CharlieJustSmiled

Unfortunately not my friend, I'm a Brit born and bred. How does that work... if you're Irish you have a better chance in the Green Card lottery? Hmmmm....

Sally Redux

People born in England, Scotland or Wales are not eligible.

nun

The OP has a few options.

Do a post graduate degree in the US on a J-1. This requires that he be accepted by a US university and he'll have to return to the UK once the visa expires.

Apply for a job and get the company to sponsor an H1-b. This is increasingly difficult and he'll have to have very specialized skills. If he has an engineering or computer science background he might be able to get something, but it's a long shot.

Work for a company in the UK with operations in the US and eventually get a transfer to the US on an L-1 visa. Again a long shot.

Marry the girlfriend on a fiancee visa and get her to sponsor him for a greencard.....

nun

Yes there are special allocations for Irish citizens (not sure if it goes for N.Ireland too) that Sen Edward Kennedy got included in the immigration laws.

ian-mstm

Yes - NI is included... so all of Ireland is eligible for the DV lottery.

Ian

helpmeplease123

You said you're going to a good University? Are you getting good grades? Any good internships? People on here mention the high cost of US Masters a lot (correctly) but it's not actually mentioned that some good schools have quite generous merit based scholarship funds (not based on any kind of financial need). I just got one from the University of Southern California for half my tuition, which ends up making it around the same price as an English Masters outside of London (and half the price of LSE)... and for my degree USC was ranked above anything over here anyway and that's the case with a lot of American Universities.

I think it's a much more viable option than people make it out to be... I don't know what part of the US you'd be looking to move to but a lot of the good schools give out money. I'm by no means an exceptional candidate so it's definitely feasible if you do well and have some good work experience... the suggestion only works if you might be interested in doing one of course.

Once you're in the US on an F1 visa, it would be easier for you to switch over to a working visa/find a job than someone from England - although you would need to prove non-immigrant intent for student visa application but I doubt you'd know for sure you want to stay anyway.

Sally Redux

Tuition fees for masters at USC seem to range from $27 - 88,000, so half of that is still quite a bit, also isn't it 2 years here?

http://www.usc.edu/admission/graduat...ST2012_001.pdf

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/intranet/stude...s/2012-13.aspx

helpmeplease123

My fees were $35k - cut that in half and it's $17.5 left to pay, which is 11,000 pounds per year.

The $88k degree there is a special 1 year international MBA, the 2 year MBA is around $50k but all regular masters programs are $35k per year... an MBA in the UK is also 2 years and just as expensive.

At LSE - the degree I was going to take (public admin) is 20,000 pounds a year and 2 years long. Even at only one year long a price of 20k and a price of 22k for two years at USC is not so different. Plus all of the good American Universities are ranked much higher than all but Oxbridge and LSE for a lot of programs.

I'm by no means saying it's cheap and you definitely have to want to do it because it's a serious sum of money, just pointing out the fees don't have to be quite as prohibitive as many people make out. In England you hardly ever you'll get any kind of funding except for PHDs, so people wouldn't necessarily think of it but it's a lot more common in the US.

Sally Redux

OK thanks that's quite interesting.

Bob

The rankings are only important if comparing against what they specialise in, studying anything else at those uni's means those rankings are a bit meaningless.

The other issue with studying in the US is not being able to work while on a student visa for the first semester and then it's only limited to on campus work, part time, which is usually work reserved for those at work study loans.

So that's probably the biggest difference from studying in the UK/EU....because at the masters point, most are of drinking age

BritishExpatriate

I'm in the same situation as the OP in that I'm not set upon it but considering the US as a potential option in the future. How does a masters help and how can it reduce the time for a GC? Thanks

Noorah101

Having a Master's degree from a US university makes you more attractive to potential employers. It does not reduce the time for getting a green card. It helps you get a US employer to sponsor your work visa. It would be up to the employer to also sponsor your green card (or not).

Rene

scrubbedexpat099

The OP did not mention a criminal past.

CharlieJustSmiled

Thanks for all your answers everyone, it's great to actually know what I'm doing finally. I don't have a criminal record, or any contact with the police at all for that matter which I'm told is a good thing when applying.

One thing I forgot to mention, and this is sort of important. Girlfriend isn't a US national- she's an immigrant herself, her family moved out there when she was younger, she'll be applying for citizenship in a year or so. How much does this affect the situation?

ian-mstm

No, you're not.

Ian