# Tier 2 and job hunt experiances



## doingtheunstuck (Jan 11, 2012)

Hello! This seems like a great community, im looking for a little feedback from people who have been there. Myself and my samesex partner are looking to move from the us to the uk. When we worked out our budget i estimated that we should have enough money for the move by august of this year. My main worries right now are employment and getting work visas. 
My wife is a personal care worker which is one step down from a cna and i have mostly worked customer service type jobs. Im thinking that our best bet would be to apply for jobs before and after we arrive trying to get someone to sponsor us for the tier 2 visas. Is this really a possibility? Has anyone had luck with this? I feel like it would be difficult to find an employer that would want the trouble but unfortunately i think that is the only visa type we could hope for. Ive had trouble finding anything from someone who has actually done it this way. Any advice would be great


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

doingtheunstuck said:


> Hello! This seems like a great community, im looking for a little feedback from people who have been there. Myself and my samesex partner are looking to move from the us to the uk. When we worked out our budget i estimated that we should have enough money for the move by august of this year. My main worries right now are employment and getting work visas.
> My wife is a personal care worker which is one step down from a cna and i have mostly worked customer service type jobs. Im thinking that our best bet would be to apply for jobs before and after we arrive trying to get someone to sponsor us for the tier 2 visas. Is this really a possibility? Has anyone had luck with this? I feel like it would be difficult to find an employer that would want the trouble but unfortunately i think that is the only visa type we could hope for. Ive had trouble finding anything from someone who has actually done it this way. Any advice would be great


No, that won't work and in any case you will find it very difficult to secure the right sort of visa to live and work in UK. I'm assuming you are both US citizens with no passport from an EU country.

Personal care work isn't a shortage occupation and any potential employer has to meet resident labour market test (advertising the vacancy and no suitable applicantions received from those who don't need a visa). You must have a firm job offer and Tier 2 visa in hand when you arrive in UK. You can come over as a visitor and attend a pre-arranged job interview, but then you have to return home and apply for Tier 2 General visa, and as I've said, it will be almost impossible to be sponsored as personal care worker. The only possibility as I can see is if she is already working as a personal care worker for someone who is now moving to UK and she comes as one of their domestic workers. You can come as her family member, but her pay must be such that it's enough to maintain the both of you without recourse to public funds, without taking into account your potential earnings (you will be allowed to work if you get your visa as dependent family member).

The same argument applies if you try to get a sponsored work visa as customer care worker - again not on shortage list.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

doingtheunstuck said:


> Hello! This seems like a great community, im looking for a little feedback from people who have been there. Myself and my samesex partner are looking to move from the us to the uk. When we worked out our budget i estimated that we should have enough money for the move by august of this year. My main worries right now are employment and getting work visas.
> My wife is a personal care worker which is one step down from a cna and i have mostly worked customer service type jobs. Im thinking that our best bet would be to apply for jobs before and after we arrive trying to get someone to sponsor us for the tier 2 visas. Is this really a possibility? Has anyone had luck with this? I feel like it would be difficult to find an employer that would want the trouble but unfortunately i think that is the only visa type we could hope for. Ive had trouble finding anything from someone who has actually done it this way. Any advice would be great


First, you *cannot* move to the UK without a proper visa, so no, it is not possible to arrive and start looking for jobs, hoping to find a sponsor.

Second, the UK is in the midst of a recession and unemployment is at it's highest in 17 years.

Unfortunately, the chances of you finding a Tier 2 sponsor are slim to none. There are just 20,700 work type visas available to non-EU citizens per year. These will go to the the highly educated and highly skilled with advanced qualifications and rare and sought after talent. Customer service and personal care worker are not going to fall into these categories. You are right that it is difficult for Americans to obtain visas. Immigration laws have tightened and are expected to change and get tighter in April of this year. At the moment, your visa choices as an American are to marry/form a civil partnership with a UK national, get a Tier 2 sponsored job, attend a university, or if you have loads of money, invest in or start up a UK company and get a Tier 1 Entrepreneur or Investor visa.

You should explore whether either of you is eligible for citizenship by descent in an EU country through a parent or grandparent.


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## doingtheunstuck (Jan 11, 2012)

Unfortunately we don't have any uk ancestry. I do realize that given the job climate that this is very unlikely that it would work. 
Do the jobs for tier 2 have to be on the list of shortages AND be posted for a certain period of time etc. or is it one or the other?

I found the full list of employers registered with the government to sponsor for tier 2 and quite a few seem like they would be lower level type jobs. Maybe the listing is outdated or they don't accept them anymore?

As an American citizen i would have i think 6 months that i could stay there as a visitor, and it seems like you can apply for the visa either in your home country or from the uk for an extra fee... I wish we would have a better option but it seems like that would be our only real option. I cant manage to fund anything from someone who has done it this way which is reassuring.

The embassy website suggested trying employment agencies but i don't know it that would make any difference given our skill sets.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

doingtheunstuck said:


> Unfortunately we don't have any uk ancestry. I do realize that given the job climate that this is very unlikely that it would work.
> Do the jobs for tier 2 have to be on the list of shortages AND be posted for a certain period of time etc. or is it one or the other?


No, if the job is on shortage list, it doesn't require resident labour market test. If it isn't on the list, the test needs to be passed by potential employer. 



> I found the full list of employers registered with the government to sponsor for tier 2 and quite a few seem like they would be lower level type jobs. Maybe the listing is outdated or they don't accept them anymore?


There are many non-EU citizens working in the care industry because there have been times a shortage of local applicants, but all kinds of jobs are now in great demand. And some nursing homes sponsor skilled workers like qualified nurses.



> As an American citizen i would have i think 6 months that i could stay there as a visitor, and it seems like you can apply for the visa either in your home country or from the uk for an extra fee... I wish we would have a better option but it seems like that would be our only real option. I cant manage to fund anything from someone who has done it this way which is reassuring.


No, you cannot apply for another visa while staying in UK as a visitor (no switching rule). You must return home first and apply. And you aren't allowed to job-hunt as a visitor - only to attend a pre-arranged job interview.



> The embassy website suggested trying employment agencies but i don't know it that would make any difference given our skill sets.


They won't be interested in people needing sponsored work visa - only those who are allowed to work without visa or on existing visa, such as those married to EU citizens or full-time students in spare time and vacations.


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

> Unfortunately we don't have any uk ancestry.


What I actually suggested is that you explore whether you can claim ancestry and therefore citizenship in an EU country through a parent or grandparent. EU citizens can live and work in the UK without a visa.


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## BrewCity (Feb 11, 2012)

Hey All,

I'm in a slightly similar situation and would like to see what some of you have to say as many of you seem to have been involved with this Tier 2 work visa before. But first, I'll give you a little bit of my background:

- American (Irish heritage, but parents nor grandparents were born there)
- 25 years old
- Currently a 'Programmer Analyst' for a global financial solutions company (been in this position for 3 years)
- Hold two degrees: Associates in Computer Networking and Bachelors in Management with concentration in Management Information Systems

Alright, I'm looking to move to the UK for a job so that I can live with my better half (who is a British citizen and currently lives there). The idea here is after two years of being together I will be able to apply for an unmarried partner visa. In the mean time though I've already been looking for a job in the UK and have been following the path that some of you have outlined in this thread. However, as I'm applying for these jobs I'm beginning to wonder if my career title is considered on the 'Tier 2 Shortage Occupation List'. The only place where it seems to *possibly* occur is under 'Software Professionals'. But as I read the description here it states that these are jobs for:

"visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation for film, television or video games. 
- software developer 
- systems engineer (this is primarily what I do) 
- shader writer"

The thing that gets me is how specific it is in stating 'visual effects' here....as if my line of work could possibly not count. So, from experience do any of you know how strict they are on the job titles/descriptions? I'm really hoping to be able to move there within the next few months because this distance thing is killing us and plane tickets aren't cheap. PLUS, the U.S. isn't the easiest for him to get into since they aren't keen on passing visa's onto Lead Personal Trainers.

So, I guess another question I have is, would there be another way of me obtaining a visa to be with someone who IS a current citizen other than being married or together for 2 years?

Thanks in advance!


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

BrewCity said:


> Hey All,
> 
> I'm in a slightly similar situation and would like to see what some of you have to say as many of you seem to have been involved with this Tier 2 work visa before. But first, I'll give you a little bit of my background:
> 
> ...


Yes, they are very specific about the job on the shortage list. UKBA has an office in Sheffield dedicated to handling sponsored work visas, and they scrutinise everything. It's your potential employer who has to convince the UKBA that the job they are offering you meets the specs. Remember it's not just the job title (such as systems engineer) but also the specific work you do (such as visual effect in film) that they have to match.

Can't you get your existing employer to transfer you to UK? Intra-company transfers don't have annual cap.

Other than Tier 2 General, which is notoriously difficult with a cap of 20,700 annually even for jobs on shortage list, family migration is still one of best ways of moving to UK. Isn't a marriage option for you or are you going through a divorce with no end in sight?


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## BrewCity (Feb 11, 2012)

Joppa said:


> Yes, they are very specific about the job on the shortage list. UKBA has an office in Sheffield dedicated to handling sponsored work visas, and they scrutinise everything. It's your potential employer who has to convince the UKBA that the job they are offering you meets the specs. Remember it's not just the job title (such as systems engineer) but also the specific work you do (such as visual effect in film) that they have to match.
> 
> Can't you get your existing employer to transfer you to UK? Intra-company transfers don't have annual cap.
> 
> Other than Tier 2 General, which is notoriously difficult with a cap of 20,700 annually even for jobs on shortage list, family migration is still one of best ways of moving to UK. Isn't a marriage option for you or are you going through a divorce with no end in sight?


Hmmmm, well that doesn't sound good. And I can only imagine that a company would really want to hire me *BADLY* in order to try and convince the UKBA that they need me that much. And not to sell myself short, because I have a pretty good background and CV, but I would probably need to be a genius for that to happen  dang.

I forgot to mention this in my OP, I did contact someone in the HR department at our London office just about two weeks ago. She did a check with her coworkers and didn't find anything available at the moment. However, she was kind enough to pass my CV out to other resource managers in the area. Hopefully I'll hear back from them at some point, but I won't keep my hopes up.

As far as marriage goes, no I'm not married. But I don't think we're at that point in our relationship yet....I think we'd be more willing to seek out more open countries (Australia? New Zealand?) than to get married first.

I had a thought that came to mind this morning though. I have two close friends that both work for large global contracting companies. Do you think it would be possible to be hired by one of them and move directly over there for contracting positions located in the UK?


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