B_2013

Hi guys,

My husband and I are thinking of moving to the US at some point this year. We are both in our thirties. He's an IT guy in financial banking and has just completed his masters in financial IT; I am a physio student graduating this June. Our thinking is, for him to find work in the US and for me to get a dependent / student visa, as UK undergraduate physios need to do further studies to be allowed to work in the US.

Not sure if anyone here is in similar jobs or have any advice / tips re. how we can go about applying? We are just thinking, it surely can't be easy applying for a job in the US at the moment?

Thanks for any thoughts!

Jerseygirl

Hi welcome to BE.

Please take a look at this. If you or your husband fit into one of the categories you may have a chance to move to the US. Please bear in mind it is very difficult to move to the US. Your best route would probably be if your husband's company have offices in the US...then perhaps he could get a company transfer.

Noorah101

One of you (most likely your husband) will have to find a US employer willing to sponsor his work visa. Either that, or he should work for a UK company which has branches in the USA and then after 1 year of employment at the right level, ask for a transfer.

You are correct. With the economy the way it is, he will have to bring something very special to the table to make a US employer want to spend the money to bring him over, rather than hire someone already in the USA with work authorization.

Networking seems to be the key to getting a foot in the door.

Rene

SanDiegogirl

Need to get a work visa from sponsoring company in the US BEFORE you move.

Bob

L1 for a company transfer, would allow the spouse to work.

H1B for a new job, wouldn't allow spouse to work.

The first would need to have worked a year at the UK side before transferring...the second is unlikely unless have niche experience/skills as it's expensive and the employer applying for visa in April for a October start.

Your experience/degree depending on which state you plan to move to in the US, might well be worthless and require starting from scratch. Would have to search out what the state says regarding certification.

ian-mstm

Respectfully, you should entertain a different thought! Brutal, perhaps... but honest.


True... and unless one of you has superior skills to the many hundreds of people with the same or better qualifications who don't need sponsoring and can start work tomorrow if asked, why would a US employer spend many $thousands to sponsor you for a visa?

Be honest with yourselves... what skill set do you bring to the table that will set you apart from all those who are already in the US? Hint = willingness and determination aren't sufficient.

Ian

penguinsix

Hi

As others are mentioning, the visa issue will probably stop you, or at least put an incredibly high hurdle in your path.

Your husband's in a better position. He can get a L visa (transfer from his company) or an H-1 visa, specialist skills. With the H1 though, your dependent visa would specifically bar you from working.

Neither is a cake walk though. There are plenty of hoops and barriers to jump through.

Does your husband work for a big multi-national that transfers people worldwide? If so, that's where I would start.

B_2013

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advice - you guys are so helpful and I'm grateful for all your replies.

Jerseygirl - thanks for the link, like we thought, my husband has 2 routes, the L1 transfer visa or the H1B new employment visa.

Rene - thanks for the advice. My husband has a masters in financial IT rather than just IT and has been working in financial / investment banking areas so I'm hoping that he has something to "bring to the table"....

SanDiegogirl - yeah job offer and work visa = gold dust we are trying to catch......

Bob - practical advice, appreciated! Sounds like everyone agrees that H1B is more difficult, so L1 it is if you can get it, right? My husband does work for a US company's London office, and we are hoping to move to New York, or DC. But the problem is that he is a contractor so technically he doesn't work for the US company

Ian - brutal maybe but definitely true, and honest advice. In the end of the day we can't be kidding ourselves and thinking we are special My family lives in DC and as they get older their caring needs increase, so it's a case of (ideally) we need to be there rather than just wanting to be there....it's scary, to even think about leaving London, where we have a house and my husband has a job. But one can try! I guess practically speaking, my husband has a bit more than the uniform "IT guy" because of his financial background (that's our hope anyway), I don't have anything that beats an American physio but I am happy to do the extra modules then to take exams so I'm not that worried about myself.

Penguinsix - thanks! Yeah I'm not dreaming about myself getting a job in the US unless I do additional studies and I'm happy with that. My husband is emailing his American boss today to see what she has to offer....:fingersc rossed:

And......does anyone mind sharing about how they got to live in the States? I'm really hoping that we are not just trying in vain here!

jemima55

My husband got a transfer from the UK office to one of the US offices of the company he works for. They declared that he had "special abilities" for the purpose of the visa. It was an E2 visa, don't ask me why, and I was allowed to work. We were there five years, came home in autumn 2012.
We were in DC.
Our son, early 20s also joined us, on a student visa. My feedback about that is -you have to be a full time student to be elegible for a student visa and also have to finance the course yourself as there is little or no funding available to British students except maybe commercial loans masquerading as education loans. You also have to show you have the funds upfront, and you will be an overseas student, so, often higher fees! His uni charged everyone, home or overseas students the same, but that was unusual.
BUT the healthcare industry in the US is massive, so, once qualified you could be in with a chance.
Just remember, everyone on here started somewhere!
Re-reading your post I see your folks are in DC. Are you American or British?

B_2013

Hi Jemima,

Thanks for the advice - really detailed and helpful. We are in London, my family is in DC so we are hoping to move to somewhere along the east coast. We are British. Your husband must be quite outstanding in his field! My husband works in IT but in the banking industry, who knows what's out there for him? He's emailed his boss based in the US so we will see what happens.....

P.s. did you guys move back to the UK cos you don't like it out there?

jemima55

We were on a transfer, enjoyed the experience, we did five years, but always intended to return to the UK, that's all!

HarryTheSpider

Hi & welcome!

My wife & I came out here on an internal company transfer, on the L-1 visa, specialist knowledge route.

I effectively engineered a role for me that eventually put me in a position of specialist knowledge that could not be replaced by a US citizen. When we moved over, it was quite straightforward for my company to demonstrate no US citizen could do my job immediately, or get up to speed to replace me in a reasonable period of time.

What I did was propose a new role, manager of all sales process training world wide, with a small team of trainers scattered across the globe. I became the goto-guy for all matters relating to how we sell - so although how we sell is based on readily available sales methods, we've made it our own, adapting it for our culture & industry, which meant integrating several methods from different vendors.

I had already been in a senior training role with the company at a European level, had a masters in management training and a degree in engineering (we are a tech company), so had over 2 years under my belt with my company when we started the visa application process. I did the new job based in the UK at first, and this demonstrated internally the role really needed to move to corporate HQ.

If your hubby could arrange/propose a similar path (obviously focused on IT & banking etc) and build a unique combination of expertise and experience, then you might be able to achieve your desires, and more quickly. The L1 visa is a relatively straight forward path to Green Cards too - we're at the final stage of that process now ourselves.

Good luck!

Pulaski

Sorry, my path to the US won't help you - like many others here, I have an American spouse. But we lived in the UK for a couple of years, and only came because/ when I could continue my career here. I had no interest in scratching around trying to find a new career path.

ian-mstm

Yours is a very refreshing attitude - usually when we point out the difficulties, the poster gets defensive... then nasty! For what it's worth, don't give up the dream. I usually advise people to read Frost's "The Road Not Taken". It has always been an inspiration to me. Best of luck to you whichever road you take.

Ian

HarryTheSpider

+1

He may be a 'Sanctimonious Prick' (), but he's also pretty bloody helpful at times!!