Moving to London as an American: visa routes

Short answer: you can visit London on a cheap online pass, but to live there you need a real visa, and almost every route runs through a job, a degree, a British partner or a university.

The short version

Visiting: Americans usually need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), not a visa, for trips of up to 6 months. It costs £20 (about $27) [1]. You can't live or take a London job on it.
Working: the main route is the Skilled Worker visa, which needs a sponsoring employer and a salary of at least £41,700 (about $55,900) or the job's going rate, whichever is higher [2].
Recent grads of top US schools: the High Potential Individual (HPI) visa is open to Americans. The 2026 list has 34 US universities, from Harvard to Ohio State [6].
Spouses and partners of British citizens or settled residents use the family visa, with an income test of £29,000 (about $38,850) a year [7].
No retirement visa and no digital nomad visa. If you're retired or work remotely for a US company, the UK has no dedicated route for you.

USD conversions in this guide use the Federal Reserve H.10 rate of October 30, 2026 (£1 = $1.3398), rounded.

First, the ETA: visiting isn't moving

If you're flying over to scout neighborhoods or apartment-hunt before the move, you'll go through the ETA system. Americans usually need an ETA rather than a visa for tourism and visiting family, and it lets you stay up to 6 months [1]. The official fee is £20 (about $27). The government warns that copycat sites charge more, so apply only through gov.uk or the official UK ETA app [1].

The heads-up: an ETA "does not guarantee entry" [1], and it doesn't let you take a job in the UK. If a Border Force officer thinks you're really moving, not visiting, expect questions. Get your visa sorted before you ship the boxes.

The main routes compared

Route	Who it fits	Main test	Fee (outside UK)	Length
Skilled Worker	You have a UK job offer from a licensed sponsor	Eligible occupation; £41,700 or going rate	£819 up to 3 years, £1,618 over 3 years [3]	Up to the length of your sponsored job
Global Talent	Leaders or emerging leaders in research, arts and culture, or digital tech	Endorsement or a qualifying prize	£766 total [4]	Up to 5 years at a time [4]
High Potential Individual	Graduates of listed top universities in the last 5 years	Degree from a listed school	£880 [5]	2 years (3 for a PhD)
Family (partner)	Spouse or partner of a British citizen or settled person	£29,000 combined income [7]	£2,064 [8]	Initial grant, then extend
Student	Accepted at a licensed UK university	Offer from a licensed sponsor; funds	£558 [9]	Length of course

On top of the fee, most routes add the Immigration Health Surcharge: usually £1,035 (about $1,390) per year of the visa, paid up front [3][4]. Students pay a lower rate. That surcharge is what gets you into the NHS, so think of it as your health plan premium paid in one lump.

Working: Skilled Worker and Global Talent

Skilled Worker

This is the bread-and-butter route. Your employer must be a licensed sponsor and give you a certificate of sponsorship (CoS). The job must be on the list of eligible occupations, and the pay must hit the higher of £41,700 a year or the "going rate" for that occupation code [2]. Each occupation code has its own going rate, so a software engineer and a lab technician face different floors [2].

Costs from outside the UK in 2026 [3]:

Application fee: £819 (about $1,100) for up to 3 years, or £1,618 (about $2,170) for longer
Health surcharge: usually £1,035 (about $1,390) per year
Savings: at least £1,270 (about $1,700) held for 28 days in a row, unless your sponsor certifies your maintenance

You must also show you can speak, read, write and understand English [2]. A US passport usually covers that, but check the knowledge-of-English page for your case.

Big US firms that transfer staff to London will usually handle the CoS for you. If you're job-hunting from New York, ask early whether the employer sponsors visas. Plenty of London job ads say no.

Global Talent

If you're a leader or rising star in academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology, Global Talent is the gold standard: no employer tie and no salary floor [4]. Most people first need an endorsement from the relevant body, then apply for the visa:

Endorsement stage: £561 (about $750)
Visa stage: £205 (about $275)
Total: £766 (about $1,030); winners of an eligible prestigious prize skip the endorsement and pay £766 at the visa stage [4]

You can stay up to 5 years at a time and extend, and you may be able to apply for settlement after 3 or 5 years depending on your field [4].

Recent grads: the High Potential Individual visa

Here's the one many Americans miss. The HPI visa has no nationality restriction, just a degree test: you need a qualification awarded in the last 5 years by a university on the government's global list for the year you graduated [6]. No job offer needed.

The list for qualifications awarded from November 1, 2026 to October 31, 2027 has 82 universities, and 34 are American [6]. They include Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, NYU, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan, UT Austin, UNC Chapel Hill, the University of Washington and several University of California campuses. Earlier years have their own lists, so check the list for your graduation year.

What it costs and gives you [5]:

Fee: £880 (about $1,180)
Health surcharge: £1,035 a year, so £2,070 (about $2,770) for a 2-year visa
Savings: £1,270 (about $1,700) for 28 days, with the 28th day within 31 days of applying

You get 2 years (3 for a PhD), and you can't extend it. You can switch into another route, such as Skilled Worker, before it runs out. Applications are capped each year, so don't leave it to the last minute.

Family and partner visas

If you're married to, in a civil partnership with, or have lived with a British citizen or settled person, the family visa is your route. You and your partner usually need combined income of at least £29,000 (about $38,850) a year, and savings can sometimes count instead [7].

The fee to join a partner from outside the UK is £2,064 (about $2,770), or £1,407 from inside the UK [8]. Add the health surcharge: for an adult, £3,105 (about $4,160) for 2 years 9 months [8]. Each child applying pays too.

Practical tip: line up evidence of the relationship and income well before you apply. Payslips, bank statements, a marriage certificate and proof you've lived together do the heavy lifting.

Students

To study at a UK university you need a Student visa and an offer from a licensed student sponsor [9]. The fee is £558 (about $750), and you can apply up to 6 months before your course starts from outside the UK [9]. For a London course you must show living costs of £1,529 (about $2,050) a month for up to 9 months, so up to £13,761 (about $18,440), on top of any unpaid tuition [10].

After graduating you can switch to the Graduate visa, which lasts 2 years if you apply on or before December 31, 2026, and 18 months for applications from January 1, 2027 (3 years after a PhD) [9]. That's a big change, so if you're finishing a degree in London now, the timing matters.

Retirees and remote workers

This is where London is tougher than Lisbon or Mexico City. The UK has no retirement visa and no digital nomad visa. If you're retired with a pension and savings, your realistic options are the family route (if your partner or child qualifies) or extended visits within ETA rules. If you work remotely for a US employer, you'll generally need your own visa route; an ETA visit isn't a way to live in London while working your stateside job.

What to do first

Pick your route with the table above and gov.uk's visa checker.
Get your sponsor or endorsement moving (CoS, Global Talent endorsement or university offer). This is often the slowest step.
Gather documents: US passport with plenty of validity, degree certificates, bank statements for the 28-day savings rule.
Budget for the surcharge. For a family of four on a 3-year Skilled Worker visa, the health surcharge alone runs into five figures in pounds.
Handle the US side: enroll in STEP, keep a US address for banks and voting, and remember Uncle Sam still wants your tax return every year.

Have questions about a specific route? Ask in our community group for Americans in the UK, where plenty of people have been through the same paperwork.

Moving to London as an American: the visa routes that actually work