customsquestion

According to that site, you have to have green card to be a basic solider and to become an officer rank you have to be USC which sounds a bit discriminatory to me. It doesn't look like they would sponsor for a green card.

DavidLemon

You are correct, they will not sponsor a green card. They state that the minimum requirement is that you have to be a green card holder, and they even offer advice (minimal as it is) as to how to get the green card, but they do not offer that service themselves/

scrubbedexpat099

Which is wrong, but not in a way that impacts the OP.

Wiggy91

This is not really possible in the UK. Firstly the Royal Armoured Corps is taking a battering in defence cuts, and secondly unless I get more UCAS points for Officer selection the Army is going to be a no go, not because I'm not fit or intelligent enough, but because a) I'm middle class and b) I have family who are Officers in the Cavalry, Artillery and Aircorps. Now tanks fall under Cavalry/ Armoured Corps and having family as Officers would make me a very unpopular person indeed.

Secondly, the fact is I've really lost hope in the UK, as I initially said I feel like an outsider in my own country, and lastly there is a girl I met in the UK who's from Edisto in South Carolina who I've been in correspondence with since 2008; she really likes me as I do here, but I wouldn't mention proposed marriage or engagement just yet and I certainly wouldn't marry her just to get a green card, that would be exploitative and whilst I'd really like to make the move; I don't want to succeed at a compromise to basic principles. I shall be going to see her at the end of this year after harvest (I'm currently a farmer) as well as see loads of my friends in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Texas; really looking forward to hanging out with them all.

With respect, I'll ask you not to brand this a "boyhood fantasy" as much as it may seem like it to a third party, I can tell you it is something I've given serious consideration to and researched. I'm aware a greencard is required and firstly you need to get into the US on a permenant immigrant visa; but I have also read of people doing just that and travelling to the US, working a normal job for a couple of months whilst they straighten everything out and then walking into a recruitment office and enlisting.

I appreciate all of your replies so far, and I'll take "impossible" to mean "virtually impossible", I would put money on there being some room for maneuver. I must say I'm surprised to have gotten so many replies in such a short space of time.

Cheers guys,
Ollie

Wiggy91

To be honest, I think it's fair enough not allowing non-citizens to enlist as Officers; Officers will be privy to more sensitive information about the security of the United States, in any case you need a degree to be an Officer in the US Armed services, something I do not currently have. The US does run a program whereby enlisted ranks who have shown high aptitude can be sent off to get a degree and then be allowed to re-enlist as an Officer and attend an Officer training academy. This would not necessarily be my goal, not at the moment anyway, at the moment I'm focusing on how to get in to begin with.

The US Military doesn't sponsor greencards, though their recruitment was so bad a few years back that the US government discussed opening recruitment centres (initially just for the US Army) in foreign countries deemed friendly (like mine) to get people in. Turns out not enough Americans are interested in the rigours of military life style.

Even though the US Army is facing cuts, it has still only met it's quota for recruitment for 1 year since the end of the Vietnam war; by comparison the other 3 combat services have not had this problem.

materialcontroller

You need to figure out how to get in to the USA itself, before you start thinking about getting into the US Army.

Wiggy91

Yes, I'm working on that; this is what my initial question was about. When it comes to the embassy what is it like?

I'm looking at different ways to get in at the moment, it looks like it could well be a long path, a hard path but not a path that cannot be trodden.

kimilseung

Yes to this.
And decide if it is America or the army that is your goal.

You don't have a degree, so that might be your way in, if you can come up with the dosh.

materialcontroller

With respect, until you know for certain that one of the visa categories is a possibility and you've begun an application, giving you information about the embassy is meaningless and won't help you in any way, shape or form.

I'll start with one piece of advice about the embassy though. They don't hand out advice about which visa to apply for or how to succeed in getting it.

Wiggy91

Well I was curious to know what I would eventually be going up against. I appreciate what you're saying though.

Yes I gathered as much about them not giving you advice, can't blame them to be honest.

kimilseung

And remember that embassies don't hand out visa's either.

DavidLemon

You mention a long term love interest. Personally that is the route I think you should explore (not exploit). If you are both serious about each other, you can be in the US inside of 12 months and then you can look to your future at this time.

Until such time as you are an LPR, you will not be joining the army, and since the army will not assist you in becoming one, you have to think outside of the box and sort it yourself. The easiest path to tread is staring you in the face.

Wiggy91

Of course I realise this, it wouldn't be such a challenge if it was as simple as rocking up and asking nicely

I must say, it's somewhat annoying to see the US government moving forward with granting people residency who've gone about it the wrong by visiting the US and then never leaving, instead disappearing into the vast landscape.

kimilseung

I mean you deal with the consulate not the embassy, many places these are in the same building, but that is not always the case.

Wiggy91

Yes and if Kaitlyn is keen to take that forward then of course I'd be more than happy to, but as the saying goes, it takes 2 to tango. Marriage has come up once in conversation and it was by me in gest when I found out she makes brownies and I said "that's that then, you'll have to marry me" (I'm a real sucker for brownies)

But yeah, like I said, I'll be seeing her end of this year; will actually be staying with her at Uni (she attends Clemson) and who knows, something may grow then and I may return to the UK with a better idea of where we stand with one another. She's a great lasse