Does your visa have any restrictions on what work you can do?

While what you are offering is legal, not all advertising spaces are happy with you being upfront about what you're actually offering. (See recent comments on Vivastreet, for example, and I suspect Gumtree will have its own hangups.) You're probably better off pointing people to your own site where you can set out your rules and services.

I think someone more local than me will be along soon for more on Glasgow...

I do have a Visa which allows me to work 20 hours per week. That's probably way more clients than I could get, so I should be fine there if it ever comes up.

Ah, is it a 'tier 4 (general) student' visa?

That allows you to work 20 hours per week, but only for someone else: "You must not be self-employed, employed as a doctor or dentist in training (other than on a recognised Foundation Programme) or work as a professional sportsperson (including a sports coach) or as an entertainer" (http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/en/howtoapply/infs/inf29pbsstudent#21979526)

If so, you would be breaking your visa conditions. It's unlikely anyone would care, but...

I'm going to check my inbox now.


Yes... student visa. How would they really know?

Ugh. So I can't work self-employed or as an entertainer.

So that means I can't even go work at a strip club. Working for someone else in massage is not feasible with all the parlour raids. I don't know if I could even get away with escorting for an agency. Escorts are basically adult entertainers. I don't even like the idea of working for an agency... too independent and would rather control my screening/schedule. I have been thinking about doing a bit more than massages since it is legal. I would do have done it years ago in the US if it wasn't so risky.

Basically, I'm reading I can't do the work I want to do and know I can do well while I'm in the UK. I'm pretty sure I would be subject to removal from the UK and having my Visa cancelled.

How do they check things like self-employment in the UK? Would they see my ad and randomly check up on me?Now that I know about the risk, I'm trying to assess how large of a risk it is.

Any ideas?

Thank you all so much for your help. This is a great resource!!!

Basically, I'm reading I can't do the work I want to do and know I can do well while I'm in the UK. I'm pretty sure I would be subject to removal from the UK and having my Visa cancelled.

How do they check things like self-employment in the UK? Would they see my ad and randomly check up on me?Now that I know about the risk, I'm trying to assess how large of a risk it is.

Any ideas?

I'm sorry you're coming up against so many hurdles in your search to do a day's honest and legitimate work. You're right in that agencies definitely consider the women on their books to be 100% self-employed - and if they were ever contacted by the tax and/or visa man, you can bet your life savings that they'd drop you in a second and run off into the sunset. There's no real support to be gained by joining an agency; they're just Internet-pimps (no offense meant, I'm sure lots of them have the best intentions blah blah. Just saying how it is, technically) and therefore are actually breaking UK laws themselves. If you want to work independently and freely, you're right to give agencies a clear miss.

I believe parlours and brothels etc are essentially the same as agencies here, regarding self-employed status and breaking the law etc. They're just agencies with a property that the girls work from, which makes them even more illegal as we're not supposed to work in pairs or groups.

As far as I understand, the risk of working as a self-employed escort without paying tax, or without the correct visa, is a moderate one. On one hand, I'm sure sex workers break these laws all the time and get away with it. On the other hand, it only takes one person to either report you to the relevant authorities, or one employee at those places to notice you, and then you're royally stuffed - they tend to send massive tax bills (citing your working hours as 30+ a week at your hourly rates as shown on your website) that you have to somehow disprove, and I don't even know what the repercussions of going against your visa rules would be. Nothing monstrous, obviously, but likely still highly unpleasant.

So I don't think anyone here on this forum would publicly advise you to break these laws, for all the obvious reasons. Should someone wish to evaluate the aforementioned risks, however, and go ahead anyway, that's their decision and there's probably a good chance they'd be fine, albeit in an extremely precarious position (one grumpy/stalky/insane punter, or one jealous/insane fellow sex worker, and the game could be up). Someone who'd already navigated the ridiculously tricky waters of sex work in the US might already have an advantage here, except that within the biz in this country, you risk losing a lot of potential work if you're not very clear and transparent about your rates, services, etc in your advertising & phonecalls etc. The men here mostly distrust vague profiles and websites... but some would surely understand a need for that. The best thing to do might be to keep things minimal and stay alert, working only a moderate amount - or less - in order to reduce risks. Although a fear of getting arrested wouldn't be something I'd choose to take on - I get stomach cramps from stress just worrying about meeting strange men legally! - if the financial situation were serious enough, it could perhaps warrant consideration.

And I know this doesn't help much, but the ridiculous laws surrounding prostitution in this country make me angry. Again, I'm sorry you're struggling when all you want is to work in a legitimate way while funding your studies and whatnot. They should do special prossie visas! That might also help shut up all the nonsense statistics that keep getting fabricated about "thousands - no wait, MILLIONS of underage girls from [underprivileged country du jour] coming here to earn ZILLIONS of untaxed pounds EVERY DAY!" in the Daily Fail et al.

Thanks so much for your advice. I have a lot to think about. I wasn't planning on seeing any more than a few people per week. I just don't have time for that with my studies. So, I probably could stay under the radar. However, I really enjoy living in Scotland, there's a lot about the US I'm just sick of (almost everything...land of the free drivel and lies), and I would love to someday have the chance to be granted permanent leave to stay in the UK. In order for that to happen, I cannot get in trouble in the UK. I would have to be an asset to the country to stay long term, and my degree will get me there, but not if something happens.

My accent is a dead giveaway. I've started picking up a very slight Scottish accent, only enough for my friends in the US to notice. I am often asked if I'm Canadian though. LOL

Great idea about talking to a student union. I'm sure they've deal with things like this before.

At the end of the day I would be happy paying taxes if the government would let me since I would be very happy to finally be doing this kind of work legally!

Thanks again!