Due to the current economic climate and the number of people out of work in the US right now. I was wondering if any of you who have gone to America on a work visa have had any problems with US citizens? Has there been any resentment or anger directed at you by people who are not happy foreigners are being hired over citizens?

As my husband is in the middle of the process to get his work visa, I am wondering what our arrival may bring, friends or instant enemies?

I didn't notice any resentment towards Brits or other Europeans. You may hear a few snide remarks if you look like a Latino. Sad but true.

Generally speaking the attitude I've always got has been gratitude for "doing it the right way", i.e. being a legal immigrant and going through the system properly - and respect for the time, effort and money I've put into it!

Glad to hear it! As we are moving to a small town in Indiana I don't think I would have been able to cope with any resentment or anything like that.

I suppose it might depend on what you do.

In my case I'm quite specialized so I'm not really in a situation where I'm competing for work.

In fact, I suppose it's the other way round. Delays with my visa are causing a hold up on our product development, which is causing hold ups on jobs for people in manufacturing, so in fact they actually want me to get over there as soon as possible!

(We are a UK/US couple).
Our personal experience is that the Americans we have met do not consider the British to be 'foreigners', go figure! I have even had conversations with Americans who complain about foreign workers to me; they consider the colonization history and presumably shared language as enough to excuse any consideration that I shouldn't be here.

In my 6 years here I've only had two or three occasions when someone has made unpleasant comments about my foreign worker status. Only one person has ever had the never to say anything directly to my face.

I'm sure there's been some muttering at work behind my back, but not sufficient to concern me.

So, all in all, it seems to me that there's not much anti-British Immigrant sentiment where I live and work. Having said that, I'm in a relatively culturally and racially diverse place, and work with smart, well-informed people (on the whole). The situation may be quite different in smaller towns with fewer immigrants or higher unemployment.

When we first moved over (9 years ago) our neighbor made a snide remark about people coming over and taking jobs etc. etc. His wife owned and ran the local Montessori school and when I tried to get my daughter in there we were turned away as she thought it wouldn't be right for the rest of the children if we were going to be leaving after a couple of years (which was our original plan!!)
When they realised we had decided to stay for the long haul she tried to employ me as one of her teachers...took great delight in telling her I didn't want the job!!
That has been the only incident. we have found that when you explain the hoops you have to jump through to get here people are very supportive

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I won't know for sure how we will be accepted until we actually arrive there, but I am hopeful that it will be alright!

The day after I moved to the US, I walked into the local gas station convenience store... and the first thing the attendent said to me was, "You're not from around here, are you?"

Ian

I get that here in England now so God knows what I will have people say to me in Indiana!

To the "Not from around here" comment: You'll get used to it, and they'll get used to you, and it'll stop.... until you go somewhere new.

Most of the resentment is toward illegal immigrants getting citizen's jobs. If you come to the US through the 'right legal channels', then, as a previous poster said, you'd probably get praised for "doing it the right legal way".

The people I've met who seemed to get some resentment were the ones who come with the attitude of
"Well in UK we do this and it's so much better that what you do" and let it be known. You can think things are rubbish all you want, just don't tell them

There's a lot of dislike/resentment for Illegal aliens here too.

My experiences have been anything but resentful. Quite the opposite in fact. I've had comments from co-workers suggesting I "get away with murder with that accent"...but they don't say it in a nasty way.

Yeah, but the kilt gave you away in Kentucky.....