Seattle to London

Hello Everyone!

My husband and I (ages 26 and 27 respectively) are moving from Seattle to London in June.  My husband is transferring within his company, but at the moment I'm not sure what I'll be doing (I'm a social worker by profession).  We don't know anyone overseas and are not sure where we'll settle down yet, though we know it will be within the city.  We welcome any and all advice for making the move.
 
I'm looking forward to reading through all these forums!

Cheers!

Hi there!  I'm an MSW (LCSW) hoping to make the move from the US (south) to Surrey.  My fiancé visa is pending (ugh).  Anywho, I did register with HCPC (http://www.hcpc-uk.org).  It's pretty vital if you plan to work in the field.  The application is a bit long & requires some documentation from your former US scwk employers & the school(s) you attended, so you might think about looking into that before you make the move.  Feel free to inbox me if I can be of further scwk help.  I have a great friend who lives in London & I see her often (when I'm in England of course).  She's from the states too (west coast).  We're always game for meet ups over tea! Feel free to inbox me if I can help ya with scwk stuff, etc.  Best wishes~

Oh, and...in case you haven't noticed this thread....

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=21614.0

Welcome to UKY! 

HCPC registration is a must to practice, so I'd start looking into that now.

I am also a social worker, originally from BC (Canadian BSW), so know Seattle pretty well. 

Lived / worked in London when I arrived about 15 years ago....

My biggest advice is to understand and read and study the policy and law in your area of practice. There's the SW dedicated thread (see CWrummy's message above), if you want to post in there about that - there's lots of online resources, books, journals etc. you can access fairly easily.     

Greetings from a fellow NW Washingtonian (B'ham) living in London! 

When you get here, I'd love to meet up! 

Watching the crazy news about the Mount Vernon I-5 bridge today.... the story made it all the way to the Guardian!  But they completely mispronounced Skagit!    hehehe.  Can't blame them... but it's still funny. 

If you're coming to London in early June, some of us are meeting up for Mexican! 

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=79856.0

Good luck with the move! 

Watching the crazy news about the Mount Vernon I-5 bridge today.... the story made it all the way to the Guardian!  But they completely mispronounced Skagit!    hehehe.  Can't blame them... but it's still funny. 

Wondered where that was - BBC only mentioned north of Seattle. Ta muchly!

Wondered where that was - BBC only mentioned north of Seattle. Ta muchly!

This was on the Guardian.    They mention it's between Mount Vernon and Burlington (it's just south of the Cascade Mall).  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/24/bridge-collapse-washington-state-cars

It had me a bit worried as my folks flew out here yesterday, but after a bit more research, the bridge went down just before 7 and their flight left SeaTac at 6.55.    They drove from Bellingham, so they went over that bridge just a few hours before it was in the river.  

This was on the Guardian.    They mention it's between Mount Vernon and Burlington (it's just south of the Cascade Mall).  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/24/bridge-collapse-washington-state-cars

It had me a bit worried as my folks flew out here yesterday, but after a bit more research, the bridge went down just before 7 and their flight left SeaTac at 6.55.    They drove from Bellingham, so they went over that bridge just a few hours before it was in the river.  

  Glad your folk are OK - what a scare!

That's so near the border - busy, busy I5. 

Thank you guys so much!

CWrummy - Thanks for the link to the social worker thread!  I will definitely have lots of questions about social work in the UK.  I'm mid-application for registering with the HCBC, but it is extremely tedious.  How long did it take after you sent in your application?  
 
Travelingfrog - Would love to meet up once we are there  I'm arriving on June 22nd and my husband will be moving on June 12th, so won't be there in time for Mexican.  Let me know how it is though, as I've heard it's hard to find good Mexican there!

Yeah, the Skagit Bridge is huge news here.  Fortunately, no one was hurt even though multiple cars fell into the water.  Makes me nervous to drive on bridges now...

Just take it one step at a time...right foot, left foot   It didn't take too long to get the approval once I sent the info in.  Maybe a month or so.  If your degree was from an accredited program, you probably don't have much to worry about.  Best wishes with everything! 

This was on the Guardian.    They mention it's between Mount Vernon and Burlington (it's just south of the Cascade Mall).  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/24/bridge-collapse-washington-state-cars

It had me a bit worried as my folks flew out here yesterday, but after a bit more research, the bridge went down just before 7 and their flight left SeaTac at 6.55.    They drove from Bellingham, so they went over that bridge just a few hours before it was in the river.  

This was actually just northwest of us, we're on Whidbey Island and people are now using the island as a path south (and north), never seen such long ferry waits! So glad no one was hurt but it's too bad that they had already deemed most WA state bridges as potentially unstable and still did nothing about it.

Hi and welcome to the OP! As CWrummy said, one step at a time. Sounds like you don't have a lot of time to work with so I wish you all the best in getting it all sorted! Is your husband's employer helping you get housing squared away? They should be a good resource for you in figuring out which area you want to be in.