Moving to the UK permanently and gaining citizenship.

[deathschoice]

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

Comments

[tisiphone]

IANAL, but here's what I can reasonably tell you based on doing this within the past year. Yes, you will need a visa to stay here more than six months or to work (no matter what type of work you do). You cannot just get citizenship - you need to put in some time under a visa first, though how much time depends on how you do it. Given your current situation, I'd suggest two things. First, see if you qualify under Tier 2 (General working) visa; this can be seen here. Second, I'd recommend that getting a degree would be a good idea, at whatever level is applicable. This is incredibly expensive, I will not jest, and you're unlikely to get financial support (though it's not impossible). It also does not have a guarantee of permission to stay; as of April the current program is going to be discontinued and a modified Tier 2 (General) without the EEA supply requirement will be put into place (according to my university's foreign student office), but this arrangement changes a heck of a lot. A long shot is if you have any parents or grandparents from the EU that you could get citizenship from; this varies by country, but in most cases it would give you permission to work in the UK. Finally, I'd say this: a few visits to a place does not give you any idea of what it's like to live there. I've been here a couple dozen times over the past decade, but I'm still experiencing some culture shock. I'd really suggest doing something short-term before deciding you want to up and move.

[tisiphone]

And I should clarify, the time you spend in school here won't count toward naturalization - whatever their graduate scheme replacement is likely will, but you've got to find someone to hire you, so choose what you major in carefully if you decide to go that route.

[velum_cado]

Unrelated, but how is IANAL a thing? It sounds like an Apple product you'd have to go to certain speciality shops to get.

[tisiphone]

I Am Not A Lawyer... (i.e. don't take that as any sort of legal advice, it's just my assessment of recent experience of trying to wrangle this stupid system.)