United Kingdom

The main employment route is the Skilled Worker visa. GOV.UK states that the applicant needs an eligible job and an employer approved by the Home Office. The employer assigns a certificate of sponsorship, which is an electronic record, and the visa application has to be made within three months of it. Other routes, including family and study, have their own conditions.

Leave to remain is time-limited. Settlement, and any later citizenship, are further applications. A property purchase and the visa are separate.

A Skilled Worker works for the sponsor in the job on the certificate. A change of employer is a new application. A student’s permission to work is set by that visa. A visitor’s permission stops short of work.

A dependant’s right to work is written on that dependant’s own permission.

An individual may hold residential property with no nationality percentage in the way. An overseas entity that owns UK land must register at Companies House. The register discloses the owners. Freehold and leasehold are the tenure question, and leasehold service charges are a holding cost, already discussed on the UK market pages.

Stamp duty land tax, and any further charge on a company buyer, are transaction taxes. The rates are on the current GOV.UK calculator. Ownership and immigration leave are separate.

The National Health Service is the system. Most people applying for a visa to stay more than six months pay the immigration health surcharge as part of the application. Care is then through a GP and NHS hospitals, not through a private insurer by default.

Registration with a GP happens after arrival and depends on a local list. Private insurance can sit on top. It does not replace the surcharge where the surcharge is due.

State schools admit children who are lawfully in the area, under the local admission rules. A place at a particular school is not guaranteed by living nearby, and popular schools fill. Independent schools charge fees.

The school run, not the city name, decides whether a London job and a home outside the boroughs is one household or two commutes.

UK banks open accounts against identity, immigration status and an address. A newly arrived person may be offered a more limited account until those are in place. The Financial Conduct Authority regulates conduct. It does not require a bank to take every customer.

A mortgage is a separate credit decision. Foreign income and a short immigration grant make that decision harder. They do not affect the right to buy for cash.

Tax residence is the statutory residence test on GOV.UK, not the visa type. Income tax and National Insurance apply to employment. Council tax is a local charge on the home. Scotland’s income-tax bands are set separately from the rest of the UK.

A person who remains tax-resident somewhere else can have two filings. Treaties and the split-year rules are personal.

No index is printed. Rent, council tax, a rail season ticket and childcare are the lines that differ most between London and a northern city. The UK market notes separate those places. They do not state rents.

The immigration health surcharge is a visa cost, paid up front for the length of the grant. It sits outside the monthly budget and should not be forgotten in it.

A company is formed at Companies House. Hiring a person who needs a Skilled Worker visa requires a sponsor licence. GOV.UK publishes the licence fee. An individual who wants to found a company still needs a visa that allows that activity. Visitor status does not.

Tax on the company and tax on the person are different. A UK company does not, by itself, make the founder tax-resident.

Rail is the national passenger system, with the density people notice in London and the gaps they notice elsewhere. Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester are different gates. A London job reached by an Elizabeth line or a Thameslink train is not the same week as a job reached by car in a city with one station.

International moves often land in London and then discover the job was in another city. The market pages are the correction.