Moving to United Kingdom from the US

To be safe, more than 42,000 pounds a year, or the job's going rate if higher: GOV.UK says the Skilled Worker minimum salary is whichever is highest of a set figure and the going rate for the job. To be safe, have a job offer paying more than 42,000 pounds a year, which is about $55,600 at the ECB-derived rate of 15 October 2026. Lower floors apply in set cases (a relevant PhD, a job on the Immigration Salary List, a new entrant at the start of a career, or some healthcare and education jobs on national pay scales), and across them the floors run about 25,000 to 37,500 pounds a year; if you rely on one of those cases, to be safe, have a job paying more than 38,000 pounds a year. You also need a job offer from a Home Office approved employer before you apply, and the figures can change, so confirm them on GOV.UK when you apply.

From outside the UK the application fee is 819 pounds for up to 3 years or 1,618 pounds for more than 3 years (628 and 1,235 pounds for jobs on the Immigration Salary List), plus the immigration health surcharge of 1,035 pounds for each year. You also need a minimum balance in your bank account for 28 days in a row (to be safe, hold more than 1,300 pounds), unless your employer certifies it will cover your first month. US nationals are on GOV.UK's list of nationalities that need not prove English. A decision usually comes within 3 weeks from outside the UK. The Global Talent visa needs no job offer: it is for leaders or potential leaders in academia or research, arts and culture or digital technology, with an endorsement from a Home Office approved body (or a named prize). It costs 766 pounds (561 for the endorsement and 205 for the visa) plus the health surcharge, lasts up to 5 years at a time, and the Immigration Rules allow self-employment. The High Potential Individual visa is for people awarded a degree in the last 5 years by a university on the Home Office list for that year, which includes US universities such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford. It needs no job offer, lasts 2 years (3 for a doctorate), cannot be extended, has a yearly limit on applications, and costs 880 pounds plus 252 pounds for the Ecctis qualification check and the health surcharge, with a minimum amount in savings (to be safe, hold more than 1,300 pounds). The Innovator Founder visa is for a new, innovative and scalable business endorsed by an approved body: 1,357 pounds from outside the UK, 1,000 pounds for the endorsement, a minimum bank balance (to be safe, hold more than 1,300 pounds), and 3 years' permission. None of these pages states an upper age limit; Global Talent and Innovator Founder require you to be at least 18. Work visa holders usually need 5 years in the UK before applying to settle, and Global Talent and Innovator Founder holders can need 3. Rules for settlement are separate from these visas, so check the Home Office page when you apply.

You usually get a decision by email within a day, and it can take up to 3 working days. An ETA does not guarantee entry. The Atlas Visa Map records the ETA at about 13 US dollars, which is the old fee; GOV.UK now says 20 pounds, and we follow GOV.UK. As a visitor you cannot do paid or unpaid work for a UK company or as a self-employed person, and you cannot live in the UK through frequent or successive visits. The Immigration Rules do let a visitor carry out activities relating to their employment overseas remotely from within the UK, if that is not the primary purpose of the visit. That rule names employment overseas; we found nothing saying how it treats a freelancer's overseas clients, so that is unknown. The Common Travel Area lets British and Irish citizens move and live freely in either country, and it gives a US citizen no right to live in the UK. There is no digital nomad, remote-worker or retirement visa: GOV.UK's list of work visas has none. The UK Ancestry visa is for Commonwealth citizens, British overseas citizens, British overseas territories citizens, British nationals (overseas) and citizens of Zimbabwe, so it is not open to a US passport. The Youth Mobility Scheme lists Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Andorra, Iceland, Japan, Monaco, San Marino and Uruguay, with Hong Kong and Taiwan by ballot; the United States is not on it. If you have a parent who is a British citizen, GOV.UK says to check whether you already have British citizenship.

A criminal record certificate is asked for only in certain jobs. You prove your identity with the UK Immigration: ID Check app or by giving fingerprints and a photo at a visa application centre. A Global Talent application starts with the endorsement letter and must be made within 3 months of getting it; a High Potential Individual application needs the Ecctis certificate for your degree and proof of savings. A tuberculosis test is needed only if you have lived 6 months or more in a listed country, and the United States is not on the list. We found no official page listing which US police record any of these visas accept, so that is unknown. GOV.UK says you can apply for a Skilled Worker visa up to 3 months before the start date on your certificate of sponsorship, and a decision usually comes within 3 weeks from outside the UK. Global Talent decisions also usually come within 3 weeks. A High Potential Individual visa can be applied for up to 3 months before you travel. An ETA decision usually comes within a day. Whether you can switch from visitor status to a work visa from inside the UK is not something we researched.

Whether you are UK resident depends on how many days you spend in the UK in the tax year, which runs from 6 April to 5 April. You are resident if you meet an automatic UK test or the sufficient ties test and no automatic overseas test. The automatic UK tests include 183 or more days in the UK, having your only home in the UK for 91 days or more in a row with at least 30 days spent there in the year, and working full-time in the UK for any 365 days that overlap the year. You are usually non-resident if you spend fewer than 16 days in the UK (46 if you were not UK resident in the 3 previous tax years), or work full-time abroad, spend fewer than 91 days in the UK and work no more than 30 of them. Between 16 and 182 days the test counts ties such as family, accommodation and work. UK residents normally pay UK tax on income from the UK and abroad. When you move in, the year is usually split into a non-resident and a resident part. The statutory residence test is in Schedule 45 to the Finance Act 2013. A stay of 183 days or more in one tax year meets the first automatic UK test, so a full 6 months as a visitor can make you UK resident.

Employees pay Class 1 National Insurance of 8% on weekly earnings between 242.01 and 967 pounds and 2% above. Self-employed people pay Class 4 of 6% on profits from 12,570 to 50,270 pounds and 2% above, and no Class 2 contributions where profit is 7,105 pounds or more. Capital gains are taxed at 18% and 24% for individuals, with a 3,000 pound annual exempt amount. We have not worked out any person's bill.

It covers eligible foreign income and gains such as foreign interest, dividends from non-UK companies and profits of a trade carried on wholly outside the UK, but foreign earnings are not eligible. If you claim, you lose the tax-free allowances for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax. Overseas Workday Relief covers employment income for duties you perform outside the UK in those years, up to the lower of 30% of the qualifying employment income or 300,000 pounds, and electing for it also loses the Personal Allowance and annual exempt amount for the year. Work you do while physically in the UK is not covered, so a US employee working remotely from the UK gains little from it. The US still taxes you on everything, and UK relief does not reduce that, so ask an adviser whether either regime changes your total.

Foreign accounts above $10,000 in total at any time in the year are reportable on an FBAR, and holding shares in some investment funds based outside the US can trigger a separate US form (8621), so ask an adviser about any UK fund or account you would hold. The US and UK income tax convention of 2001 (in force since 31 March 2003) has a saving clause that lets each country tax its own citizens as if the treaty had not come into effect, with listed exceptions, so the treaty does not remove your US filing. It sets a tie-breaker (permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality) if both countries treat you as resident, and the United States gives a credit for UK income tax paid. Dividends can be taxed by the source country up to 15% (5% for qualifying companies); interest and royalties are taxable only where the owner lives. US social security payments to a resident of the UK are taxable only in the UK, and that exception also applies to US citizens.

If you are UK resident with foreign income or gains you usually report them on a Self Assessment return; if you have not filed before, tell HMRC by 5 October after the tax year in which you had the income. We found no official figure for how long HMRC registration takes.