Job offer for USA AirForce in England but can I apply for UK jobs?

I was offered a position to work in England for the US Air Force, and will be provided what's called a sofa to be able to work in England. Ultimately I want to live in England. Can I apply for jobs that would give me a visa while in England working for the US Air Force?

Hi again.


You mentioned elsewhere that this employment is subject to a SOFA, which stands for "Status of Forces Agreement". In England (and the rest of the UK) this was enacted by UK law in 1951 for all NATO members and still remains today; you can download a copy from this link.


Time spent in the UK while working under this agreement is unlimited, but it does not qualify you for residence in the UK, or do anything to help qualify for UK nationality. To answer your specific question, nothing stops you from looking for work anywhere in the world while working anywhere under a SOFA, although your boss might be a bit miffed about you doing so. The issue will be that you will still need to qualify for all the things just like you would were you applying from the US.


My opinion is you need to go the skilled migrant route, but you have previously said you don't want to work in psychology and social work route, which effectively means you're unqualified; all things being equal, that explains why you don't get any responses at the moment.


Other thoughts, have you considered doing an MBA in the USA, or taking the job with the USAF and then doing an MBA by distance learning (link), ultimately working in the admin side of medicine? It pays well and I think would qualify as highly skilled and would use your current skill set. My advice would be to join LinkedIn and reach out to your peers already working in psychology in the UK and find out who is hiring and where.


I hope this helps.


Cynic

Expat Team

Thank you I'll look into the MBA