Why am I thinking about going to work in the UK you ask? Because, to put it bluntly, wages in Poland are shit, shit, shit. And I always wanted to go to England and the surrounding countries (Scotland, Ireland etc.)

What talents/skills do I have to bring? I am a skilled auto mechanic (or fitter in British-English...) with at least 4+ years of experience and a basic set of tools at my disposal along with an attitude along the lines of "I am not just buying a tool, I am investing in myself"

About my language skills: I don't suffer from the (stereo)typical immigrant broken English. 22 years of living in the States has provided me with a solid background in American-English; therefore, communication with any prospective employer should not present a problem.

Why am I bringing all of this up in the first place?

I was recently looking around for a new job here in Poland because my current one is absolutely terrible. Low pay, lack of work, being given crappy low paying jobs in my garage(shop in American English) while other mechanics get the really juicy stuff etc. etc. After much looking around on the various job sites, I have come to the conclusion that, no matter what, working as a mechanic here in Poland is going to be shite no matter where I go. I also realized that since I can speak English fluently at a native speaker level, why the hell should I limit my job search to one country?

A few questions for the resident UK forum members:

I was looking at one job posting that offered 8-11 GBP per hour plus "lots of OT", after calculating that per 40 hours I would earn 320-440 GBP per week gross pay, 1280-1760 GBP per month gross. Is it possible to live in the UK with these kind of wages?

Why are Polish nationals required to register in the Worker Registration Scheme? I have dual citizenship (USA and Poland) but I fear the amount of extra paperwork required if I wanted to enter as a US citizen so I am thinking of going the Polish route.

How does the average UK citizen view a Polish national?

How high is the unemployment rate in the UK?

More questions as soon as I come up with any.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but these two usually go hand in hand. You know, for an average Brit, you're probably coming to steal "their" job. But I'm sure most people will look at you as an opportunist, and not necessarily with a bad undertone. Anyway, good luck with your job search, I myself have accustomed to the fact that currently I'll be making 1200€ max and probably less until I finish my internship (will start looking for work as an engineer after I finish my volunteer army course)

I am not looking to steal someone's "jerb", I am merely making use of the fact that, for the most part, the borders are open between most EU/EEA countries (except if you're Polish or Czech or even Slovenian =, then you get to register on the Worker Registration Scheme! Joy! :/)

Yes, I am an opportunist but at least I am not trying to go to another country and sit on the dole. I want to work. I want to get paid well for my work and I will not suffer the piss poor wages and ridiculously high COA(cost of living) of one country when I know I can freely go to another and live a normal life with better wages for the same job. Wouldn't you do the same especially considering your educational level? And if your English is decent why in the world should you limit yourself to just Slovenia as your potential job market?

To tell you the truth, I like it here. The pay I listed is considered decent here (and don't forget, it rises with experience and expertise) and you can live comfortably if you can manage your finances. The problem is, when you go to a different country, people tend to view you as an outsider, and coming to their country to raid their job markets and then leave when you accumulate enough money. It's silly to think so, I know, but that's the general perception people tend to put out. It's stereotypical and unfair. But looking at the whole picture, I might try to find a workplace that will want to send me abroad from time to time, but I can't bother of being out of the country for too long. I get homesick super quick and I think I have obligations to the country to fulfill, "low pay" be damned.

Unemployment is quite high in the UK at the moment but it varies accross the country and there are still lots of jobs if you seach around.
1280-1760 GBP is fine to live on, though it does depends on what sort of lifestlye you expect. If you live outside London you can get a very nice 1 or 2 bed flat for £400 - £600 a month and you can get even cheaper in a flatshare. London is more expensive but salaries tend to be higher there.
There is some predijuce against Polish people here sadly but I don't think that it is that bad, though you might want to check out some Polish forums in the UK as I'm sure some areas have worse problems than other.
And I don't know anything about the Worker Registration Scheme sorry.
I hope everything works out of you if you decide to come.

What obligations?

Maybe it's the fact that I used to work in the US and was able to pay 20 dollars for a pair of name brand jeans and not worry about if I am going to make it until the next pay period. Here in Poland, on a 2000 PLN net pay budget, I can't even afford to even *look* at anything name brand because it's ridiculously over-priced what with VAT being 23% (!!!) on just about every damn thing. Yes, I could go back and work in the US, but I want to experience other countries' way of life while working there, but I am not willing to work on wages where most of my money just goes to food and basic necessities not to mention bills.

I am working as a mechanic for 2000 PLN net pay (2600 gross but there's a ton taxes yanked out...) in Poland. According to the job ad I posted above I could make 1760 GBP gross which comes out to 8200 PLN gross. Which is better in your opinion?

Well, it’s quite a bit above the minimum wage and you can get by on the minimum wage. £8-11 per hour is good; you can certainly live off of that.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/TheNationalMinimumWage/DG_10027201

England has no ill will towards the Polish as far as I’ve ever come across, immigration in general might be another matter. Not something you’ll probably have to worry about while making friends however. Just if the conversation ever goes in that direction you may hear a certain amount of bitterness.

The employment rates in England, they’ve seen better days, although I have no ideas what they are like in that particular line of work.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=12

I am not trying to live like a king, mind you, but I don't want to have to look at ever quid, pence what have you, 10 times before I decide to spend it. I want to be able to buy something awesome every now and then but I am not trying to, say, buy a Lamborghini Gallardo. I hope that makes sense.

As far as the prejudice thing goes, I can always pass myself off as an American if need be since I basically feel like one having lived in the States since I was 9-10 years old and have the Southerner accent on top of that as a result of living in Florida for many years :D.

Generally, being an EU citizen I don't think you have to worry about skills. But being a car mechanic will certainly help. Even if people can barely afford to use their cars at the moment.

Yes, it's possible to live in the UK on those kinds of wages if you can get the work. But it should be pointed out that a lot of costs are astronomical at the moment. As a mechanic I assume you drive. Petrol is something that's going to chew through your wages if you can't find somewhere in the vicinity of where you're employed. Renting isn't cheap either. I don't know if you're coming over alone or if you've got kids or what, but if you're coming over alone then that kind of wage (if it is indeed 40hrs) isn't bad.

The unemployment rate is the highest it has been since 1996 and it's still rising. We've got a government that's so dead set on clearing our debts they're selling off everything they can - which is directly adding thousands to the unemployment statistics and indirectly adding many more. I don't predict much of an improvement for the next couple of years at least.

The central problem is that they don't seem to grasp that what's needed to clear the debts is a strong economy. Yes they need to make plenty of cuts as there is plenty of waste. But they also need to be investing too.

The UK is already full of people from all over. Polish people aren't anything new here. You shouldn't have any problem with people getting shocked at the fact that you're not Local People. You may even find a few friendly faces from back home.

But equally it should be pointed out that apparently a great number of Polish people have already departed because they can get a far better job with a far better wage back home. I know that, in your current position, that might seem hard to believe. But yeah, what can I say? Sometimes the grass isn't all that green on the other side at all.

Not worried about the bitterness as I am good-humored about stuff like that. If necessary I can camouflage myself as an American :D.

Wrong time to try the UK. There is already fairly high unemployment (granted, I live in the city with the worst - 34% of the people in Liverpool are out of work) and with the funding cuts April will see a lot people being made redundant - given that 40% of the jobs here are in the public sector.

I've been looking for a full time job for a year now. Have two first class degrees, working on my third part-time. I am making ends meet, just about going towards no longer managing, working part-time as a postman two days a week and my parents helping out in the mean time.

I love living here and don't want to leave (and until my MA is done I am tied up in Liverpool) - but really - the UK is not, by far, easy to land in right now.

Well, I got free education here, and my family was able to make quite a nice life here. It would be unfair to just take all that, maybe say a little thanks but no thanks, and then ship myself out of here. If the trends keep up, there will be a serious shortage of educated engineers, doctors and other skilled workers in our country in the next 50 years, and I don't think I like that. Call me a patriot if you like, but I tend to think that if I stay here I will be rewarded with more than just money, and if I can have a family, a nice house and a small field to work on, that will be enough for me.

And a decent collection of games, of course ;)

I will not drive in Poland. Never. No way in HELL. Not in Warsaw anyways. They seem to learn the Colonel Kaddafi way of driving: Kill everything in your path. Your horn is to be used as a communications tool to inform other drivers how much you hate them and their mothers. Grenades in the glove box are MANDATORY. Roof top mounted machine guns, you guessed it, MANDATORY. The only use I'll have of a driver's license is to test drive vehicles after repairs. I will not own a car here because of the periodic inspections, taxes, more taxes, and the high gas/petrol prices.

I don't know how those Poles leaving the UK expect to find a higher paying job here since those who have a university education, know a couple of languages pretty well can't find a job here and they've been trying for months, even years. Let's not even talk about the three different kind of job contracts and only ONE of them guarantees you the right to have some vacation time and that the time you spend at a company will count towards your "working years"(lata pracy). The other 2 contracts are shit and everyone knows it including employers who hold out the ONE good contract as bait. 8%, at least according to the graphs you have provided, is nothing compared to the 12% national unemployment here in Poland.

Sorry about the off topic:
You know, stuff like this confirms that of all the Slavic nations, I like Slovenians the most.

On topic:
The thing I'd be afraid of is that as a mechanic, you'll probably sometimes have to deal with the Daily Mail readers crowd, who might have a blanket dislike for both Polish and American people. From an outsider's perspective, Britain still does have this fairly strong nationalist vibe, which can feel a bit disquieting sometimes. To be honest, I never felt unwelcome myself, but then again, I never worked there, just studied for a fairly short time.

Not worried about the discrimination. I had to put up with people quoting "dumb Polack"jokes at me all throughout school and even afterwards.