Isthisyourball

Hello all,

Firstly thanks for all the helpful information on the wikis and forum about the visa processes - really useful. First post here.

Bit of a long shot but does anyone have experience of working in the US as a UK trained urban planner? Researching online the fields seem quite different at first, but I'm reading a text book about it and the more I read the more similar it seems.

Looking at threads on other professions if I went down that job route I'd guess I'd have to reenter at low level and possibly requalify. But I would be interested if anyone has any first hand experience in how transferable the skills are. Could only find something on this forum from a bloke from Arizona from 2010 who gave it a less than glowing review.

It would be a K1/CR1 visa to Boston MA.

Thanks

Bob

Urban planning and Boston, would best be described as a shit bowl and how poorly it seems to be done, I'm sure you wouldn't have any issues getting a job in the field because it seems like no one has a clue what they're doing so you'd be a step up already

Anyway, might have a bit of luck asking on the Boston Brits, FB group which is pretty helpful.

Good luck and welcome to BE!

Psyman

Not a planner, but Landscape Architect, but we work in similar circles (my site plans etc are usually submitted to the City for various planning approvals). My UK degree was not worth much here and I had to have 8 years of experience before I could get licensed as a LA. Not sure about planners - its probably more a case of getting certified than licensed. You could work for City government inspecting development plans or you could work for a private company helping them get their plans through City planning approvals. Either way, you're going to need to know all the ins and outs of what the various City codes are and submittals that need to be made for all kinds of projects. Doing that probably means starting from the bottom whoever you work for.
Hope it all works out.

Isthisyourball

Thanks guys, will check out the Boston Brits Facebook group - should have some good info on all sorts.

Interesting what you say about landscape architecture that's helpful. It confirms what I thought which would be that it would be starting again although it's good to know there's a fairly sizeable private sector market out there as that's where the bulk of my experience is. I'm pretty confident I could move up quicker than first time round although what I'm basing that on I don't know!