I've been reading this thread with interest.
My situation is that I've applied 3 times to NATS and failed to get in. I've now moved to Australia, but been accepted by AsA for a trainee ATCO position as Tower.
They bond you over here for a 5 year period after you've qualified to the tune of $70k or approx GBP35k. I know for a fact I don't want to be in Australia long term, but reading this, it looks as though I'll struggle to get employment by NATS as an experienced controller.
How likely am I to gain employment from NATS in the future if I obtain 3-4 years experience over here? And also would NATS be likely to pay out my bond if I left early?
I'm actually considering not bothering to do the training if I can't be a controller in the UK eventually.
Any advice? I know I will get comments about not being good enough for UK, but I am for AsA, but the selection processes are VERY different.