Your opinion please.
 

Ok, this is going to sound silly but I would like to know a good town/state to visit in USA. I’m thinking of a move and have always wanted to do this but I have no idea where to start looking. I am looking to find a warmer climate then the UK.

I am not saying that I want to move to somewhere I’ve never been, I just want a starting point to visit.

I don’t have any ties to this county anymore and am looking at a redundancy payment in the near future. So this would be a good a time as any.

I realise I have no experience of America, that’s why I’m looking for comments. At the moment I live in Cornwall, in Truro but I have no major problems moving to a more built up area or more rural.

Hopefully this makes some sense.

Many Thanks
Steve

Re: Your opinion please.
 

On what basis will you be moving to the US? Are you an American citizen or married to one?

Re: Your opinion please.
 

No, I’m eventually looking to start somewhere new. But that’s a long way down the line.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

No, that's the first thing you should look at, there's no point in wondering where you want to live if there is no chance of you getting a visa, the US is one of the hardest countries to get work visas for unless you are married to a US citizen or have a load of money to invest.

Read through this to see if you have ANY chance of getting a visa.

Pulaski's Ways: How to Live and Work in the USA : British Expat Wiki

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Yep, as the others have said, there's no point in visiting somewhere to see if you'd like to live there if you can't live there anyway. The US is notorious as one of the toughest countries to move to, if you have close US citizen family members, or tons of money, or specialist skills and a degree/masters, then it's feasible though.

Have a read of the link given above and see if you think any of those visa routes may work for you, if not then at least you know now that the US isn't an option so you can visit other countries instead and plan for somewhere else.

And if any of the visas do sound like they may suit, then feel free to ask questions about it in our immi section.

Good luck.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Thank you all for the comments. I’ll get reading.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

If you do find a visa route that you could be eligible for and still want opinions on where to scope out (although bear in mind that if it's an employment based visa you'll just have to go wherever you can find a sponsoring employer and may not have much choice in the location), then if you can give people more info they'll be able to help.

The US is utterly vast, so more info would be needed really to help you narrow it down - what kind of climate/landscape you want, the type of amenities, budget, etc, etc.

Good luck.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

We see a lot of people posting on here wanting to go to Florida.

Or North Carolina.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

...or Colorado


...or California.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Thank you all for the comments but on first read through the information it doesn’t look like it’s going to be possible as I don’t fit any of the visas.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Colorado is full and cold, not sure about california.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Also depending on what kind of job you do, an """easy""" (note the "") way could be a L1 visa within an US company. But that's not something you can really target to (rather wish for, at best) when you apply for a job outside the US.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Do look at other countries if not, at the moment you have the whole of the EU open to you, or maybe Oz or Canada?

Best of luck.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

You might look at the Cayman Islands, some positions are available to non islanders, most require a degree and qualifications. I lived there happily for several years.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

I hear quite a few people speaking well about North Carolina, and economy apparently has sectors doing well. If you don't mind snow several months of the year, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is a very pretty and relaxed place to live with lakes and mountains surrounding it.

Good luck finding a the type of visa that would allow you to move, not necessarily that easy.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

The US does not have a retirement visa, unfortunately. However, there is the B2 which retired people can often obtain from the US Consulate abroad. The use of the B2 usually is good for several years. Not that you can come to the US for several years but it can be used periodically over several years. Normally, the agent at the POE will allow a B2 holder to enter the US for 6 months at a time. What some retirees do is purchase property and use those six months of live in the US and then leave the US to continue residing in their own country or travel other places in the world. Or as snowbirds do from England or Canada is they come to the US (usually during winter and to a warm southern state) and rent a place for the winter season. Perhaps this might be of interest to you. You aren't regulated to stay within one state. You could visit Florida one year or for 3 months and then hop over to Arizona for a stay there. Just a thought.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

I heard Canada is a good place to go to eventually end up in the US, I think once you're a perm resident/citizen there are visa options that may be easier. Not sure if that's 100% legit though.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

It's not. Being a Canadian citizen doesn't make one suddenly eligible to live in the US. We have to qualify for a visa just like everyone else.

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There is the TN.

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But a TN visa is a heck of a lot easier to get than a H1B work visa.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

California is full and hot, want to swap?

Re: Your opinion please.
 

If one qualified for both then I agree the TN would be far easier. But there's such a small list of eligible occupations for the TN that I'd imagine less qualify for that than the H-1B.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

The OP said he was taking a redundancy and was looking for a place to live. I wasn't aware that he could do that on a TN.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Wow, thank you everyone. Lots of information for me to process. At the moment I’m waiting for the redundancy option at work. After that I will be looking for a holiday then looking at my options. The common opinion is the US won’t be an option for me. I’ll carry on reading and Look at my options. Relocation isn’t a major problem for me (as I said in the first comment) but I would prefer somewhere a bit warmer. I’ll ask questions again, I’m sure.

Many Thanks

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Spain? Malta? Portugal?

Re: Your opinion please.
 

Nobody has actually given you an opinion on if it would be an option or not, as we've no idea of the relevant details (i.e. any close USC family, your highest education level, what you do for a job, if you've got $500k etc). We've just made you aware that unfortunately the US isn't like the EU, you can't just up sticks and move there without a fairly tricky to get visa.

If you give people more info as per the above then you'll get opinions on whether or not a visa is likely, and also for other countries too maybe.

HTH.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

It is in fact entirely possible to target such a company & job. If it is something you want to make happen and the job itself is potentially portable and you are good enough and valuable enough to a potential employer. The company would need to be willing to fund the Visa process and you'd need to be aware you have to stick around in the UK for a year or so, but both are entirely feasible. If you have enough confidence, you don't even need to do that initial negotiation with the business - you can wait a while then make the suggestion. This s the process that got me here.

It is not an overnight option though.

Re: Your opinion please.
 

The OP has thanked everybody for their contributions, but has asked that this thread is closed. He's realised that the US won't be possible for him, so doesn't want people to waste their time replying to the thread when he may not come back to thank them.

Keep an eye out for him in other country forums as he may pop up there and I'm sure other BE'er's will be just as helpful.

Thanks all.

:)