Carlo09

Ok at the moment I'm still at university, so this thread is for the future. I've always wanted to move over to the USA since I was younger. I know it's hard to get a green card unless you are married to an American or invest a lot of cash, but I'm looking at the skilled worker route.

I'm currently studying Chemical Engineering and have 2 more years to go. that's got to count as a skilled worker right? I'm looking at specialising in Pharmaceuticals, but if it will make it easier to find a job i would consider going into food, or even defence if there are such openings for say munitions development. So for people who don't know what Chem Eng is, it's the process of turning raw and less valuable materials (Oil, Chemicals, ....) into more valuable and useful ones (Petrol, fuels, Foods, Pharmaceuticals). I'm guessing the fuels market would be more towards Texas and southern oil drilling states.

I'm looking at living up north, Cali or Fl if possible, and firstly was wondering if anyone knows of either of these states having an abundance of this type of work? Also what are the salary's like? (in England after graduation I would start on around £30k, after about 5 years I could get chartered and my salary rises to around £45-50k and then increases with experience). And the one asked right at the start, is this type of skill sought after in the us and will it make getting a green card easier? If the Engineering jobs just aren't there, my degree would also let me move into math related careers such as finance since our course is highly math based and a lot of graduates take this route instead of the engineering route.

Thank you all for your replies and any information is welcomed.

Ginblossom

Being blunt, your skills are not unique and certainly as a raw uni graduate with presumably little actual experience in your field behind is not going to qualify you a highly skilled worker. Basically you have to be unbelievably indispensable to qualify in this regard. I presume as a new grad you are not a world leading expert in Chem Eng.

If you read the wiki, it will give you those details. Your greencard as you call it is not the same as the highly skilled worker visa anyways. Finance workers as you put arent in high demand either.

Not too be negative but you have very few options for you at this stage. Thats not too say you cannot make it happen but you need to research a lot more about what options may be open to you.

Desire to live and work in the US is not sufficient I am afraid.

tonrob

We already have one Pat on here ("The thinking man's trucker") but as you've essentially left your resume with us we could give you a shout in the future if we have an opening?

Carlo09

Thank you both for your quick replies! tonrob, what did you mean by an opening? Are you an employer? I do not have my degree yet if you were refering to a job as an Engineer.

Also I know a graduate wont be classed as a highly skilled worker, I do plan to work a few years here to get experience, and also some money.

Ginblossom

He was being sarcastic.

Realistically this not going to happen for you.

Did you read the wiki? If not, please do so, and also research H1B visas, you will find that is very very limited. H-1B work-authorization is strictly limited to employment by the sponsoring employer, so come back in some years when you are at the top of your game and world class.

Your hopes are not impossible long term but for now, if you are desperate to go to America, you will need to find other legal ways. (such as marriage or winning the lottery and investing your money, unless of course right now you have a few hundred grand to out down, which I guess not)

Carlo09

Nope we don't have a few hundred grand, at the moment we (me and girlfriend, a math undergrad) have about £20k which is know is not enough to do anything other than buy a nice car. I have just read the wiki as you suggested and it says science, engineering and math are specialist subjects so does that mean if i found an employer here, that is willing to have me transfer to the usa to work for them, that it would be a posible way of getting a visa and then citizenship?

Thank you.

Carlo09

I have just been looking at the Eb2 visa for members of professions that hold advanced degrees in engineering, science ...

Once I have obtained my masters, that will be an advanced degree. And waiting 5 years in order to get chartered which will mean I am a mamber of a professional organisation, which are two of the boxes ticked for that visa, thats assuming I could get a job offer from an American company.

Good route to try?

Ginblossom

You were first talking about L1 Intra-Company Transfer Visas. It is a NON IMMIGRANT visa and no immediate route to citizenship this way.

(actually, someone far more knowledgeable than me can correct me but I didn't think it is)

Right now you have zero ties to the US, why do you want to be a citizen?

This is all so moot, and years away that any advice anyones gives you now will probably have changed by such time this could even be feasible.

In my experience, intra co transfers are pretty rare in the grand scheme of matters and the cost etc involved for the employer means you would have to be something pretty special in that company. You are a long way from that buddy.

And if you had read the wiki you would already have the answer to your question posed about L visas. Plus you keep changing what you say you want. Now you are talking about e2 b visas again something different.


What is it that you actually want? Temporary working status, full citizenship. Two hugely difference things.

Because right now, you have no ties to the US and no legal way to get there, and no way for us to advise you adequately - there are tons of different visas, you have to pick the appropriate one for your circumstances and to be honest no one will help you if you are looking at every visa route theoretically possible which has no basis in reality.

Jerseygirl

My husband was a L1A...you are fast tracked to GC...5 yrs later you can apply for citizenship.

Carlo09...the pharma route could pay off. Get yourself a job with one of the large pharma companies with offices in the US.

Carlo09

Well in the grand scheme of things I would like to be a citizen in many years to come, have kids there and raise them in the USA.

First as you say I need to get there and I thought the way to do this would be through work. Graduate, get a job and experience, transfer there or apply there for a job if that is possible, eventuall get a greencard so my job is not my only security and then progress from there.

penguinsix

You could get your masters degree at a US university (which would cost quite a bit) but after it was over you would get a year of practical work training, during which time you can lobby, cajole, etc your employer to try and sponsor you for an H1 (which is going to be tough).

But to be honest, if you spend a year here as a student and a year as an entry level worker, you might get your eyes opened as to some of the realities that you never see as a tourist. Honestly, you might not want to come (go look at the Moving Back to the UK thread to see the daily display of broken dreams).

Or you might find a nice American girl, get married, and be set as far as visas go.

mekadag

Hi,

I wish you good luck and do not give up even though it is difficult. I always wanted to live in the US - (this was in the back of my mind) even though I lived most of my life in England (born in London) which was fine. Make the most of opportunities in England particularly higher education which I can see are an essential part of your plan going forward. Sometimes opportunities open up in different ways. If you told me 12 years ago i would be living in california within next five years i would have said no no really - i came through the work route and now have a green card. The US has many faces and it is not so wonderful as we are led to believe - i have grown in so many ways professionally and personally and you need to know that goals can be realised keep an open mind.
Julia
Los Angeles California

lisa67

Sounds like a good long term plan to me
My OH is a mechanical engineer (chartered and with an MBA from Cranfield) and we made it!
Get a good degree, find a job with a firm that has offices in the US and get networking
Marrying your girlfriend is the easiest way to ensure that she can come over with you.
Good Luck...it's refreshing to see that someone is making realistic long term plans to get over here.

Carlo09

Wow thank you very much for all of your replies! It's good to hear from people who have made it using the same route I plan to use!

orangemirror

Yes this is definitely one of your options. We have about a dozen chem engers from India and China where I work who are here on the H1 visa. They all came to us having done a masters or PhD here in the US then applied for our job postings.

As i understand it though, if they lose their job, they lose their visa and have to go home.

I'm also a chemical engineer and you definitely are in a better field than most to get here, but i cheated and married an american girl to get my GC. i didn't even have any desire to live here, it just sort of happened.