CPA coming to the UK

Anonymous wrote:

I am a 36 year old Australian CPA with degrees in Commerce and Economics. I am not eligible for the Highly Skilled Migrant Visa at present, however I am looking to obtain work in the UK for a period of 2 - 5 years.

I have 13 years experience in banking and financial services, as follows;

7 years banking - business banking, retail banking, area management, training

6 years financial services - qualified in Australia to provide financial advice (financial planning & general insurance).

My target market was SME business (turnover $1M - $20M AUD). For the past 5 years I have run my own financial advisory businesses (x2) and have experience in all areas of business management. I am interested in the types of positions that I might be eligible for in the UK, the likelihood of obtaining work (min salary expectation 50,000 GBP) and the likelihood of obtaining an employer sponsor?

Thanks for your assistance.


A manager in Marks Sattin's Banking and Financial Services division wrote:

The first option for many people in this position would be to apply for a 2YWHV - but I understand that the age limit for applying to work in the UK from Australia is 30. This can be checked on line locally or with links to the home office here http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/.

Without seeing your CV in more detail it is difficult to see why they would not qualify for the HSMV, but am assuming with the last 6 years in Advisory roles, that that is not an area of skills shortage here in the UK. Therefore we would need to see the experience from before within the banks to ascertain if the clients here would be interested in sponsoring this person.

Clients are willing to sponsor for the right people, if there is a skills shortage in that area of skill base, but as an agency, we primarily focus on the most relevant accountancy based experience /qualification, rather than the advisory in financial planning or general insurance.

It would really depend on the individual's specific experience and our capability to assist in that area based on our contacts within our client base.

My best advice at this stage, is to either forward us a specific CV to help ascertain if we can assist with the clients we currently deal with and the issue of sponsorship; or assuming that you have applied already for a HSMV and do not qualify, to pin point where they fall down on the point systems and target those areas in the next year to increase suitability to the HSMV rrequirements. These could be education, qualifications or as I understand, recent relevant work experience that UK businesses are looking for.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to forward your CV to us so that we can look at it in detail.

Good luck