Working Visa for the U.S

[deej]

Canada, same as the USA, but better

Just more expensive.

 

[D.P.]

Just more expensive.

And full of stuck up Canadians who think they are so much better than Americans.

 

[MrMarvelous]

There is no real tourist visa anymore, there is a tourist visa visa waiver that you sign on the plane.ppi, mo cost. You just need to allocate some time in the US to vist companies, meet face to face with the relevant people and be available fore interviews so when you apply for jobs you can state you are in the US and availalable to travel for interviews and personal discussions in person. They won't fly you over from the UK for an interview but they will liekly fly you from within the US.

Technically the tourist visit waiver forbids you from seeking employment. I understand that to meen you can't work in the Us while on a tourist visa but seeking employment with a residence visa is permissible. Indeed, otherse it would be impossible yet hundred of thousands do this each year. The only point being when you land in the US and immigration asks about the purpose of your fist, don't say to find a job, just tell them you are traveling.
Immigration is worried about illegal t ep workers, people sneaking in on a 90 day rousting waiver and working in McDonald's and never leaving. They aren't at all worried about people seeking a skilled visa sponsorship.



Some other things about thr visa process- tech company can never charge you for the visa, deduct salary or remove benefits as compensation. They have to treat you as equal or better than a Us citizen and cover all expenses related to the visa themselves. Salaries have to be equal or greater than the American employees. There must be no incentive to higher a foreigner beyond the fact that you are good for the job at hand. Since it more expensive to hire a foreigner then you will likely only get a job if the local workforce is inadequate. This happens in some field quite regulars, e.g, in software there is a massive shortage of good engineers. You have to put things in perespectivr, a good skilled worker in the US commands around 75-130K USD per year depending on field and experience (more specialized and senior position in the 90-250k + range). An h1b visa with all the legal work runs around 4-7K (the visa itself is more like 1-2k), so is pretty meaningless compared to hiring an American anyway.

I don't know what you CV Looks like what skill at you have, how the us workforce in your fild compares but there is good chance of getting spjsership if you are in an appropriate field and out in some perseverance in applications. I was lucky, submitted about 15 applications, got 2 interviews and 1 job offer, vida no issue at all.
I turnd my 3 months trip to the US info a holiday and scheduled interviews and visits between vacation trips to Yellowstone, the gulf coast, etc.

If you are in a position to quit you job and go to the us for 3 months the the worst comes to the worst afterwards you have no job offer but have travelled around the us for some time. You might realize that is enough America for you, or if it really sets a desire alight you can book another 3 month stint and try again.

Thanks for the info. I've alredy talked to my current employers about this and the door will be open for me if I want to come back/change my mind. A bit off topic but did you write the reply when you were ****ed up? Writing is all over the place haha.

Canada better than US?

Are u on shrooms?

It's what people who now live in the U.S told me. Apparently it's a much more relaxed lifestyle and the people are friendlier. Again i've not been but it's what i've heard.

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/types/employment.html

If you have a criminal record here forget it.

I did have a driving offence that has been spent from a few years ago (driving without insurance). Basically got a slap on the wrist and a fine, would that affect my application?

You're eligible for a Working Holiday Visa for Canada then. Trust me if you're interested

I'd be very grateful if you could help me. I'm currently at work so I can't PM as the pop-up is blocked but what i'll do tomorrow is write down my two options.

Many thanks for your help guys, much appriciated.

 

[Iceman]

Looking at doing this myself and came across THIS

HTH

 

[thedoc46]

OP I'm a bit of an expert on US immigration, having gone thru it all. As a result I now live a much higher standard of living, than i could have ever hoped for in the UK. Wasn't easy, but most definitely worth it..

E2, EB3, H1B. Been down all these roads.

The best bit of advice i can give you is...........Can't you just marry an American bird and be done with it?

If not, do you have a spare 250k handy? to invest ?

Problem for you is finding a US employer who's going to jump thru a load of hoops to take you over a US Citizen. I managed to wing it, but i was already here with an employment authorization card as part of my E2 investment visa. (Made the missus the president of the investment) so i could get the EAD card. That's a good strategy, again, only if you have 250k or so to invest and are a bit of an entrepreneur.

It aint easy. All depends on how badly do you want it ! If you're a home owner in the UK, then 250k USD should be quite within the realms of possibility.

 

[thedoc46]

You will need a Bacheor degree or 5 years experience in a field that the US deems skilled, which is pretty much anything beyond stacking shelves. So with you rmech eng degree you meet all the requirements.

Pretty sure its 10 yrs and not 5.

 

[thedoc46]

This is false, there is absolutely no requirement that they have search for a US citizen and ailed. I don't know where these myths come from. The only requirement form the employer's side is the job must be available and advertised to US citizens, e.g. they can't only advertize the job in the UK or make being a UK citizen a requirement, as long as the job gets advertised on a US website then all criteria are met.

Actually its true.... For my H1B, they had to advertise it locally, and nationally, and interview people (by phone was sufficient) to write them off. All records of the calls also had to be kept.

 

[D.P.]

Pretty sure its 10 yrs and not 5.

It used to be 5 years but they might have changed that recently.

 

[D.P.]

Actually its true.... For my H1B, they had to advertise it locally, and nationally, and interview people (by phone was sufficient) to write them off. All records of the calls also had to be kept.

They have to advertise locally which is what I said, they certainly don't have to interview anyone or prove that they couldn't get an American to fulfill the role.

All they have to do is ensure that if an American was suitable for the role that they could be hired.


The advertising locally is important, my visa application had several newspaper cuttings, webpage print outs etc to prove the job was advertised in America. Absolute no record of any one else interviewing is required at all.
Your company might have done that but it certainly wasn't required. There is no need to prove that the foreign candidate was in anyway better than any American.




The H1B visa is simply a temporary visa for skilled workers. To get it, you just have to prove that you are skilled, the company is not trying to exploit cheap foreign labor, and is not excluding Americans.
If 2 equally skilled candidates applied for a single position, one American and 1 foreign there is no requirement for the company to hire the american. The only requirement is if there was only the American candidate then he would get the job. The company can''t purposely exclude Americans but doesn't need to prove why a foreigner was selected.

 

[Rich1988]

Date and marry an american is the easiest way!

 

[thedoc46]

They have to advertise locally which is what I said, they certainly don't have to interview anyone or prove that they couldn't get an American to fulfill the role.

All they have to do is ensure that if an American was suitable for the role that they could be hired.


The advertising locally is important, my visa application had several newspaper cuttings, webpage print outs etc to prove the job was advertised in America. Absolute no record of any one else interviewing is required at all.
Your company might have done that but it certainly wasn't required. There is no need to prove that the foreign candidate was in anyway better than any American.




The H1B visa is simply a temporary visa for skilled workers. To get it, you just have to prove that you are skilled, the company is not trying to exploit cheap foreign labor, and is not excluding Americans.
If 2 equally skilled candidates applied for a single position, one American and 1 foreign there is no requirement for the company to hire the american. The only requirement is if there was only the American candidate then he would get the job. The company can''t purposely exclude Americans but doesn't need to prove why a foreigner was selected.

Perhaps that was for the EB3 then. It was a few yrs ago now, but my attorney specifically made it a requirement that records were kept that we interviewed for my position. Again phone call was sufficient, and each individual had a write off sheet, with time and date of phone call.

H1B as long as its renewed for a 2nd term, is just enough time to squeeze in a GC application via an EB3 (employment based visa)

Also the company HAS to pay for this, and you're not allowed to pay them back... So you better have something worth having for them to go thru all this for you.

It is important to remember the H1B is the visa that allows you to be in the USA legally, and the EB3 is what eventually leads to the GreenCard.

 

[jon86]

best bet is to work for a multinational company over here and then look at transferring across to their US office

That can be quite slow. ...

Indeed. An intra-company transferee visa requires 365 days of continuous employment by one of the company's subsidiaries. Any time spent in USA (even whilst on holiday) is counted against the time employed. For example, if you were to work for a UK subsidiary from March 1 2014 to March 1 2015 and spent 3 weeks in the USA during Christmas 2014, your employer wouldn't be able to apply for the visa until March 22 2015.

...
I did have a driving offence that has been spent from a few years ago (driving without insurance). Basically got a slap on the wrist and a fine, would that affect my application?
...

The good folks on the British Expats Forum confirmed that this offense is not considered an offense of "moral turpitude", which means that you will be fine. An offense of moral turpitude is basically a legal concept for "you committed an offense too serious for us to want to let you into our country".

 

[MrMarvelous]

Alright so I want to start getting stuff sorted from this week. My two options are as follows:

1) Working/visitor visa to the U.S. Will have a roof over my head however the area that he's in doesn't have much with regards to a 'proper' job.

2) Try and get something sorted in Canada which looks like it might be easier however i'd have to contacts or relations there. Have no idea about the areas and where to apply for regarding my engineering qualifications.

-westy- i've sent a PM your way. Many thanks for all your help guys.

 

[Amp34]

be prepared for a very very difficult time... I'm really highly qualified in my field, and I've looked into it a few times, including work transfers, but it's not straightforward at all, takes a very long time..

The advice I got a couple of years ago from a professional overseas recruiter, was to go to Canada first, then go to the USA from there - as it's a lot easier... but that was a couple of years ago.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who.asp

See if you're on the list. They are very strict on qualification/fit for the job role on that website so (as an example) if you don't have a degree in Mech Eng and as a mechanical engineer in the UK you repair boilers you aren't a mechanical engineer*.

See if you fit in correctly in one of the required classifications and if so you may be eligible to apply by the express entry system. If you are then you go in to a pool where the people with the most points each month are allowed to apply for permanent residency. Wait something like 18 months and you may get permanent residency and be allowed to move over and work.

Its a new system so will be interesting to see how it works. Getting a temporary work permit for Canada has become a of harder now...

Easiest way to emigrate is to get an American/Canadian GF/wife...

 

[Moothead2]

Easiest way to emigrate is to get an American/Canadian GF/wife...

Even that can be a massive PITA, or so I've heard.

 

[Felon]

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-who.asp

Yeah I do qualify for the federal skilled worker program (on paper anyway), I've looked into it quite a bit, still quite serious about doing it, just getting around to it...

 

[InvaderGIR]

Even that can be a massive PITA, or so I've heard.

Indeed. A friend of mine married an American girl and it took him a couple of years to go through everything pretty much (they'd been together for many years before of course) and cost both rather a lot of money.
I don't know the full ins and outs of it all but it certainly isn't cheap or easy, despite internet quips etc.

 

[acemastr]

The place of work will actually put forward the Visa themselves to get you there, work Visa's are fairly easy to get but the company will be paying out a fair chunk of money to get you there.

Plus if it's 6 months and you're bored of the UK, imagine that flight home... trust me... I've made that flight several times, it isn't nice. You could find someone to marry, but you'd still be going back and waiting it out to get back here.

 

[[TW]Fox]

There is no real tourist visa anymore,

Yes there is.

http://london.usembassy.gov/niv/b2.html

there is a tourist visa visa waiver that you sign on the plane.ppi, mo cost.

No there isn't.

To travel to the US under the Visa Waiver programme you do not fill out a card on the plane - you complete an ESTA online. It is not free, there is a charge of $14.

You cannot board a US bound flight without a valid ESTA or a valid visa if you are a non citizen.

You only fill out the card when you enter the US via a land border.

 

[timmeh]

Marrying an American definitely isn't the easiest way. I've just got done with all of that and it was a real pain in the arse and wallet.

Yes there is.

http://london.usembassy.gov/niv/b2.html



No there isn't.

To travel to the US under the Visa Waiver programme you do not fill out a card on the plane - you complete an ESTA online. It is not free, there is a charge of $14.

You cannot board a US bound flight without a valid ESTA or a valid visa if you are a non citizen.

You only fill out the card when you enter the US via a land border.

You still fill out the card whether you travel on an ESTA or not or at least I had to the past 8 times I've travelled here over the past 2 years.