UK Visa for American

[pilates]

I seem to be going round in circles but is there anyone that knows how a 20 year old American can get a working VISA in UK? It seems near on impossible. She will be staying with bf’s family.

She has to get a job that meets the required thresholds. Being American doesn't give her any special advantage. It's the same rules as for any other foreign native.

Agree with@Fiery30 , a US citizen does not have an automatic right to a UK work visa, it’s amongst other things job dependent.

You’ve probably seen the appropriate part of UK Gov website but just in case here’s the link:

www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa

She would probably have to marry the bf first and even getting a spousal visa is difficult, takes years and costs a fortune and the bf would have to be earning a minimum amount.

So if she was able to secure a job (any job) she would stand a better chance to get a working visa?

No, it’s not that simple.
She would need to find a job where she could be sponsored. The job needs to meet the income requirements (£38,000), pay the NHS surcharge & pay the visa costs. It costs thousands & thousands of pounds. At 20yrs old it’s doubtful she would be experienced & skilled enough to get a job that sponsors.
www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

The job will need to sponsor her so they will need to hold a sponsorship licence and apply to add her to their licence. Depending on her age she will need to earn at least £38K, but could be more depending on her age.
It can just be any job it needs to be one that has a need for immigration.
I have sponsored a couple of times and it has cost the business thousands each time in top of salary.

Looks like she's under 26, so she could work for a lot less, depending on her circumstances.
https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/when-you-can-be-paid-less

Ok, thanks everyone. As I thought, it’s looking near on impossible. 😔

Have they looked into BUNAC? Sorry if not relevant, but that was the scheme the young Americans used to get jobs at the retail chain I worked at in the 1990s

Might studying be an option instead if she has money?

Is this the one where she and the bf have met twice if that, she has no degree, and no money to study? Sounds familiar.

No @murasaki

Her realistic options are student visa, if she can fund a degree here, or a fiancée visa and they get married, if the young man is earning enough.

Otherwise they need to have a LDR for a few years while working towards a long term option.

Thank you @OccasionalHope I think the study visa is the way forward if she can afford it. I have sent the link over to her.

Ah ok, it sounds familiar, sorry. A student visa is the best way to go. But they do check on attendance and grades (this was part of my job, weekly reports etc) so she'd need to be genuine on that. Also it could lead to the graduate visa afterwards, so is worth thinking about.

A study visa isn’t going to work unless she got the grades to go to university in the uk and has the money for tuition and living expenses. It’s highly doubtful she will be able to emigrate to the UK at this point.

BUNAC is nothing like it used to be in the 90s and 00s unfortunately.

At that age some realistic options are:

• meeting up in a third country where they both qualify for a working visa
• student visa
• UK partner coming to the US on a spouse/fiance visa (apologies I don't know the US terms for this) as you can have others be financial sponsors

It's unlikely that the US partner will qualify for any work visa at that age and that the UK partner will earn enough to sponsor a spouse as others have said.

She can also come over on a tourist visa and not work. But American women are notorious overstayers so she needs to prove she has enough money and a place to stay on the trip. I know someone an American woman who got a ban for working in a tourist visa. They don't need around.

I recommend looking at a forum like UK Yankee there are plenty of stories like the OP on there

Thanks everyone for your input - much appreciated

Haven't you asked this before? With similar answers.

no for the second time @KnickerlessParsons

Despite what another poster said, Bunac are still relevant.

@pilates there is a way of doing it if she is currently studying at university at degree level (although not appropriate to her situation, this also covers those who graduated up to 24 months beforehand as well).

Government Authorised Exchange visa (Temporary Work)

https://www.gov.uk/government-authorised-exchange

There are a few things that she needs to arrange but these can be arranged by companies that regularly do this sort of thing. One example is a company called BUNAC (British Universities North America Club).

They were originally set up to help British students get jobs as camp counsellors etc at US summer camps (eg arranging job offers and visas etc - I got a summer job in the US through them back in 1985)

The link above is from the official gov.uk website explaining all the details.

Basically, BUNAC act as sponsor and help people find an employer. They call it their "Intern in Britain program"

https://bunac.org/internships-abroad/intern-in-britain

and explain about the visa here:

What’s the Temporary Worker GAE visa?

Formerly known as the Tier 5 visa, the Temporary work GAE (Government Authorised Exchange) visa is the UK internship visa for international students and graduates. It allows you to come to the UK for a temporary period to do short-term work experience.

In order to apply, you must have a sponsor (that’s us), meet the eligibility criteria (that’s you), and have a paid or unpaid internship placement offer from a UK company (that’s your future UK boss... try not to mess it up at the office Christmas party).

and details of how they help with finding an internship are here:

https://bunac.org/internships-abroad/intern-in-britain/finding-an-internship

Although, of course, they do charge for this. If she can find an internship by herself then they charge US$1,549 for their sponsorship and other services.

If you use their intern finding service (it's basically just a job board, like Monster Jobs or Total Jobs but focussing exclusively on internships) then they charge US$2,179.

To be totally frank though, I have no idea if those fees are worth it or a rip off.

In addition to their fees she would also need to pay £298 for the visa and, if she is coming here for more than six months, then she will also need to pay the
Immigration Health Surcharge of £1,035 (this is basically health insurance, so that she will be fully covered by the NHS and there won't be any co-pays etc. Although dental treatment is excluded and she will need to pay the standard prescription charge of £9.90 - although some prescriptions, such as contraceptives, are free of charge).

BUNAC used to be a visa to get some pretty random jobs. Now it's restricted to internships for US citizens. It's not the best option for someone who needs to work to subsidise their trip to the UK.