This may have been asked before, but if it has, I couldn’t find it, so…
Recently I started thinking about working in England for a year or two, for various reasons. What would be involved in doing this? From what I’ve been able to gather, they usually only give out work visas for skilled positions, and that whoever you get a job with has to apply on your behalf. Other then that, what else is involved? Any help would be appreciated.
Oh, I should probably note that I’m an American, since I suppose that would make a difference.
The people I know who’ve come across from the States said it was a fairly easy procedure, but it does depend on your background (skills, degree, work exp. etc) and can vary accordingly. I had it easy as I had a commonwealth passport.
If you have special skills you might be okay, otherwise it’s certainly not easy. Only Commonwealth citizens are entitled to a working holiday visa; that pretty much leaves emigration! Check the Immigration & Nationality Directorate.
how old are you? if you are under 26 try the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE). There is a program whereby British nationals (& colonials strangely enough) come to the states to work for a period of up to (I think) 6 months, administrated in part there by BUNAC (British Universities North America Club, IIRC). There is a mirror program sending young adults to Britain administered by CIEE. I worked at a summer camp that had BUNAC counsellors and they actively recruited us to go to the UK in the sister program.
As a US national working in the UK, I hate to say this, Landsknecht, but it is becoming very, very difficult to get a work visa here. About the only way you can do it is if (a) you can prove that you have unique skills or (b) if you are taking up a job which will pay more than £50,000. If you think I’ve made up part (b), check out the Immigration and Nationality Department website listed by an above post.
Sorry if my own anger towards the IND is showing through, but after five years of having to deal with them over various student and marriage visas, I’ve lost all patience with them.
You don’t have to be under 26 to get a British work visa through BUNAC, but you do have to be a full-time student at an accredited university - and yes, that will only get you a six-month visa. For anything else you really have to have special skills and find an employer to sponsor you. Good luck, they don’t make it easy.
And by “full-time student,” BTW, they mean you have to be taking at least eight credits per semester. Full-time GRADUATE students, who can usually only fit in one or two classes besides the ones we’re TEACHING, don’t qualify.
(This probably has absolutely nothing to do with your situation, it’s just a bit of random bitterness I felt like venting.)
I was reading the newsgroup marriage.visa whatever & they said that income taxes are a lot higher in the UK. As a matter of fact a person from the UK working in the US has to pay UK taxes too, but an agreement with the US keeps them from double taxation. Whew. I would assume a US person workin gin the UK would pay US taxes then?
Not if you’re resident in the UK, at least. I know the UK does have an agreement on the US with taxes on that score. I’m currently not paying any income taxes to the US, therefore.
However, if you’re a US citizen, and you have a banking account in the US while you’re resident in the UK, you pay US capital gains taxes on the account.
Hope that helps…
This seems to have been bumped up to one year at some point during the previous twelve months. The first time I applied for such a visa I got six months, but last September I was given a year.
Hmm. Either BUNAC hasn’t updated their website, or we’re talking about two different kinds of visas. Their website lists the same rules that applied when I did it - six months maximum and no renewability.
Were you talking about permission to work, or permission to stay? If you’re a US citizen resident to stay in the UK on a student visa, you still have to apply for permission to work.
We’re talking about the BUNAC visa that allows full-time American students to work for six months in Britain. This isn’t a visa to study, just to work. I don’t think you’re over there on the same thing Duke.
Ah. In that case, no, the limit is still six months.
Rummaging through the IND website, I noticed that if you stay six months (or more, if you stay for consecutive terms) on this scheme, it does not count towards the five-year residency you need for citizenship, nor does it count towards the one year you need to stay for Indefinate Remain to Leave. Just in case you were thinking of staying full-time.
Duke, what? You mean a US person has to stay in England for 5 years before they can apply to be a citizen?