Hellllooooooooooo!

Hey everybody.

Brand new here. Just found this site yesterday. I love it. I think I read the entire say good things about the UK thread from my phone. It was marvelous.

I plan to move to the UK December first. I may postpone it just to get more money saved up till January. I want everything to be just right though.

A little background info on me and why I'm moving.

For the majority of my twenties I played online poker for a living and did really well for myself. About three years ago I got really burned out and decided I wanted to do something radically different and decided to join the US Marines. Just recently got discharged and wanted to go back to doing what I do best and apparently online poker is no longer legal in America. Who would have thought banks could commit heinous crimes against the under class but I can't play poker online because the government thinks I'll hurt myself. I can die for my country and go out and do the governments bidding but I can't play online poker???Bah, lets just say I'm a little disenfranchised with the US right now. So I decided to move to the UK to continue to play online poker and do my job more or less. It is legal and regulated in the UK just like the rest of the world. So hooray for me. Sadly I think at this point in my age I can only go over as a tourist visitor for 6 months. I thought about taking an English class for the year visa but decided that would absurd since I can already speak English. I am going to rent a temp rental for one month and then look around for a room or a flat to rent. I figure while I am visiting for the next months I'll do my best to meet as many UK women ! This site has got me so excited.

I have read all the different threads. I really only have my mom for family and I've been apart for her for years so that won't be an issue. I can't wait to get out and go meet everyone. I'm a very social person. I was a little worried about anti-american bias, but no one has complained about it at all on these boards. I'm also pretty sure I would be able to either agree with most of it or blow it off anyways since I'm a pretty liberal democrat. As for adapting, I'm a Marine, that is what I do, so that shouldn't be an issue.

I'm so excited. This site has me counting the days. Oddly enough, the thing that has me most excited is the fact that the tax is already added in on prices in stores. It seems like such a simple logical step that would make everything much easier. Lol. I really hope to meet as much of you as I can and take in as much wisdom as I can. I won't be able to respond till later tonight because I'm working now. Sigh, I had to get a regular job. I run a vet resort now. Which is actually nice cause I get to be with animals.

I look forward to meeting you all.

Allen

Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you come here as a visitor, you are not able to do any kind of work, paid or unpaid. You can't just up sticks and move to the UK; if you don't have a visa you qualify for, you can't just live here.

Hello, and welcome,
As DrSuper mentioned, you are actually not allowed to work (or even volunteer) on a visitor visa. Unfortunately, in order to move to the UK to live and work, you would need a different visa, and those are getting more and more difficult to acquire. You cannot come over here and work, even online work, and you must demonstrate that you have the funds to support yourself without working and proof that you will leave the UK (and don't intend to settle).
People here are very helpful, so feel free to ask questions!

Welcome! Definitely keep reading, there is information on just about every topic on this site.

As a relative new comer I wholeheartedly agree with DrSuper and Jennie. As I described it to a friend who thought it would be 'cool' to come and live in the UK as a visitor 1) be prepared to show that you can survive on your own financially and that you have a return trip to the states booked, 2) unless you have a permanent address and bills to prove it you will have a heck of a time opening a bank account here, 3) as mentioned, you won't be able to work or volunteer.

When done properly it is a great experience, but with so many people from various parts of the world trying to get in and take advantage of the system they are quite protective.

When done properly it is a great experience, but with so many people from various parts of the world trying to get in and take advantage of the system they are quite protective.

We're all God's children....

The wall we should be worrying about....

Thanks for all the input. But I think some of you may not have understood what I said.

For the record I am aware of all the rules and visa stuff. If you reread my post you would see that I play poker for a living and I don't actually take a job from anyone. Gambling isn't considered actual work here in the us or in the uk. Even though it takes a great deal of math knowledge, psychology, and hard work ethic to be good at it. So as long as I have money which I do have plenty saved up, and can support myself, which I can, both the uk and the online poker companies are more then happy to have me and my business come over. I am pretty much changing countries for six months to continue playing poker online because I make much more money online then I can playing live. Sadly it is no longer legal here to gamble online but luckily for me it is legal and regulated in the UK.

After the six months I guess I will go to canada for 6 months and rinse and repeat until either I meet someone nice in the UK or the US works the legal situation out.

I don't want to sound rude but I've put a little more thought and research into this.

Hope that clears everything up. Thanks for the replies .

Also if you visit the barclays website they can set you up with a uk bank account before you arrive. They have a wonderful call back service. I believe they call it the international account, but they said my branch would be in the UK and its good to go. I was planning on going with the hsbc passport account but this looks much easier and the fact that I can hace it set up and funded before I get to the uk I think is the way to go.

Well, good luck with that.  If you experience any rude awakenings, we'll be here for you!  Welcome to UK-Y!

Thank you!

Just be sure to apprise the IO of all the details of your plan when you enter.  He'll be especially interested in the fact that you've already got a bank account set up.  Remember that lying to an IO can get you banned for 10 years!

Why would I lie to him?

Why do you say he'd be interested to know about the bank account?

Asides from passport, plane ticket to and from, proof of housing and my bank statements is there anything else I should bring?

It's just that for someone applying for a visitor visa, already having a bank account set up looks suspiciously like a plan to settle.  Have you read the guidance for general visitors?

I have not I will check that out in a second. Thanks.

Thanks for all the input. But I think some of you may not have understood what I said.

For the record I am aware of all the rules and visa stuff. If you reread my post you would see that I play poker for a living and I don't actually take a job from anyone. Gambling isn't considered actual work here in the us or in the uk.

Sorry, I don't think you were listening (thus explaning the flippant comments following).  What you are proposing to do is work.  It doesn't matter that you aren't taking a job from someone.  The rules are very strict on this point and you would be violating the terms of a tourist/visitor visa and can face a ban (if they even let you in the country).