usadream

Hi everybody,

This is my story. This is a long but interesting case I think. Can you please take the time to read and help me?

I am an Australian citizen, born and raised here. I've never been on a plane, I only got a passport very recently. I am 19 years old. I am really, really hoping someone here can help me with my situation. I need this; to move to the USA. I have horrible relationships with my family members, I have had depression problems all through my teen years, there is nothing here for me. I think about the US everyday. I don't have alcohol or drug problems or anything, I've never even been to a party or a club/bar, and I've never even had alcohol or drugs in my life. Not once. No criminal record whatsoever. I Not married, no kids. I only have high school education. I live with my mother and younger sister who's in high school. My mum is working class. We have never been on a plane.

I have $10,000 savings cash from working warehouse jobs. Not employed at the moment. I could definitely save more if I get another job before I "immigrate".

Okay, basically I want to move to the USA and settle there. Just live and work... build a life, I got this dream about 5 and a half years ago. I was 14 years old then. This is all I thought about this every single day for all these years. So I do know the names of visas, what green cards are, what you need to get visas and green cards etc., but I don't know the really in-depth details of each process, like you guys seem to....

I've been researching all this for FIVE AND A HALF years, there is seemingly no way to just immigrate and just live my life.. it seems I have to be a genius scientist with a PHD or getting hitched to a US citizen. The thing is, I haven't been to university and I've only worked a few various non-skilled jobs in production warehouses. I entered DV lottery this year... didn't get selected though.

When I first got my dream, I was surprised at how hard it "supposedly" is to move to the USA when I first looked it up on the internet. I was disheartened by the seemingly impossible process, but I begrudgingly decided I would go to university here (in Australia) and then try to get a work sponsor. But that plan has fallen apart. I can't take living here anymore, let alone trying to do a university course!! (I didn't start uni at all BTW) So it has kind of dissolved into a situation of "I just have to go to the US now".

This is my problem with what I have read on the internet regarding immigration routes. It does not ADD UP when you compare it to real life situations!! If you were to use the logic of what is written on the USCIS website etc., all US immigrants would be PHD holders, millionaire investors etc. But I know...we ALL know that is not the case in real life!!

My question is.. is there something I'm missing? That I've missed all this time? Is there some easy permanent residence route where any random person from Uruguay can hop over to the US and work in Target? I say this because, I look through random Facebook profiles on the internet of people who live in the US (to try and get ANY insight into how seemingly "ineligible" immigrants made it to the USA). Literally every third profile I see is a person living in the US, who wasn't born there, and is working in some unskilled job!! I wonder to myself, how did they get there? They CLEARLY don't have a work visa, you need a degree for that. Are they illegal?

Can someone help me? If it is *that difficult* to move to the USA, how are there so many millions of immigrants there? We all know not all of them "fit the criteria" of these impossible, restrictive visas and rules of US immigration. If it is so hard, and if the visa/immigration details I've read on the internet are true.... how are there people who can't even speak English, working in shops, running business etc. in the USA?

How do illegals lead such seemingly normal lives? It baffles me how they do it. How do they rent houses, get licenses, get insurance, go to the doctor, get jobs.....how do they even open a damn bank account!!??

I just would like to settle there, and just work, live normally, pay my rent, live my life etc.. Get a chance to get out of this depression and away from these people and this life I hate so much. I would live there for the rest of my life. This decision has been with me for five years.

Can anyone help? Is there some easy immigration route that I'm missing? If someone from Uruguay can somehow be allowed to live in the US and work in Target, why can't I? Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it. I just want to go there now!! I need to...

I've been thinking of just going on a tourist visa and overstaying, because there's no other option. I guess that would also make you "illegal" wouldn't it? I saw another thread on here about a pregnant woman who had overstayed for years and was now somehow going to become legal!!!?? This confuses me too.. I thought if at any time in your life you were "out of status" in the US, you can't just somehow "adjust" and become legal and you never will be able to be legal and then get banned for ten years?

Is my only option to go there, overstay, and then "adjust" to become legal? I thought that wasn't possible, but clearly I've missed something.

What should I do??? I know and i'm sorry I've written SO much, it's just that this is so hard to give you the full details of my situation. Is my only option to go there illegally??
Because I need to do this. I would rather have ANY life there, no matter how uncomfortable or difficult, then to stay here for another second.

I'm begging for any and all advice. Anything. Ask me anything, if you need more info, please ask me. With all this stuff about illegals, and unskilled people there from all walks of life living in America, maybe I've had the wrong idea all along that it is so difficult. Maybe it's not so difficult. Please tell me anything you know, you could change my life with some small details.

materialcontroller

I think that most people who read that story will fully understand how attractive a move to the USA would be for you. You're not alone. It's a widely held dream. The problem is, that things don't work like that in the real world. What you want doesn't really matter.

You have to be able to come up with the goods so that you moving to the US is an attractive proposition for the USA. And that usually means having loads of cash, a gifted intellect, high powered vocational skills that are in short supply or something else of value to offer the country.

And with respect, the fact that you've flounced out of your university before even starting the course is a bad omen. If you aren't prepared to put in the hard work required to achieve your "dream", then it can't actually mean that much to you can it?

civilservant

Of course there are illegal workers in the US, to claim otherwise would be wrong, but the fact is most immigration is done totally legally. There are many ways 'someone from Uruguay' can come to the US and work - sponsership but a relative, marriage to a USC, or others ways.

My point is that you sound desperate - and desperate people make really poor decisions. Do not overstay a visit, because you will be living under the radar and you will always be looking over your shoulder.

Foe someone like you I would say the following - join a dating site. Because it the reality that is your best shot of being able to live and work in the US.

scrubbedexpat099

Save up and go to uni in the US?

Pulaski

There are many things wrong with your dream to move to the US, some have already been mentioned, someone else may be along soon with their own observations, but I'll comment on the illegal immigrants. You do not want to be an illegal immigrant in the US, it is an automatic glass ceiling that pretty condemns you to permanent poverty. Getting a regular job is difficult, he11, it is difficult enough for unemployed US citizens to find work at the moment! Without a decent job you'll be on your own with health insurance, meaning you find around $300-$400/mth (very basic coverage for a young person in good health), or you don't have coverage. If you get seriously ill or injured and don't have insurance the best you could hope for is to be patched up and discharged, minimal care.

Although most states will allow illegals to get licenses, you can't get a social security number (SSN), so you steal an ID/ make up a number, but if you are able to get a job and use that SSN, you'll be paying into a social security a/c that you'll never be able to claim on.

Without a degree or usable skills in a trade, even if you were here legally, you'd be in a state of permanent poverty, and the US is a particularly bad place to be poor, not that there's a good place to be poor, but every city has areas you just don't want to go, where drugs and violence (shootings) are a daily fact of life, and if you're here illegally you don't want to call the police because you're perpetually scared of bring exposed as an illegal and deported.

So what do I recommend? Get an education (degree), in Australia, move to another city, in Australia, work on making small steps to improve your life, and maybe you can one day make your dream happen, but you need to do so from a position of strength, not desperation. Someone else already mentioned dating sites, and they do work, but without a degree and a career you're not going to be much of a "catch", so even if you find someone, in your current situation (no degree and desperate) you'll likely be condemning yourself to poverty.

BTW there is a class of short term visa that is open to Australian citizens for short term working in the US, I think it's the E3, and there's a thread for it here. It's been active recently so you should see it on the first page or two.

scrubbedexpat099

E3 is sort of like a H1b as far as qualifications are concerned.

A couple of States hand out DL's, a couple more are talking about it.

SS contributions are usable if you subsequently legalise.

Noorah101

usadream,

At this very moment, I do not see an open path for you to immigrate to the USA, unless you have the funds to go to a University in the USA (I don't think $10K is enough, but you can research this yourself).

With your $10K of savings, a better plan for you would be to move out of your family's home (since that seems to be the biggest concern of yours, to get away from family). Go to another city in Australia, or some other country which is easier to move to. Get a university degree there. Get a job with a company which has offices in the USA, and then after 1 year of employment, ask for a transfer to the USA.

In the meantime, join some dating sites or chat with women in the USA...you never know, many romances begin on the internet these days. Also keep applying for the DV lottery.

You have to put your part of the effort into your dream of wanting to live and work in the USA. This won't be a plan you can make happen in he next few months or even 1 year. Look at this as a long-term plan, work hard on your plan for the next 5 years, and then you'll be closer to your goal.

Rene

Pulaski

Certainly states are starting to hand out licenses to known illegals, but they have been getting them covertly in most states for years with whatever ID they have and a stolen/ forged SSN.

If you've been paying into someone else's SS a/c I'm not sure how practical it would be to ever claim on it, especially as it is reportedly common for many, even hundreds of illegals to use a single SSN.

thecommonmistake

Find out how to get us E3. It's relatively straight forward and cheap. I would advise going to the US initially to work out connections in your chosen career/passion, if you have one, if not - get one- and then it will be easy enough to sponsor you if you are dedicated to your field. Plus if you've never been here, you may hate it, the grass is always greener.

scrubbedexpat099

He does not qualify for an E3.

materialcontroller

...or much else at this moment in time.

usadream

Hi everyone,

Thankyou so much for your answers.

The whole thing is confusing to me, because it seems like on the news and on Facebook there are foreigners living there, and they didn't need to go through a long process and spend thousands of dollars, they just got up and went. I'm thinking now a lot of these people surely would be illegals.

Obviously, it's not the ideal situation to go there illegally, because I want to live a normal life. But it is just confusing me, the whole thing about going from illegal status to legal status. That pregnant lady in the other thread seemed pretty certain that she could become legal after being out of status. I am wondering, is this true? I would consider going on a tourist visa and overstaying, IF I could become legal through that path. Does anyone know if it's possible?

Also, I don't think I could go to university there, it would take me decades to save up that kind of money, and I don't want to be still living at home, so that would take a big chunk out of the weekly savings anyway. From what I've seen, it's like $250,000 needed in savings for F1 visa.

Can working class people survive in the USA? I'm guessing the "types" who get sponsored for work visas and other green card holders are in situations that don't resemble mine at all; they are able to look after themselves financially.

Also, are illegals really living in fear? I've read the recent articles about the Senate passing the new immigration bill, and there were pictures of illegal aliens holding up banners and urging them to pass the bill so they can get amnesty. Basically just standing there (big packs of them), and openly admitting they are illegal!! They looked like your average middle-class person, not poor or homeless looking at all...

and @materialcontroller, it does mean everything to me, I just don't have the motivation to go on like this here, let alone taking on the workload of a university degree!! I didn't drop out of university, I never even applied. So that is kind of the Catch 22- I have to be in the USA to have motivation, but I can't get there without motivation. Even if I did go to university, % of work visas handed out is very low.

civilservant

From memory, the pregnant women you mention is getting married (or is already) to a US Citizen. THAT will give her a path to status. If it wasn't for that, she'd be on the next plane home.

Even that, as we made clear in the thread, entails the significant risk of refusal and deportation.

If you did end up entering and overstating, it wouldn't be the fresh start you so obviously desire. You'd be under the radar. After all, how do you know those 'middle class' people you saw holding placards are actually illegal?? Many families have members in status and our of status.

Jerseygirl

If your motivation to move to the US is so great look at it as a long time plan...say 10 years. Go to uni and get yourself a degree...you could then look at getting a masters in the US...although it will be very expensive. If not...get a degree...then get yourself a job with a large multi national company with offices in the US. That way you may be able to land yourself a transfer to the US with said company.

Gingerert

Hun, what's attracting you to the USA? Can you explain why you want to move here so much more than anywhere else?

I only ask because I, too, had never been to the USA before when I was 18. Then I applied for an exchange student scheme and moved to Minnesota for an academic year. I was absolutely thrilled to be leaving the UK and going to the big, shiny, sparkling country I'd heard so much about. Well, the culture shock was HUGE. I was completely unprepared for how much I would hate the newness and miss my own country... and my family, even though my mother and I were barely speaking to each other before I left. Several times during that year away I considered going home again, but I stuck it out and ended up dating a fella whom I later married. (MUCH longer story, and it involved me living in the UK apart from him for years while we waited for our visa process to be completed - even with marriage visas, it ain't easy!)

Here's what I suggest: apply to do an American Studies course at an Australian university, far away from your current hometown. Make sure the course you're doing has an exchange element to it - mine offered either six months or a whole year away - and sends you somewhere in the States to complete part of your degree. That way you're covering three bases:

1 - You're getting a degree, which you'll need to get any kind of decent job in the USA anyway
2 - You get to move to the USA within the next few years on a student visa, LEGALLY
3 - You get to see the country you love so much and really, really see how you'll cope so far away from everything you've known

...and as a bonus, you might meet some lucky lady (assuming you're straight) and start a trans-pacific fling. Things progress, you get married, you emigrate. Voila!

Because you're still relatively young, I honestly think this might be the best path for you. Good luck.