LFFGGGGGGG!!!!! SO SO SO EXCITED!!! Definitely feels way too surreal to be moving to London in less than a month.
For reference, I applied on Monday, May 11 and did my biometrics same day in Toronto, Canada, and just received confirmation today (Thursday, May 21), so just less than 2 weeks.
Did not do priority and it’s the e-visa not when they put the vignette in your passport.
See y’all in London ✌️
I’m 24M and have lived in Canada my whole life. Luckily I have the luxury of 2 different job offers where I’m able to move to London from Canada, however, I’m having a lot of internal debate on what would be best for me currently in my life/career.
For context, I’m fairly early in my career with 1 1/2 years of internship experience (1 year of software engineering experience, 8 months of product management experience) and 10 months of full-time product management experience. I’d be going on a Youth Mobility Scheme visa which would allow me to live and work in the UK for up to 2 years, extendable to a 3rd year.
First job offer I have is at an early stage SaaS startup in healthcare that would be a fresh start/change of pace, similar role to what I do now but in pre-sales, an opportunity to be within the growth stage of a company, and gain startup, SaaS, healthcare experience. They have also mentioned that they would be able to sponsor me, although I’m choosing to still apply for the Youth Mobility Scheme visa to provide me with the flexibility to switch jobs if needed.
Second job offer is at my current company where they would transfer me from Canada to London where I would be the lead product manager in EMEA, under the same team which I do enjoy but I wouldn’t be getting the same change of pace that I’m debating if I want. After my Youth Mobility Scheme visa ends though, I’m not sure if they would be able to sponsor me and I may need to move back to Canada.
Although there’s other underlying factors as well, just wanted to get some other opinions/perspectives as to what people would do in my situation or if anyone would give advice they’ve learnt from their careers/lives.