Cambridge is in SE England?? Eek, I must be in France then! :)
East Anglia... No, I'm not Jade! I work in London, used to live there until last year.. As I'm there everyday, I still feel it's the South East. n'est pas?

Ok, so who is coming to the vegan festival on 8th may in manchester. If we can get togetehr a good group of us, I'm in. I think that veggcore and natalie are in as well (As they both live in manchester.) Just wondering if anyone else wants to come and join in on all the fun?

I would but I don't think I can afford to stay overnight, and if I take the train it appears I'd have about..5.5 minutes there lol.
Gonna have to wait for a London one.. :(

I would, but I usually work flat out weekends in the summer. To catch up on not working much all winter.

Did anyone ever go to the Plamil half marathon weekend meets, or the vegan camps? It's an amazingly nice feeling being surrounded by dozens of vegans who want to meet other vegans. :)

Hi, Veggiebloke! :hi: Nicetomeetcha. Hmmm, let's see, if you're driving from Cambridge to Manchester via Oxford, that'll take you pretty close to Watford will it not? <Strong hint about lift possibilities!>

Sorry to hear about possible can't-make-it-ers, but hopefully the London thing in July will make up for it.

Loki, far as I can see, the list for Manchester as it stands at the moment looks like: Ethel (+ maybe brother), Veggcore, Natalie, myself, and the hopefullies seem to be you, Syntax, Black Heart, VeggieBloke and 1vegan. Myself, I'm really looking forward to meeting you guys. :beer: :guitar:

I've never heard of the Plamil things or vegan camps Spud, (I'm pretty new to veganism though not to vegetarianism) - do you have any more info on them? They sound really nice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Vegan Camp is in Lyme Regis, Dorset this year. It runs from 2nd to 16th August. For more information or to request a booking form and information sheet, phone 0845 330 3918 (local rate), or write to us at Vegan Camp, c/o 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham, NG7 6HX.

The Plamil things were years ago, but were fun as loads of people converged on a caravan site for a weekend. I didn't run!

The vegan camp - well, bring a tent and have a holiday, an ideal place to get to meet people. Lyme Regis is one of my favourite places on Earth [mainly because I'm fossil mad and it's the best place west of the Gobi desert] and last time I was there we went shopping in a not too far away vegan shoeshop and I got hiking boots :)

ps. I got that info off the Vegan society UK message forum, there are other diaried events on there.
http://www.worldveganday.org And it's for LAST YEAR :( I expect the contact details are the same though.

I saw this on Veganviews...

Vegan Summer Gathering (Swansea) 5 - 12 Jun
11th Vegan Summer Gathering at Mumbles on Swansea Bay, at the gateway to the beautiful Gower Peninsula. Accommodation in self-catering houses (single/twin/double rooms). Approximate cost per adult £85 for the week (excluding food), or £95 if booked after 24th April. One third or more off if unwaged or low income. Discussions, talks, trips out (to coast and countryside), communal evening meals...and very good company! About 80 people of all ages usually take part. Day visitors welcome. Details: www.veganviews.org.uk/vsg or SAE to Malcolm Home at Brynderwen, Crymlyn Road, Llansamlet, Swansea SA7 9XT (01792-792442).

I saw this too and I'm tempted...

Low Cost Holidays Want to get out of the rat race? Interested in sustainable living? Vegan Organic farm near Snowdonia set in forest clearing near scenic reservoirs. £10 per night. Own room, shared facilities. Extra low rates if you volunteer a little of your time helping out. Details Vic: 01244 819088.

I'm interested in the Manchester meet - I'm a lurker here so you don't know me but I'm really sweet and quiet and would love to go. 'Sides, I miss Manchester cos I live too far away from there now... :(

I should like post here. Y'know, at all... back to lurking for me...

Nice one Spud, for highlighting some Vegan-organic volunteering opportunities.. Must check out more on that VO in Snowdonia.... and another on veganvillage notice board, whereat you see a place in Wales needing vegan-organic input as well...

and not least the annual vegan camp and so on....(have never been myself).

I'm interested in the Manchester meet - I'm a lurker here so you don't know me but I'm really sweet and quiet and would love to go. 'Sides, I miss Manchester cos I live too far away from there now... :(

I should like post here. Y'know, at all... back to lurking for me...

Well, it'll be cool if you come along as well! The more the merrier!!!!

Thanks for that spud, they sound very tempting! I shall have to get myself a bit organised.

Hi PurpleGrrl :hi: , yep you should definitely come to the Manchester thing if you can!

Hello UKers.

Pleeeeeeeeeeease help me! :D

I'm researching moving to either San Francisco or London in the next couple months. Moving to San Francisco is a piece of cake as it's in my country, but moving to London is proving to be rather difficult.

How does one go about moving to the UK? I'm really not familiar with moving to foreign countries so I hope one of you has information on moving to your own country! :lol:

Basically, I work for Whole Foods Market which is US based and it recently bought the chain of stores "Fresh and Wild" which are located throughout London. I want to work in one of these stores. I would think I could just transfer, but alas, Whole Foods claims I can't transfer because of "strict" UK immigration laws. Fair enough... but there's got to be a way around it. I have to apply for a work permit - correct?

Now, it's probably a long shot getting a work permit to work at a grocery store to begin with but let's just be crazy and entertain the idea that I get a work permit to move to London and work at a grocery store - do I have to apply for a visa to be in the country for an indefinite period of time above and beyond the work permit - or is that what a work permit is, a visa?

As you can see I really don't know what I'm doing, so any help here would be much appreciated. :)

-Mike

ETA: Perhaps one of you wants to move to New Orleans and we could just get our governments to agree on a swap? :lol: :D

Mikie, try these websites:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/

and this one, which seems to be more helpful:
http://www.ukimmigration.com/

I have to apply for a work permit - correct?
No, your UK employer has to do that. I don't think you need a visa as well as you are from the US.

I don't even know if I can get a job in the UK in my company yet...

So what do I do first?

Do I try to get a job first and then once I have that try and get a Visa, or do I try to get a Visa and then I hope I can get a job? Do I get a job and then fly to the UK and hope everything irons out? :p

SF is looking so nice right now. I just get a truck and pack it up and go! :p

Strict immigration laws????

That's not what the daily mail says!!!!! The daily mail says anyone can come into britain, and that they flood in!!!!

Ok, enough cheap jabs at crappy newspapers!

hello mikie :)

have you looked at the website for the british embassy in the US? the site sppears to have quite a bit of info for people planning to move to the UK.

the site is: www.britainusa.com

and this is probably the most relevant page to start with:

http://www.britainusa.com/faq/showfaq.asp?SID=365

Yay mikie, you should definitely come to the UK! :hamster:

Sorry, no practical advice though. :no:



PS. I'm all for the swap if you got any trains need a-drivin' in NO! :deal:

Lots of young australians work in the Uk with no hassel - doing shop and bar work for a while. So it can't be too hard to get whatever you need. Everyone I know who has worked abroad gets the job first then their employer sorts out what's needed and what they have to do. No one's ever mentioned it being a problem getting into the uk to work. Hope you do come :)

Spud, it's much easier for citizens from countries that are members of the commonwealth (like Australia) to come and work in Britain than for nonmembers like the USA.

Business and Commercial: Work permits will normally only be issued for jobs that require high-level skills.

I don't have any "high-level skills." :(

I've given up already. I've looked into it and come to dead ends. It's too tough!

I can work if I'm a student in the UK so I may spend some time some afternoon researching going to school in the UK but if nothing turns up then I guess I'll just go to SF as originally planned.

Now, it's probably a long shot getting a work permit to work at a grocery store to begin with but let's just be crazy and entertain the idea that I get a work permit to move to London and work at a grocery store - do I have to apply for a visa to be in the country for an indefinite period of time above and beyond the work permit - or is that what a work permit is, a visa?


Yes a work permit is a visa. If you don't have a job lined up, then you will need the visa, which allows you to come here and look for a job. However as you say I don't know that Americans can get these as easily as citizens of Commonwealth countries. But if you have a job sorted, then your employer will get the visa for you, and you can stay in the UK for as long as you work from them. The minute you leave that job, your right to stay is gone.

Technically for a company to get a visa for someone from another country, they need to prove that the job could not be filled by a UK resident. That sounds unlikely with a grocery job, but I know lots of people who got visas and their jobs could just as easily have been filled here. Basically if the company wants to put the effort in and fill in the forms, then they can get you here. They could easily say that they need your USA expertise as you have worked with them there.

Well firstly the u.k is unlikely to let you in to work unless you have any useful skills and even then you usually need a job lined up and your future employer needs to apply etc. The only way you can get in without any skills or degree or whatever is for you to find a job over here and for your future employer to prove that the job they are giving you cannot be filled by a British person which can be easy or hard depends, if you're in some kind of management position then it's pretty easy if your just a normal shelf stacker or whatever then i'd say it's near impossible.

the only other way you could get is as a student, i believe you can get student working visa's that enables students on gap years etc to travel around the u.k and work at the same time, but theese ( if they exist) would only last about 6 months and you'd have to have a college place lined up.

If i was you search around the net and look, you could always travel here for a few months, also another tip books, goto your local libary there's loads of books about working aborad goes through everything from visa applications to looking for work, also to find out about different types of visas and there restrictions try travel guides, all good ones ( lonely plannet are the best) go though them all.

Good luck though i dont see why you'd want to come here anyway it always rains and you'd have to learn to speak funny and spell weridly :D


Strict immigration laws????

That's not what the daily mail says!!!!! The daily mail says anyone can come into britain, and that they flood in!!!!


I know according to the daily mail there's probably more foriegners here than british people, they take our jobs and take our money they're all evil they must be destroyed :D lol
who actually reads the daily mail and takes it serioussly!

I know according to the daily mail there's probably more foriegners here than british people, they take our jobs and take our money they're all evil they must be destroyed :D lol
who actually reads the daily mail and takes it serioussly!


I doubt anyone actually takes the daily mail seriously. i know i don't!

Trust me - people take it serioussly.