bt boy

Hi, my name is Dave and at present I live in essex, England, with my wife and two children. We are looking to move to Florida (not sure which part yet), but am finding it difficult obtaining information about work. I have worked for British Telecom for the past 16 years as a telephone installation engineer (business systems). Have tried phoning large telephone companies in Florida, but never seem to be able to speak to anyone. I have also look on the Net. Is there anyone out there who has been in the same situation? How did you go about it? Did you look for employment first? Am I going about it the right way? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

My wife is American, so all the legalities should not be a problem - just finding a job!

ScousePete

Hi Dave,

I don't think it is going to be as easy as you think. Even though your wife is American it does not mean that you can just come over and live and/or work immediately. You will need to get past immigration first. Do a search for K3 in the US marriage-based visa forum on this site. That is the visa you will require.

As far as job hunting goes, I have always found it easier to be there in person. If you make a good impression on the phone and they want you to come in for an interview, you might have a problem if you are not there! You would probably have to be highly skilled for them to hire you sight unseen.

excpomea

Hi dave
I was in the same situation as you about 4 years back, ie pre 9/11.
I tried for about 6 months prior to coming over to get a job.
It was impossible, they would not even reply to my applications.
Why would they even bother with someone in the UK?
In the end we just moved over, no home, no job just my service pension.
My wife is American so that's how I obtained my greencard. It took about 6 months from start to finnish with the whole visa thing.
As for work, she's a nurse so jumped straight into a job, myself I was unemployed for about 2 weeks. But jot about 5 job offers and decided to work for our local university.
We rented an apartment for about 4 months whilst looking for a house.
So within 6 months of getting here we both had jobs, cars and a house to live in.

We have family in S Florida, but I really cannot stand the pace down there, plus I don't speak Spanish.
We are in N Florida, great place to live and bring up a family.
What ever you do I wish you well.
Advice: Get the visa, sell your home and just do it.
You will be fine.

sibsie

If your wife is resident in England you can ask the consulate to do a Direct Consular Filing which is a hell of a lot quicker.

Ray

Quite right Sibsie...they are in a enviable position...The Uk citizen will arrive in the US with a green card already on its way to them.
Hope the US citizen filed her US taxes every year..

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web...faq_spouse.htm

bt boy

Thanks to all of you who have replied so far. A few more questions. Can anyone suggest a nice area in North Florida with good job opportunies, with good schools and a friendly community.

Ray

Can you suggest the same if I reverse the question and say Northern England... I Doubt it,,try the areas yourself has got to be the answer

Pulaski

You may be underestimating the difficulties of emigrating to the US. Not the legal issues of the visa, but the practicalities of getting a job without US experience or US recognized qualifications. Getting a visa to work here, when your spouse is a USC, is not even 10% of the battle, the real problem is getting US employers to so much as give you the time of day.

Where am I going with this? .... Well, given the problems you are likely to have finding a suitable job, I would stringly recommend that you cast your net a lot wider than just Florida. Florida is not the be-all and end-all of the USA, there are many other good places to live. You are making a rod for your own back if you decide which city you want to live in and then have to find a job within commutable distance of there.

What has made the US economy so successful is peoples' willingness to move huge distances to take a job, so follow their example, find a job, or at least identify an area where there are likely to be jobs in your area of expertize, and then find a good area to live nearby.

The weather might not be quite as warm in winter, but any of the East coast states as far north as Virginia generally don't have harsh or long winters, and whilst these states do get hot in summer, their weather in July and August is considerably more bearable than it is in Florida at the same time!

Good luck!

excpomea

As mentioned before, don't close your eyes to other places within the US. A job is a job wherever you go.

All the same, N florida ? again I recomend Tallahassee. Look it up on the net.
House prices are low but wages are too, so it's all relative.
I just think that the standard of living is better than anything I could have achived in the UK.
We have good schools, low crime, nice weather and mosquitoes

Ray

And what wrong with West Central Florida...Warmer than the Capital

DaveC

Do you have an engineering degree and / or membership of a UK engineering institution? If not, I would advise that you forget about calling yourself an engineer on your resume. Things are a bit different in the US when it comes to job titles.

Franklin

Obviously I don't know much about your background. But here's a thought, if your wife has any close relatives/family in the USA it might be a good idea to talk to them about your plans. For example, if you have US in-laws and get on well with them then they might be able to help out a LOT if you moved, even temporarily, to an area near them in the USA. This might prove a boon especially given that you have children and may need to travel around to find a job. They might have some storage space which could help reduce your storage costs if you have to store your furniture etc.

Just a thought (or two)!

excpomea

Lol, too true, thankfully the Americans reserve the title engineer for people who actually 'engineer' things as opposed to 'technicians' who flip the burgers.

ladyofthelake

Unfortunately, some people over here fall for that too. My husbands job is currently being advertised as part of the green card process. The position is Senior Maritime Engineer. So far 1 resume has been sent in, from a guy who repairs ship engines. Thankfully, he's not quite what they're looking for.

Ray

"Maritime" Does that mean he look after ships clocks...