Tier 2 sponsorship visa

[Vettrianofan]

DS is trying to help his girlfriend find a way to apply for a work visa. She lives in the US, and wants to settle in the UK next year if possible. She is currently researching for herself, but every job she looks at says she must have British citizenship. Unfortunately that's not going to happen. The visitor for six months would be fine, but you cannot apply for work whilst using this visa.

Does anyone have experience of this kind of thing? Do you need to go through a recruitment agency?

She works as a housing specialist in the US (similar to a housing officer in the UK). She's 21yo.

It's for them to work out, I suppose. If he makes mistakes along the way, I am here for him. Young people need to navigate their own way through life. Same for his girlfriend. It's really up to them 16+. You can get married and have a baby at 16 so it's really just a case of giving advice and hoping they make the right choices🤷‍♀️

I married after 2 years knowing DH. And had a baby by then too🤣 most people would say that's foolish but several DC later, still married, 18 years later. Life is what you make of it.

I don't think she's interested in a career. Which is her choice. Some in my own family have jobs and not interested in a career. It's not for everyone. I know several people who just coast through life with no career.

I certainly wouldn't be brave enough to move to the States aged 19, but I suppose she doesn't see it as having anything to lose. She doesn't have DC, or own a home. She currently lives with her parents.

Everyone that's in love takes a gamble and could potentially be hurt but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

It’s utter madness. So many families have parents split apart and children unable to see their mother or father due to it.
If she has Canadian citizenship there may be an easier route than coming from USA. Or via the ancestry visa depending on how she has that citizenship!

www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa

Just been updated on the Canada citizenship front...she doesn't have dual citizenship but thought she did. You need to apply separately for that. Oh well, was worth a try. Thank you anyway.

Yes, I can imagine many families have been negatively affected by these new visa changes. It's awful that it isn't looked into case by case especially with children involved.

Mmm, but she's not part of a family, she's pursuing an online relationship. It's totally fine to want some level of income shown.

I am part of a family, but pursued a relationship with my DH once upon a time thrn started my own😬
So...what point are you trying to make here?? 🤔

Also income shown, what do you mean by that?

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I mean she's not part of an established family with a UK citizen, I'd have more sympathy with the income level required being too high if she already was. The government need to know that as a single person she can support herself. If she's determined to go ahead then the care route is the most likely to succeed.

In many jobs, apart from shortage occupation list, the employers need to meet the labour market test. Therefore, she would not meet that criteria either.

Loads of people meet online. What was once taboo is now common place. I met DH the old fashioned way but can understand we live in a different world now, everyone is just so connected due to technology.

@murasaki ah, understand now🙂

I think carer/health care assistant is on the shortage list which she would be eligible for?

Considering many nursing homes are short staffed and are filled with South East Asian/Filipino staff, she's probably in with a good chance. They struggle to recruit any domestic workers.

https://www.gov.uk/youth-mobility

Why not this?

She'd need to spend the 2 years carefully though in hopes of getting a permanent job.

Also, I wouldn't advise the marriage route. Look, I get it, you married your DH in less than 2 years. So did I, and I'm also foreign and did it partly for immigration reasons. But I had a work visa already - it's only because now DH (British) wanted to buy a house with me!

A divorce would mean losing the visa and might trap them both into staying longer than necessary. It's better to get visas under their own steam, at least live together.

It all depends on the type of job and salary. There are many HCA jobs but they are hourly paid, so that would not work. Employers always state whether or not they can sponsor. Also, all this discussion is futile if the girlfriend doesn't want to be doing health care jobs.

Also as an American she's going to have a shock at how slow, rundown and expensive things are in the UK.
People abroad think that the UK is a pretty place full of posh accents. Like any other country yes it has its good bits but that's not everyday life

For a start UK housing is so much smaller and badly insulated than their US counterparts. Unless she's used to new York flats or Unless you live in a mansion?

She's been in a typical house here in the UK, haha no not a mansion 🤣 it hasn't put her off.

She likes the weather here. Can't stand the warm summers where she currently lives.

Oh she's definitely considering health care route. She's researching it at the moment.

Will she also have to pay the NHS surcharge on a health care visa?

You replied to thia but not the actual useful post?
What's wrong with the youth mobility visa? Nobody else has suggested it.

yes

So another cost for her to think about, thanks. I thought so.

If she has a route to Canadian citizenship, then applying for that and then the youth mobility visa would be by far the easiest option.