Visa Frustrations

The last time I came into the UK in October, immigration control at Heathrow instructed me that since I had already spent nearly six months in the country this year on a tourist visa, my entry clearance this time would be granted on the condition that as soon as I left the country, my permission to "visit" would be revoked. I was directed to secure a more formal visa before attempting to enter the country again.

Thus began my renewed efforts at understanding the myriad of UK visa options available to American citizens. Because I don't really want to spend any more money on tuition for more education at this point, and because D and I are not quite ready to get engaged, I have determined that there are only 3 visa options that really make sense for me:

1) Long-term visitor visa: This visa allows a visitor to enter the UK as frequently as they like for up to six months in any 12 month period for either 1, 2 or up to 5 years without being questioned by immigration control. It would only buy me six more months here in 2010, but it only requires an applicant to demonstrate that they have an address in the U.S., that they are employed or self-employed and have a sufficient income to maintain themselves while visiting the UK. For more info, see http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/aboutus/features/premiumvisa.

2) Highly Skilled Worker visa (Tier 1 General Migrant): This visa (which carries and application fee of nearly GBP 650) permits a visitor to enter to look for work, and to remain in the UK for up to 3 years if they secure paid work within the first 12 months of entering. An applicant has to score a minimum number of points in 3 different categories (attributes, English language and maintenance funds) in order to qualify for this visa. The most points are scored in the attributes category for applicants who have been awarded a Masters Degree or PhD in the United States, and who have earned at least GBP 40,000 per annum in the 15 months prior to applying from employment. If you are a citizen of the United States, you automatically will score 10 points in the English language category. Lastly, to score the required 10 points in the maintenance category, you have to provide bank statements that show your accounts never fell below GBP 2,800 (about $4,700) during the 3 months prior to the date of the visa application. For more information, see http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/infs/inf21pbsgeneralmigrant.

3) Skilled Worker Visa (Tier 2 General Migrant): This visa, which carries an application fee of GBP 215, permits a visitor to enter the UK to undertake a specific job for the period of time indicated on the applicant's certificate of sponsorship from a UK employer. This basically means that a valid job offer from a qualified UK employer is required before submitting a visa application. Unless an applicant has secured a job listed on the current UK Occupation Shortage List (mostly medical professionals, manufacturing and construction engineers and/or social workers), then the potential UK employer will have had to become a licensed employee sponsor, and will also have had to meet the resident labor market test (usually by advertising the job locally for at least 2 weeks in approved publications without finding a successful candidate). Once securing a job offer and a certificate of sponsorship, an applicant also has to qualify through several other categories including higher education (a Masters or PhD score the most points), English language (again, all U.S. citizens automatically earn top points) and expected earnings (maximum points for a UK job that will pay an annual income over GBP 20,000). Finally, the applicant must show a minimum of GBP 800 in their personal cash accounts at all times during the 3 months prior to submitting the application. For more information, see http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/infs/inf26pbsskilledworker.

As you can see, none of them are really simple and straightforward. I REALLY wish someone had advised me to take another look at the details of all of these visas six months ago when I still had my own apartment in California, recent payslips documenting income from my former employer, and a full savings account. At that time, I would have had ample evidence to qualify for either of the 1st 2 visas because I was still working in my highly paid role as a commercial real estate lawyer and had full savings and bank accounts. Even though it would have been costly to buy the work visa up front when I didn't know if my relationship with D would work out, at least I could have been monitoring my bank accounts and calendars to know when my "window of opportunity" for qualifying was closing.

Now applying for the visas will be more challenging as the last 15 months have also included 6 months of part-time legal work, and nearly 6 months of not working at all, plus, my savings have dropped dramatically as I have relied on them for my living expenses.