Moving To London, Advice, Tips, Stories?

Lately I've been tossing around the idea of moving to London after I graduate. I will graduate next December with my two year paralegal degree. I'm just looking for tips, advice or even stories of people that have moved from America to London. Some questions I have are....





1. What is the exchange rate of the American dollar to the British pound.





2. Do they have any work in London like a paralegal here in America? and if not how hard is it to get like a regular job like a retail job?





3. What are the cost of a one bedroom one bath apartment?





4. Whats transportation like? How expensive is it to buy and own a car?





5. How much should I save up in this next year for the move over?





6. What do I have to do to prepare for the move like Passport, shots, or do I need citizenship???





I'd like to know anything else that would be relevant to living in London.


Thanks :)Moving To London, Advice, Tips, Stories?
stay away from Chavs. dumb people.Moving To London, Advice, Tips, Stories?
well, first off, you get about $1.50 for every British pound at the moment. Finding a job will be difficult at the moment, because of the world financial crisis. There isn't enough jobs for our own people, never mind all the immigrants who want to come here., and people are beng made redundant by their thousands at the moment.





you will need to apply for working visa's and find an employer who will sponsor a work permit for you. You won't becoming here for a retail job, i can tell you that now. To get working visa's here, you need to have some skills that we are in need of here, example, engineer, doctors, nurses. We have plenty of people who can work in retail.





so your first problem is getting the visa's. you will have to apply at the British embassy and enter the highly skilled migrants programme. The more skills you have, the more points you get. when you have enough points you get your visa.





Second hurdle, is that you are not from the European Union if you are a US citizen. due to EU regulations, which are in place in the UK. an Employee has to give priority to anyEU citizen over anyone else, and if they are employing a person from outside the EU, they have to pay a substantial amount of money for a license to do so, and they have to show that they are hiring you because they can't source the work within the EU or that you are the top candidate, and no one in the EU could perform that job as well as you. Thats why you wont be getting a retail job here.





next hurdle, is that the UK government is cutting back on the amount of migrants it lets into the country, because to be honest, this small island is getting full, and there just isnt enough housing and jobs for everyone who is here, never mind all those that want to come here. So you really need to prove that you are something special, and by allowing you to come here, you are going to benefit our country, and not be a drain on it.





It's not impossible to get here, but it will be very difficult and a very long process to get here.





as far as money goes. London is the most expensive city in the world, and the UK in general is a very expensive place to live. You will need to save up a lot of money to live here
First of all... you need to find a company that will HIRE YOU while you are still IN THE U.S.. and they will have to SWEAR they are hiring you because they can't find a local Brit who can do the job.. which is HIGHLY UNLIKELY since the British LEGAL SYSTEM is a whole different entity than the AmeriKan legal system.. so everything you have learned in your 2 year Associate Degree DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING.





I am not going to waste my time answering the rest of your questions because unless and until you can get the Work Visa.. it's just a meaningless mental exercise and a waste of my time.