British Expats - Construction Industry Professionals

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Re: Construction Industry Professionals

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psyman (Post 11676792)

Pretty much the same story for me, although I'm a landscape architect (the education/qualification process in the UK is pretty much the same as for an architect). I just had to suck it up and work my way up over here. Had to work under a licensed landscape architect for several years before I could take State licensing exams. Most (all?) state Bureau's of Occupational Licenses wont recognise overseas education. It has to be from an accredited university, which will only be in the US or maybe Canada.

Which visa did you apply for?

Re: Construction Industry Professionals

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderclap (Post 11677051)

Which visa did you apply for?

Psyman applied for an EB-x ..... EB-2, IIRC.

Re: Construction Industry Professionals

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderclap (Post 11662086)

After a little research I discovered that the "CIOB Americas Chapter" (covering USA, Canada, Caribbean and Central & South America) has 400 members. Sounds more like an expat social club rather than a professional institution. I wonder, though, how on earth people manage to retain their chartership, as there are no CPD events/training in the USA.

They don't! They take the exams for their State and become a Professional Engineer in that State. One thing the US does well is the parochial protection scheme.

Re: Construction Industry Professionals

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderclap (Post 11677051)

Which visa did you apply for?

Well it was the company that wanted to hire me that applied for the visa. I think it was an EB-3. They had to go through Labor Certification, which basically means proving no US citizen was available to take the job. Still not sure how they managed to do that. Probably just advertised the job locally for the minimum time and didn't get any responses from anyone with my specific skills. It helped that the job was in a town that not many people would think of moving to, and it didn't pay that well, so that probably limited applications they received. Took 2 1/2 years for the visa to be approved during which time I was back in Blighty. Not sure why the US company stuck with it so long. By then I had a great job in England, so it was tough to move to a crappier job. Always would have wondered if I didn't though. Anyway, worked my way up and am not doing too bad now. Although would probably move back to the UK if I weren't so rooted here now (and house prices there were sensible).