Immigrating as a truck/lorry driver?

[DrewUS]

Hi, I'm not sure if anyone here will be able to answer this question or not. Is it possible to immigrate to the UK as an HGV/lorry/truck driver? If so, how difficult would it be? I have been driving long haul truck in the US for almost 3 years and have been wanting to moving to the UK for a while. I realize the trucking industry in the UK is quite different than in the US. In the US long haul companies are so short on drivers that they'll hand practically anyone a job. I've seen a multitude of forums where British people are talking about moving to another country as an HGV driver (Canada, which I have considered myself) but I can't seem to find the opposite. Is there any kind of visa scheme which allows for a work permit for truckers and eventually permanent residence then citizenship?

[Wanderer]

Unlikely to be honest, you'd need to check the skills shortage list but I'd imagine the killer is you'd need a UK HGV licence to drive, and that takes a while...

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-an-Hgv-License

In the UK, you will need to pass your HGV 2 and drive for 2 years before you will be eligible to do it all over again to obtain your HGV 1.

Typically it will cost in the region of about £5000 to get your HGV 1 and you need to bear in mind that you may only be earning £ 400 per week. You should also bear in mind that it will be difficult to get a full time well paid job until you have 2 years experience in the job. All in all would I recommend it ? Well the answer would have to be No. In the UK at the time of writing there is a shortage of about 30000 drivers. In my experience most employers will shove all the responsibility they possibly can onto the drivers, because there are so many laws governing the job and fines for breaking the law can run very very expensive. Just for being overweight on all your axles on one occasion can cost the driver £25000 and that's not all just having one light bulb not working can cost the driver £30. There's is VOSA and the police to deal with, they both have the legal right to stop you for any reason they see fit. Tyres excess smoke from the engine over your legal driving hours, insufficient breaks working during a break - believe me there are literally thousands of things the employers are happy for the driver to carry the can for and see you get fined for.

[DrewUS]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I was unaware of the licensing expense, but having the DOT (I'm guessing that's VOSA in the UK?) breathing down my neck is nothing new to me. In the US we get steep fines for quite a bit of things that cars would only get a slap on the wrist for.

After I looked at tier 5 on the Border Agency site, I realized tier 2 may be a better fit, so I reposted this there. Mod can remove the duplicate if need be, sorry.