Another General Question

Hey all,
This is my very first post and I'm desperate for any help available. I'm a 23 yr-old American, 6 weeks from being finished with my BA degree in both English Lit and Creative Writing. I currently live in Tallahassee, Florida and work for Floida State University's College of Law Office of Alumni Affairs as an Administrative Assistant. I am planning to relocate to London as soon as I have finished with university and have been actively looking for work in the UK, however, of course no one will hire me without a work visa. Is there a any advice anyone can give in getting a sponsor or finding one? Or just anything at all? I'm just at my wits end and refuse to give up my dream of living in the UK.

If you just graduated, and if you can find an internship, you can do BUNAC.

I thought about doing BUNAC, I'm very interested, however, I've tried looking for internships by just going to company websites and sending them inquiry e-mails but have gotten very little response back. Do you know of anyplace that maybe lists internships?
I'd rather go through BUNAC than an Internship Program Website that costs thousands of dollars.
Thank you!

Welcome to UK-Y and good luck with your plans to move .

Unfortunately, the UK government is in the midst of tightening immigration rules right now and work visas are the main targets. Apart from the BUNAC Intern in Britain scheme, pretty much the only other option for you to move to the UK for work would be to be sponsored for a Tier 2 work visa. However, the government has just restricted the number of Tier 2 visas issued per year to 20,600 and unless you work in a very specialised field (with a number of years of experience behind you), it will likely be very difficult to get a sponsor.

If the job is listed on the skills shortage list, then it may be easier, but I don't believe that there are any English Lit/Creative Writing type jobs on the list at the moment (it's mostly scientists, engineers and medical professionals): http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/workingintheuk/shortageoccupationlist.pdf

If the job is not listed on there, then the company will have to prove that they cannot find anyone in the entire UK or EU capable of doing the job before they can hire you (and that is out of 27 countries and 500 million people!)... and right now there are more graduates applying for every job than there have been in years (something like an average of 65 applicants per job) - I am a British citizen with two masters degrees in science and my skills are considered to be 'in demand', yet it just took me more than two years to find a graduate job in science!

The Fragomen Law Firm got approval last week for an interesting new variant on T5 internships.  It's new so I don't have a lot of knowledge about it, but they would no doubt be adding it to their site if they haven't already.

Fragomen is a proper blue-blooded law firm, and I have no idea what their fee structure is like.  Probably other law firms will get approval if the idea takes off.

Remember that interns, just like T2 ICT's, have a cooling off period.

Have you considered going to a graduate school in the UK? You'll be able to work 20hrs/week during term and 40hrs during breaks so it doesn't have to be a complete financial drain and more importantly, it's a much easier visa to go for.

Thank you all for your wonderful advice and help. I truly appreciate it.