Getting work in the USA

[Thedelldays]

A mate of mine is leaving the forces after the magical 12 year point. Going to do an MCITP admin cartificate and other IT badges and wants to work in the USA

 

sounds interesting as he he going to bite the bullet and go for it

 

I was trying to tell him that you can't just turn up in the Land of Opportunity and start work...... Or can you?

[Robsk II]

Ooh, he sounds like an interesting fella. Your type?

[Clapham Saint]

I went for a short (few months) stint about 6 years ago.

 

At that point if you were going for a holiday of less than 3 months you disn't need a visa. If you wanted to work or stay longer a visa was a must.

[Verbal]

A mate of mine is leaving the forces after the magical 12 year point. Going to do an MCITP admin cartificate and other IT badges and wants to work in the USA

 

sounds interesting as he he going to bite the bullet and go for it

 

I was trying to tell him that you can't just turn up in the Land of Opportunity and start work...... Or can you?

 

You can't. But lots do. Drop in to the Old King's Head in Santa Monica - most of them will be there.

[The Kraken]

It's extremely difficult to get a working visa for the US. Perhaps the best way (apart from marrying someone) is probably to try and get an inter-company transfer from a UK office to a US office. But of course this requires you to work for a company that has offices in both countries.

 

There are also other temporary visas (J-1), but these are typically only for around 4 or 5 months.

 

Just turning up in America, hoping to get a job and therefore a visa would very be a waste of time.

[washsaint]

The US is incredibly difficult to get into. He has a number of options:

 

1) Work for a UK company with a US office. After 12 months he can go for an intracompany transfer

2) Get an H1B visa - he woudl need to find a US employer willing to pay for this (several thousand $) and the cap is now pretty much full meaning no more H1Bs until OCt 2013

3) Marry a US girl

 

I went for option 1 and got a green card after 8 months of arriving in the US.

 

Not an easy place to get into and not as cheap to live here as people might think

[Dimond Geezer]

Munich Saint may be able to help you, despite his username he works in Texas.

[Ohio Saint]

The only way he can do it without a sponsor is to have a job/talent that the US is in dire need of and that they can't fill the space with a citizen.

 

BTW having a shedload of cash qualifies as a talent in most cases.

Edited 11 June, 2012 by Ohio Saint

[Thedelldays]

The only way he can do it without a sponsor is to have a job/talent that the US is in dire need of and that they can't fill the space with a citizen.

 

BTW having a shedload of cash qualifies as a talent in most cases.

can you sponsor me...I would like to also move to the US

[saint_in_munich]

The only way he can do it without a sponsor is to have a job/talent that the US is in dire need of and that they can't fill the space with a citizen.

 

This.

 

Also getting an H1B visa is not so straight forward, you need a certain level of qualifications within your field and many years experience.

[Verbal]

This.

 

Also getting an H1B visa is not so straight forward, you need a certain level of qualifications within your field and many years experience.

 

I've lived and worked in the US twice with something called an O-1 Visa. Lots of paperwork and cost my company quite a bit. Not sure how different this is from H1B.