Friends: brits_americans--always good for a sadistic laugh

[winterbadger]

I love reading entry after entry that basically boil down to "Will someone please tell me that everything I'm reading about how to emigrate to the UK is wrong and that really it's easy if you know the secret handshake?" :-)

I feel for all these folks, but it does remind me of the game designer who said that 90% of the inquiries he got on rules questions amounted to "Please tell me the rule doesn't say what it does say, because that sucks for me in the game I'm playing right now." Only this is a lot bigger than a game. :-/

Comments

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

I'm sympathetic, as well. I think a lot of people don't realize how difficult it can be, plus even after the paperwork is completed, how difficult it can be to adjust. This from a woman who has adjusted pretty well to the move!

[winterbadger]

Yeah, the latest was just a bit funny (or annoying, but I'm trying to be amused by it) because the person asked a really basic question (that people are often chided for asking, since it's been answered about a bazillion times in the community, is in the community FAQ, and is one of the most basic things that any advisor or immigration site will tell you) and each time someoen offered a different source of information that said "no" the OP replied "yes, thanks, I've read that".

Erm, if you're read all that and it all says "No!" whay are you posting to ask if someone knows where it says "Yes"? This isn't an easter-egg hunt; you won't find the special page that says "Congratulations! Having refused to take 'no' for an answer 5,001 times, you receive a 'yes' as a special prize!" :-) I'm reminded a bit of a friend of my parents (an *English*woman at that!) who would plow right to the head of any queue, dragging her embarassed companions with her, uttering an airy "Oh, dear, you don't mind if we just go first, do you?" to all of the people already waiting...

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Oh! I really want to move to England! I love it soooooooooo much! And I think I should be able to go live there! Please tell me how!!1!11!1

[winterbadger]

:-) Hey, that's *my* line!

I haven't commented on the ongoing saga of the red-headed guy who leaves Irn Bru bottles all over, but I do hope they can find out soon what's making him feel so beastly and fix it. :-( Really, all he did was accidentally give perditathecat sunflower oil; he shouldn't be put through all this by the Powers That Be for a simple mistake like that...

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

This is why someone should go into business doing arranged marriages between Brits and Americans. Simplifies things quite a bit. That's what I'm holding out for. ;)

[winterbadger]

I really think it's an opportunity for a growth industry. :-) That and British estate agency with ICT. :-)

[rethought.livejournal.com]

I think the frustrating thing is that there never is any straightforward answer in the immigration/emigration rat race...even to straightforward questions.

I find that normally, one will find 55% of any website about this sort of thing useless and the other 45% non-applicable.

And, don't get me started about going in person/talking on the phone. Oy.

But hey, I found the secret handshake, so...go me. ;)

[winterbadger]

Some things are, indeed, nuanced and ultra-complex (and I'm only partway through, so I'm sure I'll find many more). But when someone says (effectively) "Hey, according to all the UK government websites, I'm not qualified for any sort of working visa, a work permit, scheme, or temporary program, but I want to go and live and work in the UK anyway, so how do I do it?" I just kind of shake my head sadly. There was one young woman a while back who my heart just bled for; she was finishing undergrad, had no money for more school, had no distinctive skills, had no work experience at all, had no UK family, but she was bound and determined that she was going to move to the UK permanently. *sigh*

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Interesting that so many of us learn this in school, but it's just as difficult to go UK-->US as the other direction...and the UK never offered to take any of those mentioned above.

[winterbadger]

Yep.

I just wish the Scottish Executive would get on the ball and hammer out with IND something a little more in line with their rhetoric. If they're really serious about encouraging (skilled, qualified) immigrants, they need (IMNSHO) to do something more than offer a few postgraduate years that *don't* count towards ILR. But, of course, they have to go hat in hand to Westminster and Whitehall, who hold all the cards...

[snolan.livejournal.com]

There is a lot of useful information about exiting the U.S. at http://www.escapeartist.com/ - it appears to be mostly set up for tax-dodgers, but the information is useful for other likely emigrants as well.

The catch with any social health-care country is getting welcomed in once you are over 30 years old - the basic premise being that they (legitimately) don't want to simply welcome every other country's elderly folks who need free health care.

The catch with most countries that have limited jobs is that you can't be perceived as taking a job away from a local.

[winterbadger]

That, erm, looks very, well... I'm sure someone is making a lot of money of it. :-)

The catch with most countries that have limited jobs is that you can't be perceived as taking a job away from a local.

True, and that applies to almost all countries. No one wants people to show up and be a drain on their economy. People find it incredibly difficult to get into the US, and we're notionally the country that welcoems immigrants. Most nations, or at any rate many, have exceptiosn for people who have family or ancestral ties, but for the most part, it's a pretty straightforward question of "what can you do for me?"

[snolan.livejournal.com]

Dude, the U.S. stopped welcoming all but corporate sponsored immigrants a long time ago, and frankly that fact irks me. We should politely return the Statue of Liberty or re-open our borders to immigrants again. Trying to play both sides of the fence is socially and ethically irresponsible.

As far as being welcomed in another country - I sometimes have this fantasy that one could extend their welcome in another country if one opened a business and hired as many folks or more than the number who immigrate to that country. For example, if my wife and I were to move to the Czech republic, we'd probably be welcome for life if we established a business that employed at least two people (say a small book shop). It's just a fantasy, but one would at least be contributing to the taxes and the employement rosters. So the Czech republic is particularly welcoming to ex-pat Americans right now, but over time that will change.

The other truth that many Americans find hard to adjust to is that formal education is far more important overseas than it is here. I probably could not hold a job like the one I have here without a degree... the phrase "independently educated" does not really have meaning in most countries (or Japan and England would be my home now).

I have a pair of friends who took a very different tack. The own a sailing vessel, a house boat. They travel from Caribbean island nation to island nation whenever their visa runs out in one place. They are still U.S. citizens, but they are living in a variety of places throughout a typical year.

[winterbadger]

Trying to play both sides of the fence is socially and ethically irresponsible.

You mean like proclaiming how we want regions to be democratic, then rejecting the governemants that people int he region elect democratically while we support absolute monarchs and military dictators? ;-)

I sometimes have this fantasy that one could extend their welcome in another country if one opened a business and hired as many folks or more than the number who immigrate to that country.

If you can open a business that will employ you and two UK citizens, you are welcome to move to the UK, according to IND.

The other truth that many Americans find hard to adjust to is that formal education is far more important overseas than it is here. I probably could not hold a job like the one I have here without a degree... the phrase "independently educated" does not really have meaning in most countries

Well, while that's true to some extent, you can probably get more recognition for your actual work *experience* than you realize.

I have a pair of friends who took a very different tack. The own a sailing vessel, a house boat. They travel from Caribbean island nation to island nation whenever their visa runs out in one place.

That sounds very nice, if one can find a way to pay for it. And oen doesn't ever have a health emergency. :-)

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

*reads relevant post, winces* Why do they always assume the rules don't apply to them? Like nobody is going ot notice them turning up for a 6months tourist stay (can you stay that long on a tourist visa, anyways?) with all their worldy possessions and a dog in tow? And I loved the short reply to your good advice of "yeah, yeah" basically. Well, when they get turned back at Heathrow and possibly escorted by some nice burly chaps in uniforms, maybe it'll sink in. *sigh*

[winterbadger]

*reads relevant post, winces* Why do they always assume the rules don't apply to them?

"I guess this is what my granny meant by "hope springs eternal..."

Like nobody is going to notice them turning up for a 6 months tourist stay (can you stay that long on a tourist visa, anyways?)

*checks the stamps in his passport* "Leave to enter for six months. Employment and recourse to public funds prohibited." Yep.

...with all their worldy possessions and a dog in tow?
Yeah. L0L "My, uh, dog, erm, wanted a holiday too!" ;-)

I'm just worred that folks like this will get themselves into one of those situations like the characters in "Dirty Pretty Things". :-(