American wanting 2 work in UK as TV host/presenter?

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

The only active American presenters in the UK I can think of are John Barrowman and Kate Andrews, Barrowman is an entertainer, Andrews is more a reporter than an entertainer, but their accents don't seem to have held them back.  I've given you links to their respective Twitter feeds.  I know that Barrowman is a dual UK/US citizen, so can work in both countries without a visa; I'm not so sure about Andrews, but I know she is in a relationship with a Brit, so may have her visa from that.  There have been others who started off working in radio broadcasting.

I've just found a document called "Routes of entry for artists and entertainers" issued by UK Visas and Immigration; this link will take you to the UK Gov website where you can download the PDF to your device/computer.

Hope this has helped a bit.

Cynic
Expat Team

Thank you very much for that information. I was wondering do you how one becomes a dual citizen?

Hi again.

2 options.  Either you qualify by birth; for example, I'm a joint US/UK citizen, my father was a US citizen and my mother was a Brit.  I'm assuming that unless you are a native American, that you must have some parental lineage outside of the US; some countries are more benevolent towards dual citizenship than others, it may be worthwhile investigating that further, although with the UK about to leave the EU, it won't help you to get into the UK.

Or, if you can't qualify by birth, then the other route to nationality is via residence, so you get a job there, settle, then after a fixed term (normally 5 years), you can apply to become a national of that country.  Unfortunately, except for highly skilled migrants, the UK is very difficult to get a visa.

Perhaps consider one of the other English speaking countries (Canada, Australia and New Zealand)?

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,

I assume the other route would be marriage correct if you get married to a Brit? I do have my masters in social work and a licensed clinical psychotherapist I believe there is a need for social workers in England though I do wonder with Britain going to Britex this month how would that change things? Also can one also receive a visa if they are self-employed having their own business is that a easier route to go down? Sorry for all the questions.

Hi again.

To answer your questions as you asked them:

Marriage/family visa - yes, a possibility, but you do need to prove it's a "proper marriage", or if not married, that it's a lasting relationship with your partner.  There are also minimum salary requirements.

Social Work - check out the "NON EU CITIZENS APPLYING FOR A UK WORK VISA" sticky post at the top of the England Forum.  There's a link there to the skilled migrant lists; if you qualify for one of those jobs, then you can look for work and your future employer can sponsor you.

Brexit - shouldn't affect UK national requirements.  If anything, because of the perceived shortage of EU labour, it may make it easier for other English speaking nations to come and work in the UK.  Early days yet though.

Self-employed visas - they exist, not sure which will suit though.  This link will take you to the UK Gov website that lists all the visa possibilities - read through them and see what fits.

Just to finish, I noticed one of your earlier posts asking similar questions for the Netherlands; I also help out there and sorry I missed it.  To answer your question, how good is your Dutch?  You will need to speak it to a high level to work in social work in the Netherlands.

For both the UK and NL, you need to make sure that your qualifications are valid in the country where you intend to work and whether there are any registration requirements.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,

Thank you for all that information. I tried looking up self-employed but I couldn't find a link for that one only saw something for ppl who want to start a business but not someone who is self-employed already and just living in England. I have also thought of working for the U.S department of defense as a therapist on their bases in Germany, England, Belgium etc to slowly try to then get a visa once in Europe. I did look and their is a shortage for social workers in England but would need to find a job to sponsor me to make the move.

Hi again.

Self-employed - no, the UK doesn't offer such visas.

US DoD - people who work for them are covered by what is called the NATO Status of Forces Agreement; they have no official immigration status that would enable them to qualify as being "resident" and so lead to permanent residence status in the UK.

There is a dire shortage of Social Workers in the UK; have you applied for any jobs as a Social Worker there?

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Okay, I wondered if while working for DOD can one apply for a visa to the UK? I haven't applied to a social work job in the UK but I do want to look into it and see if any jobs would be willing to hire me.

Hi again.

No is the answer; while working for the DoD in the UK you are regarded as still being in the US as far as residence is concerned, you don't pay UK taxes, don't use the UK Health system, basically any time spent in the UK as a DoD employee would not count to residence in the UK.

I would seriously look at applying for jobs in the UK and go the skilled migrant route; your new employer would sponsor you, then after 2 years you can apply for temporary residence, then after 5, apply for permanent residence.

So, check out the "NON EU CITIZENS APPLYING FOR A UK WORK VISA" post I referred you to earlier; it has the link in there to the current list.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

Hi Cynic,

Thank you for all your help I will definitely look into it and see what jobs may hire me for a position. I can though apply to UK jobs while working for the DOD while let's say in Germany for example right doing interviews seeing if I land and job and they sponsor me?

Hi again.

That sounds like a plan.  Personally, The US DoD has a greater family presence in Germany, so I think that would be a better start point.  I just did a quick Google search and came across a very basic website; this link will take you there.  Be very careful if you use it as it doesn't seem to be anything like the kind of professional website you would normally expect from the Federal Government.