Immigration requirements

Hi Scott and welcome to the Forum.

At the top of this page is a link to our Handy Tools section; if you select that, you'll get access to our Expat Guides that may help you plan your journey.  To answer your specific questions:

I can confirm that nobody is talking about towing the British Isles out into the middle of the Atlantic ocean, so the UK will still be a part of Europe after it leaves the EU.

The UK is currently being very restrictive on non-EU immigration into the UK.  So, the first thing you need to do is for you both to either apply and get your UK passports; or, if not, then check if you and your future wife qualify for a UK Ancestry visa; this link will take you to the UK Gov website that deals with it.

You haven't provided much information about yourselves, but as Commonwealth citizens, you COULD already have the right of abode in the UK; this link will take you to the UK Gov website that explains it.

If either of you doesn't qualify for a British passport in your own right, you should be aware that you will not automatically qualify for a UK passport just because you married a UK passport holder.

Assuming you get over the Immigration hurdle; you've been asking about the cost of living; the NUMBEO website provides information about this type of thing; this link will take you there.

Hope this helps; if you have any further specific questions after you've read our guides and the links I've provided, please come back to us.

Cynic
Expat Team

HI Cynic, thanks for all the information on the various threads you have so graciously provided. hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions, I've read that the UK first can only advertise positions to UK citizens unless that position is on their shortages list(Tier 2) Link. But does that mean that after advertising it locally that a week later a potential immigrant can stand a realistic chance of gaining said employment into middle class society?

Scott C-M wrote:

HI Cynic, thanks for all the information on the various threads you have so graciously provided. hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions, I've read that the UK first can only advertise positions to UK citizens unless that position is on their shortages list(Tier 2) Link. But does that mean that after advertising it locally that a week later a potential immigrant can stand a realistic chance of gaining said employment into middle class society?

Hi Scot,

It does get a bit confusing. As it stands people from the UK / EU (and the EEA) get first choice, but if the position cannot be filled people from the rest of the world can apply.
That being said this really applies to highly skilled workers.

Hi Scott,

Where did you read that?  The UK does not operate a UK first employment policy; there is an EU policy that all jobs in the EU must be made available to all qualified EU citizens.  So, if you're living in the UK, you should be treated the same as any other person living here.

Non-EU/EEA citizens must have a visa to work in the EU (so the UK as well).  It's left to individual nations as to how they achieve this.  The UK uses the "Shortage Occupation List" that you refer to as a means to control people coming to the UK to work; it's basically a list of professions for which the UK will issue sponsored work visas.  For example, if you're a Medical Doctor, you'll be eligible for a sponsored visa; if you're an ice-cream salesman, you won't.  Also, people make the mistake of assuming that because they are a doctor, they can jump on a plane to the UK and start looking for work, that's not how the system works.

People applying for jobs featured on the list must be sponsored by the organisation/company who wish to employ them; you as an individual can't apply in your own right.  Also, work visas are temporary; there is no guarantee that the individual and his family will be permitted to remain in the UK after the visa expires.

If your desire is to emigrate to the UK (i.e. permanent), then a work visa is probably not the best way to achieve it and is why I suggested what I did.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Cynic wrote:

Hi Scott,

Where did you read that?  The UK does not operate a UK first employment policy; there is an EU policy that all jobs in the EU must be made available to all qualified EU citizens.  So, if you're living in the UK, you should be treated the same as any other person living here.

This normally applies to people living outside the EU.

I don't think I agree; the UK does not operate a "UK first" policy in relation to the Shortage List occupations.  If there is a Doctor in the UK and a Doctor living in South Africa who qualifies for the Shortage Occupation list; it is down to the Employer to decide who they will employ, the Government does not get involved in the process except to issue the Visa if required.  There is no list of suitably qualified, UK based people for anybody to consult.

I would say the EU/EEA citizens have an advantage as they have the right to live and work in the member countries, so are the low-hanging fruit that employers will go for first because they don't have the work visa hurdle to get over and some can even work in a different country to where they live (I did it for 2 years).

That's what I mean though, if there is a shortage then they will employ outside. They will not head hunt someone from India to stack shelves.

Thanks for the valuable information gents. Seems i got my wires totally crossed as my future wife is only eligible for an ancestral visa, not passport through her lineage.

With this new development, and the fact that as you have mentioned Cynic, a work visa has no obligation to be renewed, is there a way to emigrate?

Currently we are still living in South Africa and trying to explore what options we have available.

As reference she is a PA to the MD with a Office Administration Diploma and is eligible for an  ancestral visa.

I on the other hand am the Head of three departments in our manufacturing Group, Costing, Procurement and QMS. I have a Financial Accounting Diploma as well as all the QMS Certificates from The British Standard Institute, so nothing really skilled or special. Unfortunately i don't qualify for any ancestral or abode visas.

Is there any hope for us?

I don't think either of you would qualify for any of the work listed on the Shortage list.

So, the only way I see that's open to you to get in the UK is your wife applies for an ancestral visa and you (+ kids) apply to accompany her.  To save you looking, I'll put another link here.  It says you'll get a decision within 3 weeks of applying.  My advice is to contact your nearest UK Embassy/Consulate and start the process.

If that doesn't work, I see lots of South Africans looking at Ireland as a possible way out of South Africa.  We have an Irish Forum, this link will take you there; more importantly, there are people posting there who have achieved what you want (except to Ireland), so you can ask them questions as to how they did it.  People with Irish passports have the right to live and work in the UK (and the rest of the EU).

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you Kindly Sir

Cynic wrote:

So, the only way I see that's open to you to get in the UK is your wife applies for an ancestral visa and you (+ kids) apply to accompany her.  To save you looking, I'll put another link here.  It says you'll get a decision within 3 weeks of applying.  My advice is to contact your nearest UK Embassy/Consulate and start the process.

If we follow the ancestral visa route on my wife's visa, would i be able to work in any field i have experience in or is the whole Tier 2 Shortages still applicable?

You would be able to do any job that you were able to get; the Tier 2 shortage lists are irrelevant to ancestral visas.

Cynic
Expat Team

Brilliant, thank you kindly Sir