Hello! Our family of 5 is moving to London!

Also, this 1000000% 

Please don’t let the UK make you feel as though your education is subpar.  It isn’t.  I promise.  But the UK LOVES bureaucracy and they love “UK qualifications” even more.

If you encounter this attitude from UK employers/assessors, it's not great for your self-esteem.  But remember this.  Your education/qualifications/experience are FINE.  The UK just loves their UK qualifications and UK experience, and they love their tickboxes (Applicant has a UK qualification?  Yes/No).

Wasn't it?  I was ready to give up my castle to move to London!

You could just live in one of the 75 cat castles in our flat?

You could just live in one of the 75 cat castles in our flat?

You could just live in one of the 75 cat castles in our flat?

Oh man... I bet they love all the sunlight they get through those windows!

GUILTY! But also ssshhh I'm working from home today, and she's sleeping, and we don't need her waking up asking for things.

DH and I are actually looking at moving to the NW/W London area.    We used to live in Ealing and then we moved to Lewisham when our flat in Ealing started having big problems and the landlord wasn't particularly keen to address them.  We miss the more suburb/leafy feeling of the NW/W area... but suspect most flats are out of our price range nowadays.

I bet Willesden Green or Cricklewood would have something in range ...

Oh man... I bet they love all the sunlight they get through those windows!

Oh man... I bet they love all the sunlight they get through those windows!

They move around, depending on where the light is at a given moment.



Now that's enough of cats ...

... Although do let me say that this area is also super-pet friendly, and I know so many cat-obsessives, but also there are puppers everywhere.

They

I didn't realise you have two, is one a recent addition? 

I bet Willesden Green or Cricklewood would have something in range ...

Cheers, I will look into these. 

I didn't realise you have two, is one a recent addition? 

No, it's just that Boe is alwaysssss on me tits, and the other one is an independent, capable, active cat who has four modes: GONE!, INTENSELY ASKING FOR THINGS!, INTENSELY PLAYING TOYS WITH YOU! and INTENSELY SNUGGLING YOU IN BED!. Pebs is amazing and I adore her deeply, but it's hard to get the camera out when we're doing various intense(!!!) activities.

And since DH was recruited directly by a UK company, I assume his visa will be straight Tier 2, but I will check on that!

ICT stands for Intra-Company Transfer. If he hasn't just transferred to the UK from his US office, then he won't be on the temporary Tier 2 (ICT) visa. The visa should say Tier 2 (General) visa. The UK limits the Tier 2 (General) visas to just 20,700 a year from outside the UK and the employers know if they will be able to get one of these when they make the offer.

The latter (Tier 2 ICT) does NOT to permanent residence and you'll have to leave the UK at the end of it.
 

They only have to leave at the end of their temporary transfer to the UK office on their ICT visa, if they or their dependant spouse do not have the skills the UK needs. These Tier 2 (ICT) visa holders have a 12 month cooling off period outside the UK before they are allowed to return to the UK on another work visa. This prevents them and any dependants from getting settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain) in the UK under the 10 years of lawful stay for ILR.

If the Tier 2 (ICT) visa holder can find a new employer who will pay them at least £159,600, they can have a Tier 2 (General) visa and these are not required to have the 12 months cooling off period outside the UK.
 
The Tier 2 (ICT) visa holder can switch (in country) to the Innovator visa; the Start-up visa; Exceptional Talent visa (Tier 1); Investor visa (Tier 1); no 12 month cooling off period required outside the UK for these either.

If the Tier 2 (ICT) visa holder's dependant spouse has the skills to get one of the 20,700 Tier 2 (General) visas, the ICT visa holder switches to being their dependant. There is no 12 month cooling off period outside the UK for those who are the dependant.

ICT stands for Intra-Company Transfer. If he hasn't just transferred to the UK from his US office, then he won't be on the temporary Tier 2 (ICT) visa. The visa should say Tier 2 (General) visa. The UK limits the Tier 2 (General) visas to just 20,700 a year from outside the UK and the employers know if they will be able to get one of these when they make the offer.

We did confirm he is getting a Tier 2 general visa. And I keep teasing him that clearly he isn’t exceptional enough for Tier 1. 

He has to start work sooner than we can move as a family, so they are expediting him and he will start in June. We plan to move last week of July/August. They said the dependents can do their visa’s separately. Does anyone know how long that usually takes? I want to make sure we get the process going late enough that we don’t run out of our 30 day range to fly over, but early enough that we aren’t sitting here ready to go with no dependent visas! I assume we can’t fly over on a travel visa until the work visa kicks in?

We did confirm he is getting a Tier 2 general visa. And I keep teasing him that clearly he isn’t exceptional enough for Tier 1. 

You are all on a path to settlement in 5 years.  Tier 2 General is the hardest visa to get.

We plan to move last week of July/August. They said the dependents can do their visa’s separately. Does anyone know how long that usually takes?

His application for a CoS will go before the board on about 11 May as long as the employer gets this in before the 5th, then they receive a CoS and visas are issued quickly after that. They will be much quicker than a visa for a spouse of a Brit to the UK

I think for that visa, the 5 years to ILR starts from when the visa is issued? You might do better going to where the Tier 2 General visa holders are to get an idea how this works for the dependants,  like this one  https://www.immigrationboards.com/uk-tier-2-employer-sponsored-visas/

You may want to also give Kew / Kew Gardens a look too - a buddy moved there from West Hampstead and is getting a LOT more house and yard for his money than he ever did in Wham. Good schools and neighborhood feel too (Richmond has Costco and Whole Foods as well). Your £4K would get you a 5 bed house no problem, and you are close to the parks, airport, amenities, etc out that way.

West Hampstead isnt bad but it can feel really tight and full of a lot of people, not to mention the tube station in the morning is a slow moving disaster. But HMS is right, the local bookshop and some of the bars and the new wine shop (we lived across the park from there) made it feel like a little village. We moved from there down to E1W and ugh, after two years of this transient neighborhood I am ready to move back to NW London where I have always felt happiest.