American looking to move to the UK

[Modern lights]

Hey all I ask this as I am an American who's wife is from Scotland and has been back there for about 6 months as I did work on a cruise ship. She wants me to find work there. So I ask who are the players in Edinburough and what I need to work in that land.

Than

[Bob Smith]

Hey all I ask this as I am an American who's wife is from Scotland and has been back there for about 6 months as I did work on a cruise ship. She wants me to find work there. So I ask who are the players in Edinburough and what I need to work in that land.

Than

 

Er, Kinda depends on your line of work!

:)

[MarkPAman]

My guess is something to do with lights :)

 

I do agree though that a little more info would help.

[Modern lights]

Hey all I ask this as I am an American who's wife is from Scotland and has been back there for about 6 months as I did work on a cruise ship. She wants me to find work there. So I ask who are the players in Edinburough and what I need to work in that land.

Than

 

Er, Kinda depends on your line of work!

:)

 

 

I should say I have been working in lighting for a long time mostly in washington DC doing the coperate trade show with a little Theartre and Rock shows

The Kenndy Center Tours with Live that type of thing

[boatman]

.

.

I should say I have been working in lighting for a long time mostly in washington DC doing the coperate trade show with a little Theartre and Rock shows

The Kenndy Center Tours with Live that type of thing

 

The Scottish Theatre Forum has lots of members from the Fife/Edinburgh area. Have a look there and you're sure to find some contacts.

[mclarenamerican]

I moved to england about 4 years ago from Cincinnati. One of the biggest differences I noticed is that, at least in the world of theatre, they combine sound and lighting into the same role a lot. For instance where I'm working now, there is not seperate lighting and sound departments, it all gets roped into "LX" (slang for electrician)

 

If you want to work in a major city, you'll probably want to check into getting british standard electrical qualification, currently BS 7671 16th Edition although the 17th edition will be around soon. Some workplaces will send you for it as training, others will just require you have it.

 

You'll love the power difference - you'll never have to convert to 208 to run things like movers and since the line loss isnt as much of an issue, the cable size is a lot smaller typically, easier on the back! No crummy stage pins either. Most things have 16amp ceeform connectors or older 15amp plugs. Distros I've seen usually have 32amp or 64 amp ceeform connectors, no cam-lock, although sometimes you'll see something similar called powerlocks.

 

Don't know what you've been used to dealing with but I see a lot of robe, martin, clay paky equipment so if you've been into using or servicing those it'll be useful.

 

Also - you'll have to get used to the slang. They don't call anything by what it is, and it changes by region. It's more of a quirk than a problem, you get used to it pretty quick. There used to be a website that had lots of fun equivilants on it but I've just had a quick look and couldn't find it. Search around a bit online and I'm sure you'll find some helpful sites.

 

I'm based around manchester so can't really help with things specific to edinburgh but if got any other questions just gimme a shout.

 

Jason

[StevieR]

Hi Paul, and welcome to the Blue Room.

 

Our company is one of the smaller 'players' in Edinburgh. Others (on the lighting side) include Northern Light, Black Light, Tower Productions, The Warehouse and Finix Productions. There are several smaller setups too.

 

PM me if you would like some more local info.

 

Steve

[Jivemaster]

Do you have right of abode and work permits for the UK?

 

A former friend of mine, an American citizen, was living as partner to a UK woman and had implied work and residence permits. BUT after a tiff she dumped him and he had to be on a plane out before midnight otherwise he could be life-banned from the UK as without the relationship he had no right of work or abode.

[Sully]

A former friend of mine, an American citizen, was living as partner to a UK woman and had implied work and residence permits. BUT after a tiff she dumped him and he had to be on a plane out before midnight otherwise he could be life-banned from the UK as without the relationship he had no right of work or abode.

 

A work permit isn't required, you're allowed to work as an entrant on a marriage entry clearance visa (which must be applied for in the US via an embassy or consulate) then Leave to Remain after that, neither of these are cheap since they've increased the cost of these massively over the last couple of years.

 

I'd avoided jumping in since I presumed the OP had looked at the immigration issues.

 

David.

[Bobbsy]

If the OP hasn't started the paperwork process yet, I'd advise him to do so asap since it always takes far longer than you think it's going to. As has been said, residency (and, with it, the right to work) should be pretty much automatic through marriage but, even with that, the bureaucracy can take a long while. It's also worth starting the process from the US; the authorities take a dim view of those who enter the UK on a tourist visa then try to convert that to a resident's visa.

 

Bob

[Jivemaster]

He lost everything but the contents of his pockets as he had to be airside outbound within less than 6 hours job, car the lot. certainly more than an application fee!

 

If you get the paperwork sorted early you are covered.

 

The penalty he risked was to be permanently barred from the UK including transiting through, which would have made air travel to europe difficult.

[ceecrb1]

Also check out SKL (Simon kenedy lighting).

PM me if you want to know more about them... (friend of MANY years is tech manager)

also... Warehouse. But their lighting is more TV/studio oriented.

 

There are many other companies for AV/corporate work such as Sound and vision, Saville, MCL etc...

 

There is also a really nice wee company called Tapestry in Falkirk but its a fair drive from edin to make every day.. but I know they are looking for poeple at the moment...

 

p.s. good luck in my city and say "hello" to it for me!!

[Ian Cunningham]

I won't repeat what others have said but will add a cautionary note:

 

There are a couple of companies to put at the bottom of your list due to poor pay,very poor records on paying and generally taking the p"£s - PM if you want more details.

 

Having said that welcome to Edinburgh - it's a great town with a very busy event/conference/theatre sector. The conference/ AV market is the place to make the most money (and get the most bored). I've been freelance over 7 years now and things just seem to get busier and busier - I probably turn down more work than I take on these days and I'm still flat out!

 

I've lived here all my life (mostly out on the south west edge of town) and it really is a great place to live and work, even if it is f%^&ing cold at the moment (you know its cold when the INSIDE of your windscreen is frozen)

 

awrabest and feel free to PM me if you have any further questions

 

Ian Cunningham

[djw1981]

Friends have also had less than good experiences with some of teh agencies in the Central Belt, who have been very upset if a freelancers takes work other than through the agency. I understand that things have chnaged recently, but a word to the wise!!