Hi from NY seeking visa advice-not marriage

Good Morning!

I don't actually live in the UK, I live in Upstate NY.  However, I would like nothing more than to have the opportunity to live and work in the UK.  See, I was just over there this month for two weeks with my cousins.  My cousins are British citizens.  They were born and raised in England.  One of my cousins is a Managing Director of a tele-sales company and feels that I would succeed in the position.  However, in brief research, I don't know if I will be able to come there to work.  I have some college, but no degree.  I am an experienced customer service representative with great communication skills.  I am finding that even with my 8 years of experience, it's still not enough.  I've been to England four times in my life and I would do it another four times. 

The reason I posted today is because I am looking for some sound advice.  No favors, nothing illegal, just some good, solid advisement.  What do you suggest I do, aside from marriage?     Thank you so much for your help!  I just want to say that this Web site is certainly well-organized and very resourceful.  Thank you again!

Hi DianaNY and welcome to UKY!   I am glad you decided to say hi and I was going to try to move this to the Visa section so that you might benefit from advice from others that might not frequent the intro board.  I cannot seem to get that to work so I suggest that you create a post in there as well. 

In the meantime I hope to see more of your posts in the future and I wish you the best of luck in getting over there!

Welcome Diana!

Ive been in retail (and as a manger) for over 6 years and there was no chance of me getting a job in the UK. The employer must prove that no one else in the *enitre* European Union can do the job that apply for and well, retail and customer service is a dime a dozen over there.

Have you thought about going over as a student? It was the only way I could get over there for an extended period of time. I have a description written up under "welcome wagon" in the thread "hello from san francisco" (or something similiar...)

Have a nice time here; I hope you get to the UK. Its a very magical place!

Do you have a grandparent who was born in the UK?  It might be a way to get over to work and live.  But not sure...

****Hiya Diana 

I'm from Upstate NY, too- but now live in Hampshire with my husband.  I made the move to  London to be with through a work permit! I know it seems like a rare thing, but I found a company that was willing to sponsor me and got a Immigration consultancy firm to do the legwork. I'd definitely recommend doing it this way if you're able.  It's a bit more expensive (£800) but it was worth it for us (and in the end work actually paid for it)

My suggestion would be to get an evalutation of your skills and chances for a work permit by going to a company like the one I used. 

I used Dearson Winyard International and I think they have an evaluation form to fill  in on  their website http://www.dwiglobal.com

Good luck!


**** See my post below! 

Jennydee,
Just hoping to clarify, you went to this firm and they helped you find a work permit opportunity? Sounds like something I may look into if that is what they can do....

Basically, I had a job offer firmly in place when I went to them. My job was conditional, of course, on obtaining a work permit. My job was in HR Management and the employer had to go through a whole process of advertising the position for any UK applicants before I could get the permit.

The firm I mentioned specializes in Employment immigration but does do the other bits as well. While I was looking at my options I stumbled across probably the most well-known site on the internet

http://www.workpermit.com.

I want to stress that these websites *won't* find a job for you but they have a wealth of information. You need to be careful because you can't come over here and look for a job- that is a violation of your visitor's visa.  The good thing about going through a firm that specializes in employment immigration is that some have an option to assess your  likelihood of getting the work permit from your skills and education! All this has to be weighed against the price of getting a work permit- which is very small if done on the personal/employer  level but very costly if done by an immigration specialist.

Hope this clarifies things! Again- I just wanted to share my experience to show that work permits ARE possible...just difficult to get hold of.

Jennydee,
Thanks alot...this is going to be a process. Would you suggest looking at American companies...Or did you just start applying for jobs that were listed? I am just having a hard time figuring out where to begin the process, besides a CV. Which I am currently working on.