New research from a visa application help website in the UK suggests that two fifths of people would be willing to take a step backwards on the career ladder in order to secure a visa for another country. [body] It seems that many people would be willing to make sacrifices in their career in order to secure the necessary documentation to live and work abroad, as a new poll by a visa application help website has revealed that 42 percent of Britons with an interest in moving abroad say that they would be willing to ‘take a backward step’ in their career to do so. Furthermore, 35 percent of these Britons said that they would be willing to take an ‘unskilled job’ in another country in order to secure a visa.

The study, conducted by www.IXPVisas.com, polled 1,822 UK residents aged between 25 and 40 who were all educated to degree level as part of research into the popularity of emigration. Respondents to the study were initially asked, ‘Would you contemplate living and working abroad?’ to which 68 percent of respondents said ‘yes’. The study then looked at whether or not people would sacrifice their career in order to live abroad, asking these respondents, ‘Would you be willing to take a backwards career step in order to secure a visa to live and work in another country?’ to which 42 percent said that ‘yes’ they would. 38 percent said that they would expect to be on a ‘par’ with their current career level, whilst only 20 percent said that they would only move abroad providing it was a ‘career step up’.

The study asked respondents who said that they would be willing to step down a rung or two on the career ladder, ‘Would you want to see career progression following this, having taken the backward step?’ to which the majority, 78 percent, said that ‘yes’ this would be expected. The remaining 22 percent said that they wouldn’t mind working at a lower career level indefinitely, as long as they ‘enjoyed their life abroad.’ The study then looked at the main reasons behind people being open to veering off their career path, as it asked these respondents, ‘Why would you be willing to take a backward step career-wise?’ which revealed that 41 percent said that the benefit of ‘life experience abroad’ would make it worthwhile. 33 percent explained that certain lifestyles afforded by living abroad appealed to them, whilst 24 percent said ‘life wasn’t all about career progression.

All respondents were further asked whether they would be willing to take an ‘unskilled job’ in order to experience living and working abroad, to which just over a third, 35 percent, said that they would be willing to do so ‘if it was necessary to secure a visa’. Liam Clifford of IXPVisas.com had the following comment to make: “We’ve seen that some countries are willing to relax visa laws in order to get people in to fill job opportunities. Often, the most commonly sought- after migrants are those with desirable skills. However, this isn’t always the case. In some countries, such as Canada, governments are in need of unskilled workers so are willing to provide visas for people who don’t necessarily have high level qualifications.” He continued: For example, fast food restaurant chains have struggled to recruit the necessary workforces, so the government has been forced to look abroad in order to fill the vacancies. The results of our study suggest, though, that many people would be willing to take unskilled positions despite having a degree in order to secure a visa and experience life abroad; which means that there could be a ‘brain drain’ via the back door, so to speak.”