Immigration

When you arrive at Heathrow airport, ready to enter England and live there as a resident, the immigration officer spends a few minutes looking at your visa and typing silently into their computer. Then they hand you your passport back and you are free to go. (Do keep in mind that I had a spousal settlement visa issued abroad and was travelling with my spouse, with whom I already had rented accommodation in England. Things are certainly more challenging in other scenarios.)
Where is an immigrant supposed to learn about all of the things needed to be a productive member of society in this new country? Where was my handbook? My list of do's and do nots? It is a crime to sell duck eggs in daylight hours on a Sunday. How was I supposed to learn of these things? While my husband was a useful guide for renting a flat, paying council tax, getting a tv license, for others he was quite inept. Like a social security number, he had been given a national insurance number at birth and so had no idea whereabouts I would obtain one. He has had the same bank account since the age of 6, and so had no clue what is necessary to open a new checking account (called a current account here).
In absence of any sort of "Welcome to England: what to do next" handbook, I went to google. Through the internet and several phone calls I learned how to register with a GP, and then they were issued a NHS# for me that I was able to go down and get (written on a post-it note, it is no longer financial viable for the government to issue cards - and I thought the US economy was in trouble). Not altogether particularly challenging. I gave that number to my employer, had a doctors appointment, and relaxed. I was rockin` this whole living in a foreign country thing.
Having now lived here almost three months, I have quit my desk job and am working only as a Pilates Trainer. Similar to in the US, I am self employed. I have been putting off registering as self employed as I wanted a separate bank account for them to deduct tax from instead of our joint account. After weeks of heavy snowfall in Scotland, (of course we bank with Bank of Scotland, and the snow rendered their phone services useless) I decided to go ahead and register self employed as I was meant to have done so from the moment I started teaching.
Unusual for Britain, you can register as self employed via an online form. Several frustrating attempts and phone calls to my GP later, I was informed that there are 2 national insurance numbers. One for going to the Dr and one for the Inland Revenue (like the IRS) and since I had never asked for an inland revenue NI#, I do not have one. Apparently my former employers did not feel it necessary to tell me that I have given them a too long and invalid NI#. Cheers.
The receptionist at my Dr's office was able to give me a telephone number to call and request a NI#. The Job Centre was wonderfully helpful and I received a packet in the mail to fill out in order to obtain a NI#. Today being Sunday I will mail that back tomorrow and until I hear back, will be living in fear every time I work since I am not properly registered and have somehow become one of those immigrants working without paying tax!
Perhaps soon I will be standing outside the Home Depot waiting to be picked up as a day laborer. Perhaps that is how it happens, we have got it all wrong. They are not illegal immigrants, but rather legal immigrants not given enough information to work legally.....