Preface

Upon the highest volume of the EU/EEA accession, a lot of new EU/EEA citizens have been thinking of moving to to Western-Europe to work and live. After the accession in 2004, most of the old member states kept restrictions, so most new EU/EEA citizens had still no automatic right to work in the older member states, apart from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. These three countries allowed the new EU/EEA citizens to be employed in those countries without previous authorisation to work. In fact, the citizens of the new member states had the right to work in those countries, but it was much more difficult than it should have been as bureaucratic barriers and employers' ignorance (or bad will!) prevented many people to actually get employed. This might be over by now as most new EU/EEA states no longer qualify as accession states.

The experiences gathered from the UK had shown that despite the right of work given by the UK government, the employers had tended to tell prospective employees that they did not actually have the automatic right to work in the UK, however it was not right. It could have been their ignorance or their bad will or discrimination, it is hard to decide! Basically, it happened all the time that employers said that they did not employ anyone without an NI-number and/or a bank account, but on the other hand, most bank told us that we could not open a bank account without having a job already. All of these are lies. You could start working without an NI number or bank-account and you could open a bank account without a job, but they tried to tell you that you could not. Unfortunately these barriers are remaining, but the old EU/EEA citizens also run into these ones. Before 1st May 2011, some employers were not even willing to employ anybody from the A8 states who did not have a previous WRS registration, however, it had to be claimed after you had started working.

The official EU/EGT-portal, and the UK Border Agency websites give you useful information, but I feel, you will get lost in the details... and you will need help from someone who has got experience  how to manage these issues in the UK. Against the mentioned websites, I am trying to give you a shorter and more practical advice that all based on my experiences as the official how to do things, and the practice are two different thing unfortunately. Following the official how to do things, you will run into walls.

A good example for this is the EU/EEA or Swiss National Identity Card. They should be accepted everywhere in the EEA and Switzerland as an alternative to a passport, but most of the UK employers have got no idea about this and they will insist on seeing your passport as long as you do not take legal steps against them. I had an experience when managers kept saying that they only accepted passports after I had shown them their own letter saying 'or EU national identity card', but they still refused to accept it despite the company's very own letter. I had to get the Jobcentreplus to let them know they were wrong and eventually the general manager confirmed that they accept the EU national identity cards as well. To be honest, based on my experiences, the vast majority of the employers have got no idea about the fact that you can even enter the UK on your identity card!

For this reason, it is better to have a passport as well or only the passport, it does not really matter, however, I would have both of them to have the second one when one of them has to be sent anywhere.

Those planning to live in Scotland or Northern-Ireland should be aware that there are several different kinds of bank-notes in circulation issued by different Scottish and Irish banks. You may also see plastic notes! All British Pound equivalent note have the word STERLING written on it, so you will not be given an old Irish pound that was replaced by the Euro in 2002.
Warning! In England and Wales, these Irish and Scottish notes are not legal tenders, which means that a merchant is not obligated to accept them, however major shops usually accept them.

Those departing from abroad tend to try employment agencies, recruitment agencies.

Warning! If an agency asks for money to register you, you should not deal with them. It is illegal to request money from jobseekers, hence, registering at an employment agency must be free of charge. A true agency gets its income from the employer where they send you to work for, not from you! If anyone asks for money from you, they are probably not intending to find a job for you as they get their income without that effort that makes it much less important to them to really give you a job. You should avoid all adverts that offer jobs without any language knowledge. If you do not speak any English, do not try to get a job here alone as it is nearly impossible. Also avoid those agencies who state they will help you arrange your work permit as you do not need such a thing at all! The only condition of your legal employment is that you are a citizen of the EEA or Switzerland, apart from Romania and Bulgaria. Romanian and Bulgarian citizens still need to apply for a work permit before they start working.

Never pay for a recruitment agents as it is illegal to take money from jobseekers.