132: Is Moving to London Still Possible for Americans in 2026?

A lot of Americans romanticize moving to London… until they actually start researching the visa process and try to get job sponsorship. 

Then suddenly it feels impossible.

Visa rules keep changing. Companies seem hesitant to sponsor international applicants. And headlines make it sound like the UK is shutting its doors.

So is moving to London still realistic for Americans in 2026?

In this episode, we’re having an honest conversation about what it actually takes to move to London right now, the biggest visa changes happening in the UK, and the real pathways Americans are still using to make it happen.

We cover:

•  Why London feels so competitive right now 
•  The reality of UK visa sponsorship 
•  Skilled Worker visas explained 
•  Internal company transfers and multinational companies 
•  Student visas and graduate visa pathways 
•  The High Potential Individual (HPI) visa 
•  Global Talent visas and entrepreneur routes 
•  Why “harder” does not mean “impossible” 
•  The mindset shift people need if they truly want to move abroad 

The truth is: moving to London is absolutely still possible—but the people who succeed are usually the ones who stop treating it like a fantasy and start treating it like a real long-term goal with strategy behind it.

If moving abroad is something you constantly think about, this episode will help you understand what the process actually looks like today—and how to decide which path might make the most sense for you.

👉Take the free quiz: Which European city should you move to? 🤔

Grab my free guide: 5 exact steps to move abroad

Website: jordangiberson.com
Instagram: @jordan.giberson

Transcript

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The people that are going to be successful are going to be the people that stop treating it like a fantasy and start treating it like a real long-term goal with a strategy behind it Harder does not mean that it's impossible. Americans are still moving to London every single day, so it's definitely possible for you to do it Hey, my name is Jordan Giberson. I'm a Texas girl living and thriving in London. The best thing I've ever done? Moving abroad, hands down. And I'm passionate about helping others do the same. Are you curious about finding a job abroad? You're in the right place, friend. I'll teach you the tried and true secrets of how to make moving abroad a reality for you and how to live a fulfilling life once you get there. We'll cover topics like choosing the best visa for you, how to get a job offer in another country, how to get over your fear of moving abroad, and how to live a life you love once you get there, this is The Move Abroad Podcast. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Move Abroad podcast. So recently, I've been hearing of a lot of Americans that want to move to London, and how difficult it is to move to London. So I thought that I'd do an episode to talk through moving to London, and whether it's even possible for Americans today. And I think that a lot of Americans romanticize about moving to London until they start looking into the visa process and how hard it might be to get a job and to get visa sponsorship. I think sometimes it sounds really exciting, and then it suddenly feels impossible. The salaries are high. The visa rules keep changing. They keep increasing the salaries for getting visas. Companies don't want to sponsor, and a lot of headlines make it sound like the UK is shutting its door. So is moving to London still realistic for Americans now? The answer is yes, but it's definitely become harder, more competitive, and you have to be a bit more strategic about getting a job in the UK than maybe a few years prior. So let's talk more about this in today's episode. So why does London feel so hard to move to? I love that there are so many people that want to move to London. I was one of those people. I was the American that said,"I wanna be in London," Because I fell in love with the city, and I've really enjoyed it. I mean, I've been here for many years now, over six years, and I love the UK. I love London. I actually just got permanent residency this week, actually. So it's a city that I love. I really love living here, and I understand why so many people want to be here. But that's the thing. London is one of the most competitive cities in the world. If you think about the world and the top cities that people typically want to move to, London is one of them. Just think about a few cities across the world that are well known and that you know a lot of people want to move to. Maybe Sydney in Australia would be another one. I don't know, Hong Kong. I don't know about that one. But, California, maybe LA, that's a city that a lot of people want to move to. But bottom line is that London is one of the top cities in the world, and that's why it feels harder is because it's competitive because a lot of people want to be here. Does that mean that you can't move here or that you can't compete with other people? No, you definitely can. If I could do it, you certainly can as well. I'm not that special. So it's definitely possible for you to move there, but you just have to realize that it's more competitive to move to. It also has a higher cost of living. Employers typically prefer candidates who already have UK work authorization. I think you just have to think, like our old economics teacher and how he would say, sort of economics and supply and demand. You have to think of supply and demand whenever we're thinking about jobs that are open in the UK or in London specifically. If there are candidates who already have UK work authorization, it makes it really difficult for a UK employer to then say, Actually, I want it to be more difficult for myself, and I'm gonna hire this American instead." But if there's no reason to do that, if you don't have a special characteristic, special quality about your work experience above a UK worker, a lot of times, they're gonna go with that UK worker. Does that mean that you can't get the visa, can't get a job? No. So let's talk a little bit about why London feels so hard to move to. I think we have to remember that London is one of the most competitive cities in the world. It's one of the top cities in the entire world that people want to move to. I mean, you could probably think of a few off the top of your head that are top cities that people might want to move to like London, New York City, maybe LA in California, maybe Paris, maybe Sydney, Australia. Like, there's not that many cities across the world that are like the top cities that people want to move to, and London is one of those. So therefore, whenever you think about supply and demand, There are only so many jobs that people can get whenever there are a lot of people that want to be there. Does that mean that you cannot be one of those people? No. You definitely can. You can definitely be one of those people. But it's just something to keep in mind whenever we're thinking about being strategic and pushing hard to move to London, and the pathways that might be possible for you is to keep that in mind that it is one of the most competitive cities in the world. And the other, I think, piece of information that's helpful to remember is that employers, have a job opening, and let's just say they have 100 applicants that apply for this job, and maybe they have a really solid group of 20 candidates that already have UK work authorization, they're probably gonna start interviewing those people first, and they're probably going to be more likely to give them that job because, why would they want to sponsor someone's visa and go through the stress and to pay for it whenever they have a perfectly good UK worker? So I think that it depends on where you're at in your career and the types of jobs that you're applying to. If you are experienced in your career and you have special work experience, you're going to be more likely to get a work visa versus if you just graduated two years ago and you have a very typical type of job. It's going to be a little bit more difficult to kind of get ahead and to compete with those people that already have the UK work authorization But we're going to talk about that a little bit more later on in the episode. But I just want you to understand why London feels kind of hard. I also think sometimes Americans might assume that the process might be easier because there's a more straightforward language and cultural similarity. Obviously, as Americans, we speak English, and so it feels like an easier transition to move to the United Kingdom, to move to London. But I think that you can visit London really easily, but to live there long term is a different thing, and it's typically a little bit harder to make it happen. You definitely can make it happen, and so that's what today's episode is about. It's about finding the pathway that is going to be the easiest pathway for you to get your foot in the door to be able to move to London, because The UK is not impossible, but it's not a country where you can casually just figure it out, apply to one or two jobs, and bada bing, bada boom, you get to move there. It's definitely one where you have to push and really it's a place where you do have to push to get a job offer or to get a visa for what you want to do in the UK. Does that mean that it's impossible? No. There are thousands of Americans that move to the UK all the time. There are many people that are on skilled worker visas or are on different types of visas that allow them to get a foot in the UK and to be able to live there long term. I mean, look at me. I'm a great example where I was able to have a visa. Which we'll talk about, and I was able to get my foot in the door by having an sort of like an internship or a short-term work stint with that company, and then I was able to get long-term work and a skilled worker visa after that, which is what a lot of people are after typically. So we'll talk about the different work categories, but really I just wanted to kind of set the scene that London is a very competitive city to move to. A lot of people want to move to London, but they want to move to London for a good reason. There are a few top cities around the world that people want to move to, and I mean, people love them. They're really great cities to move to. I've obviously loved it. I've been here for many years. So London's not for everyone, but I do understand what the fuss is all about and why people want to be here. So I would love to help you make that a reality, and I hope that in today's episode, we can talk through some of those different options for you so that you can find a pathway that might make sense for you to be able to get a foot in the door in London and be able to make this your home. So let's make this really practical. We're going to be diving into the visas and the different ways that people can move abroad. And so let's make this really practical. Let's dive into the different ways that Americans can actually move to the UK by talking about visas because visas are our golden ticket to be able to move abroad. So it is the biggest thing that we need to talk about whenever we talk about moving to the United Kingdom because you might be thinking that you want to get a work visa, you want to work for a company, have a nine-to-five job, and while that is totally possible and is the most common route, I do think that it is great to talk about the other options and why the other options might potentially be a better fit for you because you might be thinking,"I'm just gonna get a nine-to-five job", but actually there might be another path that might be easier for you and a better foot in the door, and then you could get the Skilled Worker visa and get the 9-5 job and, that typical route after having a different visa route where you have your foot in the door first. So the first visa that we'll be talking about, which is the most common route, is the Skilled Worker visa. This is the visa most people have. You have this visa whenever you get sponsored by a company. So you get a job offer from a UK company or company that has a, a UK office. They say,"We love you. We wanna give you a job offer, and we're willing to sponsor your visa." So basically they tell the UK government,"Hey, UK government, we really like this person. We wanna give them this job, and we're willing to pay to have them come over here and ensure that they're gonna be taken care of and have a salary." So they're kind of, as a UK company, they're kind of saying like, I'm gonna be taking care of this person, and they're not just going to be a random person from another country just living off of the benefits and, sleeping on a park bench." So anyways, you need to have a job offer to get a Skilled Worker visa from a licensed UK sponsor. So they need to have a, the right to sponsor your visa. If they don't already have a license to be a UK sponsor, they can get this. It takes a month or two. It's not a really difficult process, but the company has to be willing to get that sponsorship license for you. I have known companies that have done this. I know somebody that's moving to the UK right now, and the company got the sponsorship license because they wanted him to work at the company. I had a company that was willing to do that for me as well. They decided that they wanted to get the licensed sponsorship. They decided that they wanted to get a license to sponsor people regardless, and they were like,"Well, we might as well go ahead and get it and then get the visa for you." So- it's definitely possible, it definitely happens. But if you want a bit of an easier route in the UK, you can look up the companies that already have the right to sponsor. You can just look up licensed UK sponsor list, and you can pull up that list. Whenever I was applying to jobs in the UK, I would have that list on one side of my screen and the jobs I was applying for on the other side of my screen, and when I saw a job I was interested in, I would just Control F, and I would just look up that company on the UK sponsor list. And if they were on the list, then I would apply for the job. If they weren't on the list, then I typically didn't bother at that point. But like I said, I did apply for a job that the company actually did not have a license to sponsor, and they were willing to do it. So it's doesn't mean that they're not willing to get that if you apply and they really love you. But I think you wanna have good work experience to go for those type of jobs typically. You won't wanna do that with a job that's like, oh, like, I'm aware I don't have special work experience. Then I would say just go ahead and go for the companies that already have the sponsorship license and already have a process set in place. Anyways, bit of a tangent, but you do need a job offer. You need it from a licensed UK sponsor, and it needs to be in an eligible occupation. It's normally, like you can look up these eligible occupations, but if you have a nine-to-five job and you went to university, more than likely you're going to be on that list. But you can look up that list of eligible occupations online as well to see if you can fit your job into one of those categories. This visa route is how most Americans move abroad long-term. Does it mean that it has to be your first visa? No. I had a different visa before I got this visa, and I had, something else that got my foot in the door, and then I transitioned to this visa. So I've seen people do this before, and it's definitely possible. Can you go straight into having a skilled worker visa? Also yes. You definitely can go straight into having this one. It is the most common, but is by no means the only way that you can move to the UK, so I think it's important to talk about the other ways that we can do that. And we will talk about different visa categories. But before we do, I just wanted to mention that some typical jobs you might see that are given on the skilled worker visa might be tech jobs, finance jobs, engineering, healthcare, marketing, some education roles, AI, data. Anything that's like a specialized corporate job, you'll have a really good chance of getting a skilled worker visa. So those are just some examples. The- All knowing every single job list. No, no. But that's a good idea of a lot of the typical types of jobs that end up getting a skilled worker visa. But again, you can look on that list if you look up the eligible occupation list for the skilled worker visa. If you just do a quick Google, that should come up for you, and you can see if your job fits into those categories. So one of the reasons why I am recording this episode for you is that there have been some important recent changes in UK visas that I think are worth mentioning, especially if you're like,"Wow, it just feels so hard to move to the UK," I think it is important to mention this to you because the UK government has made the skilled worker visa a bit stricter in the past couple of years. They've made the salary threshold increase quite a bit. A lot of applicants need a salary that's, closer to like forty thousand pounds. You have to convert that to US dollars, but it'll be like, I don't know, like fifty thousand dollars or something. You'll need to look up the exact salary threshold, and sometimes it changes based on the job role that you have. So you'll need to look that up in the eligible occupation list. But they did increase the salary thresholds. They just made it more difficult. They also are shifting towards prioritizing those that have a higher level degree, higher pay, highly skilled workers. They're just making it a bit more difficult. So if you're like a new graduate that's just coming out of college and you want to move to London on a skilled worker visa, It's probably going to be quite difficult for you to do that because the lower paying sponsorship paths have been reduced and care worker pathways were also cut heavily as well. They had hired a lot and healthcare were really pushing for that a few years ago, and now they've kind of slowed down on that. So yes, the visa is harder to get. Does that mean that it's impossible? Does that mean that Americans aren't doing it? No. I mean, there are a lot of Americans that are still moving abroad to London. It is still possible, but I do think that you need to be strategic in how you're applying for jobs. We'll do an episode soon on strategies for applying for jobs abroad, and we'll dig into that a bit further. The next visa category that is typical and I think would be very strategic and a smart way for Americans to move abroad is the intra-company transfer visa. So it's like an internal company transfer visa that I really think is underrated and is very realistic for Americans. If you are an American working for a multinational company, like, a big company there are so many global companies, but I'm just, off the top of my head I'm like, oh, Microsoft. Even my company is a small company that, like, basically no one has ever heard of, but they are a multinational company. They have an office in London, and they have a office in the US. So if I were working for the company in the US and I really wanted to work in the UK, I think that they would be willing to sponsor my visa, especially if I had a business case for it. So I would highly recommend looking into that because if you already have a good reputation at work, you're a hard worker, and you can create a business case for why you should be able to move to London, especially if they wanna keep you, I think that they would be open to listening to you. So if you're an American working for a multinational company, I think this could be a great option. You can transfer from the US office to London. This would be common in categories like tech, consulting, finance, media, just big corporations in general. So if that's you, I think that this could be a really great way and honestly one of the easiest ways to move to London if you're already working for a company that has a London office. I've seen people do this a lot. A lot of the people that I've known recently that have moved abroad to London have this company transfer visa, so I think that it would be worth looking into if this is something that you think might be a good fit for you. So I think this could be a good option, and it could be a good option even to work for a company, like maybe you even apply for a company that has an office in the US but you know has an office in London, and maybe start working for them right now in the meantime while you start to look at other ways to move to the UK. I mean, I don't think that it could hurt. I think it depends on your situation and whether that makes sense for you, but if you're already looking at new jobs and- this is a possibility for you, I think that this would be a good strategy. Another great route that I think is one of the easiest ways to move to the UK is getting a student visa. Now, Americans might not wanna do that. I think it really depends on where you're at in life. I had people that recommended this path to me whenever I wanted to move to London, and I said,"Heck no, I'm not going back to school. I already got my master's degree, and, like, I am done." So maybe this is not the right path for you. But maybe you've been thinking,"You know what? I've always wanted to get a master's degree. I've always wanted to further my education. I've always wanted to maybe, change my career path, and I think that going to school is a really great way to do that", then awesome. Student visa is a great way to do that because a lot of times you can do the master's degree in the UK, and then you can stay afterwards on a graduate visa. So after you graduate, you have the right to work in the UK full-time for a couple of years. So it gives you time to work for a company, get some work experience, and then try to get visa sponsorship for a skilled worker after those two years that you're on the graduate visa after you are on the student visa. And while you're a student, you can also work part-time up to 20 hours a week, so you can also start to build relationships with people, start to network while you're a student. So I just think it's a great foot in the door. And I think that, you have to be realistic. This route is going to be a bit more expensive. And it depends on whether you really want to go back to school or not. But it is very common, and it's, a way that I see a lot of Americans moving abroad, where they get a foot in the door with a student visa, getting a graduate visa typically, and then they're able to get the graduate visa, work on that for a couple of years, and then they get the skilled worker visa. So very typical. I've seen it done many times, and I think that it's a great route if you're open to being a student. There are two other routes where if you've been a recent graduate that I think would be a really good foot in the door for you. So this is for people that are recent graduates. One is going to be the Government Authorized Exchange visa. I got this visa whenever I first moved to the UK. This visa can work for an internship, a training program, research program, professional exchanges. So it's typically a short-term visa that you can have for typically up to 12 months. It's not designed as a long-term visa, and you can't get permanent residency with this visa. But it's a great foot in the door. So if you've recently graduated, like if you're about to graduate or graduate in a couple of years or you just graduated a few months ago, the Government Authorized Exchange visa I think would be a great pathway for you. And if you're interested in learning more, you can just Google Government Authorized Exchange visa. Or the company that I went through whenever I did this was called BUNAC, B-U-N-A-C. It was a great program. But you do have to keep in mind that a lot of times it's going to not be the most cost-effective. You will have to pay for the program. It's temporary. You need to have that sponsoring organization like BUNAC or there are a lot of other government-authorized exchange programs that will allow you to do an internship abroad. So it's typically after you graduate. I had to swallow my pride to do this one after I graduated. But for me, it's what helped me get a foot in the door in London. I did an internship, and I eventually was able to get a visa for a skilled worker visa. And after I did this program, I had a foot in the door. I was able to prove my worth, and I was able to get a skilled worker visa. So it's definitely possible to have this route if you're a recent graduate. Another visa that would be great to look into if you're a recent graduate is a High Potential Individual visa. So this is a visa that Was introduced semi-recently for graduates of top global universities. So this visa is only if you graduated from specific universities within the past five years. So even if you graduated a few years ago, if it's been within five years, you can still get this visa. So you don't need sponsorship, you don't need a UK employer, you don't need a job offer. You just need to have graduated from one of the top universities. It'll be from schools like Stanford, Columbia, MIT, Harvard, University of Texas in Austin. So different universities are on this list, so it's definitely not for everyone. You have to have gone to a specific university. But it's great because you do have a lot of flexibility. You can basically do whatever you want, be self-employed, start a business, work remotely, freelance, work for UK companies. There are a lot of possibilities. So, it's something that is a short-term visa. You can only have it for a couple years, normally three years if you got a PhD. But I think that it is a great foot in the door, and then you can prove your worth, work for a UK company, and then switch to a skilled worker visa after it. So I think those couple visas are great for recent graduates, the government-authorized exchange visa, where you get an internship after you graduate, or a high potential individual visa if you've graduated from top global universities. And also, as we talked about, the, um, student visa, where you study and you get your degree and probably a master's degree, and then you can get a, graduate visa after that, work in the UK for a couple of years, and then transfer to a skilled worker visa after that. So those are some options. If you're a bit younger, if you are more of a recent graduate or in school right now, I think those would be the main visa categories I would recommend for you because a skilled worker visa is a little bit more difficult to get, and I think you need to have a bit more work experience to compete for the skilled worker visa. But I think those are really great if you're on the younger side. Okay. There are three more visas that I wanna run through quickly, before we move on. And the next one I wanna talk about is the Global Talent visa. This visa is for people specifically in tech, arts, academia, and research. It does not require sponsorship. It's great if you can qualify for this visa because it basically just provides you complete freedom to do whatever you want. If you qualify for this visa, you can get a job, you can be a freelancer, you can be unemployed if you want to. Like, you have the right to just live in the UK and basically do whatever you want. So it's a stellar visa if you can get it. But I will say it's harder to qualify for, and they've made it even more difficult in the past few years. So it's hard to qualify, but if you can get it, it's very powerful. So if you know you have really solid work experience in tech, arts, academia, and research and you know you're kind of more at the top of workers, then I think looking into the Global Talent visa would be great for you. So if you have great work experience, I think you should look into that one, specifically in tech, arts, academia, and research. The last couple visas would be the family and partner visa. This is very common, but is not talked about publicly as much. This is if you are going to be married or have a strong partnership. You don't actually have to be married, but you have to be living with a partner, and it has to be kind of sort of like you're married. So if you have a partner in the UK or if you have UK ancestry. If you are an American that has some relationship with the Commonwealth citizenship elsewhere, you should look into this. So if you have the ability to get a Canadian visa or a Australian visa, I think Japan was on the list New Zealand. Anyways, Commonwealth countries.... australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Andorra, Iceland, Monaco, San Marino, Uruguay, Hong Kong, India, and Taiwan, then you can actually apply for the UK Youth Mobility Scheme visa. Americans cannot get this, but if you say like,"Oh, my my mom is actually Australian, and I can get an Australian visa or a Canadian visa," then... you know that you have the right to get a passport in one of those countries, then you can apply for the UK Youth Mobility Scheme visa, where you can basically move to the UK if you're around the age of 18 to 30 or, 18 to 35 if you're from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea. So if you do fall within that category, which honestly some Americans do, if you do have relatives that are from those countries and you think that you might be able to get a passport from those countries, then you can get a passport from one of those countries and then have the right to get the UK Youth Mobility Scheme visa, where you can move abroad to the UK, to London, for a couple of years. So I think it's a select few that can get that, but definitely worth mentioning because I think that would be a great path to move to London as well. And then the last option I think is worth mentioning for Americans that want to move to London is the Innovator Founder visa. This is the more, like, entrepreneur, uh, startup visa. It's replaced... this is for people that are starting a scalable business, an innovative business, or a UK-based startup. It's not for a freelancer with a laptop. The UK doesn't really have a freelancer visa. But the UK is looking for innovation. It's looking for growth potential. It's looking for a real business concept, and it's looking for those type of businesses where, those type of businesses to add value to the country. So this route is more realistic if you are going to be a startup founder, if you're going to be a tech founder, a high growth company founder, not just for casual freelancing. But if you do wanna start a company in the UK, this could be an option for you. So that's the Innovator Founder visa. So those are the typical visas in the UK, and I think the most Possible visa paths for you. Again, I think the skilled worker visa is the most typical, but depending on where you're at in your career, if you're able to get, say, the Global Talent visa because you have incredible experience in tech, then go for that visa. That would be the best visa for you. If you have a partner that's in the UK, then maybe you end up getting that partnership or a marriage visa. If you are a recent graduate, I think that you have very specific visa paths, like the government authorized exchange visa or the high potential individual visa, or you need to get a master's degree if you're more of a recent graduate. But if you have great work experience, like special experience or strong experience in tech or consulting, finance, then getting the skilled worker visa could be a good option, or the intercompany transfer visa I think is very realistic if you are working for a multinational company in the US, then I think that could be a really great option. So there are definitely options. It's definitely possible to move to the UK. But, I mean, is the UK becoming anti-immigration? I think this is a really interesting question because immigration has gotten more difficult. There have been many debates in the UK. They've made it more difficult in the past few years. I think there's government pressure to reduce immigration, and they've therefore tightened the visas in the past couple of years, made the salary thresholds higher, made it tougher on companies that are trying to hire people from other countries. So no, the UK is not closed. Companies are still sponsoring people every day. It's happening all the time. There are still a lot of people that are moving to London, but it's definitely becoming more selective. So yes, it is becoming harder. But no, it's not impossible, and a lot of people that are probably just like you have done it, and you can do it too. But I think that you just need to be a bit strategic. I think you should be thoughtful about your foot in the door and what that looks like for you. If it's maybe a different category than you thought before. Maybe you were thinking a skilled worker visa, but you're like,"Ah, like I've been trying to get a skilled worker visa for a long time, and it hasn't worked out. Maybe I'll try a different path." So it's just kind of deciding what's the most important thing to you because I've spoken with Americans that have a very high salary at a great job, and they want to move to London, but they're not willing to have a lower salary, and they're not willing to not have like a high status job. So I think that it really depends on what you're willing to give up, sacrifice, what you're willing to do to make London a reality for you. I was not willing to become a nanny, an au pair in moving abroad. I was not willing to be a student. I said like,"I really wanna get a job", but I was willing to take an internship after graduating because that was my foot in the door. So maybe for you, it looks different than what you originally imagined, or maybe you do have the skills and the great work experience to get a skilled worker visa or global talent visa or... I mean, I don't wanna go back into all the categories again, but there are visa paths for you, and I think it's just figuring out the right path for you to get your foot in the door to be able to move to London. So we'll do an episode soon about strategies for getting a job abroad, and I'll have London in mind as I'm putting together that episode and what I would do today if I were an American living in the US and wanting to move to London, if that's you. So we'll talk about that in a later episode. But I do think that what makes people more likely to succeed in moving to London are people that have in-demand careers, who already work internationally or have like international work, international clients, people that are applying consistently and applying early whenever jobs are posted, not just applying for like two jobs and expecting to get an offer. Like you need to be applying consistently. I applied to literally hundreds of jobs before I got visa sponsorship, so you have to be like really in it to get sponsorship. Those that network heavily. My first couple of opportunities came from networking opportunities where I was just networking, telling people I wanted to move to London, and they opened up a door for me to have an opportunity in London. Those that are flexible on their first salary and location. Maybe you get a job offer a little bit outside of London. Maybe it's in a different city. Maybe your salary is not going to be as high as it is in the US. I think that the UK typically has lower salaries than in the US, but it really depends on your experience and your job role. So it's not across the board necessarily, but something to consider as you're thinking about moving abroad, to London. Those that are using LinkedIn strategically often will have more success if you're messaging, hiring managers. I think if you're also accepting that the process might take a bit longer for you to get a job offer, depending on how hard you're really pushing to get a job offer, or kind of like,"I wanna move," and like,"I applied to five jobs a few months ago". I think it really depends on how hard you're pushing, or if you're saying like,"I'm gonna apply to every single job that's out there, and I'm gonna like really push for it." So a lot of people that do move abroad successfully to London, sometimes I think it's luck of the draw. Sometimes it's just people had an opportunity at work, and they took it, and that's just how it worked out for them. But it is absolutely possible. I don't want you to walk away from this episode feeling like it's not worth trying, or it's impossible for you. I do think that it is possible, but I think it just so depends on your work experience. It depends on like if you're a VP at a tech company, and there's a VP opportunity at a similar tech company in London, like you probably have a really good shot because you have a solid work experience, and there are not many people that could do that job well. And a company will absolutely be willing to pay for your sponsorship and go through that process for somebody that is a high value individual. But if you're somebody that's like, starting out in your career, and you're applying for entry-level marketing jobs, then it's going to be a little bit more challenging for you. I was able to make it happen. I know that people make it happen besides myself, so it's definitely possible, but I think just be open to different paths and what that might look like for you. So I think that the people that are going to be successful are going to be the people that stop treating it like a fantasy and start treating it like a real long-term goal with a strategy behind it and with real, like a real push behind it as well. I think that if you push to make things to happen, then you can make things happen for yourself, but sometimes you have to make things happen. You know, opportunities don't always fall in our lap. So I think you do have to be strategic and really push for it if you do want to move to London because if it's your dream, I don't want you to give up on it because you feel like the process is hard right now. Harder does not mean that it's impossible. Americans are still moving to London every single day, so it's definitely possible for you to do it, but you do have to have some oomph behind you, to be able to make it happen. So I want you to have that oomph and to push for it if that's something that you really want. So I would maybe spend some time reflecting for yourself after this episode- Spend some time asking yourself, like,"Is London actually the best fit for me, or is it just the most familiar European city?" Like, maybe there's another place that would be a better fit for you. Or is there maybe another work path, another visa option that might be a better fit for me with where I'm at in my career right now that might be an easier transition for me? Or maybe there's another UK city that might be a better transition. Is that the case for you? Is moving abroad worth it to you? Is that what you really want? Do you really want to move to London? If so, I think you just need to spend time thinking about your strategy and which visa makes the most sense to you, and if London really is it for you and where you really want to be, or if it's maybe somewhere else. And just reflect on where you're at in your career, and think about some of these visa categories and what actually would make the most sense for you with where you're at in your career. So I hope that today's episode felt like you have a bit more certainty on the different visa paths for moving to London. You know, some of the visa changes, whether it's still possible for Americans. Hint, it is still possible for Americans. It's just, it is a harder city to move to because London is a great city to move to, you know? It's an amazing city. It's a place that a lot of people globally want to be because it's one of the top cities in the world. Does that mean that it's impossible? No. It is definitely possible for you. But I hope that this episode was helpful in thinking about the different visa paths for you to be able to move abroad to the UK, and to be able to move to London. And if you are considering a move abroad, and you're still trying to figure out the exact steps that you need to take to move abroad, There's actually a guide that you can download. If you go to Jordangiberson.com/guide, you can download the five exact steps to move abroad. Or you can also grab the guide at the bottom of the podcast description. You should be able to click on a link there, which might be a bit easier. So with that, I hope that you found this episode really helpful, and I'm looking forward to seeing you again next week, same time, same place. I'll catch you then.