How does one move to London and get a job there?

that said, if you find an employer and impress them, the home office seems to like americans-- my work permit came through within days of applying.

still, much easier to take a year and do a masters or something, if you could bear that.

(P.S. how was the gig on Friday? I never did sell my ticket since I couldn't go)

I registerd with a pile of relevant agencies, and one found me some temp work pretty quickly. It was crap, but brought a little money in to buy me time. The process was a pain in the ass, and took me 6 months to start my 'proper' job, but then again I was coming from another country with no experience in the UK, so I'm sure you'll manage.

Downside - you will spend far more time in the pub than you can afford.

Can someone explain to me what is actually nice about London? The half-hour/hour on the tube/train to work, the living in the same City, but about 50 minutes travel from any one of your friends...

I would say for the idea of moving to London - make sure the job and the pay are worth it before deciding.

i mean, i'm a bad example beacuse i came from milton keynes which is a horrible place where public transport is a nightmare. but in london i can go whereever i like pretty much on the bus (or tube if necessary), there's always something happening, and i can come out of an arcade centre after playing DDR and be greeted with the sight of the houses of parliament and river thames.

it has its flaws but i like it well enough. and people don't try to talk to you on the train here. which is a bonus.

I saw a really great short comic strip by Will Eisner. A man living in his outback country house who dreams of moving to the big city. So he sells his house and buys an apartment in New York. The last panel is just him sitting in his flat dreaming of being back out in the counrty again. Fairly realistic I'm sure.

Also, they are a bit keener on the 9am start ====> be here by 8am latest policy. I can do that living 5 mins from the office as I do now, but 40 mins (work would be Square Mile, or if (un)lucky Canary Wharf) would really hurt.

So...I have recently been toying with the idea of giving London its opportunity to help me. Who knows.

Anyway, I am just filling in till Jimmy boy klang klang actually tells us anything - most probably that he was drunk when he posted that.

and the cinemas, the restaurants, the clubs, the gigs, the people...

see the London blog on FT for more pros (and maybe some cons, can't have it all one way)

to have more direct and frequent access to those things rather than something you can only experience a couple of times a year makes it well worth living in London I think

problem with a) is that your cost of living rises in accordance with your salary...in fact it would most likely surpass it

b) i don't understand, you mean because you are closer to large airports?

i think this is dependent on particular jobs etc. rather than a london phenomenon in general.

a) salary would be OK. Otherwise I wouldn't move. Cost of living where I am isn't exactly cheap anyway

b) a move to London would be a move to another company more likely. They, in turn, would have more overseas opportunities than I currently have open to me. So, effectively, I would have an increased chance of escape from the UK with my employer.

I dunno. It is from a smaller City to the sprawl that is London. I am open-minded, but possibly more aware to the flaws of London (hence position a).

i just know that it's hard for americans to come here and actually get work permits. not sure if we're technically allowed to work during the 6 months that we can stay. it's loads different from your australians and canadians-- they make special rules for you commonwealth people.

might be worth talking to tracer hand about this subject? i think he's doing the work permit hoop jump right now?

good luck, it's awesome here!

If you mean the 6 month student visa I belive that some work is allowed. If you mean the 6 month visitors visa, then no, no working is allowed.

Remember income tax would be 40% on everything over £4600, National insurance would be 11% (?) on the first £33000 over £4600, 1% above that. Council tax would be around £1200 split between the people you live with. Sales tax is 17.5% on everything apart from groceries, childrens clothes, books, newspapers and tampons.

I think, for me, there are two Londons. The first one is the London I grew up in and all the people and places associated with it. The second is the London of nights out in Soho and Islington and all the people I've met since coming back - that's kind of the way non-native Londoners appreciate the city, I think.

Still, I like the idea of living here for my entire life - of walking down a busy street in thirty or forty years time and just having this whole catalogue of memories stretching right back.

(This is all way offtopic really)

Something wrong here!

(tax is, roughly:

0% up to £4800
10% up to £6700
22% up to £32000
40% above that)

I'd managed to save about $5000 in a very short time and had another three months of work permit to rinse, so in a way it was not having very much time to sort it out that made me move so fast. I had some work experience I didn't think was any big deal until after I started freelancing for NME and saw J4m3s Brown glowering in my direction: 'she worked at SPIN'. You need to know he's been a sexist wanker his whole life and working with him, if you're female, is like having your own personal GWB at the office. Otherwise at the time most of the people were nice and the six months I spent there were perfect for figuring out what to do next.

Yes - well put Matt. I definitely feel this. Even though I haven't been here all my life, I've been in London for 21 years and spend summers here with relatives for 10 years before that which is long enough to be able to say things like 'I saw band X play that place when it used to be a music venue' I fully intend to live here all my life, but who knows..

(Of course I live in zone 5, which isn't London to some people. But it is)

So, I found this thread, and I found London . Allow me to summarize:

. Try and get a job first (not as hard as for most furriners, obv.)
. No point in telling potential employers that I'm only intending to be here a year. I usually do enjoy enjoying my work, and it being challenging and all that, but what that means for computer programmers = no free time ever, which is NOT THE POINT of moving to London. I am more than willing to work in an 'alright' job if I can work 9-5 (ish).
. If I just want a simple job that will pay for rent & food (but I might have to stop blowing 100 quid at Fopp, say) then temping might get me something? I'm not so sure about this - I'm not careerist by any standards, but I've a degree, two masters and 9 years programming experience - surely I'm just over qualified for the sort of stuff I'll be getting.
. LOTS OF GAYS!
. I'm paying £400 a month on rent (and maybe a bit more than than considering I pay all the bills) - what sort of accomodation will that afford?
. I have Der Savings, though I would like to have them after I come back as well. But if I have to get a flat first and hustle for a job, that's doable.

I'm also sort of fishing - I don't imagine there's much that I can do right now on the job or flat scene, but I'm vainly hoping that someone will say "What luck! I know a friend who's looking for a code monkey/flatmate about then."

Perhaps you have already done these things.

Er, obviously I mean that I don't always hear about it. Yes. Yes, I meant that.

what's that... a *month*?

lightweight.

Me at next Poptimism (unfortunately A Night At The Roxbury was probably never released in the UK. Where by 'unfortunately' I mean 'thankfully')

(moving to London from within the UK, btw)