Sponsorship for a US Citizen to work in the UK

[katejess44]

This is a bit of a vague question, but does anybody know how a US Citizen would go about finding sponsorship to work in the UK? 

I would be very grateful for any jargonless, basic advice!

Thanks

[Dom Tuk]

You have to find an employer who will be willing to

a) employ you

b) apply for a work permit for you and on your behalf to the Home Office and prove that your job cannot be filled by the locally/nationally available pool of unemployed Uk/EU nationals.

If you are a US national and employed here without a work permit you are breaking the law and liable to be detained and deported. It is the same for us Uk nationals when we seek employment in the USA.

[USTONY]

...prove that your job cannot be filled by the locally/nationally available pool of unemployed Uk/EU nationals.

 

The only thing you have to prove over here is that you can do the job cheaper than the next guy...sigh.

[USTONY]

"If you are a US national and employed here without a work permit you are breaking the law and liable to be detained and deported"

but yet I hear stories how the UK will help foreign immagrants (illegal or otherwise) get situated with a flat, insurance, a job etc etc etc... please tell me this isnt true...

I want to work in the UK, because of the experience, the people and history..but I want to do it legally and when I hear things like what I mentioned... sigh.

[camille79]

USTONY - the example you refer to is for asylum seekers, fleeing from persecution or totalitarian regimes.  There are some who will no doubt be exagerating/making up their tales of woe but many get sent back to their country of origin (after being detained in a prison-like detention centre while their claim is processed).  Illegal asylum seekers/economic migrants are breaking the law regardless from where they are from.

Although it may be disliked by countries across the world, the US is not yet a country acknowledged in the league of other regimes (despite its poor human rights policies, illegal wars et al) so I suspect that pleaing asylum may not be the best means for you to gain a working permit for the UK.

On a more serious note, have you tried contacting your local British embassy or the department of immigration here in the uk?