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Economic Instability of a Student living abroad in London (The Visa Games)

So if you’ve had any sort of conversation with me in the last 2 months, you probably would’ve heard me excitedly talking about buying a much-needed new computer. My current computer is over 4 years old with a failed logic board, superdrive, and a mostly-dead battery. Only this past February I had to frantically replace the Hard Drive Disk that failed before I lost all my data. I made it just in time. Pretty crazy, huh?

So why is it then that the picture above features a canceled order? I would love to be able to edit videos with ease again and maybe play a video game or two, but as I quickly approach the judgement day that is January 31st, I need to think for the long-game. At this time in my life, I simply can’t risk spending the money on something that though would make my life 1000 times easier, because I need to keep that money safe just in case. It’s really all I’ve got. Come mid-December, I’ll come off my last month at my current job with a net gain of £400 for the month, but after then it’ll be a mad rush to find an employer to sponsor me to stay in the country while my money dwindles away.

I was offered sponsorship 2 months ago by a company that currently is not able to offer sponsorship. The CEO informed me that they have never sponsored anyone, but would be willing to do it for me. Now, this would be such a Godsend if not honestly for the sheer time constraint placed upon me. Due to the nature of the situation, the company in question would have to apply for a sponsor license which not only costs £1545, but also takes about 4 weeks to process. Fun part about having a UK visa is that you cannot apply to stay in the country after the date on your current visa expires.

That’s it.

Time’s up. 

So given that in mid-December, I finish my current job and open talks with this other company (who wanted to have me on by mid-January), I would need them to compile such an exhaustive list of company documents, and hopefully pass all the little tests the UKBA officer has for them within 1 week, and then apply for sponsorship through them also within 1 week. Talk about asking a lot of your employers, right?

What if this company feels that all this visa work is too much of a hassle? Well then, I have to pray a Class A sponsor employer just pops up in front of my face with a skilled job I can have. Even another barrier I have is that the job needs to be ranked NQF level 6 which essentially means VERY skilled essentially requiring Master’s Degree level education to do. Like WHOAH.

So that’s a look into my stress-filled head as I look at the 2 months and 4 days I definitely have left in this country and start to squirm. Thanks for reading this. If you’re in a similar situation, my thoughts go out to you. It’s a scary world out there for an American living in the UK. 

Flatmate Problems

I just spent the better half of 2 hours cleaning up the absolute filth that my flatmates let build up while I was away in America. There were two 5 foot mountains of food waste piled up next to the fridge and bags on bags of rubbish covering the floor. It was the most stereotypical rubbish you can imagine, with apple cores, cigarette butts, lemon rinds, stray noodles, and the works complete with a thick, brown liquid seeping out from underneath it all and swarms of flies. 

I am not a clean freak in the slightest, but I cannot believe that the absolute pigs that I live with could live a life of such utter filth; it is beyond me. What a disgusting sack of people. 

Everything has since been cleaned except the hard floor which I need to mop tomorrow before any of my friends arrive and see how disgusting my flatmates are. I am so glad to be moving out in 2 weeks. My GOD

Out and About in London with Friends

Visiting my bro, Big Ben

Tower Bridge Selfie

Tower Bridge

The London Eye

Brett in Regent's Park

Chris in Regent's Park

Amsterdam in Photos

I went to Amsterdam! 

Long, snaking canals

     

Dam Station

My travel buddies

Canal boat

Distant Bridge

Candid shot of Luke and Jason at a crossroads

Me at the Amsterdam sign!

Bath in Photos

I just had a lovely day full of exploration of the whole city of Bath! 

           

 I love it so much! I finished off with a drink at the pub with Lindsay, Helen, and Jerry. I wanna come back to Bath really soon. It’s so adorable!

Bath

Bath is so lovely! I really must return here soon! I got to explore around the Christmas village for an hour or so taking gratuitous Instagram photos as I went. Then I had a delicious baguette at La Baguette and headed off to the YouTube gathering!

It was nice and small and had a lovely feel to it. The venue we were at had hosted shows by The Killers, Radiohead, and loads of other bands, so it was really weird to get to play on the stage. I covered a Charlie song, and his mum quite enjoyed it. :) Lovely! I also played one of my favourite songs, Friday by Rebecca Black; it was fun! Before I knew it, it was time for me to catch my coach home, so off I went!

I can’t wait to go back to Bath and explore it some more; it’s such a cute little town!