My partner's a games artist, and we're looking to emigrate. I *think* it's likely we might end up in Canada, but there's a possibility of the States too.

Basically, I was interested in chatting to anyone in this field and hearing about their experiences in relation to the UK companies. Etc.

He's worked cross-platforms on AAA titles.

Thanks.

Can't comment on the industry, but I imagine it would be very hard to get a job where someone is willing to sponsor him to come over. And you would need to be married as partner is not something that is recognized by US immigration.

If you are willing to get married then here is a list of ways to live and work in the US http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulask...ork_in_the_USA

I'd suggest searching major software / games companies and see which of them sponsor H1-Bs:

http://www.immihelp.com/h1b-sponsori...nies-database/

Good luck!

Quite a few of us on BE.

Most people get transferred over, from Lionhead over to 345 or whatever the kinect studio is etc and EA, Disney have done a a fair few transfer.

Quite a few coders get H1B, but little tougher on artists, perhaps tech artists get a chance. I knew a place trying to get an animator an O1 and they failed and he had credits the length of my arm.

It really depends on which hub your looking to chase up, more opportunities in the west coast obviously, but the down side is more competition, so unless your pretty senior, art director kind of level, it'll be a hard sell to get a H1B.

Canada is probably your best bet for a decent visa opportunity especially if things don't work out.

Saying that, 38 Studios need to hire 450 within 4 years to get their loan money, but then that's down in Rhode Island and there's nothing else out there.

gamedevmap.com probably already seen, but throwing it out there

Yep, I know a gamer who was transferred over from London...but then the company laid off half their people, inc. all those on work visas. Lucky for him he married an American.
Naomi.

In our experience it is as unstable here as in the UK

yeah, I know since I got laid off, a good chunk of colleagues had gotten laid off at least once or twice since.

My husband works in games (audio) and we've just come over on an O visa. His employers wanted him over asap so we didn't bother with the H1B as it would have meant an October start.
He found his job on the internet.

Gamesindustry.biz has a load of international vacancies from agencies all over the world on the back end of their emails which is somewhere to start.
He did try just mailing his CV out to various companies with no effect, his job was actually advertised which helped.
Canada seems to have a thriving Dev community thanks to all the tax breaks, it's somewhere we looked at too.

thanks for the advice, everyone. It does indeed sound quite the jungle out there.

Can I ask did anyone else think about Canada and why didn't they go?

Congrats, Hubcaps! That's great news!

Hi N1cky. It was recommended on the canada board that I try and chat to you. It doesn't sound you've got happy stories though!

Bob Hope all works out for you.

In fairness, we had a great experience until very recently, but things look like they will work out. Drop me a PM if you like, I'm certainly not down on the whole idea of coming out to the US/Canada in the games industry.

The industry is so small in the UK and the opportunities out here are massive in comparison, if we had to do it all again i'd still do the same thing

Those places are good source, can then google the recruiters wording to find actual place and apply direct, or ask around and someone will know where the place is....direct approach can help as it'll save a fortune in recruiter fees.

Edit: to the OP, only reason I didn't go to Canada, the missus is from the US and that's how I got here and have a greencard and got laid off just as I was about to apply for citizenship, so just saved the money and still on the greencard, can't afford the expense right now, other wise we'd probably have moved.

I forgot to say he emailed HR/recruitment directly at various devs which that didn't elicit too much response (although one who ignored him tried to head hunt him 6 months later).

We didn't go to Canada because we both really wanted to come to Washington (hey it's only a couple of hours away) and the "yes" to this job was pretty swift. If this job had been a no then it was next on the list to actively pursue.