Ben2795

I have a girlfriend who I met over here in England,she's from
California but was studying here for 3 months at a uni in london,we've been together since October 2013 and have visited eachother back and forth as much as we could.its near on impossible for her to get a visa to live with me and work here unless we get married.i am a self employed floor layer earning around 50-75k a year depending on the flow of work,I have an nvq 2 in textile flooring and vinyl flooring.is there a visa or anything that is a decent chance at me being able to live/work in California,my girlfriends neighbour actually owns a flooring company which is a bit of coincidental luck aha.whats the demand like for floorlayers in the California,or maybe even just a normal job,anything that will allow me to be with her
Land of the free that no one can get Into.the country Britain is supposed to have a special relationship with and there's zero ways of it's citizens working or living in eachothers countries,yet a Bulgarian or Romanian can. Help,thanks

sir_eccles

I'm sure a mod can move this to the Marriage forum.

Polite advice - cut the "I hate immigrants in my country" spiel when you are considering becoming an immigrant yourself.

YouWantFriesWithThat

Hi, welcome!

Have a read of this and then ask any questions you're not sure of.

Pulaski's Ways: How to Live and Work in the USA : British Expat Wiki

Noorah101

There is no work visa for a trade such as floor layer, sorry.

Most likely you will have to continue the long distance relationship until you feel ready for marriage. You've been together over a year, so maybe it's time to discuss marriage.

You can read the article called "Pulask's Ways" to see all the available visas, but from what you've said so far, it sounds like marriage is your best option.

Immigration-wise, the UK is just like every other country in the world. .. the same immigration rules apply to them all. Not sure why you think the UK would have some sort of special immigration benefits. That wouldn't be fair to all the other countries.

Rene

Noorah101

Let's wait until he realizes marriage is the way to go, and starts having questions about it specifically.

Rene
Moderator

ian-mstm

Given the information you've posted, it'll be "near on impossible for [you] to get a visa to live with [her] and work [there] unless [you] get married". This is the reality that you're facing.


On the contrary... many hundreds of thousands of people "get into" the US each year on visas. You, however, want to live/work in the US... and that limits your choices.


With respect, it's media hype. There is no "special relationship" despite what you've read. The US makes its own laws regarding who is or isn't allowed into the country - and if you don't happen to fit into one of those categories, you'll never come to the US as anything other than a visitor.

I suggest you stop whinging about the inequities of life and face reality. The reality is that there are, generally, three routes to the US: family-based, employment-based; or investment-based. Since you don't want to marry, a family-based visa is out. Since you're a floor layer, I'm guessing you don't have enough cash to toss around to make an investment-based visa possible. That leaves: employment-based... but, to make a long story short, a floor layer isn't likely to get an employment-based visa.

Keep in mind that getting a job offer is easy... getting a US company to sponsor you for a visa is very difficult - and it costs them money! So, if you want to be honest, you need to ask yourself what qualifications or expertise you bring to the table that would get you noticed above the many thousands of people who are currently in the US, unemployed, with permission to work, and who could start work tomorrow if asked? They are your competition.

With respect, I suggest you simply marry the girl.

Ian

Ben2795

I wasn't complaining about immigrants,just the fact that people that helped us protect our lands and defend our country have no way of living here.i always thought marraige was a thing people did after 5-10 years into a relationship,although my parents aren't married and neither of my parents know their father which leaves me a little confused as to an average normal family where marraige is concerned and how they deal with finances and splitting things etc,I'm only 21 too which concerned me of marrying too young or is my age normal? Ididnt mean to be offensive to anybody,sorry.

Pulaski

Some wait years to marry, others marry on a whim after two weeks, or less. I suspect I am about average marrying Mrs P a little under two years after we first met.

Honestly if you aren't willing and able to make a commitment after more than a year then you probably don't have a future together. ..... If the then-future Mrs P and I had been living on the same continent at the time I suspect we would have married sooner.

Noorah101

How old to be, and when to marry is up to each individual. I married my first husband when I was 19 and he was 21, after about a year and a half of dating (in person, not long distance). Our marriage lasted 8 years before he passed away.

My second marriage lasted only 6 weeks, after dating about a year, long distance. Just were not right for each other on a daily basis.

This is my third marriage, and we got married after 2 years of long distance dating. ... during which we only spent a total of about 6 weeks in person. We're coming up on our 11th wedding anniversary, and are very happy. So really, you just never know.

I didn't realize you're only 21. Can you afford (or have the interest) to pursue an education in the USA? A student visa might work out for you.

Rene

BunnyGirl

Absolutely this

When I started seeing my now husband my US friend (who moved to England to be with her husband then moved back to the US with him) said you soon find out whether a long distance relationship will work because of the amount of effort you have to put in. If both sides aren't committed it'll soon fizzle out.

And yes, I would've married Mr Bunny much much quicker if we'd been able to, sometimes you just know.

Hotscot

Confused...

'our country' The UK?
'here' The UK?

In any case there's plenty of ways to live in another country even if, unfortunately, you don't fulfill the requirements currently. Or do you mean your girl coming to the UK?

You said you can make 75K GBP in a good year? Is that high volume or high value jobs? If you're that good you might look into a business visa as well as the potential of marriage in the future.

Sounds like your girlfriend is on a Degree path? Maybe a job in the UK could be possible?

Ben2795

Well she's studying business and marketing which I don't think is sort after job on England.

I'm just a self employed person,I do work for a few companies fitting mostly carpet to new build houses,50k is a fairly average wage for floor layers workin on building sites.

And yes I meant the uk when I said here.

Also,I'd marry her tomorrow,I just assumed It was too early into a relationship,a lot of my family aren't married even 15-20 years Into their relationships.

Hotscot

Average...seriously?

Is this completely wrong then?

https://nationalcareersservice.direc...loorlayer.aspx

Noorah101

In the "real" world, you might also be one of those people who never marry, you just continue dating for 10 years and then live together for 10 years, etc. But when immigration is involved, it usually forces a couple to make this decision sooner rather than later (as you are discovering).

Rene

Ben2795

Massively wrong,see that years ago,carpet fitters are payed on average £3 a square metre,a 140square metre house would take a solo fitter two days to complete,but could complete two over three days,paying £840 over three days is £240 a day x5 £1200 a week.no carpet fitter in the uk works hourly rates really,unless you're employed by the council or something.even a day rate in this game is £120 a day for communal work etc.its one of the best paid trades going as it's all piece work and not hourly,can stay as late as you like most of the time too.