Moving to live and work in America?

[Blackwolf]

Has anyone done it?

How do you do it?
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Current: Ducati Multistrada 1200s

[angryjonny]

Temporarily (six months). Houston Texas. Had fun but I was glad to get home again. It was only ever going to be temporary so I did it on 90-day visa waivers. I was technically still employed in the UK, just seconded to the US for the length of a particular project.

The normal way of doing it permanently is to get a job with a company that has a US branch and request a transfer. The company will then sort a visa on your behalf, justifying to the US authorities why you have skills that they need and couldn't get from a US employee.

[CaNsA]

Didnt you set up a company not long ago?

How come you are thinking about leaving?

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Not still with the 'trose?
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[sabian92]

It's a fucking arseache to emigrate properly and full time.

And it's full of fat, stupid, guntoting rednecks.

[metalangel]

I agree with Sabian. Far better to stay in your crumbling chav-ridden bog with your fellow deluded snaggle-toothed alcoholic xenophobes.

This is a very helpful site... their wiki covers emigrating from the UK to many desirable parts of the world, and they have a forum full of very helpful and knowledgable people. Here's the US section of their wiki to get you started:

https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Category:USA_Immigration

They helped with advice on getting the now-ex missus over to Canada.
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[temeluchus]

if u iz rich, yes.

if yo is poah, no.
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[barrkel]

Not too hard if you're halfway decent in tech or some other profession that is in short supply, but you'll need a degree. Basically, get a job with UK branch of US company is easiest, then transfer. Direct application to US company is harder and you need to be scarcer but it can be done.

If you have a doctorate or are a model (seriously) you may get a different visa based on being extraordinary person.

Another way is to study in US then find a company at graduation.

Another way is if you have $1 million to invest IIRC.

Finally you have green card lottery / marriage / illegal emigration + amnesty. But those options are less than great.

I had a H1B visa but never moved, didn't want to leave girlfriend or give up vacation time. But I have a lot of contacts that could recommend me for a job if I wanted to go back.
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[SlimRick]

I did 5 years on the West coast - it was fun, and a great experience but it was good to come "home" afterwards. I got my green card through marriage and even that wasn't as straight forward as people like to think.

[sabian92]

[P.addy]

Wave just did it, might be worth a quick PM his way, he might even chime in here

Y U wanna move

[barrkel]

[sabian92]

[-Matt-]

I'd much rather Canada or Australia personally, its a nice country to visit and theres obviously tons to see and do, but actually living and working there isn't all its cracked up to be for lots of people.

Factor in additional costs like health insurance as well

[mentalboy]

I have looked into this a fair bit these last months and it's a complete ballache if you're British.

Without a degree, money or job sponsor (again something for which you'll probably need a degree) there are only two routes open to you for a green card.

First is marriage but as stated earlier it's a tricky one to sort out paperwork - easier if you get married in the UK to a US citizen and then apply.

Secondly there is a list of 'preferred' nations on the US gov website who can gain a green card pretty easily. Most of them are obscure African nations so you may be able to get naturalised in one of them and then apply for your green card - long winded and would probably involve residing in some hellhole in deepest, darkest Africa for several years! (Probably cheaper to get a degree!!!)
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[mentalboy]

OK, I was wrong - Africa doesn't figure. Here's the list:

Albania
Armenia
Bulgaria
Farsi speaker - Iran, Afghanistan (Old Persia)
France
Japan
Latvia
Poland
Russia
Romania
Sinhalese Sri lankan
Spain
Tamil - Indian/Sri lankan
Turkey
Ukraine
Uzbekistan

These are the only countries that are eligible for the 'green card lottery' and 50,000 cards is the annual limit across the board.
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[sabian92]

Lativa is part of the EU now, isn't it? Live there for 5 years, get a passport then apply as a Latvian? Never know, might get lucky A lot cheaper than the rest of the countries on that list (barring possibly Poland) that are in the EU.

If your name is "John Smith", I'd advise changing it though...

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

So wait - the freedom fry surrender monkeys make the list and we brave bush arse licki...I mean er staunch allies the UK don't?!?
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[kawakid]

Wife's brother is american and lives in New York.

I've not really been anywhere but New York, but it's not for me.

I think like many of the posters have said if you have money then yeahh it will be easy to get in.

From my experience, people work really long hours and that is not for me. Silly things like tax not been including in shops annoy me.

And even though I have private medical insurance, I much prefer our health care. My brother in law spends nearly $1600 per month on medical care for his family.

Whereas I've needed a lot of dental treatment doing recently and thank fully I live in England, so it's all in 1 treatment, so 1 cost. Must have been 6 or 7 times and its about £40 all in.

My wife did have a green card and lived over for a couple of summers, but she hated it also.
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[Robby]

It's a rich country full of poor people. I wouldn't move there.

If you want to move overseas to a country with a growing economy and plenty of opportunities, look at Australia. The website for each state has a list of skills in demand, if you appear on one of those lists then getting your visa is much easier.

I'm planning on spending a couple of years out there at some point in the next 5 years. I fit into a very specific skill set that's in massive demand, so I can get a visa to go over there without having a job lined up - essentially a visa to look for work. I would quadruple my salary (but probably double my living costs). The wife has an Aus passport which makes things easy.

It's a bit of an off place. It's a new country, so there is no sense of proper history or ingrained culture. This can be a good or a bad thing. They have loads of money and get very snobby about things like housing - I was looking at some flats not far out of the centre of Melbourne, no-one wants to live there because of a perception of being far out of town (it's a 30 minute walk to anywhere) and high crime (I live in south London, we clearly have a different definition).

If you do move overseas, whether it's to USA, Aus, Canada or even bits of the EU, expect to work longer hours and get less holiday. As a rule we are exceptionally well off for terms and conditions in the UK.

If you're still trying to get into PPM, PM me. There may be some things coming up.

[Blackwolf]

Right I can actually reply to his now..

Well its not necessarily the USA, Canada or Aus. Heck even EU ill happily learn a new language even if its not ideal.


SO far the replies seem to be its doable but difficult?

Im trying to keep open and i'm not fussed about working hours/holiday.

Somewhere different that ideally pays well with more of a work ethic than most places in the UK
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[angryjonny]

[Blackwolf]

[angryjonny]

More constructively, I can't think of many countries on the planet that make it more difficult for brits in particular to emmigrate to than the USA. North Korea maybe. Anyway, point is you can walk into more-or-less any EU country and start working there, unlike the USA or Oz. Canada, I think, is more straightforward. I knew a guy from Halifax who reckoned that Nova Scotia would give you a work visa if you could write "bum" with a crayon, such is the drain of skills from the area.

The EU is easier to emmigrate to, easier to get to and easier to get home from. If I just wanted out of the UK rather than in to some country in particular I'd start with somewhere European which believe it or not share a lot more with the UK culturally than the USA does. I'd say the Netherlands is the country I've been to that reminds me most of the UK. Also, choose your country wisely; you cannot really cope in France without speaking French where as the Dutch and many Scandinavian countries have a much more pragmatic view about learning and speaking English because so few other people in the world speak their languages.

[tbourner]

I quite fancy moving to Canada one day but the missus doesn't want to leave her family I'd heard the same thing that you need a shedload of money available to just move over there to live.
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