tom667

I live in the UK and I'm about to finish my degree at the University of Leeds. I also have many years of experience in Industry though I'm just in my 20's.

My eventual goal is to become a US citizen. I would prefer to work in electronic engineering or hardware engineering roles. No dependents or family in the US so that's not a route. Have considered marriage but am not certain myself if that is the best route, although it does appear to be the easiest, the last thing I want to be in is a marriage that is purely for the purposes of citizenship. Not only would this appear to be illegal, it would be emotionally straining.

I have been offered an interview at Google in San Francisco - a fantastic opportunity, if I can get it. However, looking at the statistics:

- about 1 in 7 applicants that get past the phone interview get offered a job at Google (assume that I can actually achieve this)
- only 1 in ~2.7 actually get the H1b visa to be considered, although my Master's degree may give me a slight advantage(?)
- Google (or the subsidiary I am applying to) has not filed a SINGLE petition for hardware/electronic engineering in 2015 (although, the Google recruiter does know that I require H1b and does not seem fazed).

So I figure I have, if Google file the petition, a roughly 5% chance of getting the job. Worth trying, but not looking hopeful. I am also applying to many other jobs in the USA, but again looking at the statistics, few H1b visas are issued for EEng.

I am also an experienced software engineer and it looks like there are a LOT more jobs out there for software engineers.

Considering all this, would it be best to apply for software engineering roles, with the aim to transfer back into a hardware engineering job (my preference) in the future?

Or, would a transfer visa be a good option, with an engineering company in the UK? How likely is it that I can petition them to apply for a green card on my behalf - I have heard they can be quite reluctant as that may allow you to leave them.

Thanks all

Noorah101

Are you currently in a relationship with a USC? If so, is it heading towards marriage?

Of course try for any H-1B opportunity.

Otherwise, get a job in the UK with a company that has offices in the USA, work for them a year, and start looking at a transfer.

It's up to the employer to do the green card or not. Some are willing, some aren't.

Why do you want to be a USC?

Rene

tom667

My girlfriend's father is a US born citizen so she may be able to apply for resident status and then marry me or propose. However, I don't think that would be the best route as she does not want to live in the US. Besides I'm not certain that we'll be together forever.

There are a lot more opportunities to work in the USA overall. Difference in locations. From San Fran, Oregon, Texas to Connecticut... beautiful places to live. Salaries are much better and the technologies are more world-class.

A lot of the engineering in the UK is what might be called fairly boring. The companies do not innovate beyond what they know. I have worked in several of them. Working for a leading company in San Fran or other west coast cities would be a great experience, especially while I'm young.

There is also, on my part at least, a considerable amount of uncertainty over Brexit and the future of engineering in this country. I don't know whether there will be enough jobs in the future for my field of interest.

scrubbedexpat099

No harm having a go, seems that of you do get an offer the current GF will be history so maybe keep this option open as well.

tom169

Your girlfriend may be eligible for US citizenship. Mention it to her to check out the criteria.

Oh. Still mention it.

Yes, more opportunities, but that's mostly down to the population being much higher than the UK.

I've certainly found that salaries are higher. I'm a lead/senior software engineer and my salary near about doubled when I moved to the USA. Certainly though not all my expenses stayed equal, so higher expenses will balance out much... Especially if you're living in Leeds where it's fairly affordable.

Ok, this is lack of experience and nativity. Companies in the UK do innovate. In fact, where I worked before, we were global first to market for our industry quite often. Innovation is what drove the company.

The company was based in Leeds and Sheffield and we were part of millions of people's daily lives.

It won't take a genius to figure out where I worked and they were a fantastic place to work.

The technologies I used and contributed to in the UK are what I use here. In fact it was my experience in them that got me the job I have now so I can start shaping and advising on things.

Get connected with everyone you interact with on LinkedIn so you can be better on recruiter's radars.

There will be.

Dmac_

By all means pursue that opportunity with Google, but personally I wouldn’t lean on company sponsorship too much. If the company really wants you, they’ll go through the process, but of course you’re at the disadvantage of extra hoops for them to jump through.

A potentially better route is to do something in the UK that would classify you as having “exceptional ability” on your own (a possibility in your field, I think) to eventually qualify for a more specialist visa like O1, which still requires a job offer, but doesn’t fill up quickly like the H1B. Have a look at the requirements for O1 and see if you could work towards meeting them. Can you develop some killer app on your own that could gain press coverage and get your name out there?

Bottom line: see what comes of Google, but get ready to do a lot of heavy lifting by yourself.

Pulaski

What does that mean?

Was he born in the US? Did he live there at least through high school? Does he live there now?

Unless the answer to all of the above is "yes", or at least the second and third questions, then he probably isn't going to be much help even if you did marry your girlfriend.

Anyway, why the obsession with the US?

Twinkle0927

I think there's more uncertainty over the future of H1b visas than there is over Brexit.

If it's beautiful places to live you are looking for, have you considered Canada or New Zealand?

tom667

Born in the US, met mother in UK and had child (GF) there, later separated and now lives in New York. I think that would qualify GF for application for citizenship. Though not on best terms with father, so may be difficult.

I'm not obsessed with the US, there are other countries on my radar. I guess the US would be my first choice, but others are an option. I may well come back to the UK after a while, but some international experience would be nice. I am also considering Australia and New Zealand. Maybe Canada, too. I had a job offer for Switzerland but I politely declined because the salary wasn't good enough to make relocation worth it.

I would guess Imagination, or possibly SkyBet. Both interesting companies (and by all accounts very nice to work for), but I'm referring to the electronic hardware side, not ASIC or software, which is my specialist field of interest.

I'll look into O-1, thanks. Probably not going to be a killer app, but I have designed several large scale projects before that have made it into local and international news, so there's a small chance I'd be able to petition for something like that. May be worth developing other projects first if I go this route.

I have heard of this (Trump doesn't approve perhaps) so it probably makes sense to try and get in sooner rather than later.

Pulaski

OK. So long as your girlfriend's father lived in the US until at least his 16th birthday, then your girlfriend is a US citizen, and doesn't need any input from her father (she may need his birth certificate, but should be able to get that without his input, I think). .... She should also be filing annual US tax returns, as she is in the same boat that Boris Johnson was in.

tom667

Wait, I don't understand. GF has lived in London since birth. She has been to US only on holidays. Father is the US citizen. She only has British citizenship and is unaware of any US citizenship status.

Pulaski

The children of any US citizen who was born in the US and lived in the US for at least five years, two of them after their 14th birthday, ARE US citizens. It sounds like this applies to your girlfriend.

It's similar for British citizens, but without the five year requirement - if you leave the UK, live overseas and former a relationship with a non-British citizen, and children you have WILL be British, from birth, no "application to be British" is required.

tom667

Very interesting!

Thank you for this information. It may be worth further investigation.

ian-mstm

Ah... so money is your motivation. Earlier, you hinted that you were after the experience - so, that's an important distinction.

Ian

tom667

I'm not going to pretend that money isn't part of the equation, but in the case of the Swiss offer it would basically leave me in a worse financial position (after rent and expenses) than staying in Leeds. So it didn't really make any sense to immigrate when I could have got the same experience (minus the international aspect), and a better salary, by staying in the UK.