Hey Everyone! It has been months since I posted anything....mostly because I'm not sure what to write about now that I'm back in California and my Englishman is moving here. The UK immigration system made things too difficult for us, and I couldn't really take any more time off from my career without a ring on my finger, so I needed to head back to the USA and get back to work. I have been job hunting since March, but think I am finally about to land a couple of offers!

D has been trying to arrange his life in the UK to be away in the US for 6+ months, and he finally has everything in order. His B-2 tourist visa was granted last Wednesday, and he arrives on August 26th in San Francisco to join me! We may still end up back in Los Angeles depending on where I end up getting a job, but it will be so nice to see his face in 3-D after almost 6 months on Skype! Now we have 6 more months to decide whether to take the big plunge...

I will post a bit of info on his B-2 visa process for anyone interested once he gets here....don't want to jinx anything before then :)

Location Update, Part 2.

Seems some of you have been having trouble posting comments to my blog. I actually can't seem to post a comment myself, so I don't know what's up....what kind of problems are you having with the comment function? I read all the comments, so let me know if there's something specific you'd like to discuss. My email is laurenhaleybrock@hotmail.com. In the meantime I will contact blogger and find out how to get the comment function working...

I did see that the Visa rules are changing, but since it's now been 9 months since I have been employed part-time, and 14 months since I have worked full time, my prior earnings have fallen too low to get enough points in that area. February was the last month I could have made it to a high enough prior earnings level....so even now that the rules are changing, I don't think I'll be eligible for another 6-8 months once I get a new job ;(

Location Update

Well, I've taken a break from the blog since I am now back in California, and I couldn't decide whether to keep up with writing while I am away from England for this indeterminate period.

My tourist visa ran out and D and I aren't quite ready for the marriage commitment, so with the Tier 1 visa option closed to me for the time being, my only option was to return home. D and I haven't lived together long enough to qualify for the co-habitating partners option. Luckily, my sister has headed to Singapore for 2 months for work, so she has graciously lent me her apartment in San Francisco for the time being.

It's great to be back here in a city that I love, and the sun has not really stopped shining since I've been back, but I really miss D and our dogs, and the routine of our life there together. D is still in England for the time being, looking after the doggies and trying to find a new project for his electrical company. Once he gets everyone sorted out over there, he hopes to come over here in May and join me for awhile, but it's hardest not having a date on the calendar yet!

We are surviving on Skype calls once a day and some text messaging, but it's no substitute for the real thing. I met a cute Canadian girl last week (while we were both enjoying some frozen yogurt in the sunshine) who was visiting her Canadian boyfriend--she's in Toronto and he's been here for the last 3 years! Yikes!

I know I'm not the only one out there struggling with the downsides of an international long-distance relationship. Anyone have any suggestions?? I'd love to hear your inspiring, happy-endings right about now! ;)

Beware All Lawyers: Changes to Immigration Rules

I'm starting to feel like the UK Border Agency is personally out to get me! I haven't found the time or the energy to post anything new over the past week because we got some bad news about my UK visa and it's put me in a proper mood!

After spending the last 2 months dutifully preparing my Tier 1 General Migrant Visa for the Highly Skilled Worker category, and preparing a trip back to California to apply for it, I got a major shock last Monday. The one step in this process that I had made an assumption about was that my Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree from 3 years of law school in the USA would be considered at least equivalent to a UK Masters degree (which only takes 1 year to obtain), and might even pass for a doctorate degree (Ph.D.). And until about 4 weeks ago, the UK government agreed with me.

In previous years it was possible to qualify for a Highly Skilled Worker category by only having a Bachelors Degree, plus previous employment with a high level of pay and some cash funds in the bank. Obviously, most USA lawyers working for private firms would easily qualify on those terms. However, in November 2009, the UK Border Agency further restricted the Tier 1 Work Visa category to only those with a Masters Degree or Ph.D. (i.e., "higher education"). Despite this change, I still assumed I'd be OK since I had a Bachelor's degree plus my 3-year J.D.

Unluckily for me, in January the UK NARIC (the UK's national university accreditation board) decided to change about 10 years of precedent and re-categorize a J.D. degree from the USA as equal to only a UK Bachelors degree, rather than a Masters degree. They gave no reason for this sudden decision, but it now effectively precludes any of the thousands of lawyers who practice in the USA from moving to England and looking for work under the Highly Skilled Worker category of the UK's Points Based System. It really makes no sense--basically, if I had spent 1 year at Tulane and obtained an LLM (Master of Laws) instead of spending 3 years and getting a JD, I'd be allowed in!!

So for all of you out there who have professional degrees that took years after college to obtain, but do not have a shiny diploma that calls that degree a "Masters", then look out. The UK doesn't really want you, or your brains or your potential--seems like kind of a bad move for one of the last EU countries to come out of the recession, no?

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you decide to try for a Tier 1 General Migrant Visa, before committing I'd recommend calling UK NARIC for an over-the-phone evaluation of the degree that you have, whether or not it says "Masters" or "Ph.D" on the degree title just to make sure that you and they are in agreement about it. The phone calls cost about 10p per minute from the UK, but that 11 minute call saved me from spending GBP 40 on the written evaluation and wasting 2 more weeks thinking that I could get the Visa I wanted.

Bringing Your Dog to the UK via PETS scheme

After months of planning, spending half of my bank account, and an 11 hour flight from Los Angeles, my dog, George, finally arrived in England on Saturday night! I began the process to bring George here back in April, so all in all it took nearly 9 months to get all the vaccines, paperwork, and finances in order, and it was exhausting, but worth it! He's now adjusting to peeing on the snow and getting to know his new house-mate, D's dog Mia, but being reunited has been great. I decided to share some of the finer points of the process for those of you considering moving to England or travelling here with a pet.

1. First things first: make sure that your dog is not on the list of prohibited breeds that the UK won't allow to be imported at all (currently includes Pit Bull Terriers, American Pit Bulls, American Staffordshire Terrier, Dogo Agentino, Japanese Tose or Fila Braziliero), or on the list of snub-nosed breeds that some of the airlines won't allow to be flown as cargo (all pugs, Boston terrier, Brussels Griffin, English Toy Spaniel, Japanese Spaniel, Pekingese, English and French Bulldogs or Shih Tsus). Check your dog's breed with the airlines who are qualified to fly into the UK on your chosen route (current list of non-EU routes here), as policies vary by airline. My dog, George, is a Puggle (part pug, part beagle), but only 1 of the 2 airlines that are qualified to fly dogs from LAX to London-Heathrow would accept him because he is crossed with a snub-nosed breed (pug). Virgin Atlantic accepted him, but British Airways would not, so I had only one option and no chance of price-shopping the flight.

2. Start saving money now! Although Los Angeles is one of the most distant points of entry into the UK from the US, I was blown away when I was told that the cost to ship George in his new crate would be over $900 for the one-way flight alone, plus a $175 handling fee in the U.S., and a GBP 310 ($470) fee for customs clearance on the UK end. In addition, the USDA charges $111 per dog for providing the required paperwork approvals, so in the end, the up front costs were nearly $1700. Add to that the cost of all the vet visits to get him micro-chipped, vaccinated, de-wormed and blood-tested (another $300 easily), the cost of buying him a replacement bed, leash, collar, and food bowl for the UK (since his US items couldn't come with him in the crate), and the money I paid my brother to feed and look after him for 6 months while I went ahead to England (another $600 at least), and the grand-total comes to somewhere around $2,500. Ugh, it actually makes me sick to think about it (since I only paid $200 to adopt him in 2007). The things we do for love!

3. Follow the P.E.T.S. scheme as closely as possible. This program from DEFRA involves 4 major steps: a) your dog must 1st be micro-chipped with a UK-approved brand (George had a 10 digit AVID Friend Chip); b) your dog must receive a rabies vaccine after being micro-chipped--no vaccines prior to the micro-chip insertion will qualify; c) 1 month after the vaccine, the dog must have blood taken and sent to the USDA approved lab in Kansas to check that the rabies antibodies are at the right level; d) if the blood test comes back OK, the dog will be approved for travel from the date that is 6 months after his blood was drawn. This means that you should start the PETS process at least 7 months before you actually want to leave the country; otherwise, your dog will be placed into quarantine at Heathrow, which sounds awful for the pet. You do not need a "Pet Passport" if your dog is coming from the USA--all you need is the third country Veterinary Certificate, which is available here for free. Do NOT be lured into paying for this form or a pet passport by some of the online pet travel websites.

4. Buying the crate. It was pretty easy to find an IATA-approved animal crate in Los Angeles because the crates have special labels at the pet stores, but it was a little harder to guess which size we needed because we didn't have the dog with us at the time. The general requirement is that the dog should be able to stand up inside the crate without his nose or tail touching either end, or his head touching the roof. This should allow the dog to stand up and turn around comfortably during the flight. The crate needs to be ventilated on all sides, and the roof, and must have a metal gate at the front, with an adequate water dish that attaches to the front grate. We also bought a padded crate liner to fit inside and make it more comfortable since he was going to be flying for such a long time. My brother started introducing George to his crate about 2 months before the flight, and put treats inside frequently so that George would think it was a 'good' place to be, and he seemed OK with getting into it for the flight.

5. The final days before flight. The final DEFRA requirement is having the dog treated for ticks and tapeworm by his vet within the 24-48 hour period prior to his flight. Additionally, the dog's paperwork must be taken to a USDA office for certification within 10 days prior to the flight, and the office locations are limited. The USDA office in Los Angeles is located next to the airport, and is only open between 7:30am and 11:00 am Monday to Friday, so we had to carefully coordinate the flight time around these other appointments. Be sure to check that all the paperwork is completed fully and to the exact requirements of the PETS scheme; we had to have our rabies certificate reprinted at the vet's office because it didn't have George's microchip number shown on the certificate, or the time of treatment (based on a 24-hour clock).

George's flight landed only 30 minutes late on Saturday (despite the snow), but our vet failed to fill in one piece of information on his Veterinary Certificate, and so we nearly missed our chance to pick him up on Saturday evening while we waited for the vet office to open in California and correct the mistake. It was stressful, but the DEFRA agent was very patient (thanks Andrew!) and the Virgin Atlantic rep was super helpful (thanks Dean!), so they helped us make it happen at the last minute.

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.