frustrated american, wanting in UK

You'll be able to hop around the continent teaching just as soon as you have that pretty scarlet passport  

Yeah--except now I have a husband who doesn't want to live like that.  I don't anymore either, really.  Moving every six months is a young person's game, and I'm ready to settle down and have some permanence in my life.  I just get a bit grumpy every time one of the teachers I trained with says "Well, I'm off to Greece now, was in Italy last month, and next year Ireland!" 

I am not saying we should do anything we want, but being close allies with the UK, i just thought it be nice to have some kind of agreement for at least the youth like the YMS tier 5 scheme. if not permanent, a taste, experience. Before the new immigration point system went into affect, there was at least Bunac's work in britain.

The good news is that they have essentially brought back BUNAC's Work in Britain... the BUNAC Intern in Britain option is a very similar scheme, albeit with slightly different rules and it's actually pretty amazing that they've brought it back at all. It's the closest thing the US is likely to have to the YMS for now, so it's worth taking the opportunity to use it if you can (it's probably the easiest possible visa to to meet the criteria for).

Another option would be to enroll in a US university full-time and take part in an international exchange scheme with that university, which could enable you to live in the UK as a student for up to a year, while paying tuition to your US university (this is how I managed to live in the US for a year when I was an undergraduate - I paid my UK university £500 tuition (which was half of the full fee) and got to study in the US for the year instead of the UK). One of my US friends got her degree in the US, but was able to spend one semester of her sophomore year studying in the UK and one semester of her junior year studying in Brazil!

Sure id like an easy way in, at least temporarily, im young, and i met a lovely girl over there bout a year ago. whats wrong with me wanting to be closer to her, living somewhere i  happen to enjoy, feeling frustrated when it seems at least from my point of view were one of the few being blocked from such a thing.

There's nothing wrong with it, but there are/have been many people in your situation and they too have found that it's not as simple as they'd like. There is no visa that allows you to move to a country because you want to spend time with your girlfriend/boyfriend - and that's something you just have to deal with. If you can get to the UK on another visa, great; if not, you'll just have to do the long-distance thing. There are people here on the board who have had to spend years in long-distance, transatlantic relationships in order to finally be together in the end (by way of marriage), because they had no other option.

It would be great if we could travel/move to wherever we like, whenever we like, but unfortunately there are government rules all across the world that prevent us from doing so. Some people need a visa just to land in a country's airport for a couple of hours before getting on a plane to another country; other people need a visa to simply visit certain countries on vacation and there are some people who are not allowed into certain countries at all.

It's also not like the US is just opening it's doors to everyone, either! 

I get the frustration, it took me a couple of years of researching and planning and switching jobs before I finally got over here.  But I think it's good that it took that long, because it really allowed it to sink in what a big decision it is to move. 

I honestly think that since you are young, the school route would be best, and at the end of the day, you have something additional to add to your resume/CV.  I'm thinking about doing school at some point while I'm here, if only because I sort of missing the classroom experience.    But you've got a long time to pay back student loans, and usually the interest rates are more than fair.  That way you get a taste of what it's like to live here full time (it's WAY different than the vacations/visits) and it'll give you an entirely different perspective.

It's also not like the US is just opening it's doors to everyone, either!

I get the frustration, it took me a couple of years of researching and planning and switching jobs before I finally got over here.  But I think it's good that it took that long, because it really allowed it to sink in what a big decision it is to move. 

No, the US is notoriously difficult to get into as anything but a tourist or on a student/exchange visa. The US now issues only 65,000 work permits per year to the entire world (compared to about 150,000 a year a few years ago) and if you try to get a fiance/marriage visa it can take months, even years for it to be approved (compared to a few days to a few weeks for a UK marriage visa).

When I was young, after visiting my aunt in the America for a month when I was 12 (1995), I decided that I wanted to live in the US. It took 12 years, 5 more months of vacation there, 1 year studying there on a student visa and 2 UK masters degrees in order to for me to finally make it to the US on a longer-term basis. In 2007, I applied for a PhD in the US, which would allow me to live there for the duration of the degree (usually 5-6 years). However, it would not enable me to become a permanent resident or get a job in the US outside of being a TA/RA in my academic department. In January 2008, I moved out there to start the PhD... and despite living there previously and loving it, and it being my lifelong dream to live there, I found I absolutely hated it the second time around! I stuck it out for almost 8 months, but in the end I couldn't get into my research project (it didn't interest me anymore and I felt too much pressure to work 24/7) and I missed family/friends/food/TV in the UK too much so I left the program and moved back to the UK. I have now decided that although I like to visit the US, I don't see myself living there again, at least not in the near future.

That's what I meant - it's not easy to get over to either country. 

That's what I meant - it's not easy to get over to either country. 

Yeah, I was backing up your reply with my own experience of trying to get over to the US .

Even though it took me 12 years in total, it was relatively easy for me to do in the end because I went the student visa route. If I had tried to move over there for work without getting my degrees etc. first, I would never have had a chance - in fact, I still barely have a chance at a work permit over there now, even with the degrees (I'd really need that PhD first, especially one from the US, as a certain number of US work permits are reserved for those with a US postgraduate degree).

Well, it's extremely foolish and short-sighted of us in the US, I've always thought. I worked for a research and engineering company for decades and I know in recent years we had a HELL of a time getting H1B visas for all the scientists we needed. How many kinds of stupid is it to turn away the cream of the world's scientists? In my experience, they made really splendid citizens, too.

When the number of visas was 150,000, I understand we didn't use them all. So it's not like we'd end up to our armpits in Chinese PhD's.

Oh, yeah.  I mean, I was lucky to transfer with my position - otherwise I was going to look into the grad school route for a year and then figure it out from there.    If I were younger, would I ever LOVE to go back to school for a little while, and in a different country to boot.  My brother did two masters, one in Belfast and one in London, and he's just been all over, and the companies at home really love his international studies/experiences.

I have a friend with joint Canadian/American citizenship.  They tried for years and years to get her Canadian husband into the US and finally gave up and signed him up as a full-time student just so they could move.  He had to completely change his career in order to get into the States, and he was married to an American citizen for years before he applied!

If any countries have enough similarities and ties that there should be smoother transitions to enter a country, I would think Canada and the USA would, but no.  Foreign countries are foreign countries.

The Commonwealth has been brought up multiple times here.  Sure there are some special relationships for some of them, but ask people from India, Ghana, Nigeria, or Pakistan how easy it was for them to come here.  Believe me, the scrutiny on migrants from third-world countries is much greater than it is on Americans.  It is easier to come here as an American, but we still have to follow the rules.

yes i was happy to see bunac introduce "Intern in Britain", i think i may go for that. Its not as easy/simple/straight forward as the old program, you have to actually find your internship on your own(which might be rather tricky at this time). im gonna enroll full time at my community college next semester so i can qualify. I am just going for a 2 year degree right now, part time.

I am not saying we should do anything we want, but being close allies with the UK, i just thought it be nice to have some kind of agreement for at least the youth like the YMS tier 5 scheme.

I think you have missed the crucial point that the UK wanted the US to be in on the Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme, but the US government put a block on it as they didn't want to reciprocate.  So, your comments about the 'special relationship' should really be pointed towards US officials who refused to entertain the idea of young Brits going to the US for two years.  The UK government were completely happy with the idea of US nationals coming here!

Vicky

victoria, i did hear that, though is that really true? ive never seen that documented or anything, is it just speculation, i guess i could see them shooting it down. If it is, yes id be pissed that our government would rob our youth and there youth of a wonderful experience.

Yes.  It's true.  Be pissed with your government, not (just this once) with ours!

Vicky

yes i was happy to see bunac introduce "Intern in Britain", i think i may go for that. Its not as easy/simple/straight forward as the old program, you have to actually find your internship on your own(which might be rather tricky at this time).

Even with the BUNAC Work in Britain scheme, you still had to find your job on your own too, so I don't really see how it's that much different. Only thing is with the new scheme, you have to find the internship before you leave the US, whereas with the Work in Britain scheme, you found the job after you arrived in the UK - and if you couldn't get a job, you were stuck in the UK with no income and rapidly depleting savings!

Syntax, it doesn't help with the girl situation, but someone has mentioned before that Australia and New Zealand both do work experiences for younger people. A friend of mine from college lived and worked in Australia for 6 months and loved it. If the idea is primarily for a change of scenery and working abroad experience, you could look into that. (Hopefully whoever posted that before will chime in again with more information, since I don't know all the specifics.)