Moving to the UK permanently and gaining citizenship.
Hi, there. I heard about your community in immigration and thought I'd post here as well. I read your FAQ and first I'd like to say I am not a student yet (I do plan on going to school sometime in the next few years), don't have any UK relatives, I am not looking to marry a UK citizen and I work from home as a web/graphic designer and have a small internet business. These four things make it pretty damn rough when you want to move to the UK permanently and gain citizenship. I also took a look at the national shortage occupations list and graphic design is on the list but I'm not sure if "computer graphics supervisor" or the entire graphic design section is what I would fall under since I don't do work for film, television or video games yet.
I also went through the tags; specifically the "moving to the uk" tag and most of the posts under that tag seem to be about marrying a citizen of the UK, people with college degrees or for people whose situation is pretty different from my own.
I know gaining citizenship and being able to move to the UK permanently is no easy task at all but I am trying to figure out my options and what I can do to make the process easiest for myself (not easy, though, just easier than other options). I've been researching this for a few months and the information is so overwhelming and I'd really like to hear from people who have been through similar ordeals for their input and advice.
Some of this I have copy and pasted from my post in immigration, but I feel like the more details I give the easier it is for people to give me input/advice.
I live in the USA, English is my mother language and I am interested in gaining a work permit, permanent residence, citizenship and/or possible naturalization.
My best friend moved to the UK a few years ago and fortunately for her it was much easier for her than it will be for me since she married a UK citizen. I have visited the UK a couple of times now and I am absolutely in love with it. I will live in the states for another year or so until my lease runs out and then it's time for me to move once more and I'd like it to be somewhere I've always wanted to live, the UK (England to be specific); the reason being I am tired of moving and want to move somewhere I won't want to move away from and I just don't like anywhere in the states enough to say that about them.
What would be the easiest way (again, not that any way will be particularly easy at all, just one that is a little easier than the rest) for me to go about moving their permanently and gaining citizenship with my current situation? Will I absolutely need a Visa and if so, which do I qualify for? It doesn't seem like I qualify for any of them :( Is there anything I can do to make this whole process more doable; change of profession, school, etc?
And the way naturalization works; according to the immigration website naturalization is able to be applied for if you have lived in the UK for five years and are over the age of 18. How could I explore that idea? IE, how can I live there for five years in order for that to be an option?
Pretty much, is there even a small possibility this could work out for me?
I'm sorry for the noobness, and thank you so much in advance.. it really means the world to me. Any other advice or tips are greatly welcomed.
I also went through the tags; specifically the "moving to the uk" tag and most of the posts under that tag seem to be about marrying a citizen of the UK, people with college degrees or for people whose situation is pretty different from my own.
I know gaining citizenship and being able to move to the UK permanently is no easy task at all but I am trying to figure out my options and what I can do to make the process easiest for myself (not easy, though, just easier than other options). I've been researching this for a few months and the information is so overwhelming and I'd really like to hear from people who have been through similar ordeals for their input and advice.
Some of this I have copy and pasted from my post in immigration, but I feel like the more details I give the easier it is for people to give me input/advice.
I live in the USA, English is my mother language and I am interested in gaining a work permit, permanent residence, citizenship and/or possible naturalization.
My best friend moved to the UK a few years ago and fortunately for her it was much easier for her than it will be for me since she married a UK citizen. I have visited the UK a couple of times now and I am absolutely in love with it. I will live in the states for another year or so until my lease runs out and then it's time for me to move once more and I'd like it to be somewhere I've always wanted to live, the UK (England to be specific); the reason being I am tired of moving and want to move somewhere I won't want to move away from and I just don't like anywhere in the states enough to say that about them.
What would be the easiest way (again, not that any way will be particularly easy at all, just one that is a little easier than the rest) for me to go about moving their permanently and gaining citizenship with my current situation? Will I absolutely need a Visa and if so, which do I qualify for? It doesn't seem like I qualify for any of them :( Is there anything I can do to make this whole process more doable; change of profession, school, etc?
And the way naturalization works; according to the immigration website naturalization is able to be applied for if you have lived in the UK for five years and are over the age of 18. How could I explore that idea? IE, how can I live there for five years in order for that to be an option?
Pretty much, is there even a small possibility this could work out for me?
I'm sorry for the noobness, and thank you so much in advance.. it really means the world to me. Any other advice or tips are greatly welcomed.