NoReward

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/c...re/8329496.stm

And this is even worse

tonrob

No need to be a prat about it (and you are being). I didn't see anyone saying they hated their life in the States. Go back and have a good read again. What I did see was a number of very different people living in very different parts of the country attempt to (for your benefit) dispel your assertions about very specific things being much better in the US than the UK.

I live out East - different again from those who have responded already - and must say that I disagree with most of the points (or perceptions) you have made.

tonrob

No - they locked your thread for telling everyone to **** off. (A surefire way to make friends when you're new to a forum).

NoReward

"Go back and have a good read again" - like you said earlier

Didnt tell everyone to **** off - just the people who were throwing abuse.

Bit like you are doing to the OP in this thread

justwinbaby

I did say I was talking about ONLY about california where I have a lot of friends and is the only state where I've spent considerable time. The UK for those of you who no longer live here gets worse each year. The problem we have is that a large proportion of babies now are to teenage mums or those looking for an easy way to get extra benefits. As this generation becomes older and most likely do the same as their parents britain gets worse and worse. Add to that that we seemingly have no control on our borders at present due to EU expansion and you can see where the drain on our system is and where the problems are.

Its a horrible place to live now and I for one can't wait to be out of here. If those of you in america want to look back on britain all starry eyed then fine, but you're only deluding yourself from the dump this place is.

Anyway I'd still like to hear the stories of people who have managed to get into the US through a method other than having family there!

tonrob

Ok - last helpful hint from me.

You are coming across as yet another of those bitter folk who bang on about how the 'UK has gone to the dogs' and dream of a new life overseas. They're ten a penny on here and most don't have a cat in hell's chance in coming to the U.S.

If you want help, advice and shared experiences then this forum is for you - just don't expect people to sugar-coat their views on your chances. This is not the forum for conducting a slanging match about how shit you think the UK is. This always ends in tears and pretty much shuts off any goodwill of thoughts in other of providing you with the help you want.

tonrob

Why are you here again?

NoReward

Why are you here again?

justwinbaby

No, I just replied when people turned it into that.

I wanted to hear the stories of how those of you in the US already got there for reasons other than family. Its interesting for those of us looking to get there for whatever reason, to see how its been done before and try to match this to our own situations. If you could give detailed stories, including the timeframe involved and the visas you enetered on and how you specifically qualified for these visas I'd be very grateful.

dbj1000

Since you ask so nicely...

After graduating with a 1st class honors degree, I did 4 years of a PhD, then worked for 7 years in my obscure field of quantum magnetics and applied vacuum engineering, becoming a world leader in yet another even more obscure area of applied physics along the way.

Working for my company in the UK, I did a job for a company here in the US, involving extremely expensive manufacturing equipment. Soon after, my company in the UK folded, and I approached the company in the US for a job.

Came over on an H1B. Did too little research in advance, and realized too late that the H1B was the visa from hell. Destroyed my wife's career in the process, due to her being unable to work on her H4 visa.

Within 1 year, figured that I needed to repair the situation. Started application for National Interest Waiver (EB-1), based on extraordinary ability in the sciences. Submitted NIW application with concurrent I-485 around the 2-year mark.

Family and I had green cards in our hands 3.5 months later.

elfman

Another thing you have to realise is that many of us wouldn't have come here if it hadn't been for meeting and marrying an American, and never really had any burning desire to "get the hell out of" the UK in the first place. Personally, my USC wife and I moved over here so she could be nearer to her family when we had kids. We liked our life in the UK and we like our life here - there was no desparate urge to escape the UK, and to assume that the only reason people move abroad is because they hate the UK is more than a bit stupid. And you seem to forget that those of us who actually do live here often visit (and talk to) relatives back in the UK so it's not like we all live on Neptune and have had zero contact with or exposure to UK life since we left.

You also seem to think you can prove the UK is a dump by posting a couple of cherry-picked headlines about violence etc. Do think we couldn't do that here? Just to pick one example from this morning's news (about your beloved California): http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/...ion/index.html

And before you say it, I'm not "moaning" about the USA - I like it here - just pointing out that whatever you perceive the problems of the UK to be, you are unlikely to find somewhere without similar issues - or different ones that piss you off more.

Dewey

Hear, hear.

ian-mstm

Since you're talking specifically about California, perhaps you should talk specifically about where you live in the UK. The US is 40x larger than the UK and has 5x the population... indeed, California - by itself - is almost 2x larger than the entire UK - so there is a wide variety of environments available. There's a huge Hispanic population in the south, but not so much in the north.


So - you want to become an immigrant... to get away from immigrants? Brilliant!

Ian

justwinbaby

Interesting. So would you say it was your expertise or the fact you had a contact in the states who you had worked for before that was the most important factor in you getting a visa?

Also, what is it that was so bad about transferring on a H1B visa?

justwinbaby

I know I really shouldn't...but I will bite. In the UK I've lived in Surrey, Worcester, Bolton and now Manchester. All of which (with the exception of to some degree Bolton which was actually quite nice) are full of chavs, people living on benefits and generally just not nice places to live. I suppose its each to their own, and if we all liked the same thing the world would be boring, but the dreariness of this country added to the fact that it only seems to be going one way makes me wanna leave.

In terms of immigration I actually think all countries should have open borders once people have found any position of full time employment in a country, but you shouldn't just be able to move somewhere to live off their over generous benefit system, which many in Britain do.

Anyway I'd much rather hear peoples stories than continue any slanging match you're looking for