Moving to the UK: Advice?

Hello, WATMM. I have a feeling about how this will go, but I thought I should try it anyway. So quite a few of you live in the UK, and I know several of you have moved out of the US. Well, my personal life isn't going well, and I'm considering options. I might need to get the fuck out of here, mainly for my mental well-being. I'm not particularly tied to any geographic location. I have visited a few places outside the US, and some of my fondest memories were of Edinburgh, Scotland. Anyway, how does a schmuck like me, who has lived and worked in the midwest of the US for the past few years (the northeast for years before that), go about living for a year or two in the UK, near Edinburgh, more specifically? I guess you need a work visa and some employment arranged beforehand. I don't know how easy or difficult that will be. Is there anything I'm overlooking? Are the odds of landing something like this ridiculous? Are there other things I'm not considering here?

It's not easy to get a long term UK visa in my experience, you would need to get hired by a UK firm beforehand, and I believe they sponsor your visa, and it's expensive. But realize, right now with the migrant crisis, and rising real estate prices, a lot of UK firms want to keep jobs for Brits, at least in the construction industry. If you have specialized skills, then all the better and will better your chances of landing a gig. Living there compared to US is much better IMO, I wasn't afraid of getting shot at again, or driving in crazy traffic as their public transportation is great.

It really depends on factors like: your job area, years of expertise you have, your age, you will need savings to live on initially, but it was totally worth it for the short time I was living there, basically in preparation for a move to another office.

UK is a great place to live, yes they complain a lot, but that's part of the culture, as is drinking, lol. And you can't beat the music scene obviously! :)

 

Hope that helps, PM me if you need more advice.

Sounds like it could be more easy to land a job in New-Zealand, or Norway. They are actually looking actively outside their borders for people to live and work there. Both seem like perfectly fine options, imo.

Maybe Australia? I have several Aussie friends here and they love it. Maybe ask Delet

  On 12/9/2015 at 7:40 AM, goDel said:

Sounds like it could be more easy to land a job in New-Zealand, or Norway. They are actually looking actively outside their borders for people to live and work there. Both seem like perfectly fine options, imo.

You may or may not have just made my day....

 

Norway, pls

uk is very expensive, you know that ?

Thanks, guys. This is all very helpful. Yeah, I know the UK is expensive, but I'm prepared to deal with that, if I could make it work. The alternative ideas are very good, too. As a typical American in some significant respects, I'm a monolingual fuckwad, so unfortunately, that limits my options drastically. Well, I'll keep my eyes open, and I'll report back in a while about this. Thanks again.

not all of the UK is expensive, Liverpool is a cool city and relatively cheap compared to London for example.

Go to Berlin.

UK is not expensive... London's not really expensive apart from the cost of rent or buying a house (which i admit is kind of an unavoidable expense)... but you can eat out very cheaply if you avoid the tourist areas - e.g. you can get amazing middle eastern food down edgware road for fuck all, and if you stick to wetherspoons and sam smiths pubs even getting fabulously drunk is quite reasonable.

Don't do it, the UK is shit

UK (London) has relatively cheap living costs compared to say Copenhagen.

 

North England is cheaper to rent if you are able to find a job in the sector you are looking for. It's also cold and it rains more.

 

I live south central England (Oxfordshire) which has higher living costs but there are more jobs about and better links to London / airports etc.

 

Good luck and let.me know if you want any more info, happy to help.

Don't do it.

 

 

Be sincere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

imcrazy

tune

  On 12/9/2015 at 7:31 AM, Rubin Farr said:

their public transportation is great.

 

no

maybe in london

  On 12/9/2015 at 8:20 PM, AAAAh said:

 

  On 12/9/2015 at 7:31 AM, Rubin Farr said:

their public transportation is great.

 

no

maybe in london

 

 

truth

 

Although pretty much any wealthy country has good public transportation compared to the US.

 

 

  On 12/9/2015 at 7:31 AM, Rubin Farr said:

I wasn't afraid of getting shot at again

Edited December 9, 2015 by doublename

Downtown Houston is a dangerous place. Nuff said

  On 12/9/2015 at 8:20 PM, AAAAh said:

 

  On 12/9/2015 at 7:31 AM, Rubin Farr said:

their public transportation is great.

 

no

maybe in london

to be fair most major cities have excellent public transport, tube obviously in london, but there are very regular and reliable tram and bus services in manchester, nottingham, liverpool, birmingham, glasgow (which has an underground albeit a small one) etc Edited December 9, 2015 by BCM

london doesn't have excellent public transport, the tube is awful. it goes everywhere, but is unpleasant.

I assure you, compared to many other cities' public transportation, the tube is clean, cheap, and efficient.

 

Also OP: have you considered Canada? We're not so bad eh.

  On 12/9/2015 at 9:29 PM, caze said:

london doesn't have excellent public transport, the tube is awful. it goes everywhere, but is unpleasant.

lol the tube's alright man...mental at rush hour admittedly, but you get used to it

Student route perhaps? Thought about p/t MA/MSc/M-Phil/DPhil? Gives you a longer stay if you have a specific research interest. Overall pricey, but half of my dept's pg's (taught n research) are Merkins...and they're always the core of previous lecture highlights, + they've nearly all found employment and earn well on the side.

 

Alternatively, (as someone mentioned the Scandi route), i've a US friend in Scandinavia who might be able to help you his end. Seems like their immigration system is a lot less convoluted than here, he's worked legally the entire duration of his stay (2-3yrs) and if yer serious i could exchange details for you. He works carpentry (chippy) end of construction and lives very well indeed, seems to get thru a weight of kinky Nordic maidens & with the legalities he's not wasting energy/time sweating on deportation issues.

 

Britain & Eire have regional differences for such a small places, that are fairly are considerable - accents etc, but eg: home rentals = what might get you a few sq feet in London could get you a huge property in a city like Nottingham or Manchester

 

Boozing til you are unable to walk is considered a social norm here and many areas of society almost mistrust you if you dont go in for the 20 pints after work plot (jus sayin)

 

Eire/Ireland has loads to offer although Dublin can be expensive, other smaller places like Galway are full of life and cultural pleasures. Belfast has changed a fuck load since The Troubles in terms of restaurants and fun/games......emerald isle is just coming out the other end of the recession and the jobs market has picked up considerably

 

southern Mediterranean, once the bastion of summer seasonal work, is really feeling the austerity heat, so more northern climbs might offer more productive access points

 

Once yer actually in Europe internal travel is a lot like the US for lower domestic air £$£ etc

 

Or NZ. Helluva place. I've known folks go for winter sports in 2003 & are still there today

  On 12/9/2015 at 9:37 PM, chenGOD said:

I assure you, compared to many other cities' public transportation, the tube is clean, cheap, and efficient.

 

Also OP: have you considered Canada? We're not so bad eh.

Some Brits have no idea how good they have it. Hey try waiting for a bus in the rain, because there ISN'T a train, and when it arrives late, it wreaks of piss. It's also a poor and sometimes underprivileged demographic so there are sometimes problems. Or even try finding a cab on the street, you have to call one ahead of time. Western EU has better public transport IMO.

I say bollocks to London, most of ye dirty foreign types only ever see London and never get any further than that (although you've been to Edinburgh which is quite nice), if you want to move to England then I say go for somewhere North or West. I'm from deepest darkest Glaastrrshire although I live in Canada now

 

Visa would probably be a pain though, perhaps if it proves too troublesome then just try somewhere else in the US? It's a big country, TBH it makes more sense to think of it as a continent in its own right

Edited December 9, 2015 by Tricone RC

  On 12/9/2015 at 11:40 PM, Tricone RC said:

 

 

I'm from deepest darkest Glaastrrshire

 

 

;)