I’m from New York and I’ve been applying for jobs in the New York City area for a few months with not much success. Expanding my search to different states has yielded me the most results interest-wise, and I’ve been thinking about applying for jobs in the UK as well. I realize that currently I am ineligible to work there since I have no work visa, but how would I go about asking for sponsorship on a resume? Should I put that I’m relocating or willing to relocate?
Willing to relocate.
As you’ve probably seen, it’s also a filter criteria in some search engines.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah it does make more sense to put “willing to relocate”. I’m still a bit concerned about the whole sponsorship thing, specifically in how I should bring it up.
Some companies will tell you in their ad if they will sponsor you for a visa. I would search for the word “visa” within the ad.
Be aware that it is a lot of work and money for a company to sponsor someone for a visa so they will only do it if they really, really, really want specifically you. You would need to have some specific, critical, in demand skill that they can’t get locally. Often the government requires them to show that they can’t get a local to do it and show that you do. They government may demand for you to show how you are uniquely qualified for that role. There are sometimes jobs that get fast tracked because of extreme shortages. For example, the UK lists their occupational shortages. There they list:
2136 Programmers and software development professionals
Only the following jobs in this occupation code:
Senior developer employed by a qualifying company, where the job requires a person with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience and demonstrable experience of having led a team.
The following jobs in visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation for the film, television or video games sectors:
software developer
shader writer
games designer
The following jobs in the electronics system industry:
driver developer
embedded communications engineer
[emphasis added]
I’m assuming that those are different job listings so the “five years” only explicitly applies to the “senior developer”, but don’t be surprised if the government or the company expects something similar. And if you aren’t a “senior developer” it sounds like they want “visual effects and 2D/3D computer animation”.
This doesn’t mean that other occupations can’t get visa sponsorship, just that they aren’t fast tracked.
I don’t know what you experience is, but unless you have some genuine experience, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. They have plenty of people finishing FCC (or something similar) in the UK and they can get them for much less hassle. Visa sponsorship does exist, but it is difficult to get unless you are a standout in your field.
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I stumbled upon an international tech job site the other day. Don’t know anyone who has used it but it seems legit.
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Thanks for the reply! I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it like that before. From an employer’s perspective it’s definitely more cost-effective to hire someone already eligible. I suppose I’ll stick with US jobs for now and apply internationally when I get more experience.
I’ve actually used this site before! It’s pretty cool and I believe they pay for relocation. The only thing is that it’s really really competitive.
may I suggest applying for wizeline?
they are awesome,
they are located in Guadalajara, and you’ll fall in love with the culture and the way they work
google them and apply on their job site,
good luck!
US developer jobs seem to advertise higher salaries than anywhere else in the world. That suggests there is more demand. If I were you, I would stick to the US and try different cities. You are never going to get sponsored for a UK visa as Junior / Intermediate web developer.