Hi from South Florida

Hi there! My name is Lindsey, and my boyfriend and I are just starting our 'moving to the UK' journey. It's always been a dream of mine to move overseas, my family is from Ireland, and only recently has it seemed to become feasible. There are quite a few postings for my line of work over there, and it's a very understaffed field. I'm a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA), and I specialize in children with autism and other developmental disabilities, specifically early intervention and self injurious behavior. There's only approximately 7,000 BCBA's in the world, and only 113 in the UK, so job postings are going months without being filled. The field is unfortunately not listed on the shortage occupation list, which will makes things a little trickier, but hopefully it works out. We're currently saving up the money to be able to go, and looking into shipping companies, refinancing our car with a bank that will allow us to take it (USAA seems to be the magical company that has told us yes, they will refinance it, yes we can take it to the UK, and yes they will even insure it for us in transit and once we get there!), and finding a property management company that will rent out our home and look after things while we are gone. We're looking forward to this adventure!

How very exciting for you!  Good luck with all the move entails. 
What visa are you coming over on -- you didn't say.
Your job may be covered under special educator which is on the shortage occupation list.

Welcome to the forum .

Hi there! My name is Lindsey, and my boyfriend and I are just starting our 'moving to the UK' journey. It's always been a dream of mine to move overseas, my family is from Ireland, and only recently has it seemed to become feasible.

If your family is from Ireland, have you looked into whether or not you qualify for Irish citizenship and an Irish passport?

Irish citizenship can be passed down through 2 generations so if your parents or grandparents are Irish citizens you may well be an Irish citizen yourself (or have claim to citizenship).

If this is the case then you would not need a visa to move to the UK, you could move on just an Irish passport. Although if your boyfriend wished to move with you as the family member of an EEA citizen, instead of getting a work visa for himself, you would either need to be married or have lived together for at least 2 years.

Or, if you can't claim Irish citizenship yourself, and you could get a work visa, he would only be able to get a dependent work visa (which would be attached to your visa) if you were married or had lived together for 2 years or more... he would need to qualify for his own work visa (or vice versa).

Thanks for the welcome! I'm not 100% which visa yet, I'm still muddling through the whole thing. As one of my master's degree is in special education (the other being in behavior analysis), and many of the behavior analysis postings are at schools, I'm hoping to qualify for the job shortage occupation list visa- whichever one that is. But I'm also aware that my teaching licenses won't necessarily transfer, and since I'll actually be coming to work as a behavior analyst and not necessarily a special education teacher, I'm not sure how it will all work out yet. In the U.S. the fields are separate but closely related, in the U.K. they might be considered one and the same, or behavior analysis might be a subset of psychology over there. Early intervention for autism doesn't seem to be as prevalent over there, or it might be tied to the school district rather than health insurance and behavioral health as it is in the U.S. So it might be a Tier 2 general visa with a letter of sponsorship, which I've heard are difficult to get and involve a lot of red tape.

As for Irish citizenship, I don't believe I have any immediate relatives that qualify, my grandparents have passed on, and I'm not entirely sure how to find out if they were Irish citizens or not. My father has no clue, but my grandma always used to tell me to book a flight to Ireland and 'just show up' at my cousin's homes and she was sure they'd put me up for my visit. Not something I was ever quick to want to try- some random stranger showing up at your doorstep claiming to be your second cousin would be a little suspicious to me, LOL.

My boyfriend/fiancee's visa will hopefully be the fiancee visa, but we'll see. We've plans to marry eventually but spending money and planning a wedding seems like so much work to both of us and our families have forbid us from just having a civil court ceremony We've both discussed how neat it would be to have a UK wedding one day, so maybe there's that. But proving that we have lived together for 2+ years (we own a house together in the U.S.) and that we intend to eventually marry won't be a problem. We don't want to get married simply to obtain a spouse visa, as we don't want it to raise eyebrows and/or for anyone at immigration to think that's the sole reason we married, so if we have to go the 'civil/unmarried partner' route, we will.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm not 100% which visa yet, I'm still muddling through the whole thing. As one of my master's degree is in special education (the other being in behavior analysis), and many of the behavior analysis postings are at schools, I'm hoping to qualify for the job shortage occupation list visa- whichever one that is.

You would be applying for a Tier 2 General work visa. You would first need to get a job offer from a UK school and then the school would have to prove that your job title met the conditions of one of the positions on the skills shortage list in order to get you a Certificate of Sponsorship.

If it doesn't meet the skills shortage requirements, then in order to get you a Certificate of Sponsorship, the school would have to pass the Resident Labour Market Test by proving that they have advertised the job across the UK and EU and could not find a single suitable applicant before they can hire you.

So it might be a Tier 2 general visa with a letter of sponsorship, which I've heard are difficult to get and involve a lot of red tape.

It depends how you can qualify as to how difficult it is to get.

You need to score 70 points in order to qualify for a Tier 2 General visa:

- 30 points come from the Certificate of Sponsorship (if the job title is on the skills shortage list you get the 30 points automatically, if not, you need to pass the Resident Labour Market test to get them... the latter is the difficult part).

- 20 points come from your salary (you need to earn £20,300 per year or more at the new job)

- 10 points come from your English Language Ability (you will get these by being from an English-speaking country)

- 10 points come from your maintenance funds (you have held £900 in your bank account for 90 days and your sponsor is willing to maintain and accommodate you in the UK for the first month if necessary)

As for Irish citizenship, I don't believe I have any immediate relatives that qualify, my grandparents have passed on, and I'm not entirely sure how to find out if they were Irish citizens or not.

If you can find out at all and, if they were Irish, get hold of their birth certificates, you may be able to claim Irish citizenship.

Or if either you or your boyfriend have claim to any other EU citizenship, you could also move and get a job without a visa and bring your partner with you for free on an EEA family permit.

My boyfriend/fiancee's visa will hopefully be the fiancee visa, but we'll see. We've plans to marry eventually but spending money and planning a wedding seems like so much work to both of us and our families have forbid us from just having a civil court ceremony We've both discussed how neat it would be to have a UK wedding one day, so maybe there's that. But proving that we have lived together for 2+ years (we own a house together in the U.S.) and that we intend to eventually marry won't be a problem. We don't want to get married simply to obtain a spouse visa, as we don't want it to raise eyebrows and/or for anyone at immigration to think that's the sole reason we married, so if we have to go the 'civil/unmarried partner' route, we will.

You won't be allowed to apply for a fiance visa, spousal visa, or an unmarried partner visa.

Fiance, spousal and partner visa are only for people who are engaged or married to UK citizens (or UK permanent residents). As neither of you is a UK citizen or permanent resident, a fiance, spousal or partner visa is not something you can qualify for.

Your only visa options are:

- You get married, one of you gets a work visa and you apply for a Tier 2 General visa and a Tier 2 Dependent visa for your spouse

- One of you gets a work visa and you apply for a Tier 2 General visa and a Tier 2 Dependent visa for your partner based on living together in 'a relationship akin to marriage' for 2 years.

- You don't get married and you both qualify for your own Tier 2 visas separately (although considering how difficult it is for one person to find a job to qualify, this may not be feasible)


Or if either (or both) of you find you have claim to EU citizenship and can get an EU passport, you could move to the UK without a visa... but you could only bring your non-EU partner using the EEA immigration route (EEA family permit) if you were married or had lived together for 2 years... otherwise they would need to qualify for either their own EU passport or a work visa to move with you.

In regards to Irish Citizenship (http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP11000024):

If either of your parents was an Irish citizen at the time of your birth, you are an Irish citizen, irrespective of your place of birth (unless one of the special conditions relating to birth outside Ireland applies; these are described below). If the parent through whom you derive Irish citizenship was not alive at the time of your birth, but would have been an Irish citizen if alive at that time, you are also an Irish citizen. You derive citizenship through an Irish parent whether or not your parents were married to each other at the time of your birth.

If you were born outside Ireland to an Irish citizen who was himself or herself born in Ireland, then you are an Irish citizen.

If you were born outside Ireland to an Irish citizen who was himself or herself born outside Ireland, and any of your grandparents were born in Ireland, then you are entitled to become an Irish citizen, and can do so by having your birth registered in the Foreign Births Register maintained by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. You can do this by applying to your nearest Irish embassy or consular office. A list of these is available on the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs at www.dfa.ie. If you are entitled to register, your Irish citizenship is effective from the date of registration.

If you are of the third or subsequent generation born abroad to an Irish citizen (in other words, one of your parents is an Irish citizen but none of your parents or grandparents were born in Ireland), you may be entitled to become an Irish citizen by having your birth registered in the Foreign Births Register; this depends on whether your parent through whom you derive Irish citizenship had himself or herself become an Irish citizen by being registered in the Foreign Births Register before you were born.

Wow, thanks for all the info! Good to know the different visa options available to us. I'm still currently just talking to most of the schools hiring, but most positions are director of behavior positions, not actual teaching positions. I suppose if the posting is in a school it may qualify as special educator for the shortage occupation list but some behaviorists don't work in schools so it sounds like a school based position might be a better option if it could count as a special educator. Not sure if I would need my special education license turned into a UK equivalent if I'm not actively teaching, but my board certification and behavior license is recognized worldwide so that'll be valid in the UK for practicing behavior.

I did look into the point system and figured out that I would be eligible for all the points with a letter of sponsorship. I read the tier 2 general visas are limited to 20,000/year. Are the shortage occupation list visas included in that or separate?

A dependent visa seems like it'll be the way we have to go if we both want to come to the UK, since we have no immediate marriage plans but can easily prove we've lived together for over 2 years.


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I did look into the point system and figured out that I would be eligible for all the points with a letter of sponsorship.

Problem is, everyone else is in the same boat.

The language requirement and maintenance points are the easy ones to get (the salary one obviously comes with the job and the Certificate of Sponsorship) - lots of people can meet those requirements.

It's the Certificate of Sponsorship which prevents most people from being able to move to the UK to work - unless the job is on the Skills Shortage List (or it pays over £152,100 per year), it can be anywhere from extremely difficult to virtually impossible to qualify for.

I know people who have been trying for years to qualify for a Tier 2 visa to work in the UK, but their professions are neither on the Skills Shortage List nor are specialised enough to pass the Resident Labour Market Test.

I read the tier 2 general visas are limited to 20,000/year. Are the shortage occupation list visas included in that or separate?

The 20,700 per year limit only applies to entry clearance applications for Tier 2 visas - i.e. for Tier 2 applications made from OUTSIDE the UK.

The limit doesn't apply to applications made from inside the UK where the applicant is already in the UK on a different type of visa, for example, they are living in the UK on a Tier 4 student visa and are switching to a Tier 2 visa in the UK. It also doesn't apply to jobs with salaries over £152,100 (whether applying from inside or outside the UK).

The shortage occupation visas aren't a separate type of visa - all Tier 2 General visas are the same. A skills shortage job is just a means by which you can qualify for one.

Take three people who all work for the same company. They all have the same Tier 2 visa with the same restrictions and the visas are all valid for the same length of time:
 
- One qualified for their Tier 2 visa because their job title was on the skills shortage list (their visa is 1 of the 20,700),
- the second qualified for their Tier 2 visa because there were no suitable UK or EU applicants for the job and so they passed the resident labour market test (their visa is 1 of the 20,700)
- the third is a recent foreign graduate of a UK university who has switched from a Tier 4 student visa to a Tier 2 work visa (their visa is not part of the 20,700 limit. As a UK university graduate they also don't have to meet the Skills Shortage or Labour Market test requirements).

A dependent visa seems like it'll be the way we have to go if we both want to come to the UK, since we have no immediate marriage plans but can easily prove we've lived together for over 2 years.

Yes, that would probably be the easiest option for you to move to the UK together. You would have to prove a higher amount of maintenance for the dependent visa as well as the main visa, but other than that it's a fairly straightforward process.

The biggest hurdle for you first, though, will be finding a company who is wiling and able to sponsor you for a Tier 2 visa and can issue you with a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Thank you so much for all the information. This is making my googling go much faster

It sounds like the certificate of sponsorship/job shortage list is the major roadblock for most people? If you have a job offer + a certificate of sponsorship (or you're on the job shortage list) is it fairly easy to acquire the visa at that point, or it is still extremely difficult even with those things?

Luckily the postings that are recruiting in the US for BCBAs are ones that have been open for 6 months to 12+ months, and companies are willing to pay relocation costs and provide certificates of sponsorship to whomever comes to take the post. Qualifying for the Resident Labour Market Test, from what I understand of it, wouldn't be a problem for any of these postings, most companies have been desperately trying to hire from within the UK and EU already for quite some time and  have been scouring the UK and Europe for BCBA's willing to relocate and take up the positions. It's a very specialized and understaffed field that requires a lot of education (I hold a double master's degree and am working toward my PhD) and the board exam carries a 60% failure rate to it, so people who can manage to complete it all are frequently sought after. With only 7,000 behavior analysts worldwide, and only 112 in the UK, and the rates of autism and developmental/intellectual disabilities rising, a lot of places are scrambling to hire.  Most places, even in the US, are pretty desperate to fill positions in this field. Which is how this whole idea first came up for us; I was approached by a headhunting firm that was looking to fill positions in Germany, Dubai, U.K. and the South Pacific. Dubai was the most lucrative positions with offers around $175,000 USD/year, but I'm not real sure I'd want to move there! (plus the Sharia law and not being married would make it illegal for my boyfriend to accompany me if we expected to live together). While I've been in talks with U.K. companies, I haven't accepted any positions yet. I wanted to learn as much as I can about the whole process, and explore all the options before accepting a potential position.

I'd love to finish my PhD while in the UK, but I don't want to come in under the student visa route- I'd be too nervous to survive on student loans and would absolutely need to work to put myself through the last of my studies, so I'd need a visa that would allow me to work even if I was attending a university (plus, there's only one university in the UK currently that offers a doctorate program in Behavior Analysis, which makes things more difficult).

You've got it right.  The sponsorship is the big hurdle.  If someone will sponsor, you will get the visa (as long as it's a high enough pay grade).

Keep in mind you will have to pay international fees for education.

It sounds like the certificate of sponsorship/job shortage list is the major roadblock for most people? If you have a job offer + a certificate of sponsorship (or you're on the job shortage list) is it fairly easy to acquire the visa at that point, or it is still extremely difficult even with those things?

Yes, it is easy to get the visa once you have it - as long as you meet the English Language and Maintenance requirements too.

Getting the visa is about scoring the points and ticking the boxes. If you can score all 70 points and you provide all the required documentation, you will get the visa.

So getting the Certificate of Sponsorship is usually the tricky part, but once you have it, and therefore have the 30 points for it, the rest is easy.

Qualifying for the Resident Labour Market Test, from what I understand of it, wouldn't be a problem for any of these postings, most companies have been desperately trying to hire from within the UK and EU already for quite some time and  have been scouring the UK and Europe for BCBA's willing to relocate and take up the positions.

Yes, if that's the case, then it should be relatively easy to get sponsorship.

I'd love to finish my PhD while in the UK, but I don't want to come in under the student visa route- I'd be too nervous to survive on student loans and would absolutely need to work to put myself through the last of my studies, so I'd need a visa that would allow me to work even if I was attending a university (plus, there's only one university in the UK currently that offers a doctorate program in Behavior Analysis, which makes things more difficult).

A student visa would actually allow you to work as well as study, but only for 20 hours a week during term-time (full-time during school vacations). Also, for a student visa, you would need to have all the fees for the first year of study plus either £7,200 (studying outside London) or £9,000 (studying in Inner London) in living costs to qualify for the visa - you would need to be able to show that you can fund at least the first year of study without needing to work in the UK.

But if you did come to the UK on a Tier 4 student visa (which is generally easier to get than a Tier 2), you would be able to work in any job without needing a Tier 2 Certificate of Sponsorship (you would get a Tier 4 Certificate of Sponsorship for the student visa instead), but you would be restricted to those 20 hours of work per week.

While you are allowed to study while on a Tier 2 General visa, you still need to be able to prove that you main reason for being in the UK is to work, so if you did study, you would need to make sure that you were keeping the right work/study balance.