Chicago to Manchester

Hi All,
  My name is Scott I am from Chicago and I have fallen in love with an English gal.
  I travel extensively for work and during a trip to Manchester met a wonderful woman who I am planning to spend all of my free time with and plan on re-locating to England for.
  I have been reading other posts here and this seems like a great place to get answers to a lot of my questions and hopefully, in time, be a help to others.
  As I mentioned I travel extensively for work.  I work in the music business , so I currently tour close to 9 months out of the year.
  I have time off this fall and am planning on spending the fall and Holidays in Manchester.  I have some money saved, but I am a bit of a work-a-holic, don't want to turn into a couch potato while she is at work, and we all need to earn money, so I am hoping to find sponsorship from some contacts I have in Manchester to help w a work Visa.
  This being said...how difficult is this?  Browsing different sites it really seems like it can go either way.  I do have some contacts, but what I do is not brain surgery by any means, so I do not know if I could ever be called "a necessity" to any economy.
  Anyway....very much looking forward to "hellos" and any suggestions/advice you all might be able to offer.
  Excited to have found this.
 
  S

You can't work at all on a tourist visa. Just in case you were planning on trying to work during your visit.

Finding a sponsor for a work permit can be very hard. What do you do for work?

I am a tour manager and production manager in the live music industry, so will most likely be speaking with venues, production companies and promoters that I have had contact with in the past.

It's fine for you to seek work as a visitor. Just remember you will need to return to the US to actually apply for a visa. Keep in mind it would likely be much easier for you to get a fiancé or spousal visa as long as your fiancée earns the required salary to sponsor you.

Good luck!

I just wanted to say welcome- we moved from Milwaukee to Manchester almost 2 years ago.  My husband is on a work permit but like you can imagine they are very difficult to come by.  We really like it so far and if you have any questions this is the place to ask.

Hiya

Fellow Chicagoan here. Welcome to the boards.

Thanks!
Yeah...this would purely be secondary income while I have time off from my career job.  I always have to go back and forth from the states or whatever country it is that we might be traveling to.
Definitely hoping for the fiancée visa (once I propose)

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Welcome  I am from Manchester and have just married my American girlfriend! she is moving here but at the mo were just waiting on the visa