nica924

My husband will have a CR-1 visa in a year give or take and his questions about finding work in the US while in the UK are making my head spin!! He has a fantastic job here *fantastic* but he will leave it behind when we move sadly.. he's an engineer software/communications loads of exp c++ and the lot very employable and the company he works for now is very very well known, but he seems to think any US company will be immediately put off by his UK residence (we can't move there until he has a definite job offer, he won't leave this job until he does) we want to move to the San diego area where we lived before coming here. Does anyone have any experience/advise to share on this issue please?

civilservant

Simply. Most employers won't consider someone abroad, even if they will have a visa to work. Pulaski has good experiance in this question.

scrubbedexpat099

linked in

networking

Bob

He been there long? Can't he just take up a sabbatical from the company, then set up shop in the US, or at very least arrange job applications before coming over with a set date for interviews between x and y date?

Being over here, with valid work authorisation helps....but best bet is networking and introductions from people you know.

Michael

Probably 90% or more of the positions that companies have open will want to be filled within 2 months at the most. By trying to find a job 6-12 months in advance, that will likely severely limit the number of positions that would be available to choose from and those available will likely have more defined job requirements.

That is one of the reasons that many Silicon Valley companies use outsourcing companies if they can't find local talent to fill positions. The outsourcing companies build up a pool of employees that can immediately fill many of the positions when companies need them.

Usually only when a company needs a highly specialized individual that can't be filled locally or through outsourcing companies will they be willing to wait 6-12 months for an individual to start employment.

Therefore I suspect until he can give an employment date that is within 2 months of an employment application, his prospects of being offered a job will be severely limited. If he can get to the point of being able to be able to start working within 2 months, he can use a US address, phone number, and email to put on his resume and will likely significantly improve his chance of being offered jobs. Although a company may call and question why he is not in the US, as long as he can start to work in a reasonable period of time, they may overlook that he isn't currently residing in the US.

For example, prior to retiring I worked with C, C++, C#, Java, and other languages developing networking, routers, operating system internals, VPN, and many other projects but I doubt a company would currently wait 6-12 months unless I was an exact fit (their network, their router, their VPN, their operating system, etc.).

Noorah101

Once he gets the Immigrant Visa in hand, it will be valid for 6 months from the date his medical exam was done. If he does not find a job in the USA by then, and still does not want to move to the USA without having a job lined up in the USA, then he simply won't be moving to the USA, and all that money and time for the visa will have been wasted.

Rene

scrubbedexpat099

He could fudge it, go over an activate it in the 6 months and come back for a while.

Hotscot

Also, check out Dice.com for jobs and some good forums on the state of programming careers.

nica924

We didn't set out to look for a job right now.. rather take in advice and start about 6-9 months out from the move. His job here was vacant for 16months before he was hired, he had a few job offers and was hired within 2weeks of arriving in the UK. I know San Diego I grew up there so I know the job market is different it will take longer. He was previously employed there for some specialized stuff that San Diego is known for in the business world (DNA research and lab equipment development hardware/software/testing/programming ect.. it was a small business he did all things technical for them) He was on an L-1B Visa then for about 5years, that company switched over to doing something completely unrelated so that's not an option.
He has to give 2 months notice so I'm not sure how this will work.
He works for a certain very well known F1 team there is no way someone will see hes still working there and think he lives in the US.
He actually has a letter written (at the time for the purpose of the L-1B) from the head of the company he was working for and subsidiaries in the UK and US pointing out he was the only person with experience in the tech they were working with, that no one living in the US would.
Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but hypothetically if he was that specialized guy that the company would wait 6-12 months for, would they be actively looking for him generally speaking(monster, linked in) or an agent or prospective employee pool.. how would this work?
BTW thanks for all the response.. big help

nica924

Ya what are the parameters? you must be in the US for x months out of the year or what? I was under the impression that once he got there he would be under some sort of bar from travel for the next year or so. This isn't the case?

Pulaski

No that is not correct. He could arrive, clear immigration, and get the next flight home. Staying out of the US for more than six months may be risky, and more than twelve months should definitely be avoided.

In deed. Although my agent reported "lots of interest" she was unable to schedule any interviews until I visited the US. Once I booked a visit to the US she was able to line up multiple interviews, which led to three job offers. I visited the US three weeks in anticipation of my spouse visa interview.

But the point is that without a US address and phone number, some low-level functionary in HR will probably weed out his résumé without anyone even reading it. Applying for jobs internationally is even more of a game than applying for jobs usually is, so you have to know the rules of the game. The first rule, and arguably the most important one, is to make sure that you get your résumé over the first hurdle, which is the initial "cut" by someone in HR applying some arbitrary criteria, such as "not currently in the US" ...... and they won't even look at visa status, it's just done on the address.

nica924

That's great news! I had no idea.


So just before the interview? These companies were willing to consider you before you had authorization to work in the US in hand? I was unaware that companies did that I thought the first thing they did was see that you could legally work in the US "now" before interviewing for the position.


I see, so how do you figure the phone? A US cell that you physically have in the UK? how can you guarantee service? If not then perhaps you specify to contact via E-mail?

Pulaski

Well I don't know about other industries, occupations and businesses (I am not in computers/IT), but the major corporations I interviewed with, and the managers in my particular specialty, didn't seem to have a problem with my situation. Nor apparently that I was, it turned out, about 11 weeks away from immigrating. It was only after I had my visa in hand that I discussed the offers I had with my recruiting agent and decided which one to accept.
I'm not sure, I'm not very current on phone technology. ...... I think Skype, Vonage, or another VoIP phone service can give you a number in another country. (?) You can get a "PO Box" from The UPS store which has a "street address", and if you just give the box number as "unit" or "apt" it is unlikely that anyone will notice that it isn't a condo or apartment building. .... Just try not to use a UPS Store around the corner from a potential employer!

Bob

Get a google voice number and set it to call forward to the UK would be the cheapest option to avoid a cost while it isn't being used.

nica924

Thanks for all the info it's golden!!
Looking into that..

I think we might get an agent too, sounds convenient.