[brapper]

Seriously considering it. Temporary move, no more than a year (initially..)

I was hoping for general advice for Job and housing hunting. I'll be getting there in September.

Oh, and I'm fully aware that it'll be incredibly expensive.

[nath]

Originally Posted by brapper 

Seriously considering it. Temporary move, no more than a year (initially..)

I was hoping for general advice for Job and housing hunting. I'll be getting there in September.

Oh, and I'm fully aware that it'll be incredibly expensive.

What line of work are you in, what kind of place are you looking for, and what do you want to pay in rent?

[Doofy]

Might be useful to you:

UK Work Permits - Workpermit.com

[iCol]

Coming from a member of the Commonwealth, you should find it easier to get a visa - but there are still hurdles you need to jump - speak to the British Consulate in Canada - they will be able to help provide you with all the legal information.

Depending what you want to do with your time while you are here, and what line of work you want to do, there are plenty of jobs in London. However, if you are fresh out of Uni with no work experience, would would find it difficult to get anything above a barman/waiter or sandwich shop guy. And if you are working as a barman or waiter, remember, you are not going to be making as many tips as you do in Canada/USA, as the tipping culture in this country is not as advanced as yours. As a barman you will be on about £6 per hour, or about £180 a week after tax if you work 38 hours a week. So that £180 will have to pay for everything...

And renting a room in a shared house outside of the centre of London will set you back anywhere between £90 - £150 a week in rent. Plus bills. Plus council tax. So be prepared to live on the breadline, unless you have significant savings. If you wanted your own place, you would be looking at about £300 a week for somewhere in Zone 2 or 3 (central London is Zone 1).

Having said all that, London is an incredible city to live in - there is such an amazing culture to the place - it really does have something for everyone - and being short of cash in London is often not too much of an issue, as there is so much to do for free. Most of the museums and galleries are free, and there are generally events going on somewhere. On the most part people are friendly, and there is such a massive mix of different cultures and languages here that it feels very multiculural.

I have been living in London for over a year now, and have settled in well. I have no plans to move out of the city for some time yet...

[Paco500]

Some other stuff to be aware of- once you get here, you have no credit history and getting a loan, getting a lease on a house, buying a car, getting hooked up with utilities, even getting a bank account can be difficult. It's not impossible, just frustrating. You also no driving experience, so if you get a car, insurance will be hard to find and unusually expensive (Lloyds TSB auto insurance was one of the only ones I could find that would even insure me without a UK license- they are rebranded Churchill, so you may try them as well).

As for getting a bank account, I would suggest opening an offshore account with a UK bank before you come over. Once you get here, you have to have an address to open an account. To rent a place, you generally need a local bank account. See the problem? Not an ad for Lloyds TSB as I'm sure there are others that do it, it was just the one I used. Lloyds TSB Offshore is the site you need to visit to open an account. Even though it's offshore, it will be treated as a local account once you arrive and you can use the local branches.

You say you are aware how expensive it will be- you probably really aren't. I thought I had a pretty good handle on the cost of living and used some respected C.O.L. calculators when negotiating for a salary. According to every thing I can find, I should have raised my standard of living when I came over here, but it's been tough making ends meet- and I'm well outside of the city. How ever much you think you will need to live on, raise it by at least 30%.

EDIT:

If the above sounds negitive, sorry- I love it it here and I would absolutely encorage you to go for it- just trying to give some pointers to make it easier for you than it was for me. London and the UK in general is a great place to live and I'm having a ball.

[brapper]

Thanks for the tips so far. I didn't even consider the credit level/bank account issues.
I actually won't need a VISA as I am a dual citizen, so that should help.
I won't have much experience by the time I get there, having just graduated uni. But, I have a pretty respectable summer job which has given me office experience.
I'm lost as to what I want to do as a career however, so that's not helping me focus my search. Ideally I won't want to be working in a bar/restaurant. Rather, I'd like to find a job where I'll get some workplace experience - even if it's entry level.
Really, I'm looking for a way of finding a job before I get there, so I can walk right into something. I know that might be too ideal, but I figure I have 8 months to work on it.