Nicola Taylor - Live & Work in Britain: The most accurate, practical and comprehensive guide to living and working in Britain

Live & Work in

Britian

Nicola Taylor

Published by Crimson Publishing

www.crimsonpublishing.com

4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham MD 20706

Westminster House, Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2ND

Distributed in North America by National Book Network

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Distributed in the UK by Portfolio Books

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Crimson Publishing 2012

Epub Edition 2012 ISBN: 978-1-78059-054-7

The right of Nicola Taylor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Crimson Publishing ebooks.

The information in this book was correct at the time the print edition went to press. However changes are constantly taking place so it is important for readers to check carefully the information contained within against current UK policies and laws. The author and publishers cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in the information supplied to them by third parties or contained in resources and websites listed in the book.

Epub file created by: MPS Ltd, Chennai.

People have been heading to Britain for centuries. Way back in 55BC the Romans were among the earliest to recognise the potential of this small but productive island on the northern edge of Europe, but since then there has been wave after wave of immigrants coming to Britains shores for various reasons. Fortunately in recent times theyve had less of an urge to conquer the islands and take them for their own. In fact, people are attracted to Great Britain for a variety of far more peaceful reasons to work, to be educated, to escape from persecution in less liberal and tolerant countries, to buy a holiday home or to make a permanent home in Britain.

The number of people moving to Britain is increasing, in line with a worldwide growth in international migration. In the last fifty years there has been a doubling in the percentage of current UK residents who were born overseas, and it now stands at more than 8%.

The growth of the European Union and the ease with which EU nationals can move freely to Britain has been an important boost to inward migration among foreign-born residents, Europe is the most common area of birth with the Republic of Ireland being the largest single country of birth. However, Britain has attracted significant numbers of people from the other continents, despite the greater difficulties nationals from other countries face in respect of British immigration legislation.

A significant number of immigrants do not come for very long around a third of foreign-born migrants stay for less than four years. The majority of these come either to work in Britain on short-term contracts, or to study in the universities.

For those who wish to study or gain work experience in Britain, the opportunities are greater now than they have been in the past. Foreign students are encouraged to come to Britain, and many are able to stay on after they have completed their courses while they look for work which will keep them in the country, using their new-found skills and qualifications. They are especially attracted to the burgeoning new industries, such as IT, electronics and life sciences, which have attracted many international companies to Britain.

The countrys official title is the exhausting United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, often abbreviated to UK or GB, or given the generic name Britain. Although the UK is in many respects a single entity, its four nations England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are distinct, each having their own indigenous cultures, national characters and way of life. There are also differences between various aspects of the legal, political and education systems in each country. Land and property ownership and purchase, for example, are governed by different rules in different regions. These differences are explained clearly in this book and advice is given as to the best way to proceed with your move. Whether you wish to move temporarily or permanently to Britain, this book will help you achieve your aim.

Whatever your reason for moving to Britain, it has a great deal to offer a liberal, tolerant, largely unrestrictive lifestyle; thriving modern cities; beautiful countryside; good educational and employment opportunities; and history and heritage by the bucketload. It is a unique country, and its people as diverse as its landscape.

Nicola Taylor, January 2008

The author would like to thank all those people who provided advice and encouragement during the writing of this book. In particular, Amy Burns; Roberth Lindholm; Joe Rawal; Susan Griffith; John Livesey; Dionne Rennie; Sue Hardie; Matthew Taylor and Anna Gorse who kindly served as case studies. Also those others, too numerous to list, who have supplied information or whose experiences feature elsewhere in the book. Finally, as always thank you Charlie.

International Telephone Codes. Throughout this book, UK telephone codes have been used. For those calling UK numbers from abroad, the international code is +44 (or 00 44) and the initial 0 is dropped. So 0131 222 5555 is +44 131-222 5555 when calling from outside the UK.

While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is as up-to-date as possible, some details are bound to change within the lifetime of this edition, and readers are strongly advised to check facts and credentials themselves. Readers are invited to write to the author c/o Crimson Publishing, Westminster House, Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2ND with any comments, corrections and first-hand experiences. Those whose contributions are used will be sent a free copy of the next edition.

With thanks to Beth Law, Lianne Slavin, Patricia Law, Jo Jacomb, Nicole Jackson and Virginia Pal-Parsons for their photographic contributions. Thanks also to iStock for the images used throughout the book.

Although Britain is small it is an extremely diverse country. Within a comparatively compact space the entire area is less than 100,000 sq. miles there is an astonishing variety of landscape. From the welcoming white cliffs of Dover and rolling green expanses of the Downs in the south of England, to the rugged and wild northern coast of Scotland, to the amazing Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland, its 40,000 basalt columns earning it the title of Eighth Wonder of the World when it first became a tourist attraction in the 1700s.