Well, it seems that someone at the U.K. Home Office screwed up and I’ve been given indefinite leave to remain in the country – essentially the same as getting a green card, for stateside Americans out there. The main benefit from my point of view is that now I would not have to apply for a new work permit if I wanted to change jobs, something that can definitely hurt when potential employers are assessing applicants. (Not that I’m looking to change jobs, fortunately.) I can naturalize as a British citizen in a year’s time if I choose.
It’s a bit anticlimactic in a way because I’ve been living in London for more than seven years, which is almost twice as long as I needed to be in the U.K. to apply. Most of the delay came because I originally entered the country in an employment category for which a work permit is not required and later switched to a permit.* That meant I lost the time accrued in the non-permit category toward the four years one has to be in the U.K. to apply for leave to remain.
The real personal milestone came at the beginning of December, which marked my 10th year of living in Europe. As mentioned in another thread, I first took a foreign posting in the expectation of working the three years required by my then-employer and returning to the U.S., but it’s funny how life sneaks up on you sometimes. Any other accidental expats out there?
*When I say a work permit was not required, that doesn’t mean I could just show up and look for a job in the category in question. My employer still had to convince the government that they needed me to do the particular job, but they didn’t have to get me a work permit, just a residency permit.