1

Firstly welcome to Thorn Tree.

I am concerned about your question regarding cash in hand jobs.... since, of course, this is illegal for the employer (who would face a hefty fine if caught) and you would be evading tax. Like most tax payers in this country, I object to anyone not paying tax if they should be and I think you'll find that when this question has been raised in the Australian forum, there has been a tirade of angry Australians voicing just what I have! Not a good route to go down in an economically depressed country, with a shortage of jobs to go round at the moment.

So, finding almost any job isn't easy in the UK and unless you get a reasonably good one, needing your qualifications or experience, the average wage is about £6 - £7 per hour, which you wouldn't be able to live on.

And, why do you think that being Australian would give you any advantage? Would a Pom have any advantages in Oz, just for being a Pom? Again, we have huge unemployment and EU citizens will have advantages over you because of their status.

And if you think the UK makes immigration difficult, take a look at the requirements for a Pom to emigrate to Oz. I also speak with the knowledge that it is pretty hard to emigrate - and I have dual UK/Oz citizenship and have experience of living in both countries.

2

Thanks for the response bellart1. Hadn't actually equated cash-in-hand jobs with tax evasion (though obviously it is).

The Aussie advantage was a throwaway comment really. It just surprises me that someone from Europe doesn't need a visa to work in the UK, whereas my only choice as a citizen of one of the British Commonwealth countries is to fork out tens of thousands of pounds to study. Just wonder how still being linked to Queenie actually benefits us at all.

And yeah, I know Australian immigration is difficult, but of course the question here is about UK immigration!

3

Actually, only people who are citizens of the EU are allowed to work here without a visa, not Europe, there is a difference, since not all European countries are members of the EU, which of course was set up to benefit us collectively. We can work in EU countries without a visa too - which we cannot do in Australia, or Canada, for example. So being a member of the Commonwealth probably doesn't have many advantages these days.

Being linked to Queenie is something the Australians have debated many times and if I remember correctly the last referendum was a resounding no, not to become a Republic....

British students now have to fork out £9,000 per year to study at university, and my Australian cousin forked out £15,000 to do his Masters in London, so the gap between what we used to pay and what foreign students now pay, is not as big as it used to be. If you want the luxury and academic advantage of studying here, why shouldn't you pay for it? You earn a lot more on average than we do (for the same jobs) and the $ is on your favour, making it relatively cheaper for you, than it would be for us to study in Oz.

4

"my only choice as a citizen of one of the British Commonwealth countries is to fork out tens of thousands of pounds to study. Just wonder how still being linked to Queenie actually benefits us at all."

Given the choice, I'd have picked the Commonwealth over the EU.

"Alternatively, how likely is it I could go there on a tourist visa, spend a bit of time knocking on doors and find someone to sponsor me"

Unlikely : Companies are unlikely to want to pay to sponsor someone if they can get a local to do without having to pay visa fees. I'd imagine it also would be a violation of your tourist visa status to job hunt.

However, there are still lots of low levels jobs available ( shops, factory work, and so on ), so if you can get in on a student visa, you should be able to find something. If this'll be your sole source of money though, you won't have much of a life.

"I'm hoping to move to Edinburgh . . . experience teaching English "

Glasgow's your best bet then, they need all the help with speaking English they can get.

"And if you think the UK makes immigration difficult, take a look at the requirements for a Pom to emigrate to Oz"

Not like the old days when all we had to do was steal a chicken to get in.

Given your degree, a job with a newspaper or magazine could be your best bet.

5

I think your best bet is to try and get a job with an Australian company (in Australia) and then try to transfer from there to here. I think it would be difficult to find a company to sponsor you unless you have some very specific skills that they need.

6

There are plenty of magazines (collect free from outside certain Tube stations, pubs etc in London, plus a few places in other major UK cities) and websites in UK used by Australians, New Zealanders & South Africans eg http://www.tntmagazine.com/ http://www.nznewsuk.co.uk/ http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/news/newspapers All are potential sources of information about gaining LEGAL employment in UK.

I had several travel, health, employment, banking etc articles published in various such magazines / newspapers from 1985 onwards, UK citizen, new to London, training as RGN, after travelling around Middle East and across Europe from Athens.

7

DIAC is has harsh as it can be on all Commonwealth citizen except the NZers arriving on 444 special category visa!