giles88

I have just started looking at moving to the USA and wondered if any of you could help me on my quest. I currently work for 3M, which is an American company, as a Maintenance Technician/Craftsman and have NVQ Level 3 in both Mechanical and Electrical Maintenance, as well as a HNC in Mechanical Maintenance. Are these good enough to get a job in my field in the US or are they just ‘average’? I am mid 20’s and reside with my long term girlfriend, if I was to get a Visa would she be eligible to get one or would we have to be married?

I have read a lot about the fees for Visas but I haven’t managed to find an amount, does anyone have a roundabout figure so that I can take that into account when looking at the big picture? And also would a company be likely to sponsor me for a Visa in my field of work?

With me being in Maintenance I obviously need to be in a manufacturing environment, where would be the best State/City to start looking for jobs? As you can appreciate America is a big country and to look through each State then city individually for jobs, then look into the living standards and costs, etc it could take a while. So if anyone could give me some suggestions where I could start then that would be a great help.

I hope I have given you enough information in order to assist me and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

Pulaski

Please take a look at the Pulaski wikis in the US section of the wikis tab above.

Generally speaking for a work related visa you need a degree or 12 years of experience in a highly specialized skill or occupation, one that is in short supply in the US. The cost of work related visas is picked up by the employers, but I suspect that based on what you have said, you are not going to be eligible for a work related visa.

FWIW A worked related visa has a related visa class for spouses, but not for girl/boyfriends. So IF you were to get a work visa you'd need to get married if you wanted to bring your girlfriend on anything but an extended visitors visa.

Other visas classes are for close family members i.e. parents, children, and siblings (NOT cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews or more distant relatives) and investors (typically $150,000 minimum, and $500,000 for the most permissive investment visa).

In short, I doubt there is any way you can get a visa in the short term, and in the medium term it will be very difficult. You will need a number more years of specialist work experience (it doesn't sound like your current occupation would even count as "highly specialized"), or to have reached a manager level if 3M were interested in transferring you.

Duncan Roberts

In US immigration terms, significantly below average bordering on the irrelevant. Maybe stay with 3M and work into an upper management position and hope for a transfer. On the face of it, it doesn't seem very likely that you'll be moving to America any time soon, if at all.

scrubbedexpat097

I drive by a 3M warehouse everyday on my way to work, the company recently put in plans for another one to be built next to it.

Sorry, no help to the OP but just thought about it

RICH

The good news is, you are asking the right questions in the right place. The bad news is, the answers.

3M HR dept might have experience with transferring people to US. They would be able to tell you the types of jobs that qualify (not likely what you currently do - think degree/ senior management/ Unique abilities).

Why do you think you want to move to USA?

What does the GF do? Maybe she has more chance of a visa which you could tag onto (if you marry).

Bob

Aye, work into a management position and try for a company transfer would be the most likely way of doing it.

That, or come as a student and get a degree.

Also depending on what the girlfriend does, marry her if she's eligible for a visa on her own right.

Apart from that, you're talking serious money.

scrubbedexpat099

I would expect 3M carry out regular staff reviews, did you tell them your interest. What did they say?

Steve_

I think there should be a "more than one post" requirement before responding to these threads as they are so common. Half the time the OP never comes back.

But anyway, intracompany transfer with "specialized knowledge" seems the most logical route.

Speedwell

Just paranoid for no reason... but I wonder how many of these drive-by "desperation" posts are fishing to see if we give out information on how to cheat the immigration rules (information that I personally do not have and would not give out if I did).

FlyingDutchman6666

Don't forget Hanlon's razor:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Speedwell

Fair enough

mmhendrie

personally, I think people watch something like Eastenders, see one of the characters just popping out to "get the visa's to go live in the US" and think there's not much to it, and ahh, it sounds like a nice idea. A quick note on here to get them started, they re-visit, see the flood of negative responses (justifiably so, mostly), and then disappear. I don't think there's anything sinister most of the time, just that people with no experience of it think that its probably a much easier process than it actually is.

-Matt

AmerLisa

Yes, you're definitely being paranoid and enough to add that you have no useful information to cheat the system.

There's been so many people that have come on here to find out about coming to America that I don't really think about it anymore. Certainly never enough to be paranoid about it and even if we did give out immigration cheats (I mean who would or could do that?) it would be a case of caveat emptor, wouldn't it?

Steve_

That TV show, Elementary is the one that winds me up. Okay, so he's a "consulting detective" for the NYPD which would never happen even for an American, but plus he's not a US citizen so he can't work for the police anyway and he just seems to lounge around in the US. I suppose he could be EB-5 given that he's portrayed as being minted.

"Don't interrupt me Watson, I'm completing an RFE on my I-829."

sir_eccles

Lol.

I watched the first episode (or the pilot) of Elementary and decided to stick with Cumberbatch. Much better writing.