ian-mstm

The "British Government" has nothing to do with it. It's the US government that decides whether a country is or isn't eligible for the DV lottery.

Ian

tinseltown17

Having graduated almost a decade ago, I can tell you that the people I knew who ended up in the U.S. were either:

(a) Accountants at places like PWC, etc. (big companies with international presence who use 'transfers abroad' as some sort of benefit for their employees). I've seen former uni mates get transferred to Australia, USA and so forth this way, often setting up their residencies there.

(b) Those who can network like hell. And I mean... seriously. Like going to conferences abroad, making proper connections - to be honest they are the ones for whom the world has literally no borders. It's not like they have any specialist skill either. I know someone who studied economics - and it's not like he won a Nobel prize, and yet, he networked his way to a VERY lucrative job in California. My Father-in-Law was offered a highly-paid job in the U.S. this way which he surprisingly declined, and other friends/colleagues, too. These people move from one place to another within a blink of an eye. Sort of unfair when you see all those posts here of people desperately trying to get a visa.

(c) As you said - work for a multi-national company. One of my friends is currently trying to get moved to LA. It involves the skill mentioned in (b) though. She networks like there's no tomorrow.

(d) The person I mentioned in (c) did work in the U.S. for 2 years though. She was studying in Germany and took 2 years out to do an internship - which turned into full-time work. She only went back to Germany to complete her degree. She's half-Filipino, too.

zerlesen

As an addendum to that, I would suggest that one of the least bad paths into the country is some sort of STEM postgraduate degree. It's much easier to get financial support from US institutions (which then also makes it much easier to get the necessary visa sorted out), it's the one category of immigration that almost everyone (except Numbers USA, FAIR, etc) at least makes a pro forma attempt to encourage (witness Romney's "staple a green card to the diploma" suggestion and Cornyn's recent proposal), and between OPT and the extra H1-B quota the deck is somewhat less stacked against you when you eventually hit the job market.

None of that is much help to people who don't have an appropriate undergraduate qualification, but for those who are willing to plan four or five years ahead it's worth keeping in mind.

tinseltown17

That's true. Another uni mate now lives in Upstate NY, after receiving a scholarship at an ivy league uni to do a 2-year MSc there, then got her PhD funded, too. Her sister did the exact same thing (even studied the same subject), got a job and visa in the U.S. - no problem.

In short, there are plenty of ways, if people plan ahead and are actually proven to be reasonably intelligent.

calliope

The UK is in the equation whether you like it or not because NI is in the UK, full stop. My problem with it is that it discriminates between people of the same nation-state. If Britain decided that Americans born in Iowa and Oregon could claim British citizenship every Tuesday, and be eligible for full healthcare benefits, there would be nothing anyone could do about this but it would still be a discriminatory policy and one either objects to discriminatory policies or one doesn't, as far as I can see. I'm sure under those circumstances the US Government would have something to say about it as well.

calliope

I totally agree. The US system just has to be wined and dined a little more than other systems, that's all and totally +1 about the nepotism/contacts etc. The US system really encourages this sort of thing because it has so little provision for other ways in. I know three people who went UK >> US and all three of them were post-networking job transfers.

lisa67

But I'm sure that if the three people you mention, weren't up to the job then the company transferring them wouldn't be willing to pay the extra to send them over...isn't that what networking is all about anyway?

calliope

In a way, but my issue with networking is that it's usually not an open process but goes on behind closed doors and personal relationships count for more than ability. It might be that the best person gets the job, or it might not be! One person might have more experience and would be a better fit but couldn't make the cocktail party where another person who was his inferior was greasing the right palms and ended up getting the job because he knows Ted etc.

tinseltown17

This is soooo right. It's not too different from seeing people climb up the corporate ladder due to 'internal politics'. About 90% of the time, the people who move up this way are inferior to their competitors who may have concentrated on the actual job at hand rather than the corporate grease pole.

Some people do get selected based purely on their ability, but I have to say this doesn't happen as often as the above.

ian-mstm

Respectfully... Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are part of the UK. While they have agreed (or were coerced) to join together under one national government, they remain separate countries within the UK.


Surely, even you see the fallacy inherent within your comment. Iowa and Oregon are not separate countries within the US.

Ian

calliope

Also very respectfully, while they are countries, they are not nation-states. And yes there was coercion, but in all cases hundreds of years ago.

In terms of jurisdiction powers Iowa and Oregon are more independent than Wales perhaps now is, but certainly before the assembly, and both of the states had legislatures which were more autonomous than anything the UK "countries" had until very recently. So in this respect the example is not only relevant but in fact makes the point that all US states are more like separate countries from a legislative point of view than any of the UK countries.