Michael

It will depend if you want to transfer to the US or the company wants to transfer you to the US. If you want to transfer to the US, any negotiations will likely be a deal breaker since the company would already be doing you a favor by paying for an immigration lawyer and the plane ticket to fill a position that they could probably fill other ways. Also for the vast majority of American employees, there is no such thing as a contract and if it appeared to the US HR department that you were getting special treatment plus all the US benefits but had the same skill set as a US employee, they'd likely put a stop to the transfer. If the company wants to transfer you, then most of those things will probably be included.

So the question is do you want to make it happen or do you want wait for the company to determine if their is a specialized need for your skills that they can't find anywhere else or if you are in management, wait until the company wants to transfer a Brit to the US and let them determine whether you are the most qualified manager for that position.

As I stated in the previous post, if you are going to be in management, then don't go with an American company since even if you are willing to forgo expatriate benefits, the American company will likely promote managers within the US instead of transferring someone from a foreign country to fill that position. Therefore in that case, you should probably work for a British company and hope they need a British manager in the US and you are the desired candidate for that position. As a manager, it will likely be an all or nothing transfer but those transfers will likely be based on the company's needs and not your desires and will be few and far between.

As someone stated earlier, they worked for a small British company and got their transfer that way when the company wanted to setup a US presence. Working for a small British company will probably make a manager transfer easier than a large British company since you may be only one of just a few managers in the company when they decide to setup a US presence.

I suspect one of the reasons that Indians, Chinese, and other Asian countries get most of the H1-B visas is that their financial requirements are minimal to transfer to the US but they get a high salary, stock options, bonuses, and all the other benefits that an American company has to offer. Europeans tend to want to negotiate a package and that may turn off the HR department especially if there are other candidates just as qualified.

Besides the H1-B visa, Canadians and Australians typically come to the US and find a job and hire in very quickly since they have special visas (TN-1, and E-3 visas) that allow them to quickly get a visa which is fairly hassle free and low cost for the company.

MsElui

that said - my husband and several of his English colleagues were brought over to the US part of the org in manager roles for a large multinational bank (HQ = in USA). so it is possible. He didnt join the company to achieve that - just was in the right place at the right time. The company had a printed booklet with all the standard transfer benefits as they did it so much around the world. So nothing was negotiable- you read the tables (ie married with kids, or single or whatever category - and got those benefits. They were good benefits in my opinion - not outstanding but fairly generous.

He remained on an expat contract with british T&C until such times as the company applied/got his greencard - then he had to switch to local hire T & C. His salary didn't change at that point -but his benefits changed in line with the locals (ie slightly less vacation - less sick pay, now 'right to hire/fire' etc.

Michael

I suspect for banking (especially investment banking), it happens more often than other industries.

Bnet36

I just posted the Masters route on another thread. I work in Higher Ed here and if you want to be in management with a technical Bachelors degree like engineering or computer science you need an MBA. If you have the money to pay for the international fees, and get into a good school you will most likely get a job and sponsorship for a visa at the end of it. Most MBA programs are ranked nationally on the percent of students employed at graduation and what their salary is (among other factors). Most of our students leave with a $120K job and their visa taken care of. The trick is to get into a good university… your degree will be judged on that solely.

Hotscot

Make sure you keep your social media profile squeaky clean. And I mean very clean. They're getting considered with increasing frequency.

And familiarise yourself with psychometric testing. Many organizations use it extensively. Last year I went for one interview that gave me 12 tests in four intensive hours. Software company.

Tediously

Is it a necessity, even if you come over on a transfer or just through the H1B and could you link me to that thread or give me it's name? Cheers!

Just taken a look at that, I had no idea they were implementing those types of tests in the industry. How did you find them?

Bnet36

[QUOTE=Tediously;11350213]Is it a necessity, even if you come over on a transfer or just through the H1B and could you link me to that thread or give me it's name? Cheers!

It is not a necessity but it is the most desired combo by recruiters and here in the US there are plenty with this combination now so you would have to compete with them. If you are transferring within the same company and you have been in a management role then that's different.

Sorry I have not logged in for a few days. Here is the link to the thread....http://britishexpats.com/forum/usa-5.../#post11348223

christmasoompa

Not always though. My husband works in a technical field, and has no MBA but is frequently headhunted for Head of Dept/Director/SVP level positions in the US.

So it's not always required. Having said that, he starts an MBA in March! The £50k cost is being met by his company so he's going to do it for personal reasons, but it's not something he feels he needs to do for professional reasons.

Uncle_Bob

I always think the transfer plan is a weak one. You can get yourself qualified up to the eyeballs but you are relying on a position opening up within just the one organization. And when you ask for a transfer you are counting on a positive reply. You are also likely going to be dealing with some competition for the same position from other people hoping to land the job in America. But good luck though.

My plan worked but it was a bit more aggressive. I graduated with computer science and wanted to be a software engineer. In order to get into America i knew i had to gain expertise and skills in certain niche area so i had something to offer other than just a generic software stuff. The telecom act of 1996 happened, deregulation = opportunity, I got a job with a telecoms company doing embedded software and became an expert is several telecommunications protocols over 4 years. The demand for software engineers with telecoms experience was ripe. I put my resume on monster.com, i got 2 calls within a week from America. Shortly after that i had a nice little relocation package and was living and working near the beach on the silicon sandbar. I also imported an English wife. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

If you really want to start your American dream and don't have a boat load of money or want to marry an American then i would focus on getting as much in demand specialised knowledge as you can.

Mr Weeze

I would suggest it's highly industry specific - it's pretty easy to do in oil, assuming you do something to excel within your role. I would have thought no company is going to look to transfer someone who is an average employee.

Michael

The late 1990s was an unusual time for high tech. I was getting calls on a weekly basis asking me to come to their company and just about anyone that knew how to program with any language including HTML could easily get a job.