moving from US to london?

Hey guys, I am 18 and a friend of mine and I have decided that we want to move to London. We currently go to universities here in the US, but we talked about it, and we want to pack up and move out to London, hopefully transferring to another educational institution. The problem is, we don't know anything about London. We thought we were just going to get a job at a pub, somehow pay for our education ourselves, and get our own place somewhere in London. Is this a realistic thing to think about? Would we be able to somehow get student loans or become a citizen of the UK? Please let us know about what we can do.

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It certainly sounds like a good on paper, and I am certainly not trying to put you off, but it would be wise to bear in mind that London is a VERY expensive city in terms of accommodation, transport and general cost of living, and pub work here generally does not pay that well, so it might be very difficult to work, live and pay for an education easily. You may well have to end up living in an undesirable area quite far from the centre of things.

I'm also not sure about work permits etc. as you are not citizens of the European Union, and I don't know if many employers are willing/able to pay 'cash in hand' these days. There are penalties for them if they get caught doing this. Other forum members might be better able to advise on this.

Unfortunately, you would not just be eligible straight away for a student loan. I think that is only available to UK citizens and to become one you'd have to go through the immigration process (get in the long queue!) or get married, a route which quite a lot of people take, but one that has many disadvantages.

That said, it is a great city to be in, but research things thoroughly before you make a move. Hope this helps. Good luck.

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Finding work in London as an immigrant is pretty much hell, let alone a student. As mentioned, it sounds great on paper - but it doesn't necessarily play out as it looks. Working as a student (on a student visa) has severe disadvantages because you can only work a total of 20 hours a week (rougly). That alone won't be enough to support yourself in London (rent, food, entertainment). You won't find yourself coming to London as a resident very easily. Finding a college/university to go to is one thing, but then following through with it all would be another. Take in consideration that the American Dollar is dwindling ($1 = 0.50p), so student loans aquired in the US would have to be quite high in order to support your tuition. Then there's the course of rent, gas, electricity, transportation, entertainment - and you end up spending somewhere around £1500-2500 a month. Minimal wage in London is £5.25.. so the least you'll make is about £105 (before taxes taken out) a week. Bar work can get good, as a friend of mine is working rather well in the industry. However, most pubs are requiring experience nowadays - so it's hard to get a foot in the door.

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