Letteh

Hello, my boyfriend and I are currently 20 years old. He is just finishing a University degree which is a BA in Primary School Education, and I will have finished a BA in English Literature and a PGCE that qualifies me to teach adults (19+ years old) in English.

We are considering one day moving to the USA, as we have both been before (I have been for 3 months in total). We're just thinking at the moment.

Can somebody outline the basic 'steps' we would have to take? So far I can see that we would;
0. Save up and gain experience here for some years.
1. We need to apply for a visa to the US (which one?) in order to travel over.
2. Find one employer each willing to employ us. (I am confused as to whether this is step one or step two).
3. Apply for a Green Card.
4. Work, whilst waiting for Green Card.
5. No idea what comes next.

As you can see, I'm not very clued up. I am also worried my boyfriend and I will not be able to teach without a further certificate in teaching from the US. Is this true? I don't understand what we do whilst we 'wait around' for a Green Card (which I have heard takes years).

I'm not too worried about specifics. We're only thinking about it. Thanks for reading.

steveq

Start here
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulask...ork_in_the_USA

Jerseygirl

Hi and welcome to BE. There have been a few threads recently opened by teachers wishing to move to the US. Basically you have a slim to no chance of a school sponsoring you for a visa...sorry. Teachers here are being laid off and money is very tight. It costs the employer thousands of dollars to obtain a visa for an employee. You have to ask yourself why they would spend time and money to employ overseas teachers...especially ones with no experience...when there are hundreds of thousands of US teachers who can start right away.

Letteh

That's what I was worried about. My boyfriend has other skills like working with disadvantaged children and he wants to branch into children with disabilities. Are skills in those smaller more specialized sectors just as worthless?

What about teachers of Adults?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

hoffage123

You would stand more chance of winning the lottery, with your current situation as it stands, unless there is some other information you aren't telling us, like one of your parents is a US Citizen for example, or you just happen to have a lot of money spare to buy a greencard.

That's the basic truth of it I am afraid.

Hoffage

Sally Redux

They're not worthless as such, but there are enough people living here who are already authorized to work and possessing those skills. The USA is not really known for its commitment to the disadvantaged.

civilservant

Realistically this isn't going to happen - unless one of you were to retrain or perhaps do a masters in the US.

The truth is that the US is one of the most difficult places in which to get a visa to live and work.

Hotscot

Your skills and qualifications while admirable are not in high demand as many here already have those capabilities.

You could possibly open and run a private school as a business. See also Charter Schools.
The local govt would have to give you financial support depending on your head count. Read up on investors visa's.

Other than that I seem to recall someone mentioning International Schools where you get international placements.

Or work for a company in UK/Europe with a USA presence, maybe even a large one with an education/training division where you could get a transfer eventually.

Or just visit on holiday...may people think that it's a better life here, different yes, not necessarily better, and teachers are paid pretty low compared to other qualified professions.

(If it was me and I had the long term goal I'd consider a private school, because of the attitude to public schools being poor there's usually decent demand for private.)

Pulaski

All of the above.

Plus the salaries of US teachers are very poor, quite frankly embarrassingly bad. Many teachers rely on either taking additional work, such as tutoring, or taking another job during the long summer holidays. Honestly if I was you, given your occupation, I would not try to relocate to the US, because the US is a very bad place to be poor or barely making ends meet.

Hotscot

For example and generally speaking to give you an idea since I know the area

Orange County California. Close to the beach, great shopping, restaurants, outdoor activities, wine on the patio etc. Good salary to support a comfortable middle class lifestyle in the area ~ $150,000 and that's at the lower end,

Can get by but only just on ~ $80,000

Can hang on with fingernails maybe even need a second job ~ $60,000 but in a poorer nearby area. Noise, druggies, crime.

$50,000 move to some downmarket bedroom community like Palmdale or Victorville. Junk and desert all round, cost a fortune for cooling, no culture to speak of.

In California High School teachers start on ~ $40,000, no matter how qualified or how much experience you bring and that's in California where teachers are considered well paid.
Private schools pay less because they can employ lesser qualified people.
Unfortunately you're not even credentialed which can take up to two years in California by taking evening classes and sitting exams.

There are always exceptions to this ballpark but as mentioned it's illustrative.

Personally I am so sorry that it is so difficult for educated people like you to legally come here.

(My wife who's a teacher just mentioned that you could look at North Dakota, they're having an energy boom, employment and revenues are up massively, and may need teachers willing to go there. That could be worth considering if eventually you could get a green card but it's not really a place that people would chose to move to eg. minus 40 in winter.)

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/stat...9bb2963f4.html

AmerLisa

While your credentials would be fine for the UK, sadly they are not here. I'm not sure where you'd even start and JG is right, there are plenty of teachers waiting in the wings to take up jobs. I have a friend that is in group that just got their bachelors degree and will have their teaching certificate at the end of June and no guarantee that they will find employment straight away.

Special Education teachers are always in high demand. Unfortunately it's a position that sees a high turnover rate. Burnout is high. I hope that your boyfriend will continue his path towards teaching special kids. Here or in the UK, it's all the same. Special kids need special people.

AmerLisa

You know, I always thought so too.... Until a local newspaper posted every teacher's salary (gross, not net) and was AMAZED at how much some of these teachers made. This was probably about 3 years ago, but my daughter's 4th grade teacher was making $80 a year. Pretty crap teacher and she's very protected by the very strong teacher's union...

Beaverstate

At $6 to $7 per month you really cant expect much.

Cadenza-93

I can verify what Hopscot said.... I have recently started teaching in SoCal, on just over $40,000 a year! I am paid the same as a new teacher here, despite having 10 years as Head of Dept, and 4 years as head of faculty - sucks to restart!

Pulaski

There are, as I understand it, ways to jump up, like having a master's degree, or a doctorate. I also hear it's like the post office is, and like being an airline hostess used to be, that you get a yearly increment until the salary is very substantially more than that for a new hire, such that, despite salaries being generally poor, you wonder why they are paid so much.