I've asked employers if they'd consider an international application, to which just about all of them responded with something along the lines of "We'll consider your application if you have a right to work in the UK."
The cycle seems to be something like this:
Me: need job!
Job abroad: need visa!
Visa: need job abroad!
The reason for this is because the jobs you are looking at either don't meet the requirements for work visa sponsorship, or the companies are not eligible to sponsor work visas. Therefore when they say you need a visa that gives the right to work, they mean a different type of visa, because they aren't able to sponsor you for a work visa.
For example, if you were living in the UK on a spousal visa because you were married to a UK citizen, that visa would allow you to work, and you could be hired for the job. Or if you were doing a UK postgraduate degree on a student visa, your student visa would allow you to work up to 20 hours a week, and therefore you could be hired.
In order to qualify for a work visa though, assuming the company is an approved sponsor, they either have to:
- prove that they have advertised the job across the entire UK and all other EU countries for a certain number of weeks and could not find a single suitable candidate, and therefore they have to resort to hiring you from overseas because you are the only person who could possibly do the job (but with 500 million people in the EU that will be almost impossible unless the job is so specialised/highly-skilled that only a handful of people in the entire world are qualified to do it).
or
- the job has to be listed on the Tier 2 Skills Shortage list (
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486107/Shortage_Occupation_List_-_November_2015.pdf).
The only theatre-related jobs on that list are:
3414 Dancers and choreographers
ONLY the following jobs in this occupation code:
1) skilled classical ballet dancers who meet the standard required by internationally recognised United Kingdom ballet companies (e.g. Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, The Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet).
The company must either:
- have performed at or been invited to perform at venues of the calibre of
the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells or Barbican, either in the United Kingdom or overseas; or
- attract dancers and/or choreographers and other artists from other countries; or
- be endorsed as being internationally recognised by a United Kingdom industry body such as the Arts Councils (of England, Scotland and/or Wales)
2) skilled contemporary dancers who meet the standard required by internationally recognised United Kingdom contemporary dance companies (e.g. Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, Scottish Dance Theatre and Rambert Dance Company).
The company must either:
- have performed at or been invited to perform at venues of the calibre of Sadler’s Wells, the Southbank Centre or The Place, either in the United Kingdom or overseas; or
- attract dancers and/or choreographers and other artists from all over the world; or
-be endorsed as being internationally recognised by a United Kingdom industry body such as the Arts Councils (of England, Scotland and/or Wales)
3415 Musicians
ONLY the following jobs in this occupation code:
- skilled orchestral musicians who are leaders, principals, sub-principals or numbered string positions, and who meet the standard required by internationally recognised UK orchestras (including London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)
