twan111111

Hi there.

My wife and I are in the early stages of looking at moving to the USA. We understand it is very difficult for people from the UK at the moment. However, she has just been recognised by the British Dental Association as the a Winner of the Best Dental Nurse for the UK 2015, as well as being short listed for the Best Dental Practice Manager for the UK 2015. We were wondering if this was a skill set that would be in demand that would help with an application.

Thanks for your time. Any other details, please ask.

Ant

Weeze

To live and work in America you are going to need a visa. This is a good starting point.
Pulaski Simplified : British Expat Wiki

Start by looking at what visa you think might be suitable.

christmasoompa

Hi, and welcome to BE.

However good your wife is as a dental nurse (and it's great that she's been recognised for being so great at it), it's unlikely that it's a job that would lead to a visa for the US from what I've read on the forum before. Have a search of the forum as there have been a few threads from dental nurses in the past year or two that would be well worth reading.

What do you do, do you have more specialist skills that might lead to a visa?

Good luck with it.

twan111111

Thanks. The following apply to us.

*Do you work in your home country (or another country outside the US) in a high-or medium-level position for a multinational employer with offices in the US?\
*Do you have an extraordinary ability (usually, national or international recognition) in anything?
*Do you have an academic degree?
*Do you have specialist skills?

I work for a multinational company. I have asked for a transfer to our LA office but have been told opportunities are limited.

My wife is a Dental Practice Manager and Dental Nurse who has just won the Dental Award for Best Dental Nurse in the UK. She is also studying reflexology.

My wife has an equivalent academic degree - the Licentiateship Award in Dental Nursing & I have a Law Degree & Legal Practitioners Certificate.

Specialist skills as above, my wife is Dental Practice Manager and Dental Nurse and I currently am in the print industry quality assessing food packaging.

Hope this helps

Guindalf

It helps, but not in a good way for you, I'm afraid. Although not completely out of the question, it does tell us that the chances of either of you making it over here are extremely slim - think lottery win thin!

The response from your company of 'opportunities are limited' essentially seems to me to be a polite way of saying 'ain't gonna happen'. One must ask why you have a law degree and are not practicing law (from an immigration standpoint). This indicates that your area of expertise is not what you trained in!

As for your wife, congrats to her on being recognized, but you have to understand that the majority of dental practices are small and wouldn't be willing/able to pay thousands of dollars to bring someone in from overseas when someone can train to do the job already without having to wait months for a visa approval.

That said, there is always a chance, but would I bet the farm on it? Heck no.

Why do you want to move here anyway? With your wife's qualifications and your background, I would think you could make a nice living in the UK?

christmasoompa

Sounds like a transfer for you would be your best bet then (plus if you transferred on a L1 visa it would mean you could both work). If opportunities are 'limited' then it might take a while, but fingers crossed.

Best of luck with it.

Pulaski

Not really, I fear. Neither you nor your wife will be able to work in your respective fields without further training recertification/relicensing to US standards. In your case this is likely to be expensive and relatively lengthy ..... and the US is already awash with lawyers!

The problem you both face is that without a local license to practice nobody will be interested in hiring you, but until you're living here getting the required training and taking the licensing exams is going to be difficult. ...... That said I don't see either of your occupations as being likely to attract enough attention to get an employer interested enough to apply for a visa for you (supposing there is a suitable visa category, and I don't believe there is) when there are people here who can do the job without needing a visa.

As others have said, a transfer with your employer is your best and probably, for all practical purposes, your only shot at a visa to work in the US.

E3only

+1...why not change within Europe? Australia? Canada?

scrubbedexpat099

Sounds like a Company move is best bet.

Dorothy

Because dental nurse is not on either of the skilled lists for Australia.

Pulaski

There isn't even "a list" for the US, but that doesn't stop people wanting to come.

Dorothy

There is a list here, but that doesn't stop everyone saying "if you don't qualify for a visa to the US you can get one for Australia"

scrubbedexpat099

Everybody can go to Canada?

Pulaski

You seem over sensitive - I don't recall anyone say "you can get a visa for Australia", they just ask "why don't you try Australia?" Which is what E3only, who you quoted, asked.

caleyjag

Back on topic:

Prestigious awards can open up the door to an O1 visa, however the road is a rocky one, and the chances of success are slim.

I doubt many people on this forum are qualified to say what is considered prestigious within the context of dentistry. My gut feeling is that being a dental assistant rather than a fully qualified, practice-owning dentist doesn't help, but again I am not familiar with the field.

Your wife will first need to find a willing employer to sponsor the application. This is tricky to do from the UK but not impossible, depending on how good she has been at globally networking. Does she personally know any practices in the US that have said they would be willing to hire her?

Once this is done, she and her future employer will need to engage with a qualified immigration attorney to build a portfolio of evidence that she is world-class in her profession.

I managed to make the O1 route work this way, but it cost my employer about $30,000 in lawyer fees and even with that spend there is no assurance of success when you finally go to the embassy to beg for the visa.

It took me about ~1 year to go from job offer to visa.