RichMitch

Hey All,
Just looking for some hints and tips on securing a job offer in the USA if possible please. Does applying to jobs online from the UK work or am I best to spend time in America to engage personally with companies? I graduated in Computing in 2004 and have spent most of my career in various IT support functions although I've been working in data analysis for over two years now. My family and I (wife and 3 young kids) are hoping to relocate to the USA, initially to try it out for a few years but with the intention to become citizens if all goes well.
I am the wrong side of 30 and from what I understand, the 2 routes open to us for a visa is to either get a job offer or apply to study in America.
I don't think we can reasonably afford the study route so I'm hoping to get a job offer to get the visa that way.
Thanks in advance!

Nutmegger

You may want to read the "work" section of the link below. It is frequently suggested on the forum that your best bet is to seek a job in the UK with a company with a US presence, where you could hope to make the request for a transfer to the US after a year's employment.

Pulaski's Ways to Live and Work in the US

RichMitch

Thank you for this, I had read this Wiki and it's very informative. That is sound advice thank you, I will search out American companies here in the UK and look into hopefully getting employment with one of them

civilservant

The reality is, in a field such as yours, that both a masters and experience in some 'niche' area of programming is likely to be required to gain a transfer. It just costs so much to transfer an employee and you are competing against off-shore programmers that cost less to hire and maintain.

RichMitch

Hi, thanks for this info I really appreciate it. Yes that most definitely is the reality of the situation and it makes complete sense from a business perspective. More and more I think I may be best to pursue a different avenue across. While I am good at what I do, I certainly am not a top level experienced programmer by any stretch of the imagination. That being said, I feel it certainly wouldn't do any harm if I could land a job with an American business which has offices in the UK. A friend in the UK mentioned to me that I might be able to work with an employer in some sort of agreement whereby I would shoulder the transfer costs but I'm not sure if this is at all possible.
We would like to move across sooner rather than later if possible though so I may need to start thinking about other possible routes over.

christmasoompa

Don't underestimate the cost of the move for your company though - our total cost that had to be signed off, for just two years, was a small fortune and there's no way we could have afforded to pay for it!

What does your wife do, is she more likely to qualify for a visa by any chance?

RichMitch

Hi Christmasoompa! Thank you so much for all of your kind advice and tips! Goodness me, I didn't realise the costs involved. I had thought that if it was $10000 to $20,000 then I would try pay for it over time etc but I think it must be way more than this and so totally unthinkable to pay off!

My wife is a stay-at-home Mother just now however she has 2 degrees and is a qualified High School teacher. One line of thought we have had was if she applied to do a masters in the USA but then I dont think I would be able to earn a wage during that time from what I understand - I wouldn't qualify for the necessary working visa.

excpomea

When you say 'graduated' is this referring to a university degree? That helps with online searches for jobs.
We are interviewing people all the time from aboard. Initially via zoom, then we fly them in for a 3 day interview.
Just done with a girl from China and an Indian guy.
So it's possible, but these are for Post Doctorial positions.
If you have an undergraduate degree and experience, possibly consider a masters to help with the job hunt.
Good luck with the search.

christmasoompa

Add an extra 0 to your figures and you'd still be a way off the figure in our paperwork. Admittedly ours is an expat deal, so kids schooling paid for etc, but even so it would be a pretty hefty sum (hence why you usually need pretty specialist skills to make it worth it for the company).

Any chance of setting your own business up? That would be a long term plan, as you'd need it to be big enough to hire USC's, and to leave it running in the UK so would need employees there too, but just an option to look at maybe. Or does it have to be the US? It's notorious as the trickiest county to move to for most, would somewhere like Canada be an option instead maybe?

RichMitch

Hey - yes I have a university degree in Computer Science. I will certainly look into doing a masters thank you (I should really be doing this anyway because it would help me land better paid jobs going forward!).
I wonder if it is looked favourably upon if people are members of professional bodies as well eg, the British Computing Society?

RichMitch

I've never really thought of setting up my own business to be honest. However without sounding too pessimistic, I fear that in the current economic climate its maybe not the best time to set one up. I have been told though that there's never a good time to set up a new business

Yes thanks we had initially felt that Canada was a much more viable option and I have begun to IT roles in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. I think it's going to take some time though by the looks of things, it might be better if we take a trip across and I touch base with a few companies to show them that I'm serious about moving across!

Pulaski

And yet one semi-regular here on BE, working in the tech field, moved over a few years ago without even a bachelor's degree.

I'd say it depends a lot on whether you're looking for a role where there is a shortage of workers - if you are, then, you might get traction searching from the UK, but if you're not, and employer's can hire locally without the cost and delay of applying for a visa for new hires, then you're likely on a hiding to nothing.

civilservant

I did say 'likely' did I not? It's not impossible, just significantly harder. If I recall correctly, they had significant niche experience and/or recognition.

There will always be exceptions, but you can't bank on being the exception.

Pulaski

I didn't mean to start an argument, only point out that moving in the tech field without a degree was more than just a theoretical possibility.

strat

What’s that saying, when you have a hammer, everything around looks like a nail… well something like that! Coming from the industry that brought me here, most things work wise look like the oilfield.. as said, it’s hard unless you have some specialist knowledge that coincides with an employers need. So, maybe try perusing oil service companies websites and job postings to get an idea, the big ones, they did and I’m sure still do a lot of big data processing, field evaluation, seismic, lots of stuff. And they have a presence in most countries, on top of that, if you’ve got some serious database, analytical skills they may just decide you’re needed over here, and they’ll be able to afford the move package, perhaps…. Good luck.