Find your own way, figure it out for yourself!

Hello again everyone. You know, recently I had a look at my 'other' folder in my Facebook messages and good grief, some of the people who have found me via Facebook have left me messages that I have chosen to ignore. I don't mean to be rude, but allow me to summarize them as the following:

"Dear Limpeh, hello. I have found you via your blog. I am currently in Singapore and studying ___________/working in ______________ and I would very much like to to leave Singapore and move to the West. I understand that you have successfully acquired British citizenship some time back and I want to know how you managed to do so, please can you teach me how to acquire another passport so as I may leave Singapore?  Thank you very much for your help."

Now firstly, just because somebody like myself has done so doesn't mean that you can do exactly what I did and follow in my footsteps. For example, I first came to the UK because I was awarded a scholarship to do my undergraduate studies at UCL. So, if you want to follow in my footsteps, then you should start by applying for a scholarship at UCL. Oh what do you mean UCL only gives out a very small number of scholarships a year to the very best students and you can't get a UCL scholarship? Oh and part of the reason why I was awarded the scholarship was because I was at that time, the Singapore national champion in gymnastics. So if you really wanna follow in my footsteps, then you need to start doing gymnastics now and I can suggest a few very good gymnastics clubs in Singapore. Good luck trying to get on the national team. Do you see how utterly ridiculous it is to try to follow another person's footsteps instead of finding your own path?

Like honestly, what were you guys thinking? I can probably swap recipes with you and teach you how to make a delicious, healthy chicken dish. If you follow my recipe step by step, then you can be sure you will end up with the same result. But how on earth can you follow in my footsteps in acquiring British citizenship when that probably means emulating all my choices from a very young age. Need I state the bloody obvious? No, you cannot follow in my footsteps because you're too old to even attempt to follow in my footsteps. In fact, you cannot follow in anyone else's footsteps in life - you have to find your own way, figure out what solutions you need for your problems because you are a unique individual and there's really no point in trying to copy what someone else has done - especially since their circumstances could be very different from yours. Just because someone else took this path doesn't mean those same options are open to you: everyone faces a completely different set of circumstances in life hence you need to figure out what is going to work for you based on your circumstances. Is this obvious or do I have to spell it out to you?

Find your own way in the world.

The fact is, regardless of whom you are, what your circumstances are or where you are in life - you are still subject to the very same set of rules when you are trying to migrate to another country. Hence if you really want to move to the UK, the key thing for you is to understand what these rules are, not what I did (because you simply cannot walk in my footsteps). So, how do you get get hold of a British passport then? Well, before I start on this list, let me tell you that these options are not open to the vast majority of it but just as an academic exercise.

1. Come as a skilled migrant (Tier 2 Visa)

Firstly, you need to be a highly skilled professional in your chosen field. That means that if you're a currently a student, you're at least 5 years away from acquiring the status of a skilled professional as you need plenty of work experience - a good degree doesn't count for diddly squat. Furthermore, you need a job offer from a British company who is ready to sponsor your work permit and there's no guarantee that their application for your work permit will be approved. There are many strict controls as to how many such Tier 2 can be issued per year. Your chances of getting such a visa will be a lot higher if you are applying for a job in an industry where there is an acute shortage of skilled workers. So if you are a nurse, a teacher or a doctor - then it will be fairly straight forward and easy for you to get your work permit. If your profession is not on that list, then it's going to be nearly impossible: consider another route.

Wanna move to the UK? Easy: train as a teacher.

You have to understand that a company can apply for a work permit on your behalf but it is up to the government (quite specifically, the Home Office) to approve that application. So even if you promise a prospective employer, "if you give me a work permit, I will work twice as hard and accept half the pay" - that still does NOT guarantee your work permit if you simply do not meet the government's criteria. Like I have said before, the system in the UK is surprisingly well managed and designed to let in only individuals who meet the strict criteria. So if you do not meet the criteria, no amount of bargaining with your prospective employer is going to change the fact that you're not going to get the work permit. And if you do meet the criteria, then well, you don't need to sell yourself short to your perspective employers because you can then waltz in on that work permit and be paid a fair wage for your work.

2. Marry a British person, but make sure s/he is rich enough.

Oh yes, marriage!  As discussed in a recent post, being the spouse of a British person does not guarantee you residency rights in the UK. Your British spouse needs to either earn £18,600 a year or have £62,500 in savings in order to secure his/her foreign spouse residency rights in the UK. If your British spouse does not earn enough to meet that requirement, then the non-British spouse will be denied a visa to move to the UK, even if there are children involved. That figure of £18,600 rises to £22,400 if you have a child. Let's say you do find yourself a British spouse who does earn more than £18,600 a year: then it's fairly straight forward. You will then be given the right to come to live in the UK as a spouse - once you have lived here for 5 years, then you can apply for indefinite leave to remain. Just two years after you have been granted indefinite leave to remain, you can apply to naturalize as a British citizen.

Marriage is the easiest way to move to the West.

This is undoubtedly the easiest way to get a British passport - but arguably, the hardest way as well as it involves finding your one true love in the process. If you are not already in the UK already (say as a student at university or if you are already working here), then your chances of meeting a British boyfriend/girlfriend is petty low. Say you live in Singapore, then the odds of trying to meet a single, eligible British expatriate in Singapore is pretty darn low - but hey, look at Bernice Wong, she managed to marry the notorious Brit Anton Casey in Singapore, so you see, it can be done.

2a. Marry an EU national, then move to the UK.

Say you marry an Polish or Greek national, because you are the spouse of an EU national, the UK is obliged to grant you leave to remain in the UK as long as you are here with your EU national spouse. Once you have remained in the UK for 5 years, then you can apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK. This is because EU nationals enjoy freedom of movement within the EU - but if you wish to do this, you'd better hurry as some predict the imminent departure from the EU for the UK! But for now and the next few years at least, this option is still fairly straight forward.

3. Find £2 million to invest in the UK and then apply for a Tier 1 investor visa

The UK rolls out the red carpet for rich investors who have £2 million (S$4.13 million) to invest in the UK - the money is still yours, you only have to commit to invest it in a list of asset classes approved by the Home Office and the only money you pay to the government is the small fee to process the visa. In short, the UK government welcomes rich people to come and settle in the UK as long as they promise this £2 million injection into the British economy. So yes, if you can get your hands on that kind of money, then you can easily waltz into the UK. But to be honest, if you were that rich, then life in Singapore would be a breeze and you wouldn't be so desperate to leave Singapore.

3a. Find £50,000 (or £200,000) to start a new business in the UK using a Tier 1 entrepreneur visa

This is more complex than it sounds.  Sure, simply find at least £50,000 to start a new business in the UK and be an entrepreneur: that will grant you a 3 year 4 month visa which can be extended for 2 years and then you can then apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK after having reached the magic 5 year threshold. After living in the UK for 2 years with the 'indefinite leave to remain status, you can apply to naturalize as a British citizen. Sounds easy? It is much harder than you think! Firstly, you need to get hold of that capital to start a business in the first place: £50,000 is really quite a lot of money for someone who hasn't been working for a few years already and has accumulated some savings (I hope you have rich parents) - where are you going to find that £50,000 (S$103,250) in the first place? This is a very big responsibility to undertake. Do you have the discipline to work for yourself, to be your own boss?

Are you an entrepreneur wishing to start a business in the UK?

Secondly, your visa is up for renewal after 3 year 4 months. At that point, you will have to prove to the authorities that your business has made a healthy profit, it is thriving and growing, it can adequately support you. How many new businesses actually survive 3 years, never mind make a healthy profit at that point? According to the Telegraph, half of UK start ups fail within 5 years and according to the Guardian, 50% of all small business fail in the first couple of years. Statistically, the chances of your success is about 50% and you're gambling with your own capital. That's a lot harder than being employed by a company as a skilled migrant where you simply work for them and get paid at the end of every month for your services.

If at the end of 3 years 4 months, your company is in the red: you're not making a profit, you are struggling and losing customers, or if business is erratic (you have some good months and some bad months) - then the authorities have got to question themselves: what is likely to happen to your business? Will you be able to turn it around? Or will you simply run out of capital in the near future and wind up bankrupt? Would you end up penniless and homeless and become a burden on the state? Do you have access to even more capital should you run out of money? If you're unable to show the figures that demonstrate that your business is making money - then your visa will not be renewed at that stage. The renewal of your visa is dependent on your business' success - it is a rather harsh process.

Will your business succeed or fail?

I am sure many of you are familiar with the reality TV programme The Apprentice. In the UK version, Lord Sugar goes through a rigorous selection process in order to find a winner who will get his £250,000 investment to start a new business. And if that business fails, hey, at least they won that £250,000 of Lord Sugar's money to try that business idea. Imagine having to find your own money to start a business in a foreign country, knowing that the success rate is only about 50% and you have only 3 years 4 months to prove that your business is thriving (or else you'll get kicked out of the UK when the Home Office refuses to renew your visa). This is a challenge that is far more difficult than anything presented to the candidate on The Apprentice and there's far more at stake: not only are you gambling with your own capital (or perhaps your parents' life savings), but if you fail and get booted out of the UK, you have virtually nothing to show for your failed gamble and you're effectively back at square one. This is a very high risk strategy: I do know of two people who have taken this route and succeeded - but they are both very highly skilled IT professionals who have identified a niche in the UK market to fill and had the business acumen to make their businesses successful.

4. Work for a multinational company and then apply for an internal transfer to their UK branch

Again, this is a risky strategy because you are dependent on the company being willing and able to transfer you to a role within their UK branch. You would still require a work permit for this to happen of course, but this is somewhat easier because you are already working for the company and it's easier for them to justify an internal transfer. But people who find themselves in such a position usually stumble upon the opportunity by chance rather than have it as a long term goal. After all, if you have been based in Singapore for a long time, what makes you think your skills are going to be in such demand in the London office to justify that work permit? There has got to be a plausible story.

Could you get an internal transfer within your company to the UK?

5. Do the Alvin Tan thing, claim political asylum. 

Now this is an option probably only open to Malaysians because of the screwed up system in Malaysia that has created a loophole for Alvin Tan and Ali Abd Jalil to claim asylum abroad. Trying to pursue this route is a high risk strategy because you need to prove that the government in Singapore has screwed you over because of your political beliefs - the PAP is smart enough to try to protect their international reputation abroad, so they are hardly likely to lock anyone up without a fair trial. And if you do not play your card rights, you could just end up in jail if you have genuinely broken the law in your country. If you don't have a strong enough case (as in the case of the transgender Singaporean woman), you will not be granted asylum.

6. If you have British/European ancestry (which most of you don't) 

If you are a Commonwealth citizen who can prove that you have at least one grandparent born in the UK, then you can apply for a UK ancestry visa which will allow you to work in the UK for up to 5 years (upon which time you can apply for indefinite leave to remain). And don't give me the crap that your parents or grandparents were born in pre-independence British Malaya and were British subjects, that doesn't count. Oh no, they have to be actually born in the UK and have a British birth certificate to prove that. There's a huge difference between being a British subject and a bona fide British citizen. So no, the vast majority of you don't qualify for this visa - it is usually Australians, South Africans, Canadians and Kiwis who can take advantage of this visa. Likewise, many other European countries have a similar scheme. For example, I have a South African friend who has Dutch grandparents, thus he was able to get hold of a Dutch passport and move to the UK to work as a Dutch citizen despite having grown up in South Africa and never ever lived in the Netherlands. I also have another Polish-American friend who used the same route as well.

The elusive indefinite leave to remain in the UK that so many want.

7. Tiada lagi. no more,  没有了! That's it!

Guess what? That's the end of the list. No more loopholes, no special formulas, no. There isn't any magic formula, any secret short cut, any closely guarded secret that I can share with you - like, honestly, what the hell were you expecting? There simply are not that many options open to people looking to settle in the UK - the door is open to people who are highly skilled, very rich or at least have a rich enough British spouse and if you have a genuine case, then yes political asylum is granted to some as well. If it was that easy, if anyone could just get hold of a British passport, then there would be a lot more than 64 million people in the UK right now.

So here's a reality check people. It doesn't matter how I got my British passport because you simply cannot do what I did. Get real people. Besides, like everyone else, I was subject to the same rules & regulations as set up by the Home Office in the UK. If you want to move to the UK (or any other country), then you need to carefully study the rules governing immigration to that country and identify the best possible route within that framework. Stop trying to find out how specific individuals moved to the West and start understanding how the system works. The most practical advice I can give you is to pursue a career like nursing or teaching that can easily get you a work permit for the UK. Failing which, start looking for places to meet British expatriates and who knows, you may be able to marry one if you play your cards right. But let's get real here: we're talking about finding true love for marriage, that's hard to find!

Still the easiest way to move to the UK...

Let me tell you something I observed on my mate Alvin Tan's Facebook page, There was this Malaysian guy who was doing this distance learning degree programme in KL, the degree would be awarded by a British university and our KL friend wanted to know how he could find work in the UK once he graduated. Alvin and I had to tell him, dude, it isn't gonna happen, like, no way. Not with your kind of degree and certainly not as a fresh graduate with virtually no work experience, like what were you thinking? His only options realistically were to marry a Brit or EU national, start retraining as a nurse or teacher (did I mention his degree was useless?) or start offending the authorities in Malaysia so he can claim asylum abroad. And the poor guy was like, oh no, what do you mean my degree is going to be useless? Tough shit dude, you should have done your research before committing to a three-year degree programme like that! Honestly, I can't believe he didn't even consider any of these factors before starting his degree.

So there you go. That's it from me on this topic - I am already being very kind in explaining to you how the system here works, it is not complex at all because really, there are only these six routes you can take. There are no secret solutions, no short cuts. It is not like there are hundreds of different options to discover, in fact your choices are really very limited. Such is the current system and it is what it is: I hope I have explained this clearly enough and if you still have any other questions regarding these six options, then I am more than happy to answer them. Thanks for reading.