Moving to USA
 

Hey guys, I am new to this forum and hoping to get a lot of help with all my questions

I am 19 and a born and bread scouser (Liverpool,UK) and I have two uncles, one of whom lives in Abu Dhabi and the other, Canada, Edmonton.

My father works off shore in the oil industry on a 4 week on/off rota and I am following his footsteps, successfully completing my training courses and now getting my CV out and about the off shore industry!

My question is, when I am successfully off shore within the oil industry, would this make it an easier task to maybe move to Oz for the rest of my life of maybe the USA.

If so how would I go around this?

Thanks

Re: Moving to USA
 

Don't know about Oz, but for the USA... no.

Ian

Re: Moving to USA
 

It wouldn't make a difference if I worked off shore?
hmm :(

thanks for the reply anyway!

Re: Moving to USA
 

Why would it? You'd still need a way to get "on shore". It would all depend on what sort of visa you could get, but even 4 weeks on/off won't get you to the US as anything other than a visitor... and you probably couldn't do that all the time. The US is notoriously difficult to get to. Read this... it might help you sort out your US options.

Ian

Re: Moving to USA
 

Thanks mate I will have to do some serious researching! Would love Melbourne in Australia

Re: Moving to USA
 

Would suggest checking out the wiki and immigration forums for both the US and Oz...though as Ian points out, the US is pretty tough.

It might be doable if you have a lot of experience, especially niche skills.

Re: Moving to USA
 

Once you have established a niche area of expertise, in the oil industry one good option is to get your name in with oil recruitment agencies (e.g Orion, for example). My sister works as an oil recruiter and she shuffles engineers, drill operators and other technical experts all over the world.

Many of these agencies have operations in all the key oil regions, including, for example, Texas.

You just need to be aware that when it comes to oil, the main operational centers may not coincide with places that you'd want to live.

Although it might take a few years to gather the necessary expertise, it would be much better to be an expert and have the agency/employer sort out a legit visa, rather than attempt to circumnavigate immigration by working in international waters.

Re: Moving to USA
 

If you work for one of the Majors or a major offshore service company intra-company visas are actually quite easy to get. However, you would need a degree and experience. Just working offshore as a roustabout won't cut it. And with a few exceptions if you're talking O&G you're probably looking at Houston. Louisiana and California are possibilities depending on the employer and precise line of work.

I've personally brought across 4 Engineers with <5 yrs experience in the last 18 months on L1 and H1B's.

Re: Moving to USA
 

What, specifically, are you looking to do offshore, and where?

4 on 4 off isn't a typical North Sea rota, so is this to go to somewhere else?

It depends on what you want to do offshore:
Operations
Maintenance
Construction
Scaffolding
Instruments
Safety
Well Servicing
Drilling/Completions

To stand a chance at a move abroad, you're either going to be working in a place it is hard to get people (not the US or Australia) or where they need highly sought after people. So look at which jobs are the hardest for them to find people, and those are the most likely to give you the most options.

A realistic, relatively short term option (5-10 years) would be to move into a more specialized field like well servicing or drilling/completions and look to become a supervisor. Qualified job site supervisors are needed wherever there is a lot of work, and that is the USA right now, but not offshore. I know a Well Services Supervisor who is in Perth, Oz right now, as well as a couple of WSSs who are in various bits of Africa and Brazil. I also know production operators who are offshore in Africa. OIMs can go all over the place, but these are generally to the newer installations (again, Africa).

If you are on a rotational position though, there is no reason for you to move country. That's why something like wireline, where you can be on a couple of jobs on a different schedule, make that possible.