Leap of Faith (across the pond)

While (or rather, should I say 'whilst') I've frequented this forum over the last few months, this is -- in fact -- my first post (shameful, I know). I, like many of you, am hoping to one day make the great leap across the pond to live amongst our 'older cousins.'

I'm a young financial services professional located in NYC - where I currently live, work, and play. To be frank, I am looking to relocate to London as soon as possible, I gotta see about a girl (Good Will Hunting, anyone?). I've begun the job hunt but that's about it. This whole process seems overwhelming, so any advise on where to begin would be helpful. Just moral support is fine too.

Cheers,
Rob

Banks still send people on international assignments quite frequently.  As you are in FS, you might want to start there and see about getting an intercompany transfer or Tier 2 (like a work permit) through them.

Barclays, HSBC, Citi, Bank of America, JP Morgan, etc.

Your biggest issue is to get a job that will allow you to transfer.  What do you do, and will it be easy to get a job at a multinational?  That's your main question.

I'd prefer to avoid that route if at all possible. I do currently work for one of the big bulge bracket banks but am looking to pursue other opportunities for various reasons. That being said, it appears as though I'm going to have to face the realities of finding a job from scratch. Hopefully I can leverage my experience into a position (ideally fs consulting).

It will be much, much easier to do a transfer either with your current company or with another than it will be to avoid the route altogether.  Getting a work permit is tough even for people who specialize.  I obtained a work permit in 2005 to work in finance but would not expect to be able to qualify for one today. 

I'd prefer to avoid that route if at all possible. I do currently work for one of the big bulge bracket banks but am looking to pursue other opportunities for various reasons. That being said, it appears as though I'm going to have to face the realities of finding a job from scratch. Hopefully I can leverage my experience into a position (ideally fs consulting).

The problem is though, that it can be extremely difficult to qualify for a work visa and being able to get a transfer with your US company to their UK offices makes things much easier for you.

If you can't get an intra-company transfer, then you either have to find a job that is listed on the Tier 2 Skills Shortage list which is on this page (but I don't think there are any financial sector jobs on there right now), or else the UK company will have to prove that they could not find a single person in the UK or the rest of the EU who is capable of doing the job before they will be allowed to hire you (and that's out of 500 million people in 27 countries).

Because of these restrictions on qualifying for work visas and the fact that unemployment is high right now, it can be very difficult to get one unless you work in an extremely highly skilled or specialised field which is in shortage in the UK.