At the beginning ...
 

Hello, sorry to ask such basic questions. I have looked through previous posts but can’t find any that match my queries.

My wife and I have decided that we’d like to move to Florida, US. We’re both British.

I am a Registered Paramedic here in the UK and my wife is a Project Manager.

From what I have seen; Paramedic is not on the list of needed skills, meaning that this will not help me in gaining a visa. Although I am enquiring about potential conversion courses that might allow me to register as a Paramedic in the US (this is likely to take 1-2 years at least to achieve).

This has led me to thinking that our best chance of gaining entry to US would be via the Green Card Lottery. Which is still a shot in the dark from what I can as see.

As an added complication, I was refused a Holiday Visa (?) around 11 years ago as I made an error on my application. I have since visited US on holiday on an ESTA without problem.

Are you able to offer any advice as to the best way to go about immigrating or are our chances so minimal that we’re better off not getting our hopes up?

Thanks for your time

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Normally British people are not eligible for the Lottery (unless they are from Northern Ireland, or born elsewhere than the UK, or probably some other obscure reason I'm forgetting) so first of all are you sure you are even eligible?
Secondly we have a sticky link at the top marked Pulaski's ways , which basically lays out your options.
If you don't meet one of those limited categories then basically you don't have a chance, the US is very hard to immigrate to.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

I am not aware of a list of needed skills.

Not sure an Employer would sponsor a Paramedic, would check that before looking at conversion courses.

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<<<SNIP>>>

OK, some simple questions back at you...

1. Why Florida? Because of a holiday at the House of Mouse? The US is VASTLY different and there are another 49 states that each have something to offer, many preferential to the sweatbox that is Fla.

2. If you were born in the UK, other than NI, you do no qualify for the GC lottery, if it will even exist when the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions are lifted. In fact, ALL foreign work visas are on hold at least until the end of this year, so the likelihood of getting into the country that way is slim to none.

3. Have you experienced life in the US apart from a fortnight visiting the theme parks? Life here is VERY different to what you think it is. When you rely on earning a living and suddenly have to pay out for rent or a mortgage, insurance for home, car and health, car payments, utilities (A/C all year round, etc), other utilities, etc., it becomes a difficult and expensive proposition.

Bottom line, your chances are slim to none. Read Pulaski's Ways and come back with any questions, but remember that this was written before the extra restrictions imposed by the current administration.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Take a look here, and here (the link also provided by Guindalf, above) to read up on the ways it is possible to immigrate to the US.

That said there is nothing you have told us so far that suggests that you have anything more than a vanishingly small chance of immigrating to the US, but take heart, typically Americans only get around 15 days vacation each year, and many get less than that, and/or only get 15 days after a numbers of years service, so you can probably enjoy more holiday time in the US as a visitor than you would have if you lived here.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

thanks, I realized that and already deleted by post. :)

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Does your wife work for a company with offices in the US? That sounds like it could be your only option (but not until at least next year).

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Thank you for your very unsupportive and rude reply.

I apologised in my initial post for the question evidently being a simple one.

No, we don’t want to live in Florida because of Disney, in fact I’m not a fan of Disney. Have you ever visited Florida other than visiting the ‘House of Mouse’? Doesn’t sound like it! Have you ever had human contact with someone and not offended them?

Fantastic awareness of the fact there many many other states. In fact I’ve travelled across most of the US, but my wife and I very much like the way and quality of life in Florida.

Thank you for your one bit of constructive advice surrounding GC Lottery, it’s much appreciated.

I was under the impression that this was a forum to support and advise other users, not to berate, belittle and patronise people.

Where are you currently living in the US? I’ll make sure I never visit anywhere remotely close to you!

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Thank you for your reply. I think I’d mis-read something somewhere when reading up about the Green Card Lottery! Seems pretty simple bulky the sounds of it.

Thanks for direction to Pulaski’s ways, have a good look and there may be one or two ways to explore!

Thanks again :)

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Thank you for help. Hahah yes, that has certainly been an interesting find when we’ve looked into employment over there. We got the impression that to get any more than 15 days you’d need an understanding employer to allow you to take unpaid leave! Seems crazy.

There are a couple possible things on the list that we could explore further.

thanks again

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She doesn’t unfortunately. She works as a Project Manager for our local Police force.

We’ll explore the list that others have given and see what we come up with.

thanks :)

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Hmmm, OK. :unsure: But please take it from me, and pretty much anyone else here on BE who has made the move to the US, that living here is a totally different game from visiting on holiday. Not least because as a holidaymaker, especially in Florida, you get to enjoy and experience all the things that are cheap, the cheap hotels, the cheap restaurants, the cheap rental cars, and of course the cheap petrol, which is fun, but when you get to live here, you find that many things, are nowhere near as cheap as you might expect.

Contrary to the popular belief, the US is not a cheap place to live. Sure, many Americans "get by" on pretty low income, but it isn't fun, in fact it is down right miserable for them. IMO the threshold for someone in employment to transition from "having to carefully watch their money", to being able to enjoy things a little (eat out more often than occasionally, buy new cars, not used ones, afford a vacation in a hotel or resort, etc.), is around $100k household annual gross income, and that's in a low cost state. IMO it would be more than twice that for somewhere such as NYC, DC, Boston, SF, etc.

Oh, and watch out for employers who "offer you a job" but know nothing about the difficulty/ impossibility of obtaining a work visa for you.

We usually see 2-3 people come here to BE, each year looking for advice because they have been "offered a job", and then been told something along the lines of "let us know when you have your vise sorted", only for them to discover that [1] there is no way for the prospective employee to apply for a work visa for themself, and [2] there isn't even a visa category that covers the type of work that they would be doing.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

thanks for your time. I was referring to ‘specialised skills’ as is also listed on Pulaski’s ways. But Paramedics aren’t not treated as such, which is fair. There is a Company who is working with the US-Emergency Medical Technician society to accredits a programme and offer sponsorship, but covert early days and I’m not holding my breath.

thanks again

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Thing is OP, he's right.
​​​​​​
You don't get to determine who other people respond to you on a public forum. If your skin is that thin, I can assure you you'll last about 2 minutes in the US before running away.

Luckily, it sounds like your chances of moving to the US are very slim, so hopefully you won't have to worry about it.

I'm not even going to comment on the 'quality of life in Florida' as Pulaski has pointed out how you really don't have a clue unless you've lived there.


US paramedics are, in very great proportion, ex military. That's because they are usually employed at local county level and they pretty much all have pro-military veteran hiring policies similiar to Police Departments. A good number of paramedics are biding time until they can come before full fledged (read: full time) firefighters.

They are not well paid at all.

As I am sure you are aware, there is no State or Federal Ambulance service like is provided by the NHS.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

There are some. My employer gives 17 days to new hires, rising to 22 days after 3 years, 27 days after 5 years and 32 days after 10 years. But the headquarters are in Europe so maybe they are doing something that is in line with the other locations?

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^^ This. Protected class aside with the military, in certain parts of the country firefighters pull double duty as paramedics too or at least are joined at the hip. FDNY here in NYC are the closest thing we have to a 'public' ambulance service. The rest are either NYU, Mount Sinai or another hospital ambulance that I see (with the running joke of 'if I get hurt, stuff me in an Uber to avoid the $x,xxx's fee to ride an ambulance').

Sadly this too. I recall seeing ABC coverage on paramedics getting COVID and being unable to afford medical care (and/or insurance) from the hospitals they work for.

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A quick google for the payscales of my local county EMS suggest they start at about $15 an hour as Paramedic 1, which is the princely sum of about $32k per year :huh:

Of course, that's rural GA, FL might be more, but I can't imagine it would be that much more.

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Which is where people get the idea that living here is so cheap. Just had a Google and in the UK the starting salary is GBP25,500 or so for a paramedic. So $32,000 here seems reasonable to people, maybe even well-paid. Especially when they are only used to the prices of things that tourists see such as gas and convenience food. Until they see the cost of health insurance, property taxes, utilities, insurances, used cars, and so on they think $32k is a decent wage.

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There are some sectors with half decent vacations - government jobs, and the tech sector seems to do OK, and then many employers give addtional vacation entitlements to managers too, and as you noted, foreign owned corporations are often more generous with holidays. On the flip side, bear in mind that outside of governments and banks, the public holidays are not universally recognized other than the big ones - Christmas, New Year, Memorial Day, 4th July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. Some employers also give the day after Thankgiving.

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Based on a .8 GBP to 1 USD conversion, the $15 and the GBP figure you mention are actually almost identical.

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Exactly! So people think they will be making a UK salary, with UK benefits but with lower outgoings. When in reality it's a UK salary with no UK-style benefits (NHS, etc) and much higher outgoings.

I see that the OP is a newly-wed. If children are going to come into play in the future then they will feel an even bigger difference - no child benefit, no free childcare, almost no maternity leave, the list goes on.

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Eligibility for Diversity Visas is determined by place of birth, not nationality. The exclusions from the eligibility list are determined each fiscal year so they can change. Generally UK has been on the exclusion list. Ireland and Northern Ireland are given special treatment.

There is a legal beastie called “cross-chargeability” which if either spouse is a native of a DV eligible area, the both spouses can apply.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

I think it's great to have a dream and you can achieve it! It's just much trickier in the US and in a pandemic!

I'd say your best bet is to plan ahead and you have time since offshore visas are on hold through 2020. If your wife looks for a job with a company that has US offices - the easier option is likely NJ/ NYC/ NC maybe - pharma or banks may be a good option. I know you said FL but that's going to be harder to achieve I think. She would need to be in role for at least a year (preferable become an SME in a niche area if poss) and would need to be managing people/ programmes. If visas then kick up again she could gain a transfer to the US (L1) and you could then gain a work permit based on hers. It's a plan full of faith but that's how we and many other expats I know have come to be here - of course they likely didn't plan that in job searching but it's one of the best routes I think and also allows you both to work.

PS; I've had 3 jobs while here the past 3 years - I had to leave the first two due to visa adjustments but had annual leave of 18, 17 and now 10 (yes 10!!) days even though my current job is the highest paying and all jobs are IT professional. It blew my mind that this is normal for locals and as a PP mentioned, childcare is a killer as well as the cost of just groceries! We - as a fam of 5 went from a £120 per week in the UK to now $300 here in NJ but salaries are usually way higher although that depends on your job and state.

Good luck and stay safe in your job in the uk!

Re: At the beginning ...
 

OK a guy I know who works for the local Fire Department came by and I asked him, he did spend a couple of years in Florida, panhandle.

Now he mentioned various levels but wages $15 to $22 ph. That is here. He was nonplussed about them going to the trouble of sponsoring somebody.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Matticus, with regards Cost of Living comparison, this site may be of use to you. Cant comment on the accuracy of any results you may get and I have no doubt those here who live or have lived in USA are much better informed. However, the link is at least an indicator.

What ever you do, good luck.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

There are probably no conversion courses as such, but foreign applications can be made to the National Registry of EMTs (NREMT) from training which originated outside the US. One of the main stumbling blocks (more of a brick wall if truth be known) would be this...

"At the Paramedic level the education program offered in a foreign country must be affiliated with a U.S. based CAAHEP accredited Paramedic education program".

Source

In addition, the point has already been made that if you wanted to work as a paramedic in Florida, you would probably be looking at working for a fire department, many of which would expect that you apply for the "promotion" to FF at the first opportunity (not to mention if you wanted to earn a living wage).

To be honest, I would forget about APL / converting / transferring your qualifications for the NREMT or any similar agency. Even if you were to be registered from the UK (which is highly unlikely), your certification would not provide you with a means of living or working in the US, as it is neither a license to practice (unlike your HCPC pin #), nor a credible means to a job offer which would satisfy employment-based visa criteria. You would be better starting from scratch if / when you were to arrive in the US.

Regardless, you still have the main issue of a visa in front of you, but I can say with some confidence, that it likely won't be obtained through being a paramedic. I would not only look at other avenues, but other locations.

Good luck.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

We are lucky at my US based technology company. I'm just a systems engineer (and not a manager) and have 7 years service which gets me 19 days vacation per year (this maxes out at 21 days after 9 years) plus we have a week long paid shutdown over Thanksgiving week plus we also have paid shutdown from Dec 23rd until Jan 2nd. In addition we get all the major holidays Pulaski mentioned plus MLK day in January.

I find North Carolina really good value, Taxes are low, Property prices are still low although they are rising, Gas is cheap, Food is cheap.

My wife is a new driver so our car insurance on 2 cars and 1 motorcycle is almost $3000/year. Health insurance is through work and I pay about $300 a month to top up our coverage and pay for dental and vision for both of us.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Perhaps its not a good idea to compare UK/EU Annual Leave entitlement to US Vacation Time. Isnt EU minimum of 28 days inc PHs (8), so 20 days AL minimum? Doubt too many in US employment get anywhere near that.

It is a different world and its a lot to think about before making the move. And dont forget about retirement. My USC wife looks at me rather strangely when I talk about retirement. In the US it appears, be it by choice or otherwise, retirement is not too much of a usual activity. My In-laws both worked until in to their 70s.....and only stopped due to illness and being told it was maybe time to go. Even then the first stop was the attorneys office and talk of sueing the employer for forcing her out. She was mid to late 70s 😃

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For time off, I'm on 25 + Holidays, which I know is well above average!

To the OP, I;d also recommend your wife looking into potential career options that could lead to a job transfer. As a Project Manager she won;t have much luck today, but it is a career that could offer future transfer opportunities, especially if managing people in that line of work. A Senior Manager level role of a Business Improvement team for example may well, with the right wording, create an L1A opportunity if working for a USA based company. Obviously it's not just as simple as having the job, she'd need to convince them of her value to persuade them to sponsor the transfer. Possible in 2-4 years with the right mindset, skills and company combination. Or, she could go down the high degree of specialisation route, enabling both a company transfer and direct sponsorship to a GC. That depends on what she PM's - an ex employee in one of my teams moved from being a PM of software installations to Nuclear Submarine development with the MoD. I assume his chances are better now!

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Better for what? A transfer? Not that likely. I don’t think the US is keen to outsource the development of the Ohio replacement to Johnny Foreigner!

(Not to mention the security clearance implications)

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Our local firefighters and EMS aren't paid at all! They're volunteers.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

I don't know if you're still reading replies as it seems you've had some issues with some of the posts, but what I will say is to focus on the advice here and ignore the tone if that helps you. US immigration officials are humourless and rude, for the entirety of the process, and will make you feel as though your presence in their country - even though totally legal - is a huge burden to them. A bit of snarkiness online is nothing in comparison, honestly. But, like I said, just read for the information and try to take the tone of the comments on the nose. Also please be aware that a lot of people ask very general questions, and it can be a bit fatiguing.

All, right, that's out of the way. To your specific question: to make immigration to the US work, you need to be very open to different paths in order to get here. For example, don't focus on a particular state. If what you like about Florida is the weather and the beaches, look at Alabama and Georgia for example. If you want to be a large, warm weather city, consider Houston and New Orleans. Wherever you first live is not where you have to stay, if you can become a permanent resident down the line. Maybe you start out in South Dakota, who knows.

Be open to changing your field of work. Would you consider getting a degree or other certification in the US? Most people balk at the cost without even considering the funding that's available to most people who are studying at the postgraduate level. This is a big research task in and of itself, but again, you've got to be open minded. Or you could change your jobs UK side to work for companies that have a US presence, which sounds easier for your partner than for you perhaps. You might have to be willing to take a step back in terms of status, income, and lifestyle.

UK citizens can and do make it to the US, but if you ask how they did it, you tend to hear the same few routes over and over again: marriage, company transfer, or work visa following a US-based degree. Try to come up with ways to make the jigsaw pieces fit together. Good luck.

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Hi matticus, I’m a registered nurse living and working in Texas, an option for you may be to train as a nurse the only snag being that you would have to ensure you had sufficient hours in paediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and med surg to satisfy the state board of nursing. Being an RN gives you the ability to obtain a green card for you and your family. Good luck with your journey as previously mentioned the USA is one of the hardest countries to immigrate to.

Re: At the beginning ...
 

Hi Matticus, not meaning to complicate your intended path but I believe that firefighters/EMT paramedics in Florida need to be USC's.

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Please keep in mind this forum is to discuss immigration only. Off topic posts re firefighters has been moved to the TP forum.

https://britishexpats.com/forum/us-i...-forum-934252/