Nutmegger

You still seem to be missing the point that people are trying to make -- YOU do not apply for the visa. You cannot apply for the visa. If you locate an employer willing to go to bat for you, THEY are the ones who must submit the application.

It also seems that your research is letting you down -- let's take Philadelphia as an example, while there are districts you would not want to live (as there are in most cities), Philadelphia is actually a wonderful place and I know many people who live there very happily, all of whom have professions connected to the arts.

scrubbedexpat099

Your area of expertise is not an obvious one for job sponsorship.

Are you in contact with others in yout field who have migrated this wsy?

ian-mstm

Oh dear god, I can't stand it any longer. The plural of "visa" is "visas". There is no apostrophe! It's neither a possessive nor a contraction.

Got it?

Ian

MadRad

I'm not going to get into the visa argument as others have covered that already. But I can comment on Fort Collins.

I lived there when I first moved over here. It's a nice town, it has a good feel about it and the university gives it a youthful vibe. Outdoor opportunities are endless, Rocky Mountain National Park is only 45 mins away, and it's easy enough to get into the mountains for mountain biking, hiking, skiing etc. It's well maintained, clean, and generally green, but not particularly cheap for housing. Our rental was pretty expensive, and when OH and I were looking to buy a house there we really struggled to find what we wanted in our price bracket. Things then changed job-wise and we had to move elsewhere.

As someone has said, the mall is lousy but the town does have most of the big stores you're likely to need, and the old town has some great independent places. There's a good selection of restaurants and a decent social scene. Denver and Boulder are not too far away and have decent shopping malls, restaurants, theatres, concert venues etc.

kins

Portsmouth is a delightful town to have lunch and do some shopping in. It's very cold in winter and lovely in summer. It's an hour (?) to Boston and fairly close to the outlets in Kittery ME.

I live just outside Portland ME which is equally nice, larger, has better shopping, and has access to the Maine outdoors which is amazing. Given the choice I'd go for Portland but Portsmouth would be OK.

The downside of New Hampshire having low taxes is that it means less social housing so less work in your field. And in Maine we've had a huge government witch hunt against the biggest social housing organisation resulting in the CEO leaving.

All of this is irrelevant because you're unlikely to get a visa unless you marry an American.

Bob

It's about an hour either way on I-95....though traffic into Boston can be hit or miss depending on the time of day.