miles375

Hi,

I am looking at moving to Los Angeles to be with my girlfriend. I am currently studying a home learning course which is Web Design, and once this is done and I hopefully pass, I will be looking for jobs in that field. I am looking for advice as to what visas to apply for and also how easy it is to actually get out there. Also if anyone has any detailed information on he various visas I can apply for that would be great.

Many Thanks in advance

Richard

Noorah101

It's difficult. Here are your options:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulask...ork_in_the_USA

Is your girlfriend a US citizen?

Rene

Noorah101

Does this give you a degree?

Rene

miles375

Yes my girlfriend is a US citizen. The course I am doing is a US based course and it gives me the equvilent to a degree.

Noorah101

Marriage might be your best option. Depends how soon you are looking to move to the USA.

I'm not sure if the "equivalent" to a degree will be as useful as an actual degree.

Rene

fatbrit

Unless you want the girlfriend to become a spouse, you've not written anything so far that gives me any belief that you'll be able to do what you want. There is no shack-up-together visa.

miles375

We have looked at getting married but would like to get me over there on my own merits then via marriage. As for the course I am hoping that it will give me a good enough qualification to get a job out in LA.

nettlebed

In the Seattle area there are webdevs coming out of the woodwork, and even the best ones are having trouble getting hired. Top quality SDEs are in great demand, but webdevs are (unfortunately, from your perspective) having trouble getting hired anywhere, unless they also have ancillary skills, like good UI design, accessibility skills and other distinguishing features. Even there, you probably need a track record.

Even internships can be very hard to come by: we have 10-15 applicants for every position.

Englishtart

Might want to do some prior research on that...'hoping' won't make it so

fatbrit

You don't just need a job (a difficult enough task at the moment in itself) but you would also need to qualify for a visa and have an employer with the job willing to sponsor you.

As Englishtart said, hope is not enough.

lifehouse51

If you're interested in Work visa, here are some of the options I know of:

H1-B: The most popular (and maybe hardest to get) working visa. For specialty occupations, jobs that REQUIRES a Bachelor's degree or above. If you're working for a Private Company (which I assume is in your case), there's an annual cap for numbers of H1-B's given out. This has reached really quickly in recent years except last fiscal year. The fiscal year starts in Oct 1 and you can file for it as far as 6 months ahead of time. (I.e. File on Apr 1 for a start date of Oct 1). 2 years ago, the cap was reached before May. Renewable every 3 years but 6 years is maximum.

E-3: For Australians only, for same type of jobs as H1-B. Generous annual cap, renewable every 2 years indefinitely.

H1B1: For Singaporeans and Chilean only, for same type of jobs as H1-B. Generous annual cap, renewable every 18 months indefinitely I believe

TN: For Canadians and Mexicans only, for certain job types only: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_stat..._Professionals Renewable every 3 years indefinitely

J-1: Sometimes easier to get than other types of visas. However, you can be subject to a requirement to return to your home country for two years after end of your job, before you can apply for permanent residency, other types of work visa. There are various ways to waive this requirement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-1_visa

I also want to mention that except J-1, all the above visas require you to have secure a job offer from a company, and the company has to file with the dept of Labor and USCIS if needed, before you can apply for the visas. As for J-1, since there are many categories, I'm not familiar with all of them, so can't say how you can go about getting it.

Duncan Roberts

It won't. We just posted a position for a .NET developer and got around 25 resumes within a day including a good number of highly skilled, experienced people who had been laid off and were available immediately. We are not a big outfit and from what I understand this has never happened before. Theoretically we could have posted the job on Monday and have somebody with years of experience stating by the end of the week. No one is going to pay money and wait potentially 6-12 months for somebody who has done a "degree equivalent" online course when they can get somebody with more experience and qualifications for free and within days.

SarahG

My husband is a web designer and it took us 3 years to get a H1b visa for him as the quota kept getting met. I think we were very lucky last year. His company just advertised for a new person and they got 500 applications in the first few days. (He just worked on the recent Gatorade and Tropicana websites and just finished the new Rice-a-Roni website which is currently at review)

lebronjames37

jheeeeeeeeeez

SarahG

huh?