LouisB

Hey,

Sorry if this had been covered before but I didn't see an exact topic for it.

I'm in the process of waiting for a VISA for my new job offer (first time), eta is about 6 weeks or so.

It's likely to be E or L, not h1b of course.

The company I'm working for have said they would process green card after 2 years.

That all sounds good. However I'm increasingly worried about recent events, changes and what the future may hold.

In the first instance I'm not even sure we'll want to stay indefinitely, however in the interest of making plans and planning for the future I'm trying to think about what may happen or that could impact us.

I'm a vanilla UK national, no dual passport etc.

Of course no one can predict the future but are any expected or likely changes potentially going to impact me?

Am I putting myself in a potentially tricky situation or should I stop worrying at this stage?

I think I'm suffering from a certain level of doubt and cold feet, recent events are NOT helping in this respect.

mikelincs

It's a 'how long is a piece of string' question, with the current POTUS then almost anything can, and will change, whether he does it legally or not. He has no experience and it's starting to show, he seems to be running the US as part of his business empire and it won't work.

Incidentally it's visa not VISA ( the one in caps is a credit card)

Nutek

In Donald's world, the credit card is the preferred one.

ian-mstm

Yes. What those changes might be, however, is anyone's guess. Since no one knows, you must assume that changes will affect you... until such time as you know they don't.

Ian

tom169

Get this in writing and baked into your deal with them.

LouisB

Yes it is their policy and I've discussed with them.

LouisB

If I assume they will impact me, I'll end up doing nothing (not moving) - how can I do that?

I need to take an educated view, at this stage nothing impacts me from working in US (other than protests and so on) that would not similarly impact me being in the UK and waiting. I guess it depends what the future holds and who knows on that right now.

chawkins99

You can't live your life wondering 'What if???' If you did, you'd never leave your house.

S#!t happens and if it does you deal with it.

If you put your life on hold for 2 years (or more) and nothing untoward happens, then what? You're 2 years older and in the same place.

Personally, I don't think any of Trump's rules will have a major impact on a UK national working in the US.

But I've been wrong before... Once.

LouisB

Hey, yes I agree.

Guess I'm just hoping for a little reassurance, naturally getting cold feet and recent events do not help at all.

I'll always stand shoulder to shoulder with any (decent) American, I'm sure I'll be among friends.

I just checked with HR and they say everything is fine and no impact.

I can only hope that remains the case, if not maybe it is not for me anyway - I suppose from that perspective I've nothing to lose really.

I'll just be careful to keep some spare cash and so on in case of a worst case emergency.

Hopefully things will settle down and in a year this will all be old news.

Pulaski

I don't see how work visas for UK citizens whoe aren't dual nationals could get shut down unless there was a blanket prohibition on all work visas. Full stop.

Despite the media-led panic of the past few days, I don't see how we can get from a temporary delay on visa processing for citizens of handful of countries that are in a state of civil war and/or have no effective central government, plus Iran that has been heavily sanctioned by the US for almost 40 years, to a ban on work visas from nations that are friendly to the US. It simply isn't going to happen!
Agreed, you are undoubtedly correct.

GeneralPowerpoint

I think there's been a bit of panic recently about a leaked draft of an executive order that had implications for high-skilled visas in general.

It's made me a little nervous. I've already got my L2 but I haven't entered yet and I'm supposed to be flying Friday to apply for my EAD this weekend. If my entitlement to an EAD is in jeopardy I'll be in trouble.

Rete

From yesterday's reading the E and L visas will be looked at more closely once they are issued. It was mentioned that random spot checks of the workplace will occur to insure that the position for which the visa was issued is in accordance with the job description. That doesn't seem to be an issue that you have to worry about if everything is above board.

Also you should be sure that if you need to be relocated back to the UK, that you have it in writing that the company will pay all expenses for the move and relocation costs for you and your family if family is going with you.

This is in response to Louis not GP

Giantaxe

Right, this has nothing to do with the horribly botched ban for certain countries. Two other draft EAs have been leaked; one about skilled visas and one about deporting people who are immigrants and use welfare.

It's interesting that someone is leaking these EAs (previous leaks have proved accurate). Either that's a deliberate policy on the part of the Trump administration, or there's a "mole" in there.

Pulaski

GeneralPpt is concerned because he is an L-2 holder, and certainly it is possible that the right to an EAD for L-2 holder could be withdrawn as a way of making L-1's less attractive.

Rete

Why would you think this? I've not seen anything to indicate that L visa and its dependent visas were being revamped.