Moving to London (Clapham) questions..

Hi there and thanks in advance for your help... (I hope I'm posting on the right board)

I am British but have been in the U.S for the last 5 yrs. We have the opportunity to move to London for 1-2 yrs and I think we're going to do it but we have some stuff to think about first and I was hoping you guys would be able to help me out with some concerns I have.

Regarding immigration: I'm a little unclear as to which visa we would need to apply for. If I'm correct, it's the settlement (vis marriage?) visa. My husband will also need to work out there, so that's where I'm confused... Do we apply for a settlement or work visa?

Secondly... what is the job market like over there? I've heard it's pretty bad, as it is in the U.S but he plans to apply for a lot of different things and hope that he will find something. He works at a grocery store here and would probably start out by looking for a similar thing over there. We're just concerned about how many job opportunities there are. Is he likely to find something within a month or two if he's applying to several places a day? He really wants to find something within walking distance, and avoid the tube. Does that seem likely?

We would be living in Clapham. Can you tell me about Clapham? I am especially curious to know what kind of free things there are for kids (my kids will be 1 and 2 when we move). I recently heard about children's centres, where apparently there are free activities for kids to do all day. Does anyone know what the one in Clapham is like?

Also, any other advice? I will be a stay at home mum. The only reason we can afford to do this is because my husbands brother and his wife have invited us to come and live with them, rent free, in their 5 bedroom house (since his company pays for it). I miss my family over there and think this is a great opportunity but we're definitely worried about the job situation since DH's job is pretty good over here.

Thanks for your help!

The job situation can be bleak, especially if he has no UK experience.  Some people find a job right away, (I did, but I had UK experience, my boss was American and it was back in 05) most do not.

Generally, it helps if people volunteer for a few months to get UK experience. 

But I'm not really sure what he does, it might be specialised, or maybe there is a branch of his store here in the UK.   

Hi,

I lived in Clapham the first two years in London and it's a great area if you have kids.  Although I don't have any myself there are lots of stay at home mums and most seem to have young children.  They actually call the area "nappy valley" because so many people there have babies.  Not sure how close you are to the park but it's a lovely area.  We moved because of my husband's commute, but it is almost suburban yet close to the the city.

As for the job market, I found something within in two months, no UK job experience but it depends a lot on what your DH does.  The market really seems to have been picking up recently and in my field (marketing), there are way more jobs listed than a year ago.  I do make less money here than in the States but I hope to change that soon as I've got UK experience now.  For some positions I interviewed for it was actually a benefit that I was from the US because they were looking to expand in that direction or were US companies based here.

Best,
Cyd