fanoftheuk

I'm hoping someone can help me. I've just moved home after working for the last 18 months in the UK and I'm devistated! I LOVED it over there but didn't have a choice in leaving. Now I'm back and I've had to leave my British boyfriend behind. He's trying to come over and we're just starting to look into the Visas and all of his options - is it me or is this going to be difficult??? Does anyone have any advice to offer on how he can get work in the Boston area and how easy or hard it will be? Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated!

Pulaski

Unless you are going to get married it is going to be VERY difficult.

There are basically six ways that you can get a visa to live and work in the US:

(i) Marriage (or engagement in anticipation of marriage) to a US citizen.
(ii) You have skills that are in short supply in the US e.g. IT, scientific or medical training.
(iii) You have an employer who is willing to transfer you - but even the employer has to make a good case for you - so you have to be a manager unless you fall under category (ii), above.
(iv)get a greencard in the diversity lottery (UK citizens, except N.Ireland are not eligible)
(v) You own a business (does not get you permanent resident status i.e. no greencard)
(vi) You are an "investor" i.e. you have at least US$1m in assets to bring with you.

It is not easy to get even a recruitment agent to take you seriously if you are not already in the US, but if you are getting a visa under (ii) above then you need a job offer before you can get the visa. It's a chicken and egg situation.

If your boy friend wants to come to live in the US then, as a British citizen, unless you marry him the only realistic options he has are (ii) or (iii) in my list above.

I hope this helps.

fanoftheuk

Thanks for this. I know that the UK wasn't eligible for greencards last year but the eligible list for this year doesn't come out until next month. Do you think the UKs status will change?

Pulaski

Not a hope, it has never been on the list.

As the criteria for being on the list is "increasing diversity in the US" it is never going to qualify, as (i) there are a huge number of people of British ancestry already living in the US and (ii) a huge number of Brits do make their way (legally) to the US each year despite the obstacles put in their way by the INS.

Stephen C. Gallagher

    > > Thanks for this. I know that the UK wasn't eligible for greencards

In particular, the diversity lottery, you mean. People from the UK
can get a green card (permanent residency) if they qualify through
the other methods listed.

    > > last year but the eligible list for this year doesn't come out until
    > > next month. Do you think the UKs status will change?
    > Not a hope, it has never been on the list.
    > As the criteria for being on the list is "increasing diversity in the
    > US" it is never going to qualify, as (i) there are a huge number of
    > people of British ancestry already living in the US and (ii) a huge
    > number of Brits do make their way (legally) to the US each year
    > despite the obstacles put in their way by the INS.

Yet Ireland has been the list for a long time, if not since the
beginning. I'm just wondering what is the ratio of Irish to
British in the US, that made Ireland qualify but disqualified
the UK.

Stephen Gallagher

Pulaski

It was some political crap to ensure support from congressmen from New York and Boston to back the DV program. They hi-jacked the proposal and said that if Irish weren't included they'd vote it down!

lairdside

Teddy Kennedy ...lol

lairdside

Seriously, look up Irish Immigration Reform Movement (IIRM) and also possibly Sean Minihan and Pat Hurley who spearheaded the movement.

The Emerald Isle Immigration Center (EIIC) is a product of this movement still operating today.

This is from 1995:

House committee votes to keep visa



Staff reports


WASHINGTON -- On Oct. 24, the full U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee passed an amendment introduced by Charles Schumer (D-NY), and co-sponsored by Martin Hoke (R-IH) and Michael Patrick Flanagan (R-IL) to preserve the Diversity Visa Program, the sole remaining lottery with visas for Ireland.

The bipartisan amendment was passed by a vote of 18-11 after a bitter debate in which some opponents described the amendment as "special interest" legislation, specifically identifying the efforts of the Irish lobby in the process.

The idea of the diversity program is to ensure that a wide variety of immigrants are able to enter the United States.

The program provides visas to countries adversely affected by the 1965 Immigration Act and designated by the State Department, based on their low levels of immigration, such as Ireland and Nigeria.

There are also nations, such as Ireland and Germany, that have a celebrated history of immigration to the United States, but do not have the necessary family ties to generate new immigration.

The current program will continue to operate as a lottery requiring candidates to have a high school education and two years work experience to qualify.

The successful passage of the amendment was due to a combined effort by Irish organizations, such as the Irish American Unity Conference, Emerald Isle Immigration Center, The Irish Immigration Reform Movement and the Irish Embassy.

"I am delighted that the IAUC was able to participate in working for the passage of this important amendment to provide visas for the Irish. We ... recognize the efforts of Congressman Schumer and the Irish Ambassador, Mr. Dermot Gallagher," said Dr. Robert Linnon, national president of AUC.



Basically the UK is penalised because it has many immigrants already going to the US each year without being part of the DV.

I'm Irish and I think it's daft - I the UK has almost 60 million people (less than 1.5 million of those in NI).

ROI has a population of about 3.8 million and NI of about 1.2 million, making 5 million in total.

I mean Wales only has just under 3 million and Scotland about 5 million. Yet they are "lumped" in with England. For a start I don't see why they could be considered seperate entities - they are different countries afterall! I wonder what the US will do if they devolve fully.....

Naturally a country with a larger population may well have a larger supply of immigrants.

Canada and Mexico are also ineligible because they have contributed to more than 50,000 immigrants in the last five years.

Ingo Pakleppa

On Sun, 06 Jul 2003 13:00:04 +0000, Stephen C. Gallagher wrote:


    >> > Thanks for this. I know that the UK wasn't eligible for greencards
    >
    > In particular, the diversity lottery, you mean. People from the UK can
    > get a green card (permanent residency) if they qualify through the other
    > methods listed.
    >
    >> > last year but the eligible list for this year doesn't come out until
    >> > next month. Do you think the UKs status will change?
    >> Not a hope, it has never been on the list.
    >> As the criteria for being on the list is "increasing diversity in the
    >> US" it is never going to qualify, as (i) there are a huge number of
    >> people of British ancestry already living in the US and (ii) a huge
    >> number of Brits do make their way (legally) to the US each year despite
    >> the obstacles put in their way by the INS.
    >
    > Yet Ireland has been the list for a long time, if not since the
    > beginning. I'm just wondering what is the ratio of Irish to British in
    > the US, that made Ireland qualify but disqualified the UK.

The UK is disqualified because many British people immigrate to the US.

My guess is that because of the common language, there are more British
people who come to the US through marriage than, say, French or Germans.

Ireland is much smaller than the UK and would probably not ever send
enough immigrants to the US to be excluded from the lottery.

Northern Ireland is probably included for political reasons.

BTW, when the DV lottery was started, for the first three years, there
actually were two separate quotas: 40,000 DV Green Cards went to the "rest
of the world" and 16,000 were reserved to just Ireland. So during these
three years, basically anybody who wanted to immigrate from Ireland to the
US would get a Green Card.

That obviously was designed just to give a special benefit to the Irish.

--
Remember, I am strictly a layperson without any legal training. I encourage
everybody to seek competent legal counsel rather than relying on usenet
newsgroups.

Please support H.R. 539 and H.R. 832. More information at
http://www.kkeane.com/lobbyspousal-faq.shtml

Please visit my new FAQ at http://www.kkeane.com (always under construction)

My email address in usenet posts is now invalid for spam protection. See
my Web site for information on how to contact me.

Please feel free to enjoy some of my photographs at my new Web site
http://www.ingopakleppa.com ! Comments are welcome.