Your advice on a UK work visa situation

[uluvbs]

Hello, all.

I'm about to accept an offer from a global firm to be based here in NYC. My preference would be to work out of their UK office, but I don't have a work permit.

Do you think it's better for me to

-1- Ask in advance of signing on to have the offer based out of the London office

-2- Accept the job and then ask the firm (after a few weeks or whatever) to let me work from the UK office (which would mean having them complete the paperwork and pay the fees etc etc)

-3- Should I just go ahead myself and apply for the work permit and, once approved, ask for permission from the company to relocate myself to London.

(In all three cases, I wouldn't be asking for relocation monies.)

Thanks for your help.

[Bevdeforges]

Go for number 1 and see what they say. (Though you may have to live with a "take it or leave it" reply.)

Number two will strike them as "sneaky" - why accept the job in NYC if you really wanted to work out of London?

Do not attempt number 3. Even if you get the work permit, the employer may have their own reasons for wanting this job to be located in NYC.

Your other alternative is to accept the job in NYC, and then work there for a couple of years until you can get a sense for what the transfer policy is in that particular company. After proving yourself to be a valuable employee, you will be in a far better position to either request a transfer or apply for an opening in London within the company.
Cheers,
Bev

[jlms]

Sorry but this is plain silly. When you take a new job with a global firm you go where they tell you. It is that simple.

If the job is in NYC there is where you should go. If you do anything to move elsewhere shortly afterwards it would be frankly abusive, to say the least, specially since you have no right to work in the UK.

If the company offers you to choose your location, then choose London (they will sort out the paperwork for you), if the company doesn't offer you a choice of locations and you want to be in London then don't take the job.

I frankly don't understand what the problem is,

[Piyush]

Originally Posted by uluvbs

Hello, all.

I'm about to accept an offer from a global firm to be based here in NYC. My preference would be to work out of their UK office, but I don't have a work permit.

Do you think it's better for me to

-1- Ask in advance of signing on to have the offer based out of the London office

-2- Accept the job and then ask the firm (after a few weeks or whatever) to let me work from the UK office (which would mean having them complete the paperwork and pay the fees etc etc)

-3- Should I just go ahead myself and apply for the work permit and, once approved, ask for permission from the company to relocate myself to London.

(In all three cases, I wouldn't be asking for relocation monies.)

Thanks for your help.

If you do decide to go ahead with option 3, you will not be able to apply for a WP by yourself. Only a licensed company can sponsor your WP. What you can do is apply for the Tier 1 General visa. This way, you will be able to come to UK and work for them as a UK employee and not as a US employee. This visa will also enable you to apply for Permanent Residency (PR) also called as Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) at the end of 5 years and Citizenship at the end of 6 years.
However there is a stipulated time period above which you should not have stayed outside UK, if you want to apply for ILR/citizenship.
You can check if you are eligible to apply on the UK Home office website - Points Based System Tier 1, General Migrant (INF 21) or here Tier 1 Visa Shop - Tier 1 Visa Shop