Is there a back-door way to immigrate to the UK? For example, could
one get citizenship in a country like Montserrat, or Estonia, and then
subsequently use that citizenship to get permanent entrance into the
UK?

Dear DJ Virto, 

UK immigration policies are rather strict. I am not sure what you
meant by "back door" way - these are not "back door" ways to get a
permanent working permit in the UK. Of course, I am not going to
discuss anything illegal here, and I also have the feeling that you
are not looking for anything illegal.


Gaining a British Working Visa
==============================
This is maybe what you might call "front door", but I would start with
this one, as I want to make sure that you are aware, that one could
just apply for a working permit in the UK, and if found suitable, also
get it. There are plenty of schemes - for businessmen, artists, people
with certain professions (for example mediacl professions), etc.

The official site of the UK government for working visas is: 
Working in the UK .gov.uk
<http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/> 

Highly Skilled Migrants 
<http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage/schemes_and_programmes/hsmp.html?>
- one of the  immigration schemes offered by the UK government.

You can find there all about the different schemes, through which one
could get a working permit, as well as the status of citizens of
different foreign countries.

I know personally many people who are not UK citizens, but got a
working visa in the UK. The easiest thing would be, then, not to think
about "back doors" and broken windows, but to apply for a permit. You
could check your eligibility at the Visa UK site:
Do I Need A UK Visa
<http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1006977149962>


EU Member States - gaining citizenship of one of them
=====================================================
You've mentioned gaining "Estonian citizenship". I must truthfully
asy, that it sounds a bit fishy to me, to gain a citizenship of a
foreign country, only so I could work in a third country.

There are two types of "European" citizenship, when it comes to
residential permits in the UK.

Citizens of the "old" EU countries (as well as of Switzerland and the
members of the EEA, see list bellow) could stay in the UK and work
there as long as they found a job.

Citizens of the "new" member countries (countries that would join
after May 1st, 2004), would need a special permit in order to live or
work in the UK, as their citizenship would not be enough:
"Nationals from Malta and Cyprus and those who are self-employed will
have full free movement rights and are not required to obtain a
workers registration certificate.
[...]
Nationals from the following new member states; Poland, Lithuania,
Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic
who find a job in the United Kingdom are required to apply to register
with the Home Office under the new 'Worker Registration Scheme' as
soon as they find work"
(SOURCE: ibid). 

You could read more about it here: 
Citizens of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK
<http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk/working_in_the_uk/en/homepage/your_status/european_citizens.html>



"Old" Members/EEA/Switzerland - information on requirements to become a citizen:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Austria - Austrain Consulate NY <http://www.austria-ny.org/page7-0e.html> 

Belgium - Belgian Embassy, Washington
<http://www.diplobel.us/ConsularSection/BelgianNationality_nl.htm> (In
French or Dutch. The Belgians assume, that if you want nationality,
you have to know their language).

Denmark - Finfo, ,http://www.finfo.dk/wwwfinfo/HTML/engelsk/Finfo_Danmark/Ny_i_Danmark/Dansk_statsborgerskab_(indfoedsret)/side3.html>

Finland - Directorate of Immigration
<http://www.uvi.fi/englanti/kansalaisuus.html>

France - French Consulate in New York
<http://www.consulfrance-newyork.org/fr/vieany/formalites/nationalite.htm>
(and again, they assume that if you want to become French, you must
know French).

Germany - GermanInfo (Consulate)
<http://www.germany-info.org/relaunch/info/consular_services/citizenship/generalinformation.html>

Greece - German Embassy, Washington
<http://www.greekembassy.org/Embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=1&folder=28&article=95>

Iceland - Consulate General in New York <http://www.iceland.org/us/nyc/> 

Ireland - Embassy of Ireland, Washington <http://www.irelandemb.org/visa.html> 

Italy - Italia America <http://www.italiamerica.org/id72.htm> 

Liechtenstein - In the principality's site, there is information, but
not much <http://www.llv.li/amtstellen/llv-apa-auslaender-_und_passamt/llv-apa-summary_(in_english).htm>
- they seem not to keen on naturalising anyone.

Luxembourg - You should appeal to the Minister of Justice
Minist?re de la Justice
Service des Etrangers
16, boulevard Royal
L-2934 Luxembourg
Tel : +352 478 4513 or 4543
Fax : +352 22 76 6

Netherlands - Dutch Embassy
<http://www.netherlands-embassy.org/article.asp?articleref=AR00000178EN>

Norway - Norwegian Citizenship act
<http://www.culture.gouv.fr/entreelibre/Laurette/country/Norwaytxt.html>

Portugal - Potruguese Citizenship Act
<http://www.culture.gouv.fr/entreelibre/Laurette/country/portugalbistxt.html>

Spain - Gray's World - Spanish Citizenship
<http://www.graysworld.co.uk/spanish-property/spanish-citizenship.htm>

Sweden - Swedish Citizenship Act
<http://justitie.regeringen.se/inenglish/pdf/citizenship.pdf>

Switzerland - Information on Swiss Citizenship
<http://www.swissemb.org/cslaff/fact/factwom.pdf>


New members of the EU (different regulations, as noted above)
----------------------
Cyprus - Government of Cyprus
<http://www.pio.gov.cy/ministry_interior_eng/civil_registry_migration/citizenship.htm>

The Czech Republic - Czech Consulate
<http://www.czechembassy.org/wwwo/default.asp?ido=7331&idj=2&amb=114>

Estonia - Application of Estonian citizenship <http://www.mig.ee/eng/citizenship/> 

Hungary - Hungarian Citizenship Act <http://www.huembwas.org/Consular/HunCit.htm> 

Latvia - Latvian Citizenship <http://www.am.gov.lv/en/?id=573> 

Lithuania - Lithuanian Embassy in Canada
<http://www.lithuanianembassy.ca/documents/Lithuanian%20citizenship%20information.doc>

Malta - Maltese Citizenship Act
<http://w2.vu.edu.au/malta/Maltese%20Citizenship.htm>

Poland - Poliskiworld
<http://www.polskiinternet.com/english/info/polishcitizen.html>

Slovakia - Legislation Online, Citizenship Law
<http://www.legislationline.org/view.php?document=59731&ref=true>

Slovenia - Slovenia Citizenship
<http://www.coe.int/T/E/Legal_Affairs/Legal_co-operation/Foreigners_and_citizens/Nationality/Documents/Bulletin_and_national_legislation/Slovenia%20CitizenshipAct.asp>


British Overseas Territories
============================
The British Overseas Territories include : 
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean
Territory, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat,
Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, St Helena and
Dependencies, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, (the
Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia), Turks and Caicos
Islands, Virgin Islands.

British Overseas Territories Citizens, indeed, do not need any permit
in order to live in the UK.

However, I don't see a back door here: it seems pretty difficult to
gain citizenship of these places. For example, Anguilla:

"Acquiring Citizenship
There is no citizenship of Anguilla. Anguillians are subject to the
British Nationality Act, under which British Overseas Territory
Citizenship (BOTC) is extended to Anguillians. An alien resident in
Anguilla for an appropriate number of years may apply to the Governor
to be naturalized as a BOTC. British naturalization of aliens in
Anguilla is sparingly granted, as naturalization in Anguilla confers
on the alien all local rights as an Anguilla belonger."
(SOURCE: Don Mitchell, QC , "ANGUILLA AS AN OFFSHORE FINANCIAL
CENTER", <http://online.offshore.com.ai/mitchells/mitchaxa.html#citizenship>).

Cayman Islands - The Right to be Caymanian
<http://www.gov.ky/servlet/page?_pageid=3303&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30&_mode=3>

Application of Montserrat 
<http://www.admin.gov.ms/Consular/BOTC_who_is.htm> 

Turks and Caicos
<http://www.savory-co.com/turkscaicos.htm#Nationality_and_immigration> 


Other Ways
==========
People under 30, who are citizens of several commonwealth countries
could do a gap-year in the UK. This is not a permanent permit, but one
could later apply for a status chage.

Students or people married to Britons could apply for a residence visa. 


Summary
=======
Yes, there are "back doors", in the sense that you don't have to be a
British Citizen (or to apply for a citizenship), in order to gain
permanent residency permit. One *could* gain a citizenship in any of
the abovementioned country and "use it" to "get permanent entrance
into the UK", as you put it.

However, these solutions - applying for a foreign passports of all
kinds - remind me of people trying to scratch their left ear with
their right arm. Almost all, if not all, of the countries
abovementioned require residency and heritage/language knowledge as a
prerequisite of obtaining citizenship. If your end goal is to obtain a
permit in the UK, why not apply for it right away?


Search Strategy
===============
A very thorough search of all embassies, citizenship legislations, and
UK immigration sites.

I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it.

Virto, 

Forgot to say: 

If you are actually a DJ, and if you compose original pieces and
already released them in a record, you could try to apply for a
composer (artist) visa.

The UK (among other countries) also accepts certain immigrants who are
seeking political asylum but this could not be described as a 'back
door'.

DJ_Virto, 

Mikomoro is right. However, I did not refer to that, because it did
not seem to me a "back door", and in any case - it is either you are
(unfortunately) a refugee, or you're not. Of course, there are people
who claim they are refugees, without ground (which is illegal, of
course) and people who get rejected despite being in a real life
threatening situation, if sent back to their home countries. I don't
wish anyone to be an asylum seeker.

Actually, if you are enquiring for yourself (as it seems) it might be
helpful if you could particularise your details: age, sex, education,
nationality, country of residence, etc.

While the original reply is quite in detail, I would like to add some
more detail to the same and I hope it will help all seeking answers on
UK Immigration.

One can immigrate to the UK under Highly Skilled Migrant Programme,
which is a Points based system where points are awarded for Education,
Work Experience, Earnings, Significant Achievement and Partner /
Spouse's Skills. Under HSMP one does not need any Employer Sponsorship
for immigration to the UK. Persons and their dependents migrating
under this scheme get PR status in 4 years time.

You can find out if you are eligible under the HSMP by visiting online
points calculator at:

http://www.hsmp-services.co.uk/points_calc/hsmp_points_calculator.php

The other categories open for Immigration are available for Innovators
and Investors who want to set up their business in the UK. This
category also allows PR status after 4 years.

Work Permits which essentially need to be sponsored by UK Employers
allow person to get the Resident status and PR status after 4 years.

Intra-company transfers where the Overseas Company transfers the
member of Management team to manage the UK operations as Sole
Representative.

For Low Skilled Workers there is Sector Based Scheme including
Agricultural Assistants scheme.

Of course, once can come to the UK as a student and on successful
completion of the studies in certain disciplines and certain courses
one can get permission of 1 year practical training (which is 2 years
in Scotland)

And, there is one more possibility that one can marry a UK citizen and
relocate to the UK.

Hope this helps