US Citizen Wants To Live in UK w/ English b/f

[Starla]

Hello, I'm new,

I am an American citizen and live in America; my boyfriend is English and lives in England.

I've read many websites, books, forums, etc; about settling in the UK. I want more than anything to be able to move to the UK to live with my boyfriend. Everything I've read seems to tell me the same thing. I don't own my own business..I'm not independently wealthy...the closest family I have that were born in the UK were my great-great grandparents (not close enough)...I am not a writer, etc. My only two options seem to be (A find a company that will issue a work permit for me or B) we have to get married.

I've applied to a few companies on-line but have not had any responses.

My boyfriend and I plan to be together forever but we don't want to get married for the wrong reasons.

If I were to move, I would have a place to live and if I wasn't able to work for a certain amount of time, my boyfriend would be able to support me. Not only that but I have quite a bit of savings that could last me some time.

There must be a way for an American to move to the UK. Can anybody give me any advice?

Thank you!

[smcquie]

Hi Starla - the best piece of advice I can give you is to do the following (since I will be attempting to drag my Irish boyfriend back to Australia sometime in the future)...

Come over here on a visitor visa and apply for jobs solidly while you are here. Hopefully that will give you enough time. Don't expect ANY responses from the US since most employers want to interview you in person. If you can - let some recruiters know you are coming over and try to arrange interviews with them. They are more likely to put you in front of a client if they have seen you first. I don't know how long a visitor visa lasts, but hopefully it's 3 months, which should be plenty of time.
Failing that, you should be able to get a student visa which I think you can work part time on.
Hope that helps.

[Starla]

Smcquie - Thank you for the advice. The recruiter part sounds very feasible...but I've got a couple of questions now.

Would I seriously be considered by a recruiter even though I wasn't allowed to work yet?

And


I'm not a student (nor do I want to go through that again) so I probably wouldn't be able to get a student visa, would I?

Thanks again!

[smcquie]

Originally Posted by Starla

Smcquie - Thank you for the advice. The recruiter part sounds very feasible...but I've got a couple of questions now.

Would I seriously be considered by a recruiter even though I wasn't allowed to work yet?

And


I'm not a student (nor do I want to go through that again) so I probably wouldn't be able to get a student visa, would I?

Thanks again!

Hard to say how seriously they will take you - depends on the industry you are in and how difficult it is to fill your kind of position... If you are after an admin type job, then I would say it's really hard since they have to prove to the government that they can't get a local person for the role. I'm in Voice Convergence so it's easier.
A lot of people sign up for a course and never actually show up (or do one part time) just so they can get the student visa. Not saying it's right, but I've heard it goes on a lot over here.
I wish you all the very best of luck.

[Starla]

I'm actually a lab technician (not the typical hospital kind) and have had special training for it. I know there are some local companies (where my b/f lives) that are looking for someone with my qualifications....it's just an issue of me not being a citizen.

You've been a big help and I appreciate it so much! Best wishes to you, too on this little adventure. Sigh....

Thanks!

[smcquie]

Ahh - quite a specialist field then, you shouldn't have too many problems. At least I hope not! They will always want to meet you first before they give you a job - so just contact as many companies as you can, let them know you are coming over and are available for an interview between mm/dd and mm/dd, then chase them up when you get here if they haven't contacted you. Let them know you have arrived and are very keen to start work.
Also see if there are companies in your current country that have a global presence.
Good luck!

[nia1962]

Hello,
I'm trying to move to UK to live with my b/f to. About the visitors visa and applying for jobs.......would applying for flight attendant positions be seriously considered by employers? I can work out of any of the three airports. Thanks

[Bevdeforges]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

While I'm not so familiar with Britain's various forms of visas, I've known of at least one case where a pilot moved to the EU with his family and managed to get "recognized" as employed.

It will probably hold more weight if you have worked before as a flight attendant. In the case of the pilot, he was not changing jobs, just his "home base" of operations. If you're applying for a new job, it might work better for you to be applying to a UK-based airline. That way, you'd be paid on the British payroll, with the appropriate social contributions and all. If you're talking to any non-British carriers, you may want to make sure that they can put you on their British payroll so that you're covered by the appropriate social insurances.
Cheers,
Bev

[peppera-ann-]

Have u found any solid advise? I am in the same exact situation, we will marry, but would rather wait. I have a bout a 3-4 month period to get it situated.only thing different is he is here in usa ..and now in 5 days, he will be illegal