marcnotrust

Hi Guys,

I am a Senior Network Engineer with 6 years experience and high qualified Cisco and Juniper certifications. However, I have no degree (Went straight into work at BT).

Myself and my wife both want to immigrate to the states, but my obvious problem, besides finding a job would be the no degree and no 12 years experience.

I dont have time to do a full Open University degree etc, and potentially by the time I finish this I would have nearly the 12 years experience any ways.

What I am wondering, if if anyone is aware of any Diplomas etc that I could do which may be equivalent to a years University studying etc. Anything to shave time of the 12 years experience I would require.

Thanks,
Marc

marcnotrust

Might be worth adding, I would be looking at doing it in IT/Networking/Business - Something that would relate in a roundabout way to IT and Networking.

Thanks,
Marc

christmasoompa

Out of interest, what happened to the idea of Canada? Would be a heck of a lot easier than the US!

marcnotrust

Hi,

Ha ha ha, Canada is not fully off of the table. But my wife prefers the states, and we dont want to just settle for somewhere for the sake of emigrating. I acutally prefer Toronto because Cisco have a main office there.

To be honest, Regardless of what we decide, everything is still at a very early stage. Im just trying to get as much info as poss on all our options.

We'll be going nowhere if the housing market doesnt pick up ha ha ha.

Cheers,
Marc

christmasoompa

Ah, I see. Wondered if us lovely people in the Canada forum had managed to put you off the idea somehow!

Good luck wherever you decide to aim for.

marcnotrust

No not at all, Like I said, Canada appeals more to be, and like you pointed out, it would be slightly easier for us. Who knows what will happen. Theres so many ifs and buts at the minute.

Awesome Welles

I suspect there could be a couple of issues in play here.

I secured an H1-B in 2007 (when the quota was over-subscribed by nearly 100%) without a bachelors degree. That said, I was applying for a role in a highly specialized field (healthcare science) and had very well documented evidence of relevant experience in the field, that demonstrated career and expertise progression over a period that exceeded 12 years. My attorney was pretty adamant that the progression thing was important.

I don't know for sure how closely they look at applications case by case. I do know that one of my ex-employers (an advertising agency in UK) was contacted asnd asked to confirm my tenure with them and to verify my work responsibilities jived with what was in the paperwork.

I am also aware that my H1-B sponsor had to provide chapter and verse on why they considered me and my experience to be more appropriate than a potential local hire - before they even began the labor cert process.

Without denegrating your profession, or your expertise, IT and IT support may be a tougher H1-B proposition, given that there are legions of unemployed IT people, who are in the market for few jobs - and don't have the mill-stone of sponsorship cost attached to them. DoL have a responsibility to those in the marketplace now, ahead of those who would like to be, I suspect.

Short answer - you need to provide solid, documented and verifyable evidence of you 12 years of relevant experience, if my experience is anything to go by.
IT field might be more of a stretch these days, than it once was.
Good luck.

marcnotrust

I totally understand what you mean with regards to IT - Job market is exactly the same over here at the moment.

I suppose I couldnt of picked a worse time to start my research.

After some looking around today, I've decided to look into a Foundation Degree with he OU. I can use some of the Qualifications I already have for some of the modules. And hopefully having this will chip some time off of the 12 years.

So even if this takes 2 years, I'd have about 8 years experience, so will only help. Plus, Fingers crossed the job market will be better.

Thanks for your input.

Marc

Awesome Welles

If you can attain the equivilant of a bachelors degree, you do not need to demonstrate any years of experience, in addition (though it wouldn't hurt your application, of course).

Key to this is the sponsors rationale for hiring you, rather than a USC or LPR. They must persuade (within the confines of the sponsorship application) USCIS and DoL that you can add something that would be difficult or impractical for a local hire to deliver.

They don't need to prove it (until labor certification is initiated), but they do need to present a convincing case - a slam-dunk if you are an astro- physicist or a brain surgeon, less so if you stack shelves in Tesco's.

marcnotrust

Exactly, To be honest, I've worked from BT and the Talk Talk Group and had/have quite a lot of success and recognition with both. Plus I could easily verify my roles, job, skills etc.

I'll suppose Ill see how it all pans out when I start the whole looking for work process.

Cheers,
Marc

N1cky

Seems obvious but, have you tried applying for a job with Cisco in the US?

marcnotrust

Im working on it ha ha ha.

Whilst we are anchored in the UK due to our house being worth about £1, I am looking into roles in the UK with them. They seem few and far between at the minute, And to be honest, I have just landed a new role with my current company which is going to give me some excellent experience, which will be better for my long term plans.

N1cky

So why bother to start this thread in the first place?

marcnotrust

Because Im not planning on moving tomorrow.

Im gathering info for when I am in a position to make the move etc.

Does this answer your question.

N1cky

Sorry, my post was out of line. I kind of read half your post and then people asking what had made you change your mind from Canada. Haven't woken up yet.