Brigette

Hi,

I'm a British citizen living in the US. I'm currently in graduate school and plan to move back to the UK next year when I graduate. I left the UK when I was a little girl (5 years old to be exact) so moving back seems quite daunting at the moment. My plan is to find a job before making the big move.

I look forward to getting great advice as my knowledge of the place of my birth is quite limited (unfortunately). I look forward to chatting with everyone

Englishman43

Hi !
Have you visited the UK much and have you been able to have extended stays if you have ? Do you have a 'feel' for it at all ??

Jerseygirl

Hello again.

My daughter moved from the UK when she was 11...that was 15 years ago. She's only been back a few times and that was mostly during the first couple of years after we'd moved to the US. We all went back this Christmas for a family wedding in Cheshire. My daughter and her Canadian fiance (it was his first trip to the UK) spent a week in London and they both loved it.

Brigette

Hello,

In 2002 I had an extended stay for about 3 months and had a blast. Even so, I'm still unfamiliar with so many things, but I am learning though

Brigette

I have yet to go back for Christmas, and I can't wait to do that. When I had my extended stay, I stayed in London and loved it as well

penguinsix

You might actually start up a conversation with some American expats who are living in the UK. While you won't need their guidance on visas and the sort, they might help you with some of the differences you'll encounter.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/

Jerseygirl

An excellent idea.

JAJ

As discussed elsewhere, you should normally ensure you are a US citizen before you leave.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=718873

Did one of your parents become a US citizen before you were age 18? If so, you might be a US citizen already.

You will also need to continue to file for US federal taxes even if you live outside the USA.

robin1234

My son came with us to the US when he was six years old. He decided to go to graduate school in the UK (he was about 23 I guess..) having only been to England for brief vacations and family visits; basically, he dived right in and has been there ever since. For him, the life style suits him better than the US, and the adaptation was easy.. He was unemployed for about nine months, applied for maybe 100 jobs in his field, got maybe fifteen interviews, ended up getting a fairly low-end job but has subsequently got about four promotions and more or less has his knees under the table at this point.

I guess my only advise would be, don't set your heart on getting a job in the UK before moving. In most fields, that is a hard thing to do for many reasons (e.g. many employers are sceptical of applications from abroad.) If it was me, I'd save up enough money to live off for six months, move over there, apply for jobs in your field AND burger-flipping jobs, just keep plugging at it...

Pistolpete2

No question that having a cash war chest ahead of time relieves some of the pressure when actually looking for the job in your field.

I have to admit that I've been very concerned about my son's efforts towards finding UK full-time "proper" employment.

He has worked part-time and then full-time in restaurant work to pay most bills alongside his university studies. Towards the end of his post-graduate MSc course he was balancing studies with restaurant work plus attempts at networking and "job"-related conferences.

The restaurant work is not really flexible as the employer can pick and choose from multiple employees most of the time, so if you don't accept the roster you can be punished by less or no hours. After graduation - in the same way that you would be when you land in the UK - I guess you typically go full-time restaurant as he did but you still need to set aside time for the networking, maybe charitable work experience, more conferences, customising resumes and job applications and this can push you to exhaustion.

If you don't have a fair amount of cash in hand, it's hard to know what the best alternative is so that you can be reasonably fresh to maintain focus on the priority which is the full-time job in your chosen field as you have to "advance on such a broad front" on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.

Brigette

No they did not so unfortunately I have to file. I'm beginning to read about filing US taxes while in the UK... seems complicated...

Brigette

Thanks for the advice. What I am studying in graduate school is on the "shortage occupation list" so that is why I was thinking that I would be able to get a job before I left. Others have done it before the immigration laws became more stringent (thankfully it doesn't apply to me) but yes you do have a point about savings.

Currently I do have a decent nest egg and by next year it will get better. Do you think £3,000 to £5,000 is enough for 6 months?

Brigette

Thanks for your response. What do you consider a "fair amount of cash in hand". Also please take into consideration that I will be living on my own so please allow for rent, mobile and anything other expense that a single person would need moving back to the UK.

Thanks

robin1234

It's a very good start. Assuming you know how to live very frugally, which fortunately is possible for a single unemployed person in the UK ... depends on the part of the country, but in many places you can get a room in an acceptable house/flat share for £200-£250 a month. Buy a bicycle (or bring yours with you from the US.) Others can help you with estimates of the cost of a mobile (when I lived in England the phone was fixed to the wall )

Pistolpete2

Of course whatever you can add by doing the burger-flipping or maybe slightly better will help a lot. You should be able to get 7 pounds or so an hour plus hopefully an element of any service charge and tips and staff meals which all put together add up. I guess the point of my previous post was to get an appreciation that IF you can indeed bring 3-5,000 or a bit more as a kitty then you are taking pressure off yourself when it comes to focusing on priority A. Otherwise you can end up with a bit of a juggling act.

My son initially found restaurant work by applying to an agency which hired out staff for set piece events in Glasgow. This gave him the experience to later go direct to restaurants and pizzerias though the wages are really not that different on a direct basis and even supervisors are close to minimum wage. There were the meals and better tips though and in the last year or so employers seem to have softened up and handed over some if not all of the service charge they used to keep for themselves.