aesthetic

Hi all,
First time poster, just looking for a bit of general guidance. Delete this if inappropriate.

I'm a UK national living in the north of England. I recently graduated from university with a first class degree in Biochemistry and I'm due to start PhD study in September (assuming COVID doesn't delay this). I am 26 years old.
Ever since I was a child, I always wanted to move to the US, specifically the northwest, although I'm not dead set on this.

In an ideal world, I will finish my doctorate (computational genetics) and move to the US on a work visa (if only it was that simple eh?) so this gives me around 3 years to get a realistic plan in order, save some cash and make a few scouting trips.
I did have some affirmative answers to these questions on the expat wiki:

• Do you have an academic degree?
  • I have a bachelors
• Are you a student or recent graduate in your home country?
  • I graduated in 2019
• Do you have specialist skills?
  • I have my scientific skills, and I will have even more after my PhD program is complete
• Were you, your spouse or your parents born in any country other than Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, or Vietnam? (* note - this list changes over time).
  • UK National

Based on my initial research, I thought that a H1-B work visa would be most appropriate, assuming I can find work, although I understand that President Trump is making some alterations to this visa program.
Seattle has a large tech industry and I've seen many appropriate positions available in the area, so this all seems plausible at the very least.

Can any British expats out there share your wisdom on making the big move? I understand its difficult to give specific advice based on a forum post, but hearing about your experiences would be a great help!
Please don't sugar coat advice, just be firm and up front, I'm very serious about this and hard truths will help me a lot!

Many thanks

neill

The most obvious answer would be to find a job in the UK with a company that has a major presence, better still, head office in the U.S. and work for them for at least 12 months in the UK before requesting a transfer to their U.S. office. There is a different visa for this, called the L-1, and is not over-subscribed, or subject to any kind of cap*, unlike the H-1B. Once on the L-1, you are allowed to apply to be an immigrant.* Many highly-skilled brits take this route.

* As the rules stand right now, and subject to the Visa suspensions due to COVID eventually being lifted.

aesthetic

That's a great point which I hadn't considered. My area of research is quite niche, so a US company operating in the UK might be difficult to find, but I will definitely research this option.

TexanScot

Or rather, your employer is allowed to apply on your behalf for you to become an immigrant - the L-1B beneficiary cannot directly apply, and they cannot compel their employer to apply on their behalf.

Pulaski

Given your goals, personally I would have enrolled to do my PhD in the US, as that would open up some possibilities - more likely to get the attention of a US employer, spending time in the US to network and make professioal, and personal connections, etc.

aesthetic

Thanks for your reply - I did consider this, but without a Masters degree, i was rejected from most of the programs unfortunately

SFNative

I am really surprised to hear this. Lots of PhD programs have international students and they don't normally require a Master's first- sometimes, especially for science subjects, the Master's is not the terminal degree and is the "consolation prize" for someone who does a few years but drops out before finishing their PhD.

The most obvious route, I would have thought, was to do a post-doc in the US after your PhD. Plenty of people do this, the universities are used to it and are well-equipped to deal with visas and paperwork. It might be one of the visas mentioned above, but, honestly, having the university do it all for you is the biggest thing. (I did exactly this- but the other way around. I did my PhD in the PNW and then post-doc'd in Europe.)

In the PNW, the Universities of Oregon and Washington are the obvious hunting grounds for you, but there are a bunch of other, smaller ones, and they both have medical schools, which might be relevant for you.

tom169

26 years old, bachelors only, but hopefully studying for a PhD? Did you enter the workforce for a few years? I didn't realize you could apply for a PhD program with only an undergrad degree.

A realistic plan is working for a multinational and then transferring to the USA. Where you land in the USA will probably be up to your employer.

retzie

OP: are you hoping to go into academia, or looking for a job in industry? As SFNative has pointed out, postdoc-ing in the US is an easy avenue for a fresh PhD grad, but is academia what you actually want? Whilst it is fairly easy to get visa sponsorship for academic positions, it will not be at all easy to transfer into industry from there.

In general, my advice is that if you are hoping for non-academic employment in the US, it would be better to do your PhD here. I don't like your chances of being hired into industry straight out of a PhD in another country*. It's not impossible, but you will just have much less of a network in the US to help you find/secure a job.

*If your PhD is explicitly linked to work with a US-based industry partner, that would make this a much easier prospect.

aesthetic

Yes, I worked for a year or two after finishing school, I went to university as a "mature student", my degree was 4 years, including a year long placement in industry. Its actually quite common to skip over a masters degree if you have a strong bachelors.

aesthetic

I will look into these programs, although I fear it may be too late in the year for the 2021 intake of students - but its worth looking! My field is niche and is mainly academic, although I do think that it will become a large industry in with next 10 years (bioinformatics and big-data genetics is fast growing, think about how many people get their DNA sequenced just for fun through 23 and me!).

Post-docing is definitely a good idea - I feel like after a few years in specialist academia, transfer to industry might be plausible although I fully understand your point. I'm starting to think that I should have attempted to start a PhD overseas, the problem was that is was difficult to find PhDs relevant to my field, since it is still very young.

Thank you everyone, you've given me a lot to think about so far!

carcajou

I don't think it is field-specific. In my field, which is not related to OPs, you are not allowed to jump straight to a PhD from a Bachelor's. They may conditionally accept you for a PhD on the grounds that you do the Master's with them first.

Concur with Pulaski. Drop out of the UK PhD program, regroup this year and save money, and begin applying in September for Master's programs in the US at unis that also have strong PhD programs. Speak to the recruiters at those institutions about that.

You mentioned the Pacific Northwest. The University of Washington (in Seattle) is one of the best universities in the world and has a medical school on par with Stanford. See what their computational genetics program is like.

Otherwise try for the post-doc.

tom169

Interesting! I​​​​​ wonder if that would hold you back in the USA. I've not encountered a PhD candidate in the USA who hadn't first gained a master's.

Pulaski

A good friend of mine from school had a peculiar career path but went from bachelor's direct to PhD. He got poor GCSE grades, so poor that the school tried to persuade him to leave, saying he didn't have a foundation for A levels, and they were correct - his A level grades were an E, an O, and an F! But he got himself accepted into an agricultural college, collecting a diploma after two years. Thanks to the peculiarities of the old Education Authority grant scheme, he couldn't get funding for a master's degree program, which he was qualified for, but they would fund a bachelor's degree, so he went and did that. He did well and got results sufficient for a PhD program, so that was his next step. So, short version, after leaving school with effectively no useful qualifications, around 9 years later he had a PhD, and from Cambridge University no less!

SFNative

It might be field-specific. I did a STEM subject and know lots of STEM PhDs in both the UK, US, and various parts of Europe, and no one had a Master's before they started their PhD program. A few of us collected the Master's on the way. (I didn't- I forgot to fill in the form two years into grad school, after my quals. And I went to one of the big PNW universities.) I think the Germans have as slightly different system, where your first degree is the equivalent of, or could be made into, or be recognised as, a Master's in some cases.

It is possible, and indeed, quite normal, to go into industry after a post-doc. (It's harder to go into industry after several more years in academia, unless you are a true superstar, but still not impossible.) In your case, I think you wouldn't have a lot of trouble finding a job in your field- there are lots of companies that are doing that sort of work and there'll be more of them- but the small and medium size companies will be very hesitant, if not outright refuse, to deal with visa paperwork. And you would, of course, have more competition for jobs with the big behemoths who have overseas arms and are comfortable with visa stuff.

I don't know anymore if doing a degree in the US allows you some time afterwards to work in the country? But that's probably your best bet. If you already have permission to work, I don't think you'd find it hard to find a job; but relatively few companies will be willing and able to sponsor you for a visa right out of a PhD.