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So around Christmas I decided to drop out of my university studies, studying towards a bachelor in computer science. To be completely honest I took the decision a year later then I should have. I loved the programming parts of it but the math/physics just wasn't for me.
With basically no savings I had to get a job, quick. And I got one. I always said I was going to go work and live somewhere outside of the safe boarders of Sweden after I got my degree and honestly I didn't see any reason to change those plans. I applied to three jobs on Ireland and a couple of other places in Europe. One of the companies in Ireland got back to me right away and I went through the interview process in about 2 days and ended up with a job offer that I accepted right away.
I was, and still am, excited. But I've now realized how hard it can be to move from one country to another. I'm a Swedish citizen, which also means I'm an EU citizen which saves me a lot of trouble with visas and such. But moving to another country still poses quite a few problems. Need to write down my thoughts regarding those and if you have any advice, maybe you've done the same thing or maybe you live in Ireland.
I need somewhere to live
The most basic of needs. I need to find a place to live in a city I know nothing about. The first week or so shouldn't be a problem. The company I'll start working for will reimburse me for up to 1250 euro so I'll most likely get a hotel room.
The problem is more "where do I want to live"? I know the address to where I will be working, but what areas are decent to live in? I've accepted I can't afford a even a studio apartment right away, due to me having to pay back some old debts in Sweden. The whole renting a room thing feels a bit foreign to me, but according to the information pamphlet I was sent it's quite common for people to do this sort of house sharing in Ireland?
The tax and PPS number
Forms. Forms everywhere. That's what it feels like. The basic system isn't that hard, you just pay 20% tax on everything you earn up to a certain point and after that it's 41%. But here's the problem: you need a PPS number to apply to be able to pay tax, but to get a PPS number you need to live in Ireland. And by that they mean something more permanent then a hotel, which I will be staying in the first time. Now I'll most likely arrive in Ireland the Wednesday before I start (the job starts on a Monday) but I don't think 2½ days will be enough to secure a more permanent home and that means I'll start work without the required paperwork really being done. And getting a PPS number takes up to 10 days which means I could have some problems tax wise unless I find a more permanent home within a week.
A bank account
To be able to live in Ireland I need an Irish bank account. The problem is basically the same as me getting a PPS number: I need to have a more permanent living arrangement then a hotel. To get that I need to be in Ireland. And I don't really feel comfortable going somewhere without having a bank account, having to carry all my money on me.
Money
As I said earlier I have basically no savings to live off for the first time. The company will reimburse me for about 1200 euros, but that's after I can show them some receipts which means I'll have to pay out of pocket at first. Also in Sweden you get paid a month after the working period if that makes any sense. Basically it means this: the company has a period, say from the 20th of month 1 to the 20th month 2. The hours you put in during this period is paid out to you on the 25th of month 3. This would mean I would get my first salary at the end of March. If Ireland has the same system that's two months of basically living off my non-existing savings. So that's a problem I need to address.
Most of these problems will solve themselves, I know that. I guess I'm just nervous for moving so far from everything I know. Do you have experience with moving to another country? Maybe you moved to Dublin from another country? In that case I'd love to hear some stories of how you managed.
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I've never been to Ireland but i've moved from the north of England to the south and in a similar way to you, I didnt have any savings whatsoever.
I guess you know where your place of work is, why not start looking for house shares already. I use http://www.rightmove.co.uk for when i'm looking for properties to rent but I guess Gumtree or some similar sites would have house shares.
House shares are by far the cheapest way to go, I was lucky becuause I moved with my gf but if I didnt, it would have been house share all the way. As for the rest of the items, i'm not really able to give much advice.
Dont quote me on this but I think if you dont fill out the forms you get "emergency taxed" which is where the government don't know how much they should be taxing so they tax a higher rate and then reimburse you once you get your tax code.
*edit*
I guess you have read this... http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/migrant_workers/coming_to_ie_tax.html
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Oh man, that is all so very annoying to deal with.
I think you'd want to go for a house share. You should post the areas you're looking at and myself or other Irish people can tell you our opinion of them.
What sort of job is it that you found?
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Yeah I'm also pretty much set on house sharing as the way to go here and since I'll be working in Dublin 17 I was thinking maybe Dublin 9 or 3 area? Something not too far from the city center, but I start work at 7 AM so I don't want to be too far from the worksite.
Found a job doing tech support for HPs servers 
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Russian Federation1016 Posts
First of all, good luck, man! Probably, you will need it!
My quick advice: try to find an appartment / place to live near your work. It might be more expensive, but it'll save you money and time (especially, if traffic jams are a thing) in the long run.
When I have time today, I'll elaborate my experience on moving to Germany from Russia.
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I would expect local HR to be able to sort out your tax 'problems'. They are not going to pay you for at least 6 weeks (as you stated yourself), so you have plenty of time to get your number sorted out, if they don't even do it for you.
I moved to Prague from Germany, on my first day on the job, they told an intern to bring me to the HR offices, we hopped into a taxi, and they had me fill out all the necessary paperwork there. Since they hired you internationally, I would expect that they know what they are doing.
Banks want your money, they are usually quite accommodating. They should be happy enough to open an account for you if you bring your work contract, and they also should accept your office address for correspondence for starters. Can't hurt to ask HR first, before doing that, in my case, no one minded, and people regularly sent stuff (like parcels they would not be able to take at home) to the office.
With your money problems, I can't help. What I did for accomodation was to book into a youth hostel for a couple of days, and start flat-hunting via the expats community site right away. First flat was a bit of a bummer, but I had a place to stay, and then could look for something really nice. I would expect dublin to have something similar, it is known as one of the big hubs for tech-support in Europe.
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First-hand experiences here, as I've moved to Dublin about 6 months ago myself. Biggest piece of advice I have for you? If you don't have any particular interest in Ireland as a country or a job you're offered as a long-term career, stay the f*** away from this place. Living in Dublin is VERY expensive unless you live in a hole and save cents on everything and the salaries aren't tremendously competitive. Unless you feel like you really have no options, I strongly advice you to keep looking and find something elsewhere. Even if you do end up going to Ireland, try to get a job in Cork or Galway rather than Dublin - it'll save you a lot of grief.
I guess you'll ignore that advice anyway so here are some answers to your questions (which might also shed some light as to why I urge you to stay away from Dublin).
Accomodations in Dublin are very expensive and difficult to secure. Be prepared to talk to 20 different landlords and meet a dozen other guys at the viewings you attend, it is crazy competitive for literally any kind of accomodation. If possible at all, try to get your company to arrange it for you (pretty unlikely, but worth a shot). Otherwise, you'll probably be staying in a B&B for a week or two while going around to viewings. Don't count on getting the first apartment you like, even if you have the money and references etc in hand - you might get lucky, but maybe not - some people spend literally months looking for a place. Getting a studio or a one-bedroom place will probably be a nightmare; if you have some money saved, you could try and get a two/three bedroom place and then sublet the extra rooms (you'll have the pick of roommates that way, and it'll be the cheapest - you will absolutely not have any trouble finding a roommate within 1-2 days). Typical price for a two br apartment/house on the northside would be ~1000-1200 euro per month, with a room costing anything between 300 and 600 euro. You'll have to pay a month's worth of a deposit alongside with month's rent in advance, either way.
You said you'll be working in Dublin 17 - is it in the Malahide road industrial park? You'll have to use public transport to get anywhere from there anyway, so you might as well look for a house in some place like Clontarf or Drumcondra - it'll make the city centre a bit more accessible without the commute to work being too unreasonable. I suggest searching through boards.ie dublin forums for some information about various areas in Dublin (some parts of northside can be proper shitty, although people tend to exaggerate the shittiness, if someone says you'll get stabbed on a certain street, chances are you'll actually stay healthy just fine but maybe miss your phone and wallet). Certain areas are perfectly fine though, just do some research and keep your eyes open before you dive in.
About taxes and PPS numbers - you'll be able to sort that out just fine after you arrive. You do need a permanent address to get a PPS number but you can sort it out after you start working; either way your company should be able to assist and advice on that.
About bank accounts: you can use your Swedish cards in Irish ATMs / stores just fine; you do need an Irish account eventually to pay your bills and whatnot, but again your company should be able to fast-track that for you. Normally, it could take up to a MONTH to even get an appointment to set a bank account up, but it varies depending on which bank / branch you go to. If your company doesn't arrange it for you, spend a day calling different banks (and different branches of the same bank) to find the one that suits you best and can see you the earliest.
If your company isn't giving you the relocation expense compensation up front, and you don't have any savings, your only option would be to borrow money somewhere and hopefully pay it back asap. As a very rough estimate, you'd need 600 euro for accomodation (month's rent + deposit for a share room), 100 euro for transport (buses in Dublin are annoying and expensive), 100 euro for a month's food (assuming you will cook everything yourself and eat very frugally), and another ~100 euro for bills (you might not have to pay them in advance but it depends on the arrangements of the place where you'll be renting your room).
So, you need to bring at the very absolute least a thousand euro with you, plus a little extra because you'll have to stay somewhere while you look for your room (you can get a cheap bed in a hostel for 15 euro a night, I guess). This leaves you with no Plan B whatsoever and no room to manouver in an unknown city in a country you haven't been to before, so tread lightly. Assuming you have the option of taking out a loan in your country, I guess you could do that then pay it back with your relocation expense money once you have that, but yeah.
What's your salary going to be like, by the way? Assuming it's a typical tech support/cs job in HP call centre, you're probably going to bring in what, 1500 euro per month? Consider that your expenses will likely run close to 1000 euro monthly without pampering yourself in any way. A similar job in Belfast will pay 1000-1200 pounds per month, but your living expenses will be half of what you spend in Dublin, and your quality of life on that kind of income will be better. Just food for thought.
Let me know if you have any more questions, specific or otherwise. Like I said, I moved to Dublin recently so all first-hand experiences here and honestly if I didn't have some previous arrangements that need to be honored until the coming summer, I would have left this city a while ago. It's not a bad place to visit but there's really no reason to live here unless you have a decent career lined up or something.
edit: I probably sound like a bitter jerk who is hating on the city they're in because they don't know any better, but I'm not - I travelled a fair share around Europe and Dublin is quite far down the list of best places to live in, simply due to the high costs of living here. Rents and prices are nearly as high as in London or Paris, but the salaries are not. If you're frugal, sure you can get by on under 1000 euro, but you'll be doing just that - getting by. On top of that, a single visit to a general doctor will set you back 60 euro, any kind of medicine, prescription or otherwise, is charged at a premium, shopping is expensive to the point where many Dubliners actually take a 3 hour bus to Newry or Ballsbridge over in Northern Ireland to do their big purchases, and travel connections from Dublin airport aren't awful, but quite limited.
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On January 16 2014 00:47 Salazarz wrote:
First-hand experiences here, as I've moved to Dublin about 6 months ago myself. Biggest piece of advice I have for you? If you don't have any particular interest in Ireland as a country or a job you're offered as a long-term career, stay the f*** away from this place. Living in Dublin is VERY expensive unless you live in a hole and save cents on everything and the salaries aren't tremendously competitive. Unless you feel like you really have no options, I strongly advice you to keep looking and find something elsewhere. Even if you do end up going to Ireland, try to get a job in Cork or Galway rather than Dublin - it'll save you a lot of grief.
I guess you'll ignore that advice anyway so here are some answers to your questions (which might also shed some light as to why I urge you to stay away from Dublin).
Accomodations in Dublin are very expensive and difficult to secure. Be prepared to talk to 20 different landlords and meet a dozen other guys at the viewings you attend, it is crazy competitive for literally any kind of accomodation. If possible at all, try to get your company to arrange it for you (pretty unlikely, but worth a shot). Otherwise, you'll probably be staying in a B&B for a week or two while going around to viewings. Don't count on getting the first apartment you like, even if you have the money and references etc in hand - you might get lucky, but maybe not - some people spend literally months looking for a place. Getting a studio or a one-bedroom place will probably be a nightmare; if you have some money saved, you could try and get a two/three bedroom place and then sublet the extra rooms (you'll have the pick of roommates that way, and it'll be the cheapest - you will absolutely not have any trouble finding a roommate within 1-2 days). Typical price for a two br apartment/house on the northside would be ~1000-1200 euro per month, with a room costing anything between 300 and 600 euro. You'll have to pay a month's worth of a deposit alongside with month's rent in advance, either way.
You said you'll be working in Dublin 17 - is it in the Malahide road industrial park? You'll have to use public transport to get anywhere from there anyway, so you might as well look for a house in some place like Clontarf or Drumcondra - it'll make the city centre a bit more accessible without the commute to work being too unreasonable. I suggest searching through boards.ie dublin forums for some information about various areas in Dublin (some parts of northside can be proper shitty, although people tend to exaggerate the shittiness, if someone says you'll get stabbed on a certain street, chances are you'll actually stay healthy just fine but maybe miss your phone and wallet). Certain areas are perfectly fine though, just do some research and keep your eyes open before you dive in.
About taxes and PPS numbers - you'll be able to sort that out just fine after you arrive. You do need a permanent address to get a PPS number but you can sort it out after you start working; either way your company should be able to assist and advice on that.
About bank accounts: you can use your Swedish cards in Irish ATMs / stores just fine; you do need an Irish account eventually to pay your bills and whatnot, but again your company should be able to fast-track that for you. Normally, it could take up to a MONTH to even get an appointment to set a bank account up, but it varies depending on which bank / branch you go to. If your company doesn't arrange it for you, spend a day calling different banks (and different branches of the same bank) to find the one that suits you best and can see you the earliest.
If your company isn't giving you the relocation expense compensation up front, and you don't have any savings, your only option would be to borrow money somewhere and hopefully pay it back asap. As a very rough estimate, you'd need 600 euro for accomodation (month's rent + deposit for a share room), 100 euro for transport (buses in Dublin are annoying and expensive), 100 euro for a month's food (assuming you will cook everything yourself and eat very frugally), and another ~100 euro for bills (you might not have to pay them in advance but it depends on the arrangements of the place where you'll be renting your room).
So, you need to bring at the very absolute least a thousand euro with you, plus a little extra because you'll have to stay somewhere while you look for your room (you can get a cheap bed in a hostel for 15 euro a night, I guess). This leaves you with no Plan B whatsoever and no room to manouver in an unknown city in a country you haven't been to before, so tread lightly. Assuming you have the option of taking out a loan in your country, I guess you could do that then pay it back with your relocation expense money once you have that, but yeah.
What's your salary going to be like, by the way? Assuming it's a typical tech support/cs job in HP call centre, you're probably going to bring in what, 1500 euro per month? Consider that your expenses will likely run close to 1000 euro monthly without pampering yourself in any way. A similar job in Belfast will pay 1000-1200 pounds per month, but your living expenses will be half of what you spend in Dublin, and your quality of life on that kind of income will be better. Just food for thought.
Let me know if you have any more questions, specific or otherwise. Like I said, I moved to Dublin recently so all first-hand experiences here and honestly if I didn't have some previous arrangements that need to be honored until the coming summer, I would have left this city a while ago. It's not a bad place to visit but there's really no reason to live here unless you have a decent career lined up or something.
edit: I probably sound like a bitter jerk who is hating on the city they're in because they don't know any better, but I'm not - I travelled a fair share around Europe and Dublin is quite far down the list of best places to live in, simply due to the high costs of living here. Rents and prices are nearly as high as in London or Paris, but the salaries are not. If you're frugal, sure you can get by on under 1000 euro, but you'll be doing just that - getting by. On top of that, a single visit to a general doctor will set you back 60 euro, any kind of medicine, prescription or otherwise, is charged at a premium, shopping is expensive to the point where many Dubliners actually take a 3 hour bus to Newry or Ballsbridge over in Northern Ireland to do their big purchases, and travel connections from Dublin airport aren't awful, but quite limited.
Out of curiosity, what part of Germany are you from?
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I've lived in Dublin for 3 years during the peak of the boom, experienced a bit of the crash too. I absolutely loved the place, Dublin and the Irish people are great and unless you work in some low-end job it's easy to get by. Taxes are very low and while rents are high, flat sharing is a great way to save money and you'll also meet people. I reckon there still is a lively young international community there too...
Don't be discouraged by the poster above, I think he's being overly negative... If u want I can share some more but I can't type on the ipad so next time I'm near a keyboard...
Tldr: Dublin is great you'll have lots of fun
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On January 16 2014 06:47 OlDan wrote:
I've lived in Dublin for 3 years during the peak of the boom, experienced a bit of the crash too. I absolutely loved the place, Dublin and the Irish people are great and unless you work in some low-end job it's easy to get by. Taxes are very low and while rents are high, flat sharing is a great way to save money and you'll also meet people. I reckon there still is a lively young international community there too...
Don't be discouraged by the poster above, I think he's being overly negative... If u want I can share some more but I can't type on the ipad so next time I'm near a keyboard...
Tldr: Dublin is great you'll have lots of fun
There's a big difference between Dublin during the peak of the boom and Dublin now. :p don't misunderstand me, it's not a bad place if money isn't a concern, even though the economic crash and ongoing government mismanagement made people rather jaded; it's just one of the last places in the world you should go to for work if all you're going to do is some near-minimum wage entry level job with no plans for the future.
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TBH I don't think you should even start working at minimum wage with no plan for the future, regardless where you work and what you do.
I still think Dublin is a great place to be and I've visited quite a few times even in the recession. It's not so bad, people sucked it up and adjusted, I have started getting job offers from early 2012 onwards, which means the situation is much better than it was say in 2009 or 2010...
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EPT
