Working in the UK if you're Serbian or Croatian

[karmahead]

Hello,

My girlfriend lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia, as a Regulatory Specialist for an American Pharmaceutical Company: MSD (Merck, Something, Dohme). She has an MA with honors in Pharma from the University of Belgrade, and is 27 years old. We have been together for 6 months, and it is our wish for her to move with me in the UK. She is a highly skilled and responsible person, but her working conditions in Serbia are quite atrocious (abusive boss, poor salary, administrative nightmare). I have taken the Work Permit Point Calculator test for her, but because of her low income, she does not qualify for the required 70pts. I am researching ways to get her to move with me, and be allowed to work in the UK, but being more of a left brain person (or is the right) I'm a bit lost. She has a Serbian, and a Croatian passport. Serbia is not in the EU, nor is Croatia, though it appears they should be in the years to come. If it could help our situation, I am willing to marry her sooner than later. I am not British, but French and American, now working in the UK, which I now call my home. God Bless the Queen.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, for her situation in Serbia is becoming worse and worse, and her health has seriously taken a hit from her painful work and home situation.

all the best,

Brian

[sakura]

Can she get a company to sponsor her for a work permit? I think her role is quite professional and some pharma companies might want to employ her - has she started applying for jobs? How good is her English?

Other than a work based visa, your only option would be marriage. You can apply for a fiancee visa (valid for 6 months) but this does not allow her to work/study and you would need to marry and apply for the spouse visa or residence permit before the 6 months are up.

How long have you been in living in the UK?

[karmahead]

Sakura, Thanks for the reply.

Hopefully her company can sponsor her, but her bosses are very inefficient and don't want her to leave. She can get good references though as she is in contact with many other branches of MSD, but not in the UK unfortunately.

Her English is pretty good. The working language in her branch is English, and has no problems at all communicating by e-mail and phone. She does make occasional mistakes of syntax and grammar, but it's certainly good enough to work abroad imo.

I've only been living in the UK for 4 months, but I do have a EU passport.

Thanks for the advice on the Fiancee Visa.

I will continue to search for options, and any additional info would be great. I'm curious about talking to other Serbs and Croatians about their experience in moving into the UK and working here.

Brian