BeckyDenne13

I'm Only 14 But i Know what i want to do already and i am 100% sure
I like in the uk in a place called crawley(its between london and brighton) and i am going to go to 6th form but then i want to get a american student visa, go to a university out there and study law... but i know that i want to stay there for the rest of my life and the student visa defenitly dosent cover that....
so i really need help finding out info like am i even allowed to get a permenant working visa for america after i have had the student visa? and anything like that!


PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP! x

Duncan Roberts

Start with getting the qualifications to get into law school and saving up the money to go there.

Since you're 7-8 years away from being able to go to law school you have plenty of time to get ready. Right now you can easily drop $150,000 to get a law degree here and I wouldn't argue if somebody told me that would double by the time you are going to be looking.

You may be able to get ajob sponsorship after you graduate, you may not be able to, no one knows what the immigration laws will be like in a decade when they will matter to you.

ian-mstm

Good for you! You'll have to be 18 before you can apply for a visa, and you'll probably need an undergraduate degree before being able to study law... but it sounds as though you're on your way!


And this is the real snag in the plan!


You most certainly can! The hard part is getting a company to sponsor you for the visa... but yes, it can certainly be done! Who knows... maybe you'll meet a nice American boy while you're in law school, fall in love, and get married. That would actually be the easiest way to get to live in the US on a more permanent basis.

Ian

Noorah101

Very basically, you would go to the USA on your student visa, get your degree, and then try to find a US employer to hire you and sponsor you for a work visa. You have lots of time to figure it all out, but good that you're looking into it early.

Rene

Michael

Over the years, there has been 20,000 H1-B visas per year available for foreign students who get a masters degree from US universities. In their final year, many students search out companies that will sponsor them for that visa.

Usually these visas are easier to get than the 65,000 H1-B visas per year available to everyone else in the world.

In 10 years, no one can predict what visas will be available. By that time, there could possibly be new visas available for UK citizens if there are new trade treaties such as that are currently available with Canadian, Mexican, and Australian citizens.

caleyjag

Ok Becky, this is good. You have plenty of time.

Just to make it clear, before we begin. This is a long-term plan. You aren't going to be celebrating your 16th birthday in the OC with a brand new car.

There are a couple of things you should be aware of, as you plan your A-levels and decisions that might affect where you end up.


Firstly, in America law is a graduate degree. That means you need a different undergrad first. So you won't be going to America to study law specifically until you are at least 21, should you choose to do your undergrad in the UK.

If you wanted to go out when you are 18 and do your undergrad in the US, you will need to consider a different area of study. Political science seems to be popular for aspiring lawyers, but I'm not sure it really matters what you do. Remember, undergraduate degrees in the US take 4 years.

Studying law in the UK as an undergrad is not likely to be much use in getting you a job in the US, and is probably no more likely than most other subjects to get you in to law school over there.


One of the most important things you need to consider is cost. It is VERY expensive to study in the US. This applies to both undergrad and law school.

You will need some serious funding behind you. Hopefully your family are very rich. If you don't have access to a lot of money, it's going to be very difficult.

Finally, since we have caught you young, if you do decide you want to move to the US, but want to take the cost-effective option of studying in the UK, then make sure to get the best A-level results you can.

To put it bluntly, if you manage to get into Oxford or Cambridge, this will open a lot more doors for you, regardless of what you study, than most other universities in the UK. American employers are quite ignorant of most British universities and so it is important to try and get into the best one that you can.

Get studying!



Also, if you are good at a sport, you might want to look at developing that. It's possible to get full scholarships from from the UK to a US school if you are good enough at a varsity sport (typically includes golf, gymnastics, football, athletics).

AdobePinon

caleyjag gives excellent advice. Since you are starting young, the only real obstacle to your goal is money. You'll need quite a chunk of change to get a US law degree. There are a few ways of getting it paid for you - for example, committing to being a patent lawyer and getting sponsorship - but mostly you will be on your own. Everything else is quite doable - getting a work visa should not be terribly hard *if* you do very well in law school and take all the opportunities to network with potential employers.

henryh

Not so sure about this. A lot of American universities will accept students under 18, and you can get an F-1 visa for that. Of course you still need funding, but this could be an option when you're 16 or 17 if you manage to do your A-levels early.

Do you have a US citizen brother, sister or parent who could sponsor you for a green card? In the case of siblings the wait time is about 10 years but that would be about right if you were to start now.

The advice in this thread is good!

Ray

Aint it good to see a kid with grand ambitions

good luck BeckyDenne

JCraigFong

Becky: I have counseled and served as mentor for students in, or on their way to, law school for many, many years. Everyone's advice here has been pretty much right on. You're going to need money and planning.

A few thoughts. If you wish, you can do your bachelors degree in either the USA or UK, and LATER go for your JD at a US law school. An LL.B or a B.C.L. from the UK will be of limited use to you for US law purposes; you'll still most likely need a JD from a US law school. (If you are fully qualified and called to the Bar in the UK, you could take a bar exam in some of the States, but there are complications.) (There are exceptions here, but I'm speaking broadly.)

Because you will need a bachelor's degree, before you can enter a US J.D. program, I would admonish you to study what you most love. If you're good at maths, by all means, major in maths. If you love history, then study history. A political science degree is lovely, if you like polisci, but it is hardly a ticket to law school. The best advice ANYone will give you is: (a) study what you LOVE, because you'll do better, and given the highly competitive nature of law school admissions, you'll need top grades to go to a good school, and (b) what ever you decide to major in as an undergraduate, be sure you take classes that emphasize critical reading and (most importantly) precise writing. I have lots -- truly, lots -- of classmates from undergrad and law school who were art, math, engineering, and music majors and who went on to law school.

About costs: because you'll most likely be coming as a foreign student (F-1 visa), you will end up paying top dollar -- foreign student tuition -- at any public university. What THAT means is that you might just as easily look at some of the private universities, because the costs may be comparable to what the public institutions will charge you.

Some universities, including my own alma mater and others have a policy that "if you are admitted, we'll find a way to finance your education." Mind you, some of these universities can be somewhat difficult to enter, but if your marks are very good, you should consider them. For example, my own university considered over 26,000 applications for the class to enter in September 2009. The class will consist of roughly 1,300 freshmen, so you can see admission alone is a hurdle.

The odds are a bit scarier at the law school level. My own law school has spaces for 250 1st year students, and last year there were over 5,800 applications.

This leads to my last bit of advice: look at a broad range of US universities, because you should not only apply to the "best of the best," as it were, but also to some "safety" schools.

Best of luck.

--J

pineapple2oo9

Not sure if this will be something you'd consider but might be an option if your heart is not completely set on law...

I'm a fellow crawley-ite and just graduated from uni of sussex. The uni has some kind of allegiance with American Express (they have a big office in Brighton) and offer a paid masters programme to people finishing their undergrad degrees. Basically, they'll pay for your further education after you've done your bachelors, and you will work a certain number of hours for them weekly. I'm not sure if this was limited to my degree area, comp sci, and it's a bit of a long shot to hope for some kind of transfer to America with American Express but I thought i'd throw that out there.

As far as I gather people who get onto the programme do very well and obtain managerial positions within a relatively short period of time. A route I would have certainly considered if I didn't have immediate family already in the states.

BeckyDenne13

Ohhh My Gosh Thanks So Much Everyone One for your help Its is really great
So now ive kinda decided what part of law i would want to make a career out of and thats entertainment and media law. so i'm thinking if i stay here and do my undergrad in the uk and then try and go to the u.s to study law.....but what is a JD and do i have to have a JD to do an LL.B course???

thankyou so much everyone for helping me so far

BeckyDenne13

Right okay lets say i got intpo the university of sussex and studied law of american studies (3 years) LLB and then would i be able to go to america and study entertainment law or not?

ian-mstm

JD is the US education equivalent of a British/Canadian LLB. Both the JD and LLB are 3-year degrees and both (at least in North America) are graduate degrees... meaning, you need an undergraduate degree before enrolling in law school.

BeckyDenne13

Ohhh i get it so i have to do an undergraduate first then a LLB , so i could do the undergraduate degree in the uk then the LLB in the US right ???
Thanks so much x