Travelling to the big 'A'

Chads

Chads

Chads

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Travelling to America

Hey all,

I'm 20, and in my second year of university. It's been my aspiration for some years now to travel around America, possibly to build a life and stay. Now, after so many years of contemplation, i'm approaching a point in my life when it's within my power to make this dream happen.

People measure the progression of their lives in different ways. For me, the idea of growing up, leaving England and travelling to America has been my own personal Rite of Passage. I don't know why I feel so strongly about this, maybe because I have family over there, or maybe it's because i'm a soppy romantic and like to imagine myself leaving home for a big journey.

Anyway, i'm coming up to my third year at university and I think it's time to get the wheels turning. I'll be wanting to leave next summer, and I need to start sorting through all the red tape involved in such a trip. The purpose of this thread is to do an initial scan for anyone who has -- or knows someone who has - travelled to The States for a prolonged period of time. My initial trip will be for a year, and may of course end up being permanent.

I'm really looking for any information that could prove helpful. At the moment I pretty much know nothing about the process involved in such a move, so i'll post some information about me and see what people pick up.



I have an Auntie who has lived in America for nearly 30 years, she's a leading professor of English in Virginia.

I don't have any criminal convictions.

I've travelled there with family several times before, the longest being for a month.

For this first year I will be looking to simply travel around America, working in Bars, resturants, etc. I'm not picky. What I do after that year depends on how I feel.

I should have a decent amount of money saved by this time next year, but i'm not sure how much is optimal. Obviously it's important to have a safety net in case finding employment is harder than expected.

I'll have a BA degree by the time I leave, i've heard this can help when applying for a Visa.



Any personal insights greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
 
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Have you looked into if you'll be able to travel around for a year. I know the normal tourist visa is 90 days but I think anything longer than this is a bit of a hassle to get.

Also if you're looking to live there then thats another hard thing in itself. Either marry a national or look into an investment visa.

Not meaning to be pessimistic about it, but just being realistic. Have you looked at the US embassy website yet?
 
Hey Billy, there are so many! I really have no idea where i'd be interested in staying long-term. There are lots of tourist hotspots i'd love to see during the initial trip, but what I i'm most looking forward to is just 'living' in America. Having a daily life, meeting people, working.

Me227, no you're right. I know how much of a pain it could potentially be to get a long-term Visa. My Auntie emigrated to The Staes when she was my age aswell, so I should be able to get some good info from her. I'll be spending next week pouring over the pages of legal specifics involved.
 
Chads said:
Hey Billy, there are so many! I really have no idea where i'd be interested in staying long-term. There are lots of tourist hotspots i'd love to see during the initial trip, but what I i'm most looking forward to is just 'living' in America. Having a daily life, meeting people, working.

Me227, no you're right. I know how much of a pain it could potentially be to get a long-term Visa. My Auntie emigrated to The Staes when she was my age aswell, so I should be able to get some good info from her. I'll be spending next week pouring over the pages of legal specifics involved.
Click to expand...

You could always just do what I done and find an American and marry her. :p
 
Chads said:
Hey all,

I'm 20, and in my second year of university. It's been my aspiration for some years now to travel around America, possibly to build a life and stay. Now, after so many years of contemplation, i'm approaching a point in my life when it's within my power to make this dream happen.

People measure the progression of their lives in different ways. For me, the idea of growing up, leaving England and travelling to America has been my own personal Rite of Passage. I don't know why I feel so strongly about this, maybe because I have family over there, or maybe it's because i'm a soppy romantic and like to imagine myself leaving home for a big journey.

Anyway, i'm coming up to my third year at university and I think it's time to get the wheels turning. I'll be wanting to leave next summer, and I need to start sorting through all the red tape involved in such a trip. The purpose of this thread is to do an initial scan for anyone who has -- or knows someone who has - travelled to The States for a prolonged period of time. My initial trip will be for a year, and may of course end up being permanent.

I'm really looking for any information that could prove helpful. At the moment I pretty much know nothing about the process involved in such a move, so i'll post some information about me and see what people pick up.



I have an Auntie who has lived in America for nearly 30 years, she's a leading professor of English in Virginia.

I don't have any criminal convictions.

I've travelled there with family several times before, the longest being for a month.

For this first year I will be looking to simply travel around America, working in Bars, resturants, etc. I'm not picky. What I do after that year depends on how I feel.

I should have a decent amount of money saved by this time next year, but i'm not sure how much is optimal. Obviously it's important to have a safety net in case finding employment is harder than expected.

I'll have a BA degree by the time I leave, i've heard this can help when applying for a Visa.



Any personal insights greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Hi

I'm not sure how you'll go about getting a visa that lets you stay longer than the usual 90 days and work over here. I got my visa by marrying an American, about as straight forward a case as you can get, and that took months of paperwork, medicals, interviews at the Embassy, etc. I guess the fact you have some family already there could make it easier as they can sponsor you - I'm not too sure how that works, but be prepared for a lot of paperwork :p

Obviously the best place to start is: http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/index.htm

And here's a great forum that helped us out loads when we were going through the visa process: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php

Be warned tho, don't get your hopes up - it may just not be possible to stay for that long. I'm really not sure.....but have a look through the above links and feel free to give me shout if you have any questions :)
 
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