Do I have any chance?

Basically I've just graduated high school, I've had a decent amount of expierence with children at school.(Spent an hour 3 days a week then One week straight for 6months) It looks like I'm going to have to defer a year on my university so my boyfriends mom invited me to stay with her and have a job. Is the only way to get the job to go over on vacaction and look then? Do I even have a chance?  As you can tell I have no idea. Any help would be appriciated. Thanks

Ash

Hi Ash,

Do you have British or EU citizenship? If not then it's not going to be as easy as you'd like I'm afraid. For someone in your postion,  really the only way for you to come & live & work in the UK is on a student visa. You can work up to 20 hours a week (in any kind of job). 

Definitely DO NOT come over here on holiday and start job hunting - this is not allowed and  the immigration officers at the airports can smell this kind of thing a mile off.  You could be refused entry which could jeapordise you getting any visas in the future. 

Good luck!

Yeah I'm american. Thats what I thought to begin with but my boyfriends mom is trying to get me a job in nursing. Apparently theres some kind of nursing thing that they train you up in. They also had a friend that came over on vacaction and got their job and visa while they were there. I don't know, Im just looking for options.

Was their friend a citizen of an EU country?  If so, that's why they could move over and work.  If you're looking at working in any capacity, you're going to need a settlement visa (as a wife or a fiancee'), a student visa (you can work up to 20 hpw), or a work visa (which would be next to impossible to get with only a high school education and no specialised skills).  You can't come over as a tourist and work or volunteer in any capacity -- that's illegal.

Could you go ahead and start university and then come over here to study for a semester or year?  Or could you just get a job and save up enough to come over for a few months?

Yeah I'm american. Thats what I thought to begin with but my boyfriends mom is trying to get me a job in nursing. Apparently theres some kind of nursing thing that they train you up in. They also had a friend that came over on vacaction and got their job and visa while they were there. I don't know, Im just looking for options.

I'm sure your boyfriend's mother is trying to be helpful, but chances are she doesn't know squat about immigration rules pertaining to Americans.  I know my in-laws were constantly surprised by the hoops I had to jump through. 

Well today we called up another University who told us about some of their students from america that got extended holiday visas and came over to work. My own University suggested these too so I'm looking into them




Ash

If they're at a university, they're there on a student visa. 

Edit -- Just thought...maybe they were here on the BUNAC programme (for university students -- lets you come over and work for 6 months)?

Yes definitely a student visa.  You can work 20 hours p/w on a student visa.  Or as a university graduate you could get a 6 month Bunac visa which is like a working holiday visa.

Well today we called up another University who told us about some of their students from america that got extended holiday visas and came over to work. My own University suggested these too so I'm looking into them

You might want to advise the university that told you to come over and work on a visitor's visa that that is illegal, and you could be deported for it-they might not want to advise people to commit serious breaches of the law like that.  Imagine someone taking that advice, and the lawsuits that could spring from it!
I agree with Lola, they must mean BUNAC.

Best of luck!

I hate to say it, but even the Universities aren't fully conversant on what is legal and what isn't for Americans in the UK.  The only place that can give you definitive facts on what you can and cannot do and how you can live/work here is the Home Office.  We can point you in directions, but only the Home Office can guarantee what is really viable in your situation.

We called the home office today and the lady was very adimate that you can come over and look for work if your on a vacaction. You can't work though until you have the working visa that the job has to apply for it for you.  That surprised me. I thought it was the opposite.

I'd suggest you check http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/ for information. 

If you are looking for a work permit, the employer in question will have to prove that there isn't anyone in the UK or the EU who could do the job better than you.  Since you've only just finished high school, I'm doubting that your skill-set is such that you'll be be sponsored for a work permit as they're very difficult to get.

 http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/ind/en/home/0/preventing_illegal/uk_passport_stamps.html? gives a list of passport stamps that make it ILLEGAL for you to work in the UK.  As a tourist/visitor, the stamp in your passport will say "No work or recourse to public funds."  An above-board employer who sees that stamp in your passport will send you packing.



You'll notice that this stamp in particular bars you from doing unpaid work as well (volunteering):


You really, really, really need to do your research before you try to come over here.  Nobody wants you to get off the plane and be sent directly back home because you got some bad advice along the line.   

Eeek -- dunno why those are so big!   

We called the home office today and the lady was very adimate that you can come over and look for work if your on a vacaction. You can't work though until you have the working visa that the job has to apply for it for you. That surprised me. I thought it was the opposite.

Did you get her name so that everyone who is stopped and refused entry at immigration because they admit they're coming to look for work whilst visiting can call her and have her explain the dodgy advice she's giving out?   

http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/laws___policy/immigration_rules/part_2.html

The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom as a visitor are that he:

(i) is genuinely seeking entry as a visitor for a limited period as stated by him, not exceeding 6 months; and

(ii) intends to leave the United Kingdom at the end of the period of the visit as stated by him; and

(iii) does not intend to take employment in the United Kingdom; and

(iv) does not intend to produce goods or provide services within the United Kingdom, including the selling of goods or services direct to members of the public; and

(v) does not intend to study at a maintained school; and

(vi) will maintain and accommodate himself and any dependants adequately out of resources available to him without recourse to public funds or taking employment; or will, with any dependants, be maintained and accommodated adequately by relatives or friends; and

(vii) can meet the cost of the return or onward journey.


If you're going to come here as a visitor, you CANNOT seek work or be legally employed.