I don't know why but all of a sudden I'm dreading starting classes tomorrow. Maybe it's because I haven't been in a classroom in over a year or maybe it's because I'm far more concerned with finding a job that will pay enough to allow me to live in London once I graduate a year from now. The prospect of taking on one of the biggest cities in the world is just a wee bit daunting at this point. I know no one in this country beyond my peers/classmates who, no offense to them because they're all wonderful people, don't “carry as much weight” as an adult. And while I'm quite used to living and being alone I'm not used to arranging an entire living situation outside of a university setting on my own and in a foreign country, nonetheless.
It hit me hard today, my looming future, as I walked to Hammersmith, the next area north of Putney, across the Thames. I walked there and back in 4 hours; all in all, about 10 miles? Ish? I think? Not important. The point is, as I walked up and down, street after street, I passed dozens of homes 'To Let', or more familiarly, 'For Rent'. And the more of these rental homes I passed the more deeply it sank in that I have ONLY a year to find a new place to live, since I can't stay on campus after graduation. Not only do I need to FIND a decent place to live, you know, like a place with plumbing and not just a cardboard box, I also need a job that pays well enough to allow me to live in London. Ideally said job would allow me to live beyond the brink of poverty. Sure, I could tolerate living in a closet with rats and mildew, starving to death, barely scraping by from measly paycheck to measly paycheck, but I would so much rather, um, not. Heck, I can live frugally. I always have! But pure poverty, the thought of it, is already scaring the $h!t out of me.
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| This is actually my school |
One year from the day I set foot in this country my VISA expires and if I am still unemployed by then, if I don't have a new sponsor saying I deserve and have the right to remain here, I'll be kicked back to the US. And I really, really don't want to go back there. That, to me, would be the equivalent of failure, ending up back in Cleveland because I couldn't make it in the UK on my own. All I would think, every day, was how I should've tried harder somehow. So right now is my one chance, my only chance to get it right. It's not as simple to go apartment and job hunting in the UK when you live in the US as you might think. Meaning it's borderline impossible. So I have one shot at this. Ready, set, go.
And while I panic, you, my readers, can enjoy the lovely scenery of Hammersmith and Putney (yes, all these photos on this post are mine):
I find your blog very interesting. I am an American living in north London and have been for 3 years now (I'm 26 now), so I have experienced a lot of the same things you have.
ReplyDeleteYou really do need to worry about being able to stay. I have lots of friends from the States who came here for uni with the intention of staying on after graduation and only one was able to stay (and that was b/c she married an Italian). I don't think I would have been able to stay had I not had UK citizenship already.
It's not a good job market out there and any potential employer that might want to hire you will need to be a legal sponsor as well as pay your sponsor fee if they want to keep you. Most employers will see this as a headache for an entry-level employee and will prefer a UK/EU applicant for this reason. Also remember that there is nearly a 20% unemployment rate among new uni graduates...the economy here is much worse than in the States.
I'm not saying this to be mean but I have seen too many people get their hopes dashed when they don't realistically weigh their options. Even though you might not want to contemplate it, there is a very good chance that you will need to go home (I'm from Detroit myself and would never want to go back, so I feel you!)...but you may not have any options.
Hope for the best, but plan for any potential outcome so you aren't left out in the cold if your #1 plan doesn't work out.
-American with Dual US-UK citizenship
Hi there. I'm surprised an outsider stumbled upon this blog! Mainly I write this to let my friends and family back in the states know what I'm up to, in a very general way, without having to write to everyone individually. And despite the fact that job searching has played a substantial role in my time here already (and I actually may have landed a job) I don't write about it because I don't think it's interesting for anyone to read, really. My fears a few months ago, however, had to be vented and I chose this platform. But as a postgrad, a researcher who worked for the US Department of Defense, and a biomedical engineer and grant writer in the Neural Control Lab at the Cleveland Clinic I am in a fairly good position to continue that kind of work here at a university/hospital/etc. Not only am I linked to a project to do research for my dissertation, I may have a job as a grant writer for the Public Health department at a different university in London.
ReplyDeleteMy writing here may come off sounding inexperienced, unplanned, and even juvenile. It may seem as if all I do is screw around day to day (I don't know how much you actually read into my stream of posts). But when it comes to “living life” I assure you I am smart, logical, and serious. But thanks for your concern, American With Dual UK-US Citizenship. Consider yourself duly noted.
I stumbled across your blog when looking for blogs of other Americans, like mysel,f who are living in London. Usually I don't consider students as 'living' in London (bc let's be honest, if you're not doing a 1 hour commute each day on a crowded tube train you aren't actually living the London life), but your blog is very well written and isn't just about getting knackered at the local pub.
ReplyDeleteAs all my credential before coming to the UK are from the US I can tell you people will treat your application very differently...even employers who know you. I had to type in bold UK CITIZEN as I was finding people were rejecting my applications based on the fact that most of my work was from the US. If I had to ask for a visa on top of a job I would be out of luck in this tough job market.
If you were the type of person who had job offers left and right back home and have been working full-time consistently in positions of high responsibility for several years in your field before coming here then you may have a shot. Having sporadic student-esque dabblings into certain areas will do you no good. I can't predict your future or mine, but don't go around telling people 'I'm never going home' or 'I'm going to live in the UK' until you have that work permit in your hand. Otherwise you will look quite silly when UKBA is pushing you kicking and screaming onto a plane in a few months. Don't count your chickens before they hatch...
Anyway, sorry to impose on your personal blog. You won't hear from me anymore, but I'll check in in a year and see what became of your journey in London.
Best of Luck.
I'm sorry to hear you've had such a tough time. From the tone of your posts you've had a predominantly negative experience and expect others to have the same. As for me, I've had people telling me all along the way that I'd never get back here, that I wouldn't get funding, etc etc etc. Obviously, I ignored them all and made it happen anyway, because here I am.
ReplyDeleteI'm lucky to have had real work experience, despite your assumption my credentials were purely studentships, and have a VISA that allows me to stay in the UK for two years, not a few months. I'm not doing a “study abroad”, I'm getting my degree from the university. I'm not linked to any school in the US. So that means when you check back in on me in a year I will most certainly still be here.
Anyone with a 2:2 and Uncle Sam's student loans can come over to the UK for a post grad degree (and a boat load of debt)...so I'm not doubting you there. But your cocky assumption that you will somehow 'out-smart' the increasingly more strict immigration requirements in a country that is on the brink of economic chaos is quite, shall we say, delusional. They got rid of the post-study work scheme for a reason....to make sure students don't treat their visas as a method of settlement, which was never their purpose.
ReplyDeleteI would bet a cool grand you'll be back in Cincinnati by next October.
Logging off for now. See you next year.
-Chloe
Lucky for you it's easy to be negative, invasive, and rude behind the anonymity of the internet. And at 26 you have a lot of nerve to assume you, my dear, know all there is to know about "the system". I never mentioned delusions about outsmarting anyone and I surely wouldn't pretend I'm in any position to finagle my way through loopholes. But I can say with certainty that whatever I do here will be done without your bad attitude. Please get off your high horse and don't return until you do.
ReplyDelete