teeps123

GeneralPowerpoint

This is a good place to start. See if any apply to you and come back.
https://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulas...ork_in_the_USA

You can't apply for a work visa. You need an employer to apply for a visa for you in order that you might work for them. This typically costs $5k and above, so you need to be able to perform an in demand role that an employer is willing to pay a lot of money for. i.e. you're not going to get a visa for a retail job - even if they qualified for a visa, which they don't.

By far the simplest means to obtain a visa is to work for a large multinational company in the UK for a year and then have them transfer you.

If the family is close they can sponsor you for a visa, but it needs to be immediate family i.e. parents or siblings and even then it's a long process.

If you have about half a million dollars you might have a couple of extra options.

Noorah101

University educated. . what is your degree in?
Family in Long Island... what relatives? Parents, siblings?

Rene

scrubbedexpat099

Unless family includes a spouse or there is something significant you have not mentioned there is no route anytime soon.

civilservant

I would assume that the OP found the information in Pulaskis to be somewhat dishearting, and may have left the building.

OP - Despite it's reputation as an immigrant mecca, the US is actually one of the hardest places in the world for which to get a visa to live and work.

jsted

Given that around a million people legally migrate to the US each year I find this a somewhat ludicrous statement to say!

Want a hard country to migrate to...look at Japan or North Korea perhaps!

civilservant

I don't really care how 'ludicrous' you find it (btw - over the top much?)

Unless you fit in one of a relatively small number of narrowly defined categories, you aren't coming to the US as anything other than a visitor.

Look at how many new posters we get here that have no path to a visa.

Noorah101

So then, after reading Pulaski's Ways, which visa applies to you?

Rene

civilservant

He's already here on an H1B... he's not the OP

Pulaski

But they fit into the very narrowly defined categories of permitted visas. Remarkably, the UK remains a very large source of migrants to the US, because of a combination of many corporations having operations in both countries, and many people having family here; I suspect that international marriages are on the rise too, partly linked to more students going in both directions to study. So unfortunately it is extremely hard for most people to get a visa to live in the US, in fact practically impossible in most cases, but extremely easy for those who meet the criteria.

scrubbedexpat099

It is over a million a year, assuming current policies continue there will be an additional 80 million on the next 40 years, so the numbers are not insignificant.

As Mr P point out, the numbers involved are very large but the demand is much much larger and the opportunity is not evenly spread.

Rete

From the USCIS "Since 2000, legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1,000,000 per year, of whom about 600,000 are Change of Status who already are in the U.S. Legal immigrants to the United States now are at their highest level ever, at just over 37,000,000 legal immigrants."

600,000 people did a change of status which means that they were either here in the US already on valid visas, i.e. work or married to US citizens. 400,000 were divided between the lottery, refugees, sanctuary recipients, etc.

On the surface it appears simple to emigrate to the US but in reality it is far from the truth. Unless you have special skills or at the top of your career, you won't get a work visa that will allow you to get a foot in the door. Unless you have to throw away on a business that is destined to fail, again, the door is closed to you. You have a criminal history of CIMTs, the bar across the door locks you out.

The size of the US compared to the size of North Korea or Japan is like looking at a 5 lb Prime Rib Roast and a handful of peanuts. No comparison. No comparison either on government policies. The US can physically support 1M people per year.

If you are young, unskilled, or lack the correct skills, and want to move to the US to bask in the California or Florida sunshine, forget about it. That's reality.

scrubbedexpat099

Most new green cards go to people already living in U.S.

This is a Pew report from some time ago, I am not sure of it matters if people adjust or go through Consular processing.

Not sure where the UK is in the list but not top 10 and not sure it matters, the big numbers come from where you would normally expect, those with big populations/large numbers here who can sponsor.

The main difference in my mind is between the numerically capped and uncapped categories, Assuming no policy changes then the growth will obviously be in uncapped categories.

jsted

scrubbedexpat099