How I moved to the U.K. + March roundup

a step-by-step guide and the most interesting things I read/watched this month

This is a post by popular demand, but my regular monthly roundup is below, too.

BUT FIRST: I hope you’ll check out recent essay on Huffington Post about a bad mother, bad boyfriends, but most importantly my gorgeous pup, Dojo. You can read it here.

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It seems a lot of people are looking for alternative places to live these days. I often share this information with friends-of-friends and acquaintances who are making the same move I have. It was gained through a lot of trial and error and research and frustration. I hope it’s helpful to anyone who needs it. Please note: this post reflects my personal experience and my understanding of the rules; I am not an immigration professional. Also, there are of course other routes besides a student visa. In fact, I just read about this program in France.

In the summer of 2003, I traveled outside the U.S. for the first time, to the U.K., to take part in a study abroad program at Cambridge. It was the best experience of my life at the time (I was 20), and it’s still solidly in my top five. By the time I returned to the U.S., I vowed to move to the U.K.

I thought that would happen the summer after I graduated from college, but life got in the way, I was afraid of going alone, and I got distracted. Fast forward to 2014, I decided to get an MA in Creative Writing in London. The program was only one year, so when I finished I returned home, spent a year trying to get back into my “normal” life, and finally gave up. I decided to move back to the U.K. for good in the summer of 2016. This is how I did it.

Money

The number one thing I had going for me was savings. I’ll just put that first. If I didn’t have savings to help sustain me through the initial part of this process, it would have been incredibly difficult. I will elaborate in the sections below.

Apply to a graduate program

Lots of people advised me to apply for jobs in the U.K. and hope they would sponsor a visa for me. Others said to get a job with offices abroad, do well at the U.S. office, then ask to be transferred abroad. These options were too uncertain for me, so I went with a student visa. If you already work in an industry or for a company that has opportunities abroad, it might be a better option.