shaje

Hello!
I am a British Citizen, who sorry to say, hasnt lived in the UK for more than 4 years of his life. My entire family is British, but we followed my father all over the world for his job. Our last posting was in Pakistan where I lived for many many years. I left for the US in 97 where I have been living for the past 7 years. I graduated from a US college in 02 and have been working on CPT/ OPT since. I recently applied for H1 work visa but was denied So, now, I am thinking of going to UK and trying my luck there. In the US we need a Social Security Card to be able to work, do we need something similar there? What all will I need to show that I can work in the UK. Since my Father and I dont really talk any more, and I dont know what cards I have, I dont know what I will or wont need. I have my Passport and Birth Certificate and that is it. What is this about a National Insurance Card? Also, I have been looking for some jobs online and average starting job is going for about 15k... I dont know, is that even enough to pay rent?? As you can see, I really dont know much. My plan I guess is to get there, live with my extended family from my mother's side (for as short of a time as possible) and find my self a job immidiately. I dont have enough money where I can wait around a few weeks for papers to come in... so if I can apply for any of those On-Line that would really help me out. Plus, does any one know of any companies that are hiring an out of luck IT graduate? My resume is at

http://www.pkxs.com/ganny/shaje/shaje.doc

Thank You
Shaje!

nun

If you have a British passport and your parents are British you have the right of abode in Britain so you can live and work in the UK. You can apply for health cards etc when you get to Britain. You get an application for a card when you go to the
doctor. Don't worry about it! When you get a job all the tax and NI stuff will be taken
care of. Welcome to a socialized system


Check out the UK government websites

whttp://www.nhs.uk/

http://www.getrights.info/areyou1.htm

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/

dewdrop

Hi,

Just reading about health cards. Just wondered if you or anyone knows about finding health cards #'s. I was born in the UK (late 60's) and my parents immigrated to Canada in the 70's. Mum has no recollection of the cards.

1)My old health card and hers for the UK...Where can I find out my Healthcard #, if I had one.?? Would there be an archives site of old card #'s?
Cheers Deana

Bob

National Insurance, bit like the SSN, you can get one by going to local social office as far as I know.

Getting a health card, I'm sure if you had one, going to a health office they would be able to help out, or maybe even online, look at the nhs website...

As for £15K....probably won't be able to live on that, but then it all does depend on where you hope to live and work, it certainly won't be enough living in London, you should be looking for double that.

nun

Contact the NHS the website is a good place to start

www.nhs.gov.uk

shaje

Great! That answers some questions for me.
Thank you again!

JAJ

A British citizen passport is sufficient (there are other kinds of UK passports that are not).

If you are a British citizen, it does not matter where parents were born - you have a right of abode in the UK anyway.

Jeremy

loubol

Health cards are issued by your local primary health trust. Some issue them automatically as soon as you register with a GP. Others only issue them on application - it depends where you live.

I had to ask my local health authority for one but all I had to do was call them on the phone and it arrived in the post two days later. It's worth getting one as it's a useful bit of ID that proves you're based here when you go through all the hassle of trying to open bank accounts etc.

For an NI card - these are normally issued automatically at age 16. As you didn't get one because you are abroad, you will need to apply for one. Look here for info on how to do it: http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/nic/ynino.htm

hope that helps.

NJJ

exactly.as long as you are a british citizen and not a british subject or anything else you have full rights to live and work in the uk

JAJ

Although *some* British subjects (mainly those from Southern Ireland) do have a right of abode in the UK.

Jeremy

NC Penguin

Getting a NI number is not a fast process, especially if you're applying to a London office.

My USC spouse applied for his NI number in 2000 and the earliest appointment he could get was 6-9 months later! In the end, he didn't pursue obtaining the NI number because we decided to emigrate to the US instead.

I had a quick look at the OP's resume especially seeing that the salary range he quoted was what I consider low. Then again, based on his work history, I can now see why.

As a former Londoner, £15K is not sufficient to live in London. Not even in the suburbs or Zone 3 or 4 of the public transport system. Public transport is costly in London and that'll eat into your earnings.

The OP would have a much stronger chance to get a job/better paying job in the UK if he could demonstrate:
a longer work history (he's still pretty much a recent grad)
unique or outstanding skills in a specialty
professional certification in his industry

Basically, the OP has to stand out from other job seekers and simply having been educated in the US and being British probably isn't sufficient, at least in the current economic climate.

Also, if he wants to be taken seriously in the UK, he needs to remake his resume in the British CV format.




NC Penguin

CPW

Yes, it can be slow (though 6-9 months seems very long - experience as an employer suggests that 4 or 5 weeks would be more usual - but, in any case, not having an NI number does not preclude one from working, as long as a number has been applied for.

Bob

Can't say I know, all I know was, that when the missus came over on a student visa, she had one sent out in a few weeks and didn't even apply for one...

And a CV is far more handy to have, I don't really like this resume stuff, but whatever isn't it

lins77

If you're a recent graduate I'd look into the direct graduate recruitment - you don't have to still be at university to apply and most companies hire quite a few people a year straight from university without work experience.

I'd just look at a few big companies websites - they will most likely have a graduate recruitment section and you'll probably be able to apply online.

Not sure what kind of thing you're looking for but here's n example with IBM:
http://www-5.ibm.com/employment/uk/graduates/why.html

The only downside is that they might only have one intake a year which could be in September. Bigger firms probably start people at different times of the year though. They may also have a more long winded selection process than a regular job.

When I was looking a few years ago jobs in London in IT consultancy were starting at about 25k - it would be less elsewhere in the country.