Jack London

Can Anybody help me?
I am about to get divorced -I have agirlfriend in California-(just got back to London from a visit to her there)
I am plumber heating engineer but Im 58 years old.
I would appreciate any information as to how to get a green card to live and work in the USA. and how to be able to live there with my girl.
Is there a requirement that is necessary for me to be able to work there as a plumber?
I just love everything about the USA- and desperately want to move there
any help or info would be most appreciated
Jack

Manc

marry her

excpomea

Ditto,

Pimpbot

Yep. If you want to get out of one marriage straight into another, then marrying your girlfriend will be your easiest route on a K1 fiance visa. With this visa you must marry within 90 days of arrival in the country.

Check out the marriage based visa forum here for more info on the K1 visa http://britishexpats.com/forum/forum...?s=&forumid=35

UKzeus

Hi
Just going through with my move to the states from the UK. Just waiting for my interview down London at the Embassy. I'will have to go back to college for them to allow me to be a contract Plumber i.e work for myself, or I might have to do a few months as a Journeyman plumber under the guidance of a contract plumber.It all depends how they look at my City of Guilds
Regards Dave
Goodluck its taken me 12 years to get to this interview

excpomea

Trust me, they will look at your C&Gs and say, "And these are what exactly"?

You experiance will do more for you than your C & Gs.

NC Penguin

Firstly, you have to be free to marry (i.e. your divorce is final and you're a single man again).
Then, you're free to marry your girlfriend, as long as it's what both of you want.

However, if both you and your girlfriend are not ready to marry yet, it may be possible for you to get to the US legally and work but you'll have to read up about it from the US Immigration website pages.

Once you've read those pages and if you still have questions, check on the British Expats US visa forums (there are three. All three may apply to you). If you do a search and still can't find the answers to your question(s), then post in the appropriate US visa related forum.

UKzeus

Great then 23 years should help me out

Pulaski

FYI You have to work for ten years (forty quarters) in the USA to be eligible for Medicare benefits in old age, so I hope that you weren't looking to retire anytime soon?

UKzeus

And I thought life begins a 40

Franklin

Is that absolutely true? I sponsored my mother for a Green Card and she is 67 and now living with me. I was hoping she would at least get some benefits when she became a US citizen. Right now we pay for everything that she needs. It is impossible for people like her to get insurance because of her age. Some counties such as Cook County in Illinois give free drugs to GC holders on low income, so there are some breaks.

Pulaski

As far as I'm aware. Maybe you can prove me wrong?

Try these links - they all seem to say "40 quarters", but I'm not sure about Medicare, and haven't read all the details, but on the face of it it doesn't look too good for your Moma. Like I said - prove me wrong if you can!

www.ssa.gov
Urbanext.uiuc.edu
lawhelp.com

Franklin

*nods* Now that I have pondered the issue, I seem to recall a very good article about this issue in the Wall Street Journal maybe 2 or 3 years back. I will try and track it down and if possible paste it on here.

This is a very worrying issue for some who can't stand leaving a lone parent behind in the UK. My lone parent would visit on but it got too much flying back and for and we thought long and hard about her joining me. She likes it here and was fed up and lonely by herself back in the UK. This began to eat at me, I can't stand knowing my mother is upset and by herself with no one near by. I had to bring her over or die worrying about her.

NC Penguin

For Patent Attorney-

Do you have any siblings in the UK? If so, don't they pull their weight to take care/keep an eye on their mother?

Just a thought...

Taffyles

I'm in a similar position PA- my mum is 73 and not in good health- also she lives on a hill which she can't climb anymore, so has to rely on friends or taxis to go anywhere. She lives in a Welsh mining valley- so all the neighbours look out for each other and help one another BUT it is a huge worry now. I only have a brother and he lives in Brazil and commutes to Africa, so she has no immediate family in the country. We;ve asked her to come and live with us many a time- although gawd knows what we'd do about medical costs/insurance for her. She wants to stay in the valley- she's grown up with her friends there and they have a ton of social events, trips etc She gets bored out of her mind in America. I will probably be changing my job to lower paid agency work just to be able to take time off when I need- I can see plenty of trips over to the UK coming up. I think this is something that comes to many ex-pats eventually- the worry of elderly parents.