New here. Thinking of moving to London but don't know where to begin!

as a fellow American who moved at around your age to a foreign country, I'd just like to comment on two of your points.

1) cultural adaptation: finding you fit in during a six month study trip is very different from working somewhere. It's one thing to know you're going back at the end of term. You probably had some of the daily bureaucracy of life sorted out for you that you'll have to do yourself (getting into the healthcare system, getting a bank account, securing housing, etc).

2) politics: It's easy to think that you're going to get away from the corruption and disillusionment, but it's happening everywhere. You'll feel less connected if you're an expat since you probably won't be able to participate, but there's shitty stuff going on in the UK as well- check their newspapers to get familiar with the state of their politics, debt situation, healthcare woes, and so forth.

that said, I left America six years ago and there are no plans on my horizon to return. It's a fantastic and interesting experience and you're right that this is the time of your life to try it out. If you're already working for a company that'll help you get over there, it's definitely a great way to go since that takes care of some of the trouble you'll have as an American getting in the door in the EU. I just gotta tell you that it comes with another set of challenges and disappointments and frustrations- they'll just be spelling them out with extra u's and more puns in the newspapers if you're living in the UK.

good luck to you!

Hi!
I think you should continue forward investigating your visa/transfer options.  Once you have that taken care of the other things will fall into place. 

London is a great city and as you said you are young and unattached, you are right to try and make the most of it.

One thing I would recommend is trying to make friends with the English when you get here, they can help answer questions when you need help.  As well I would aim for a flatshare over expat type residence halls (though these are great for a start while you flat hunt), you will feel you have more of a home and if you choose well your flatmates will become your family in London.

If you have specific questions feel free to send them to me (or post them here).
Michelle

I rather dislike London (Except the centre) and would suggest you take a good look first. It's far from  an  English cultural experience and I think you may be disappointed. Perhaps a holiday would be a good idea.

Hey everyone. First of all, thank you so much to those who replied. I was actually nervous that I would get a bunch of "forget it"s and "that's a bad idea."

ECS - Rereading those points myself I realized just how naive I sounded. Of course, I know that living in a foreign country for six months is completely different from living there for two to three years. I know that there will be times when I'll be incredibly homesick or finding flaws in my new home country. I don't think that England has a superior government to the US, or really any country for that matter. It may just be the general American attitude that I've grown tired of. I do live in the Midwest, after all!

BluenoseGirl - Thanks for your input! What was your experience in moving from the US to London? I haven't reached my goal of $3000 for moving yet and was waiting until that became a reality before I started making inquiries. Would it be better for me to just start asking now even though I know it will be at least a few months before things get going?

mas fred - My main reason for choosing London is the film industry there. I'm a film studies graduate and my hope is to eventually find a job in film production. I would love to holiday there first, but I really don't have the money (I've spent the past few months saving up like crazy, and this was before my decision to move to England). Who knows, perhaps London will be a good transitional point for me before I decide that Liverpool or Manchester would be more suitable.


As for my questions, I just have a couple for now as I'm getting started. Should I start looking into job transfers first or a visa? I know that for a work visa you need an employer to sponsor you, but would it hurt to start the process at least? Where would I go to get more information, the UK embassy?

Also, can anyone recommend any good books on moving to the UK?

Thanks!

it's usually hard to get a visa without a job unless you've got supaspecial skills so you should go for the transfer first if that's possible. You can also check out what kind of jobs are willing to sponsor work permits, and see what kind of requirements for the visa you can assemble in advance (things like birth certificate, criminal record, etc) to make the process faster once you're at that point.

here's the info on different categories of workers, and includes links to all the forms for each type:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/

regarding what I said earlier, I just know a lot of people who had this super idealized notion of "getting away from it all" when they considered moving abroad, and were sorely disappointed when it wasn't like some romcom on a daily basis. Of course nobody can prepare you for how your experience abroad will really be, but I just wanted you to go into it with as much perspective as possible!

That's definitely why I'm here. Though I'm very excited by the possibilities of moving to England, I want to make sure that I don't romanticize things and be as realistic as possible.

I think you are pretty clear on the ups and downs and challenge ahead, and that is part of what it is all about! Finding out about yourself and gaining the confidence that going outside your comfort zone can give you.

The thing I think you should be researching now is your visa options. Talk to your companies HR etc (this link may help http://www.ukvisaandimmigration.co.uk/t … nsfers.php).  By all means keep saving, but I think you need to find out if the visa is possible.  It would just be a terrible let down after a long time saving and scrimping to find out the visa options aren't feasible for England.

If nothing works for you for the UK then try sites such as http://www.goabroad.com/ to see what other options there are.  As well you might find check with STA and see what youth programs they have on offer.  I'm Canadian so my options were different than yours being American.

I work in TV and you are right for production London is the please to be.  Though the BBC is moving large parts of their studios up north in about a year or so.  Movie production is also big in London.

London is a very international city so it does differ from the rest of England, but it is a great city and visiting the rest of the UK over time is always an option.  London has some great neighbourhoods and some of them feel very village like.

My sister lived in the midwest for 4 years and she had the feeling that you seem to have about the attitudes there, it is what drove her back to Canada (that and the terribly long cold winters!)

Okay, so I met with my store's HR rep this morning and I've come away feeling more hopeful than discouraged. She told me that the transfer process still requires an interview, which would be somewhat difficult to achieve (is Skype never an option?). But she also told me that I may have an advantage being an American transfer since Whole Foods is still relatively new to the UK.

Thanks for the links, BluenoseGirl, I'm definitely looking into those next. I'm still on the edge since I'm just starting this whole process but I'm eager to get things going. Do you have any book recommendations?

I hate to be the one to burst your bubble, but the visa thing is a real issue.  The new government here has really cut down on immigration from outside the EU and UK commonwealth.  Whole Foods here may not be able to have you transfer here because of this.  Even though they are an American company, they may have to prove that they cannot hire a UK/EU citizen for the job due to the special skills it requires.  (I have a friend who works for the University of Chicago here in London.  He cannot hire most positions for the local campus from America.)

There are strict limits on the numbers allowed into the country to work, and they typically have to be in one of the 'shortage professions.'  (Look on the UKBA website posted earlier.)  Also, you may need more than $3000, even if you are able to get a job.  The UK requires people to show a certain amount of money in a bank account for a specified period of time before allowing the visa.  (The specific amounts and timelines have changed since I did all of this a year and a half ago.)  PLEASE look at visa requirements! 

When I moved here, there were local authorities all over the UK recruiting for my profession (social work) in the US because it is a shortage profession.  Now there are NONE.   It's not impossible, but it's very difficult.

Again, I'm sorry to be the nay-sayer, but you really have a lot more research to do!  GOOD LUCK!

Oh no, that's exactly what I need to hear, Graysanemom. Like I said I want to know all of the obstacles ahead of time. I'm not expecting this all to happen overnight.

I'm looking into visas now and trying to get all of the info that I possibly can on the subject. I'm just checking with my company first to see if I would even have the possibility of a sponsor.

Can you tell me where I can find out about the UK's requirements on personal finances and the like?

Thank you all for your info. Thank you Denver for asking the questions, some of which I have. I am in Atlanta, trying to get to London next June. Many things to consider and paper trails to follow. I've been told the best way to get there is through a sponsorship. I am currently job searching in London from US. It is challenging, but also exciting. The more people you talk to about it to in your community the better, its amazing how many people have already been there and can help. Also the universe hears what you speak, so share your heart. Anything is possible! Hope to see you there.

ECS and Bluenosegirl have posted the websites with visa requirements.  They will specify the perfonal finance requirements.  You may not have to have as much (or any) if you can get a sponser.  But again, all of that has changed recently, so I don't know the specifics anymore.

Hi, Despite the UK governments planned caps on immigration, don't be discouraged from trying to move to the UK.  Unless you try something, you will never know.  If you are determined, then it will happen for you.  The UK Border Agency certainly like you to arrive with a decent amount of money in your pocket though!

On the cultural difference; the UK seems to be more 'americanised' by the year, so I don't think that fitting in to UK society would be a problem at all.

London is a good place to start.  True, its expensive, but employment prospects are better.  London and the Southeast are the wealthiest regions in the UK, with the lowest unemployment.  London is well worth experiencing - there is a lot to see and plenty going on all the time.  Travel to other parts of the UK is quite easy, if you want to see the country.

Websites such as Gumtree are a good place to start for accommodation.

Grayzanemom:  I don't think that this is particularly anything to do with foreign workers- more to do with the cutbacks on public spending.  Social Workers in general are not being recruited at the moment.

Thank you for the encouragement, Longonot62. I'm determined to try everything I possibly can to make this happen.

Did you ever succeed in getting to the UK via Whole Foods?  I'm thinking of doing the same.  Would love to hear about your progress!