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

[eofs]

It's not impossible, but the possibility is so small as to be irrelevant. It's definitely not something you can plan to do, especially not with the sort of defined time frame you've described. If you can get a job with a big multinational or international company who have a sizeable presence in the UK, then you might be able to put yourself in a position to get sent to the UK for a short period, or might be able to transfer internally. But it's by no means a guaranteed route, and the company would still have to show at this end that there isn't an EEA/Commonwealth citizen who can do the job - but at least if you're a known quantity, they might be more willing to expend that effort.

Just to reiterate, that is still not a guaranteed route or one you can rely on at all.

I would also agree with the others that it's very difficult to get an idea of what living in a country is like based on a few short holidays. And that emigrating is very taxing emotionally and financially, it's not a decision to take lightly.

[annaonthemoon]

I fell in love with the UK when I was 17 and I was determined to move here. I was fortunate that I happened to fall in love with a British man in 2008 and am now married with ILR and counting down until my Citizenship eligibility, but obviously, that doesn't happen for everyone

[smittenfancy]

Ditto to everything above, I'm afraid. But honestly? Given the state of the union, you're probably better off remaining a visitor - especially since it seems you have a good thing going for you in the US. :)

[bonoffee]

A few good friends and I are all unemployed, despite having all of us done two degrees and had some work experience. It's ridiculous right now. Youth unemployment is at its highest since '92 and things aren't going to get better soon. I'm from Scotland and I do love living here, it's beautiful in many places, but we have our fair share of problems, too. The whole UK does. It's such a bad time. And you do need more than a couple of visits to really know what a country is about. That's for your own sake

[dustyfro]

I came to the UK for 1 year on a charity worker visa. There were plenty of people working there from the Americas whose plan was to keep volunteering there until they had the necessary time to apply for citizenship. I think it's 5 years total. They have to go back every year to renew their visas though.