information overload! Need pointers plz.

Oh. My. Gosh.

My husband and I got the bug to live abroad in the UK for two years and we are giving ourselves 1 year and a half to get everything ready. After reading all the information on Tier 2 and Tier 1, and visas, and points systems, and sponsorship and AUGH!  I am so confused now I don't even know where the heck to start!!!

I see all of you lovely people over there or so close to going and I feel like I am missing something. Maybe if I give a few details you can all point me in the right direction so I can get a great start and make it to the UK

~My husband has been working for Amazon.com for almost 5 years. They say to transfer we just put in for the facility we want and they let us know when he gets it. We are aiming for Milton Keynes. He makes around $32,000 a year.

~I am a body piercer with a business license. I want to work locally in a shop and pierce.

~We are visiting Spring of 2010 and aim to be living in Milton Keynes by the beginning of 2011.

~We are planning on staying no more than two years.


Those are the basics I think. Any help? Pointers? Ideas? *LOL* Thank you so much for taking the time to help. I greatly appreciate it 

Unless either of you have Masters degrees or £100,000 in savings, the easiest option is likely to be the Tier 2 - intra company transfer.  Your husband would need to make sure that Amazon UK have a sponsor licence (I am sure they do) and then he applies from the US.  You apply as his dependent, and this will allow you to work or be self employed.

However, this may have all changed within the next two years.

Vicky

So my husband and I are aiming to move over in the beginning of 2011... roughly 1 year and a half from now. I'm not sure exactly what I should be doing right now, if anything. We still need to apply for a transfer within his company so should we do that first and then get prepared? Or should we prepare first then put in the transfer? Then what happens next? *LOL*

Pointers please?

The first thing you need to do is .............. tell us the nationality of you and your husband!

It is really impossible for anyone to comment without that information.

...start practicing piercing with a cannula needle! It was the biggest adjustment I had to make when moving over. 

Those are the basics I think. Any help? Pointers? Ideas? *LOL* Thank you so much for taking the time to help. I greatly appreciate it 

Sadly, "getting a bug to live abroad" is a LOT harder than it used to be, and they're tightening the screws all the time.

Listen to Vicky. She actually knows what she's talking about.

cannula... as in the plastic sleeve? WOW! Yeah, that will take some work

And Vicky has been so helpful in all of my other posts... thank you so much Vicky!!!

Ok so, transfer first right? I'm just afraid that Amazon will want us to drop everything and go NOW... which obviously we are so not ready for. So do we get prepared THEN request a transfer or transfer first? *tears hair out*

PS- it would appear that I have two threads going on here that have managed to merge into the same topic. I apologize.

*LOL* Ah sorry about that. We are both US citizens

Quite simply, there is no point in 'getting ready' for a move that, frankly, might never happen.  No one knows if you are going to be able to get a visa in two years time.



Vicky

I would start by investigating first, if Amazon is able and willing to sponsor your husband to work in their UK division, and second, what the timeframe will be according to them. You're at their mercy, so you might find yourself being asked to move sooner or later than you might like. At that point, the question is, how badly do you want to go?

I'm not giving up. If it takes longer, then so be it.

So how long, approximately, does it take to get a visa anyway? I keep getting some extremely varied answers...

*sigh* You're really are not hearing. It doesn't matter how long the visa takes to get NOW. A year ago, it took about a week. Today it takes about two-three months, without the use of an expediter. Who knows what it'll be like in two years? And who knows if the rules would even be the same.

What you need to do is figure out how long it'll take amazon to arrange a transfer for you, and then, when it gets around this window of the time you want to actually move, then you should start looking at the visa information.

~I am a body piercer with a business license. I want to work locally in a shop and pierce.

You probably didn't read far enough back in the archives here that the Migration Advisory Committee (i.e., one of the Home Office's think tanks) has been commissioned to propose whether T1/T2 spouses should be permitted to take employment, and if so, should it be in a shortage category only. 

If they go ahead with these things, you'll need to be sure that body piercing is a shortage occupation in the UK.  But since body piercing is de rigueur for every slapper from Zara Phillips on down to the local chavs, I would reckon it's not going to be on the shortage list.

What this amalgamates to is the aspirations you have may be dashed before you even arrive by stuff that's happening in the background.  Of course the MAC might turn around and say it's great for T1/T2 spouses to work at any occupation they want.  So who knows.  Just don't get your hopes up.

On the hubby's front, the T2 ICT bands are pretty tight.  Amazon is approved for migrant intake, so I would have him double check to be sure he's in an applicable band.  It can get tricky if he's not high enough up the ladder.

To your question about how long it takes, about 90% of the work is on the sponsor's back.  Once they issue your hubs a COS, the rest takes about 2 weeks.

Thank you! All I needed was straight to the point   We will be armed and ready to head into his HR department this week to find out what our options are.

Btw Mort, I tend to lose focus when I get overwhelmed. Apologies for being hard of hearing.

Thank you all so very much for your patience and wisdom. Even if we don't make it, I appreciate your honesty and assistance.

One thing to look at is if your husband has enough points for tier 2 ICT.  You can do this at http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/pointscalculator

Basically you need 20 points between qualifications and expected earnings.  If your husband has a bachelor's degree, he'll need to make over £20,000 in the UK to have enough points.  If he doesn't have a bachelor's degree (or higher) then he needs to earn more to make up the points.  If he's only making 32,000 right now and doesn't have a bachelor's degree, you may need to wait until he gets a promotion or raise in the US so he will earn enough in the UK.