IHTempleman

Hi All,

We are Canadian citizens desperate to move to Arizona. I am certified as a teacher in Arizona (high school) and hubbie is an owner operator trucker but also served in the UK military - we originated from Scotland and moved to Canada 10 years ago. We have been trying to move to Arizona for nearly 18 years and it is still our dream.

It is so hard to do this from so far away but we cannot give up the dream. Unfortunately unless I teach at college or university level I do not appear to qualify for the TN visa, hubbie also has to get a job offer and get the employer to do an I 129 so he can get the H-2B visa - although we are concerned this is valid for 12 months but is renewable.

We are really looking for any and all guidance on what we should now do. Unless we win the lottery so we have enough for a business visa we are in limbo. Any advice appreciated - we cannot give up on this dream.

Noorah101

It sounds like you already know all your options, but just in case, read this link to see if there's something you overlooked:

Pulaski's Ways: How to Live and Work in the USA : British Expat Wiki

Those are all the available visas to the USA. If you find one that seems to fit, come on back and let us know, and we can discuss.

You could make this a long-term plan (sounds like it already has been one, anyway), and do what it takes to teach at a college or university level to get the TN visa. Your husband could change careers and do something that fits the TN or another visa. You've been working at this for 18 years and haven't made any headway...there's probably a reason for that. There might not be a visa that suits a move to the USA for you.

Rene

Noorah101

Why are you so desperate, and why only Arizona?

Rene

IHTempleman

Have you ever went somewhere and just felt at home, that you belonged, well that is Phoenix for us. Hubbie was based there once with the forces and we have just felt at home every time we have come - our longest stay was for a month. We are presently in the middle of our 2017 stay and I really do not want to go back to Ontario but we know we have to.

Noorah101

Yep, Istanbul Turkey was like that for me.

Rene

ian-mstm

I grew up in Toronto and lived for 10 years in Windsor and another 13 years in Kingston. If a TN visa doesn't do the trick for you and you don't have sufficient $$ for an investment visa, then you have three choices: 1) retrain; 2) get a job with a company that has either a branch office in the US or wants to open one; or 3) keep visiting.

Ian

scrubbedexpat099

H2b is for temp or seasonal labour, best bet would seem to be through you but most likely he would not be able to work.

crg

As mentioned, H2B is for unskilled work. Think more hotel maid in a tourist town, and less truck driving. You'd also have to maintain a foreign residence that you do not intend to abandon. Even if you were to get a TN for post secondary teacher, TD dependents like your spouse cannot work.

neill

I read today that Canada, in NAFTA negotiations, intends to request expansion of the "TN list" so to speak, so who knows what this might encompass.

Pulaski

When you're asking a school to stump-up $5,000-$10,000 for a visa and related legal fees, it seems to be unlikely that a school constrained by public school budget limits would shell out such a sum when they could hire locally in the US without having to pay those fees.