kgob

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently considering leaving my 60hr/wk tech sales job to go and do a postdoctoral research job in Phoenix. The plan would be to work as a postdoc for a year and then get a job in industry in the US...if I can get visa sponsorship. One thing I was wondering was if I would be better to try get the university to sponsor a H1B rather than a J1. I know there is no cap on H1B visas for universities but can it then be transfered to a company after a period of time? Also, does anyone know if the tax exemption provided by the UK/US tax treaty is restricted to J1 visas?

Article 20A in the treaty states that you have to pay back taxes if you stay for over 2 years. How long would you need to leave the US for in order to avoid this?

Now to the tricky bit! I'm an Irish citizen and the Irish/US tax treaty does not have this exemption for researchers. However, I did my phd in the uk and have recently come back to work here.
The UK treaty only states that you need to be considered a resident (in tax terms) to be covered by the treaty, not a citizen. This means I would need to have been living in the UK for 183 days in a tax year - I've only been here about 110 days this year, so i don't qualify under that one! It also states that if you have been living here for an average of 93 days per year, over a 4 consecutive year period, then you are considered a resident too. I meet that requirement as I lived here from for 3 years until Sept 2006 but didn't return till 4 months ago( average of 193 days from 2005-2009) ! So, I think i'm ok to be considered a resident but that colud be a $10,000 mistake. Any ideas on that bit? I can call the revenue on Monday but I kinda need to make a decision over the weekend.

any helpful info would be great. thanks in advance!

AdobePinon

Hard to say. H1B would at least prevent the 2 year home return thingie, and would allow a green card app to be started - but good luck finding a uni that would do that for you.
No: You can go company to company because the quota place has already been claimed. If you have a uni H1B, the quota place has not been claimed and you need to file a new petition under the quota.
Not sure, but I don't think you can claim it under an H1B since you end up being 'resident for taxes'.

Definitely more than a day. ;-) Not really sure - but I wouldn't want to come back during the same tax year.
Now to the tricky bit! I'm an Iris