Jabba1

Just curious, does the UK have an equivalent to the US green card lottery? If so, are Americans eligible?

Manc

The UK immegration lottery appears to be this.

If you get past the immegration officials at Dover in the back of a truck, you have won.

If you get caught, you must go back to France and play the lottery again.

Rockgurl

LOL manc. Just join the queue at the back of the 50,000 illegal immigrants being offered an amnesty. Nobody knows who they are anyway and you'll be sure to get permanent residence if you don't speak English and have no intention of ever working. Just don't bother trying to enter the country if you're American, intelligent, have a good job and skills to offer, are self-sufficient and only intend to stay for 2 weeks. At least this is what they tried to tell my girlfriend when she came over on holiday a couple of months ago.

braddy

Why would Britain need a lottery with a great system like social security for all!!

Ash UK/US

ROTFL... sad but true.

Ash

jaytee

From the www.Americanexpats.co.uk site:

Steff

Bunac is a good program but you are only allowed to stay in Britain and work for 6 months max. You also have to be a college student or have recently graduated from college. It was pretty easy to get though! I didn't think you can stay and settle in Britain with it though, but maybe that site just meant to live there for a period of time.

Jabba1

Interesting replies guys, thanks. BTW, would a filthy rich American with a lot of money to throw around find it hard getting permanent residence in the UK?


How are American immigrants usally treated in the UK? Are they seen as boons to the economy, or are they looked upon as burdens to the British goverment. Do Americans usally get on well with the British populace, or do Brits usally attack Americans on sight like they do in certain middle eastern countries.

I may be a "bloody yank", but I'm a "bloody yank" who wants to be well informed.

doctor scrumpy

It is easier to get yourself in than your dog when it comes to UK immigration.

Yosser

Were I used to live in the U.K all the locals were 2 faced really, alot of the older generation still had the 2nd world war mentalilty of the "Yanks"....over paid, over sexed, and over here!

The small town that I lived in relied heavily on tourism for its economy but still resisdents bitched about the "yanks" with their knee high white socks and booming voices, but funny enough they didn't bitch when the americans would pay top dollar for their B&B, meals etc etc.

Fortunately my generation hasn't listened to our elders and we would have a great time with American students at our local pub, we had many games of pool and darts with them and of course plenty of ale

This is how I met my beautiful wife, so I defiantly didn't listen to those old farts

I was talking to my mum last week and she said that an american company has started a boat building business and has started to employ all the local tradesmen, that sounds great and hopefully will silence any negativity towards "these bloody yanks"

Pimpbot

My American friend used Bunac to come into the Country a few years back and worked as a teacher. I remember taking him to London to help him find the offices. He managed to extend his stay for a further two plus years afterwards, but he did have to fly back to New York and visit the Brit consulat(sp) to get another visa.

Steff

Well it makes sense that they told us it was 6 months max since they wouldn't want all of us yankies to hang around

I guess your friend liked teaching in England? Just wondering because I'm thinking of becoming a teacher and dunno where I will end up !

sorry I am kinda going off the topic here :/

Marmite

There is a website:

www.uk-yankee.com

which is kind of the reverse of this one for Americans living in the UK. You might want to check it out.

Pimpbot

Steff, this was the deal. My friend had just received his masters from Tuffts in Boston when he applied for the Bunac deal. The reason he applied, is because his girlfriend is English and he wanted to spend some time in England, seeing that she wanted to come home for a year or two to catch up on her studies. They had both been living together in the states for around 3 to 4 years, because they originally met while she was au pairing in California. After his 6 month Bunac deal run out, as he was making good money being a substitute teacher and due to the fact that he wanted to spend more time with his girlfriend, he tried to apply for a visa while still in the UK to extend his working stay. However, he was told that he had to go back to America to apply, but as his bunac deal was about to run out, he had to quickly fly to NYC and apply there. It was all sorted within 3 days and he came back and worked in the UK for a further 2 years without problems. I am not sure what type of visa he was granted, but I know he didnt have to get a sponsor, as I believe he had to show pay slips and tax forms to show his income at the interview in NYC.

MeowMeowMeow

Hi. I have been lurking on this forum for a few days and this is my first post. Had to chime in here.

I'm an american immigrant in the UK. The majority of the people here have treated me with kindness and are truly lovely people. At least to my face they are. However, I have experienced quite a few incidences of anti-americanism and it does get me upset on the rare occasion. I also find that some of the media outlets here have a subtle undercurrent of anti-americanism as well. I've grown thicker skin since I have been here. You learn to adjust and ignore things and take ignorant/rude comments with a grain of salt.

One thing I am constantly wondering about: if someone is rude to me is it because of my accent/the fact I am an american, or are they just a miserable ignorant wank who is rude to everyone? Unless some little snide remark comes out of their mouth about my homeland or my fellow countrymen and women, I never really can tell...but I do get slightly paranoid about that sometimes...and yes, I do get the occasional snide remark as have some other americans I know here. (I've been told to my face that "all" americans are f-ing wankers with no brains)

Upon hearing my accent, a lot of people also seem to want to talk about Bush for some reason, and how much they hate him....which gets boring after about the 20th time. People will go off on rants like I am directly responsible for the current administration or something. I've learned to just nod my head and humor them. (I'm not Bush's biggest fan either, but i get sick of feeling like I have to be polite to these people who seem to think that by raising their voices at me that I am personally gonna pass their messages on to the shrub)

no, I have never heard of anyone getting attacked on sight here because they were american...I've heard plenty of stories of people being hostile towards americans but nothing particularly violent as far as I know.

I do get sick of the stereotyping here though...we are not all McDonald's eating-jerry springer watching-war mongering-obese-racist-violent-geographically challanged-halfwit-rednecks who all live in trailer parks or the ghetto . (ooh I've never heard that one before people! How original! ) If someone is going to judge me on what flag I was born under, or the way I talk, then they aren't worth knowing anyways. Screw them.

I know I am being a bit negative here so I would like to say for every asshole bigot I have run into over here in the UK, there are 100 lovely and kind people who have made me feel welcome...and I am grateful for these people. They make adjusting to a new country so much easier to deal with.

You Brits are an OK lot cheers