Hi

My name is Shirree and my family and i are looking into moving back to Cyprus. We have stayed there before but my dad was in the army so we were housed and everything in Dhekelia but this time we are doing it on our own.

i am looking for ANY type of advice.. i dont even know where to start! I would like to be living in some form of British community as i know that i will be needing a lot of support. My family consists of myself age 20, my mother age 42, my friend age 22 and two of my younger brothers aged 11 and 14. so 3 jobs and a school will be needed. i also have 3 small dogs. please help! haha

i am a qualified nursery nurse assistant and have 3 years experience working in a nursery. i have been a nanny for the last 6 months and i am now working as an office temp in a solicitors. So would prefer finding a job in childcare.

My friend is a qualified hairdresser and a qualified youth worker.

This is something we have thought a lot about and are really determined to do now.

Thank you

Sorry to be negative, but my advice at this time is do not do it.
Jobs are few and far between and poorly paid at best. Schooling for the children would be very expensive as they are too old to easily integrate in the local schools so would need to go to private schools.

Hmm thats not what i was wanting to hear unfortunately

Hi, I somehow missed the mention of "friend" in the Welcome Inn, which is why I thought one of your brothers was of working age. Which means two lots of school fees because they are too old to integrate easily into local schools...
I don't know how it works in Cyprus, but, in France, if your friend managed to find a job, you and your family wouldn't be covered by his/her healthcare coverage. Likewise he/she wouldn't be covered if you or your mother found a job. You would have temporary healthcare coverage from your NI contributions, but not for long, and you'd have to take out private health insurance for you all. And if Cyprus is like France, you wouldn't have any benefits except possibly Family Allowances for your mother for the younger brothers.
For 5 people to survive (without school fees), you would have to have a decent joint income and, as confirmed by Veronica-K, any jobs going are poorly paid.
Sorry to have butted in from the France forum, but your situation would be the same here. I stand to be corrected, but I imagine Cyprus applies the same rules as in Continental Europe?

Thank you for your reply. i understand there is a lot to be considered. is there anywhere outside of the UK you would recommend going?

To be honest from our observations I would be loathe to suggest to anyone with school age children that they move to any of the Eurozone countries in recession.
We know too many who moved with young children who did not learn the language went to expensive " international schools " and find that they have virtually no job opportunities where they live and not much better if they move back to the UK.
It is not just about your life style but also the future of your children.

Already posted on your other thread, but you do need to look at visa requirements for any other countries outside the EU, such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. You don't say whether you have a degree, or specialised skills that wouild help you get a visa. Remember that you are extremely unlikely to get any sort of benefits in any other country.

If it was just you and your friend, you might scrape through, but knowing full well there are no decent paying jobs around. Bringing plenty of funds to keep you going will really help.
The extra people involved will lead me to advise you to seriously reconsider.

Be careful with taking lots of funds over. We're all aware of the state of the Cypriot banks/economy and the way they're restricting cash flow. The last thing you want is to take a large sum over only to have it stuck there.

The Euro exchange rate is at its highest for about 7 months, which is a bonus, but does it outweigh the complications of moving to Cyprus? Probably not, in all fairness.
Like I said to a guy with a similar notion of moving out there: try renting for a few months first to see what's around and the setup for schools etc. I don't know how feasible an idea this would be considering children are involved, but it would offer opportunity to 'dip your toe in the water', so to speak.

Even to 'dip your toe in the water' would be risky if it means giving up jobs and a home in the UK to take the risk that you MIGHT find jobs here which would support 5 people two of which are shool age children.
My advice stands, do not risk it unless you have guaranteed jobs with good salaries to come to.

Or ONE of you adults come over to Cyprus, or wherever since you aren't limiting yourselves to Cyprus, for an extended "holiday" to recce all aspects of this upheaval, and allow the adolescents to continue their schooling back home, surrounded by their friends and other family. For their sakes, you shouldn't ALL come over at the beginning, and their education and lives won't have been be disturbed if it's realised early on that the dream is likely to turn into a nightmare.
You speak of two of your younger brothers - what is happening with the other one(s)? I shouldn't presume, but suppose that your father is giving permission for his minor sons to move out of the country? Your family situation has nothing to do with us, but it's another aspect to consider....
Hope all of this is helping you to realise that it's not straightforward, in your situation, to move abroad just like that.
It would be easier if all this was discussed in the Europe section...

There already is one there.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=811555

I know, I've already posted on it!!

There are a lot of details missing in the Europe thread, e.g. ages, lines of work, etc..., which IMO are important to know when trying to advise.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned, is that the children would need permission from the father, if he is still alive, to be moved out of the country.