From time to time I get emails from people asking how to move to England, and what you have to do to get here. I suppose I should say something pithy, like 'Buy a plane ticket' or 'Get a passport' or 'Eat a lot of fish and chips', but I'm not very pithy lately. So to address the one point-how do you get here?

I left the US in November 1999. I haven't lived back there since, although I have managed to visit the States nearly once a year since leaving. There are things that I miss, I won't lie-I think Target is about the best shop in the world (100-count box of tampons? Excellent. Ten gallons of Tide? Perfect.) I do miss the constant availability that is restaurant life. Fancy Chinese? Or Indian? Or Mexican? Or Texmex? Or Mexican Infusion? How about a Saskatchewan/Szechuan, because there's one of those off Central Expressway. I sometimes miss knowing how everything works-I know how to get utilities hooked up, I know where to go when it's time to vote, and Oscar Night was always a big night.

But there are some pretty good trade-offs about living here. The Indian food is killer. TV can either be cutting edge or complete crap. There are houses around the corner that are 600 years old. Angus' hometown's church has the tombs of three witches, burnt at the stake. I don't have to drive to work (other than the 5 miles to the train station), as I can walk or take the tube.

And I have the most magnificent view on my way to work.

I don't regret moving to Europe for a single second. There is something that you have to note, though, if you are thinking about moving here. Unless you are Australian or a New Zealander, you won't have a fallback community (the Aussies I work with have regular barbecues. They all know each other and don't hesitate to talk to a newcomer. They can drink them some beer and like hubbly bubbly pipes. I love them.) I work with an American from Boston named Derek. Derek and I get on well. We always chat when we see each other in business meetings. I make time for Derek, not because he's an American, but because he's good at what he does.

But Derek and I don't socialize outside of the office. Not because we don't get on, but because there's an unwritten rule, a silent code-if you move away from the States, then you must make it on your own. You don't group in obvious clumps and knock back beer together on a weekly basis. You don't call each other to compare Ribena versus Vimto. You can't commiserate on the hierarchal structure that is English working environments (which, it has to be said, is also found in the States.) You chose to live here, so you suck it up and get on with it. You don't commiserate. The first rule about Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club.

Loners move away.

I can live with that.

There's a lot to get used to in living away from what you grew up with. You start with things that are small, like getting used to a paycheck once a month instead of every other Friday (and this one is harder than you would think!), and learning what the equivalent ingredients are for things-in Sweden, as in England, things aren't always what you think they are. You work your way up-lingo is a biggie, as are languages altogether. Bureaucracy is different and the politics and inside jokes take a while.

So how do you get here? I don't know every possibility. If you want to follow the same path that I did to get to Sweden, then the following apply:

1) Get a job with a large company in your home country, one with a headquarters located overseas. Far, far overseas.

2) Work like a maniac for said company.

3) Maniac = 7 days a week.

4) And forget Christmas.

5) Ignore Thanksgiving.

6) Take on more work, because work is life comrade.

7) Large International Company has overseas posts listed on the job site. This is a big thing. An important thing. Peruse them regularly.

When your project gets canned, apply for jobs on internationally job site. Don't be shy. And realize that over here, you do follow up on job applications, as otherwise they think you're not really interested (it's a test, and we all know how hard tests are in relationships). And if you have a name for yourself in the company as someone who can disregard Thanksgiving for work, then you've a good shot at it.

9) Work moves you, including your things. They sponsor your visa, including a trip to the Swedish Embassy in NY to get everything verified and a visa slapped into your passport.

This was the move to Sweden, however. To get to England was harder because I had to do it myself, there was no company handling everything (if you can get a company to handle it for you, you've found the brass ring. Kiss their feet and let them do it for you).

After losing my job in Sweden, I knew I couldn't stay there. The company had laid off a massive portion of their workforce. When one job in telecoms came open in a rival company they had over 7,000 applications. As a non-native Swede and someone who made consistent grammatical errors, I knew I had a snowball's chance in a Floridian retirement home. So I cast the net wider, focusing on England.

After all, England held something dear to me.

England it would have to be.

And in England, the visa structure is different.

I decided to go for what's called an HSMP visa, or highly skilled migrant worker. Basically, in England you go on a points structure, which means that you get points if you have a degree, you get points based on your age, your income, your partner's education, your work background, etc. If the points all add up to the minimum required, then with a small fee you can get a visa. It helps if you already have a job offer, but the best bet is to apply for the visa then work the Monster job sites like a working girl on the Vegas strip. Apply for anything that may be a close enough fit-the job I have today was something I took a chance on through Monster, it was similar to the work I had done, but not the same thing. A recruitment agency on behalf of the company I work for took a chance on me, and here I am today. Post your CV, which may feel weird but does work because companies will contact you. Check up on jobs daily. If you tell them that you are already in the process of getting a visa, you have a chance.

If you don't have enough points, I understand England has now instituted a visa plan for those who have skilled labor, or are recent college graduates, or who are early in their careers (being younger counts for more points, and not just with Don Johnson.)

If you are even debating moving abroad, get the paperwork ready now. You will need proof of employment for the past five years. You'll need letters from colleagues. Make sure you have your tax returns, diplomas, proof of income, proof that you can support yourself if you move, and proof that you will never, ever support naming your children Bluebell, Romeo, or any other fucked-up Spice Girl deviation. If you submit your info around the end of the year, it'll take less time (this year the wait was about three weeks). Wait until Spring and there's a queue-I had to wait about three months, and in the summer the wait lingers to six months. Don't go through a company that say they can get the results faster-they can't. Send it directly in to the UK government.

Make yourself look as good as you can, because this? It will change your life, no matter what.

But that visa is just what you need if you want to work in the UK. There are many kinds of visas. There are visas for students and visas for working for one year in the UK in a market such as hotels and restaurants (popular with the antipodeans, who usually come over for a year and do this.) Student nurses have their own types of visas, and of course there's just the visa if you want to come here for 6 months or less, which isn't a hell of a lot of time to see what lies behind the Union Jack. Of course, if you're living in a Commonwealth country or a country where they like Queen Betty a whole lot, your visa process will be easier.

You can also get visas based on being in lurve with a native, but that takes more time-a chap I work with has an Asian girlfriend, who has to prove once every two years that they are indeed a couple (by showing things like utility bills, which they have as they've been together for yonks). They could get married and save the hassle, but he's a commitment-phobe and she, I think, has the patience of a saint. She has to leave the country while getting the visa, which can take up to three months. When you are in love, three months apart is a long time.

Hell, when you're in love, three minutes apart is a long time, something along the lines of a Shakespearean tragedy and thrashings of undying love.

So it's a time consuming process, fraught with pitfalls, but where there's a will, there's a way.

I love being here.

-H.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 06:38 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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