paolomcmillan

Hi all,

So, I am a 21 year old male from the UK who currently has a girlfriend in the USA, having met last summer whilst I worked at a summer camp entering on a J1-visa and then began dating under the same scenario again this summer. I've recently completed my Bachelors Degree in Physiology and will begin my Masters Degree in Bio-scientific Research this coming week, with my contract with the company that I will be working with expiring next October (2014). I have fallen in love with the American lifestyle (well of what I have experienced of it thus far) and have a strong desire to move there on a permanent basis.

At the point of completing my Masters in the UK, it would then be my desire to take one of two options: a) either begin to study a PhD in the USA or b) take a gap year with a little bit of travel and then begin Medical School in the UK the following September (2015) for four or five years and then attempting to move over to the USA after completion (it seems however that the states is notoriously hard to permanently move to).

Option A: Does anyone know what visa a PhD student who is actively teaching on the Universities Campus would require to have and what are the likely benefits of this transpiring into a VISA in which I could 'convert' to for permanent residence post-PhD? This is disregarding the potentiality of marriage.

Option B: I was planning on visiting my girlfriend for as much time as I could during this period as she does not finish undergraduate school until May of 2015, therefore I'm not sure if the VWP (ESTA) route is the only option open to me (although I suspect it is) and what are the likely possibilities of being granted entry to the USA to travel and visit her for 90 days? This would at least limit the amount of time that we are spending apart this year. I will have all of my application papers and other paperwork to Medical School by this point which I hope would help me gain entry. Once she has graduated, we have spoken about her coming to the UK via a Career Recruitment Agency to work in the UK whilst I complete Medical School and then she moves back afterwards with me potentially having successfully gone down the marriage-CR1 route and obtaining my green card if we are still together or perhaps any possibility of a UK Medic heading to the states to complete his Residency? I have heard of this in the past but not sure on what VISA grounds this would occur? Any thoughts on how this would work both for her coming to the UK to work for a few years until I complete Medical School? Any potential obstacles we would face? and then again as I enter the USA on a marriage-visa to begin my Medical Residency at an establishment in the USA?

Although I understand my immigration concerns may be a little premature I would like to assess my options for moving to the USA so that I know what to expect along the way, limit surprises and what previous experiences people who may or may not have been in my situation have had in the past.

Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Thanks!

ian-mstm

Most graduate students have either an F-1 or a J-1 visa.


You can't convert a visa to permanent residence status, insofar as a visa is a travel document and nothing more. If, however, you find a sponsor who is willing to hire you, then perhaps they might be persuaded to start the paperwork that will eventually lead to PR status (= green card).


As long as you understand that marriage to a USC it's likely the easiest route - and completely eliminates the need to find a willing employer.


If you are eligible to use the VWP, then that's the easiest route.


Just to be clear, are you suggesting getting married, getting a green card, and then leaving to return to the UK? There is an inherent risk involved with that scenario... known as: abandonment of status. It's a term you can research on Google!

Ian

paolomcmillan

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the reply.

Yeah my first preference would be to get married as I understand finding a sponsor for an H1-B visa could be ludicrously difficult.

I'm still eligible for the VWP route (as far as I'm aware). I haven't used it since 2009 so I can't see why there would be a problem. Say I was to enter next October for three months until January 2015, would you reckon it possible to return in the summer for a few weeks long vacation, again on the VWP?

My plan would be to get married, green-card, move to the USA for Residency and then apply for work in the Medical field out there if I went down that line? My ambition is to stay in the USA other than to visit family in the UK during the summer for a few weeks.

Thanks again!

ian-mstm

Well... 90 days, not 3 months (they aren't the same), but our general rule of thumb here is stay outside the US longer than you were in! If you make a good pattern of visiting, you should keep problems to a minimum.


This is a good plan if you substitute "immigrant visa" for "green-card". You won't get a GC until the day you enter the US... at which point the move is well under way!

Ian

Michael

Don't see any problem with that but it is 90 days maximum and not 3 months. Plan on less than 90 days in case of problems with fligths.

paolomcmillan

Yeah, 90 days rather than 3 months and an immigrant visa rather than a GC. My apologies. Still getting used to all the immigration terminology .

Are you guys familiar with USA nationals coming to work in Scotland at all for a few years? Perhaps which VISA types I should look into?

Thanks again for your comments and insight guys. Much appreciated.

ian-mstm

For that, you'd want to go to http://uk-yankee.com/ and ask there! That's a site for people heading east across the pond.

Ian

monfed

Marry her and move now.... it's the easiest way. If you live as a permanent resident for a year you're eligible for federal funding. PhDs are notoriously difficult to get for foreigners, seeing that they like for federal funding to go towards US citizens/permanent residents, and you often have to be the best of the best (i.e. first class degree from Oxbridge, Imperial etc). Medicine may be a better option, but it is getting harder with every passing year to get a residency, due to increasing numbers of US medical students. Getting a green card first would definitely help.

If you want her to come live in the UK... get her to come study at uni, it's often cheaper than the US.... also find out if she may be eligible for an EU passport thru any recent European heritage, either Irish or Italian most commonly.