Newbie here from Michigan, need help with some questions!

Wow, this site is great! My name is Kristin and I just found this website and have been reading it constantly ever since! I'm currently looking into moving to London, or well England I guess cause I don't think I could afford to live right in London. I studied abroad there for a semester and absolutely fell in love with it. I'm currently finishing up my Bachelors degree and have been looking into different visas and all that. However, I'm having a hard time with this entire situation and it gets me a bit frustrated at times. I have been looking for jobs constantly there, believing that my experience there already and the internship I took part in might help a little bit. But how am I supposed to know if I'm eligible for a visa if I haven't gotten a job lined up yet. I'm not sure if I'm going about this the wrong way or not. Most places require you as able to work there, but I have to get a visa after I have either a sponsor lined up or something along those lines? I'm a bit confused and its just getting me irritated, no matter how excited I am about London. I have friends that I made there and am close to a few of them. Any help would be greatly appreciated, because the UK Border Agency site just seems to confuse me, and I remember having a hard time doing my visa just to take part in my internship when I studied there as well. Thank you so much and hi to everyone!!!

Yes, it's difficult. You either need to qualify for a Tier 1 visa as a highly skilled migrant or get a job offer from an employer who is willing to sponsor you for a Tier 2 visa. Unfortunately it's quite tough to get a visa for what you're looking to do, unless you are willing to study in the UK.

You can check your points & eligibility to qualify for a Points Based System visa here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/pointscalculator to see if you even have enough points to qualify for a Tier 1.

But other than that geeta's right, Tier 2 seems to be your only option. So you'd have to find an employer to sponsor you (and all that jazz they have to go through to prove there's no one else in the UK or the EU that can do what you do).

Yeah, it seems that I haven't made enough money in the past 12 months for myself to get the extra points for a Tier 1 visa. And that's the only thing that is stopping me from getting that Tier 1, but with school and working 30+ hours a week its still not enough. It's so hard!!!! And I've been looking for jobs, there seems to be loads and I was hoping my previous experience would help me out.

What sort of job are you hoping to get?

What about continuing your education in the UK?

Well I'm going to school for International Studies/Business Administration. But, I've worked at this grocery/retail store chain for 6 years come August and I recently am getting trained in the Pharmacy as a Technician which I could also do as well. However, I think I'd still have to do extra training there for that. I had my internship which was in Public Relations which I absolutely loved too and I was an Executive Assistant there.

I could continue my education somehow, do you think that'd make things easier? I did one semester there, but it's also very expensive. But if it'd help me more by finding a job it might help.

The thing to remember about finding a job in the UK is that for any UK company to hire you, that company must demonstrate that no one in the UK or the EU can fill the position.

Yeah, I remember reading about that as well. I wonder if I could take some courses and get a part-time job, if thats possible with a different type of visa??

Yeah, I remember reading about that as well. I wonder if I could take some courses and get a part-time job, if thats possible with a different type of visa??

Only if you study for a full-time degree programme in the UK on a Tier 4 student visa (e.g. you could do a masters degree here, but you can only work a maximum of 20 hours a week during term-time). However, in order for the visa to be granted, you have to show proof that you have access to 1 year of tuition fees (£10,000-£15,000) plus 9 months of living costs (£7,200 in London or £5,400 outside London). This amount must either be in your bank account for 28 days before you apply or you'll need an approved US loan for at least that amount, otherwise the visa will be refused.

If you are still in school, or are about to graduate, then you may be able to get a BUNAC Intern in Britain visa, which would allow you to spend a maximum of 6 months in the UK doing an internship (but you must return to the US when the 6 months are up). However, you must find and secure an internship place before you can apply for the visa and it may be difficult to find an internship that pays. See here for more info on the programme: http://www.bunac.org/usa/interninbritain/

thanks for the info! I didn't know about that! I could do my masters over there that just depends on the money situation. I'm going to go check out that internship right now!! I appreciate your help.