, with name and address of residency
• evidence of my right and intention to move to the UK. Contract of employment, purchase or rental agreement

In the meantime I've been to Dubai Islamic Bank to ensure my address reads as the Villa and not the PO Box number and obtained a statement to prove I've been living outside the UK/EU for the past 12 months. I will add a copy of my current visa. I'm not sure what paperwork I can provide for moving back to the UK. The family home was purchased in 2002 and is in Peter's name, not mine or joint and I won't be working.

I have to wait until I'm in the UK to obtain proof of residency there by setting up the council tax and utilities, which I can then add to the HMRC form to avoid paying tax/duty on the pets and our container.

I have to provide an itemised list of all our belongings and their replacement cost in the UK for insurance purposes. I kept the records from our first move to South Africa and then onto Dubai, some things we no longer own so they'll come off and new items will be added.

Not all our furniture is returning to the UK on this trip. Peter will need to furnish an apartment in Dubai for the next 2-3 years until he retires and as I will be splitting my time between the 2 countries it will be nice to create 2 proper homes rather than feeling like we're only half living in each place.

Repatriation Part 2 - Starting to get organised

So we're relocating to the UK over the next 6 - 36 months. Who knows when we'll actually both be living there full time, but as expats for the last 9 years in South Africa and Dubai, life has been one big adventure anyway.

It's also been very unsettled for me, not working, leaving our families behind, coping with the death of my father in 2017 and now the kids are getting married and having children of their own.

So what have I done since I wrote the last post?

I've signed up with a rental agent in the UK to deal with our flat.

Contacted relocation companies for the pets in January and furniture in May.

Spoken with our current landlord in Dubai and negotiated a 6 month contract rather than a year, at the cost of 7,250 AED (£1,500) admin fee on top of 6 months rent to paid up front.

Booked my flight to return to the UK in November/December and car hire.

Started to look for a car to buy in the UK and sell my car in Dubai.

Woken up at 4 am most mornings thinking about what I need to do.

Panicked at 4.15am every morning at the enormity of the task ahead.

Been thankful everyday that this whole move is in our (my) control and that we have the finances to do this and don't require visas.

I've also discovered I need to complete Customs clearance for transfers of residence in the UK before flying the cat and dog over or receiving our container of furniture or duty and tax is applied.

My next job is to now fill in the forms and obtain the documentation required for the cat and dog to fly out and arrive in the UK within 5 days of my arrival on January 30th. Preferably on the same flight as me or I have to find a flight buddy for them. I need to take measurements, sort crates, get the cats rabies shot done in December, book flights and arrange transport from the UK airport to the house.

I'll let you know how I get on.

In the meantime I had a relocation company visit to quote for packing and shipping. For all our moves we've had to itemise the contents and provide a replacement cost for the country we're relocating to for insurance purposes. I have the paperwork from both moves so only have a few things to add and work out the replacement values. On our first move we weren't informed of this until the container was ready to ship.

In my head I've started to plan what furniture is going back to the UK and what is staying in Dubai and how/where it will all fit.

Our family home is a 6 bed house, I'll use the furniture from the flat for the first 6 months and I'll have proper time to work out how we'll use the house fully. For now though, I'll only be using the kitchen, 1 bedroom which is ensuite and the lounge and conservatory. Once the furniture is in, I'll keep the bedroom for visitors, move back into our old room and set the rest of the house up. The 2 bedrooms on the 1st floor will remain empty and the 2 bedrooms on the 3rd floor will be used for storage rather than putting things in the attic space.

We've been advised we don't need to look for an apartment in Dubai until the first week of May and I can sort out the furniture for that then, before everything else gets packed up and shipped. As we'll cross over with 2 properties in Dubai for a week or two.

I also have to sell the fence and the garden contents before we leave.

Repatriation Things we have to do

There's lots of Things to do for this move to the UK. In many ways I'm discovering it's more of a relocation and not repatriation. There is as much stuff to do as there was to move from the UK to South Africa then relocate the the UAE.

Our move to South Africa from the UK was completed within 4 months of being asked to move to our arrival. Visas had to be in place on arrival and as we later discovered the student visas for an Afrikaans school was not our best move and it dictated where we lived. We eventually sent our youngest back to the UK for boarding for his last 4 years of education and the other child finished school at almost 19 with his Matric which was only equivalent to 5 GCSE's grade C. We stayed in a furnished apartment for 6 weeks, before moving into a house, then moving again the following year.

We were in South Africa 1 month short of 4 years.

For our move to the UAE we had to be in the UK to attest and certify our documents for the visa process and once they were in place we were able to move to Dubai and apply for our visas. However there were several surprises such as the cat and dog arrived, we'd rented a villa, but were unable to set up the utilities until the visa was in place, which was almost 12 weeks later and we had to live in hotels until then. Also we were unable to ship our air freight until visas were in place and our container sat in customs in the UAE for 9 weeks. We've also moved house after 3 years.
We've been in Dubai 2 months short of 5 years now.

Both moves were organised by the company and they were not successful. For starters when I called the rental agent or the removal company I was informed the contract wasn't with me , which meant Peter had to keep stop what he was doing to contact HR for them to call the companies, report back to Peter and then to me. it was time consuming and at one point our container in South Africa was effectively lost for 3 days.

There have been many financial surprises to deal with also. The company paid for the packing and shipping of our container. They provide a housing and car allowance in both countries and they paid school fees. They also pay all costs for visa applications, including flights. But this money is paid into Peter's salary monthly, so we had to find money to purchase vehicles, pay school deposits and fees and pay the house deposit up front. On our arrival in Dubai we had to pay a full years rent up front. When we left South Africa our visa expired along with our bank accounts and we went from the end of November until the end of January with only Rand in cash to spend.

We'd arrived in South Africa with the Rand at 11:1, when we left it was 27:1. We'd depleted our UK savings setting up in SA.

5 years on and we've recovered financially, we've had tenants in our UK home. The first set stopped paying rent in 2013 and we had an expensive eviction through the courts to recover our home. In 2016 we then purchased a flat near my parents so we'd have somewhere to stay when we visit and the rent from our home covers our running costs for both UK properties.

On our last visit to the UK in September and October we discovered our current tenants had only paid the rent owed under mediation and we were advised they weren't going to pay in October on time either, so we've made the decision to action a Section 21a and claim occupancy of the property in January 2020.

As Peter is 62 and retirement age in Dubai is 65, we don't have long left here. We'd discussed our plan of action for his retirement and our repatriation to the UK, which involved giving our tenants notice in October 2021, getting the work done in the house ready for when Peter retired and it's eventual sale after he returned to the UK, for me to find work and then decide where we were going to live.

We had hoped for one more final move back to South Africa, but it hasn't happened, so we've brought our plans forward. Peter hasn't made a decision about his retirement date yet.

I'm now having to travel back to the UK in November/December as our tenants are leaving early so I can get the locks changed, set up utilities, council tax etc and get the flat rented out to cover the monthly costs. The cat and dog will move back the end of January on my next trip. I will need to be back in Dubai in March as we have friends visiting, I'll return in April for a month, then back to Dubai to organise the packing and shipping of our furniture and move Peter into a 2 bed apartment, which will be our home in Dubai when I visit alternate months.

I will return to the UK end of May to meet the container and Peter will join me in June to help with the unpacking and any jobs in the house I've been physically unable to do.

I'll stay in the UK until the end of October, then back to Dubai till February.

So what next?

Part 1 Repatriation - Preparing for our return to the UK

Moving to a new country is difficult in terms of the language, culture and how things get done. With two international moves under our belt, to South Africa and Dubai, you'd think relocating back to the UK, our home country would be easy, but things over the past 8 years are different, things have changed since we last lived there and we are just too familiar with the way things are done in Dubai.

Each time we've relocated we've gone off into the unknown, required visa's, relied on others to prepare paperwork etc and had to re learn how to do things.

When I visit the UK, I wait in my car for the fuel to be put in the tank, wait for my shopping bags to be packed and hand over my bank card to the cashier for them to put it in the machine and since moving to Dubai, I've been known to actually give the pump attendant my PIN to save me getting out the car when it's too hot.

It takes a few moments to remember things work differently than where I'm used to.

I also have to deal with getting in the 'wrong' side of the car, pay great attention to the direction of traffic before pulling off, remembering the coins and notes and exclaiming 'how much?' after every transaction as the cost of living in the UK has definitely risen.

3 years ago we purchased a flat in the UK. I spent most of year 1 setting up accounts for water, electricity, property management, internet, council tax, TV licence, purchasing furniture, arranging delivery and equipment for the kitchen etc. Removing packaging to the local tip, finding out the bin days for various coloured bags and bins and setting up mobile phone contract.

We won't be moving back to the UK in 2-3 years time, we've started the process of reoccupying our family home and will be relocating the pets in January and the bulk of the furniture and our belongings in May. Until Peter retires, he will remain in Dubai full time and I will live between the 2 countries.

For this move we won't require a visa, which means I don't need my husbands permission as my sponsor to deal with things on my behalf and as British Citizen I've been able to provide acceptable ID, already have UK bank accounts and speak the same language. However I find myself saying on a regular basis. 'I don't live in the UK, I have no idea how these things work' which is greeted with looks of disbelief and tutting over the telephone as if I'm a simpleton.

However, I'm finding out things aren't as straight forward as I'd hoped for. I'll fill you in with further blog posts as things go.

You can read more of our Repatriation story below:

Some of these links aren't yet live and will be updated.

Repatriation or Operation Relocation

Part 1 Things we have to do

Part 2 Starting to get organised

Part 3 Transfer of Residence

Part 4 Relocating pets. Dubai to UK

Part 5 Sorting out our new home in the UK

Part 6 Bob and Pushkins arrive in the UK. What do they think of it? February 2020

Part 7 Renting an apartment in Dubai May 2020

Part 8 Vacating a Villa in Dubai May 2020

Part 9 Moving Day May 2020

Part 10 Relocation