Bill_S

Colleges and universities are a good idea; they are accustomed to dealing with foreign faculty, staff, and students. By small companies, how small do you mean. There are considerable legal costs associated with hiring foreign nationals. The bigger the company, the more likely they are to be willing and able to accomodate you.

Elvira

Smaller companies - all depends and what they do and what they need, and what you have to offer, and whether they are prepared to go through the big hassle of beefing up on H1b immigration law and pay the ocnsiderable costs involved.

Universities are a different kettle of fish as they are (a) exempt from the quota (b) usually have a department dealing with international scholars. But the rest still applies: you have to be able to offer something which they need. Unless you are think you are of at least Associate Professor caliber, your chances are probably small.

If you are interested in Permanent Residence, also look into the the different categories of labor certification associated with H1bs (and the dreaded retrogression!!). H1bs are for 3 years only, and can only be renewed once (unless the employer has filed for Labor Certification). But to be able to file for Permanent Residence, you have to persuade the employer to sponsor you - which some are reluctant to do, because once you've filed for AOS, you can apply for an EAD and are no longer tied to the sponsoring company.

NB: Immigration Portal is a good site for H1b information.

Neoshoegal

Thanks again!
I'm starting to wonder if I should just go back to uni and become a nurse first maybe that would make things easier.
I think I'll spur on hubby to sort out his PhD and try to make some contacts that way.

Bookmarked the Immigration Portal website. Will have a good look at it.

Elvira

Nurses seem to in for a long wait at the moment - check out Englishnurse's posts... ('retrogression' is also a good search term!)

Although that could change again in a couple of years - who knows.

But uni H1b is definitely the way to go (unless you qualify for L1, which is even better, because spouse can work...).

So get Hubby to start networking, attending conferences, writing joint papers with US academics etc.

Bill_S

What's the subject of his Ph.D. study?

Neoshoegal

"The Application of Fractal Mathematics in Sound Design"

Ray

Well that killed the conversation ....

Neoshoegal

That's not the first time

Bill_S

I asked because it's common for university labs to bring in foreign researchers in the biological sciences. A Ph.D. in pharmacology is what got me into the USA, and I've worked with several other Canadians as well as post-docs from India, China, Japan, Korea, etc. Applied fractal math is beyond my ken, however. No idea about what the post-doctoral options would be for him.

Neoshoegal

Neither does he! At the moment he's just trying to finally it get it done. He doesn't work in the academic world at the moment. Somehow he seems more keen on me substantially developing my business over here so we can save up a huge amount of cash to buy a business over there and get in that way. I wonder which one of us is thinking more realistically...

conisby

Ive actually got a degree in music tech & sound design, but i have'nt got a clue about fractal mathematics. So that kills that dead.

nettlebed

There are significant downsides to an investor's visa, as opposed to an H-1B visa, if your final intent is immigration.

Neoshoegal

We're not sure yet if our final intent is permanent immigration. We like to experience life in different countries and the US is on top of our list, but it doesn't mean we want to stay to forever, we might if we like it, but it's not set in stone. We like the UK a lot but would like a change.