EU -> UK after Brexit/COVID
 

Is it at all possible as a EU controller (APS, ACS, TCL) to get hired in the UK? I realise NATS probably won't be in a position to hire for quite some time to come but have they ever taken on valid controllers from abroad? If so, will Brexit make it harder for that to happen post-COVID?

Would the chances be greater at a non-NATS airport to - in my case - only work Approach or are they exclusively looking for people with ADI+APS?

I am very interested to hear if anyone has insights regarding this or any experiences to share.

Many thanks,

Setting aside the aviation specifics...

If you do not already have the right to live and work in the UK (which EU citizens no longer automatically have) then anyone wishing to employ you would need to justify a work visa exemption for you. Basically they would need to demonstrate that they needed to employ you because they could not fill the post with a UK resident.

It may be a long, long, time before the aviation sector recovers sufficiently for this to be the case.

Good luck.

Figure out what is required on your part to work here legally, then start phoning NATS and other ANSPs. I'd dare guess that most ANSPs would be happy to recruit (now, or in a few years) someone they don't have to fund courses for, if your previous experience is any good. They might ask you to fund yourself through an ADI course, or fork out for it themselves, who knows. The best way to know is to talk to them.

Just don't fail your validation board ;) Good luck

Why would you want to move to the UK if you're already in the EU?
The cost of living is far higher; petrol and deisel are much more expensive; the arrival of migrants is unchecked.
Stay where you are.

two posts below a post explaining how difficult it would be for this person to migrate to U.K.

😆😆😆😆😆

NATS are hiring, however not sure they have ever recognised a foreign license of any breed, Euro or not, so regardless you will have to start right back at the beginning on student pay.........

The only people who can tell you whether a current lice is valid for use in the UK - or what you will need to do to 'convert' it to a valid one - are the CAA licensing people. There might be rules that cover your situation in one of the CAA's books of rules but they were never very explicit on this topic in the past. As for whether NATS would employ someone who holds, or has held in the past, a non-UK licence is a business decision and nothing to do with licensing.

Forty odd years back,we had two controllers from Maastricht join us on different phases of our cadet course.The first one,an englishman,Mike L, was on the licence course,and the second,an irishman, Jim C, was on the area procedural or area radar course,but not,I think, both. I imagine that they were moved around various cadet courses to do the different stages required to acquire a CAA licence and ratings,without having to go to a unit for practical experience between each phase as the rest of us ab-initios did.Of course,this was a long time ago,and things are bound to have changed,but it would seem that then at least, a foreign ATC licence and ratings were not just 'rubber-stamped'.