UK > USA - Looking to Move

[canadian_wife 1,795]

There are always other types of Visas I can come in on.

After a certain amount of time there you MUST be able to apply for General jobs? Like Admin, Store Worker etc..

Of course! That is if you hold the proper visa to acquire such a job. No employer will hire you without work authorization. This is typically acquired overseas after an interview process. Plus unskilled work - in this economy, is being filled by people with professional degrees

Please begin reading up on work visas. It is not as easy as you seem to think that it is.

[Adam_1988 0]

Of course! That is if you hold the proper visa to acquire such a job. No employer will hire you without work authorization. This is typically acquired overseas after an interview process. Plus unskilled work - in this economy, is being filled by people with professional degrees

Please begin reading up on work visas. It is not as easy as you seem to think that it is.

I would never expect finding work in the USA is easy, it's still hard over here, we have University students working in general Customer Service roles, so I would expect the USA to be the same way, and even harder if you are from another country!

I'll read the whole hog on Work Visas tomorrow.

[Justine+David 218]

The work visa is pretty hard to get in this economy because as others have said, the company that sponsors you has to prove that no other American can do the job. Even the nursing market is almost closed off because of this economy whereas before they were plentiful...

[canadian_wife 1,795]

Same with teaching...

[Adam_1988 0]

Same with teaching...

Well, it is still worth trying to get one, I'm not one to give in so easily.

But for now I'm sure me and her will be happy to get me over there on a Tourist Visa for a few months or even VWPs for 90 days.

[Ellie-and-David 38]

You have a lot of reading to do Adam. And sadly, unless you can find an avenue open to you that I couldn't find, you will not be able to work in the US without saying "I do"

I, like you right now, couldn't believe that there was no avenue open for me to live with my boyfriend in the USA and work. After all....Australia is one of the hardest places to actually immigrate to, and they give year working visa's away!

Not that simple. The visa process differs greatly from country to country. If you do not have an in demand profession, special skill or a huge amount of money to invest in American business, then the VWP (or tourist visa) will continue to be your only avenues to stay in the US for a short period of time. Neither of which you can work on. And no, there are no exceptions....shop work, admin....whatever you can think of. NO WORKING AT ALL.

In the end, we decided (after several more visits) that we couldn't live without one another, and if the only way for us to be together was to get married.....so be it. (Glad I did! Except for right this second, he wont stop talking at me whilst I write this! Grrr....BOYS!)

You need to prepare yourself. If you do decide you want to get married then it isn't as simple as showing up at the border, declaring your intention to marry a citizen and get her pregnant. You have a long process to go through (we filed in November 2008 and my visa was issued in june 2009....I have a clean record, good education, no problems with exit and entry and my visa forms were PERFECT)

Good luck and best wishes to you and the girlfriend.....whichever avenue you choose. If you do decide to go through with the K1 or CR1...read the guides at the top and utilise VJ as much as you can.

[Alex356 0]

My fiance and I spent about 2 years visiting each other back and forth...he would come to US for 3 months, I would come to UK for a few weeks. It's not ideal, and you'll miss your SO like crazy...but it at least gives you some time before you make a decision about getting married

It does seem like it should be easier, especially with two countries that are so similar and on basically equal economic standing (not like people from a poorer country trying to find anyway to get in and live off benefits ) but unfortunately there is a lot of red tape, and it is even more difficult if you are not ready to get married.

Have you already been to university? You could try for a student visa! You would be able to work at the university if you went that route.

[Adam_1988 0]

You have a lot of reading to do Adam. And sadly, unless you can find an avenue open to you that I couldn't find, you will not be able to work in the US without saying "I do"

I, like you right now, couldn't believe that there was no avenue open for me to live with my boyfriend in the USA and work. After all....Australia is one of the hardest places to actually immigrate to, and they give year working visa's away!

Not that simple. The visa process differs greatly from country to country. If you do not have an in demand profession, special skill or a huge amount of money to invest in American business, then the VWP (or tourist visa) will continue to be your only avenues to stay in the US for a short period of time. Neither of which you can work on. And no, there are no exceptions....shop work, admin....whatever you can think of. NO WORKING AT ALL.

In the end, we decided (after several more visits) that we couldn't live without one another, and if the only way for us to be together was to get married.....so be it. (Glad I did! Except for right this second, he wont stop talking at me whilst I write this! Grrr....BOYS!)

You need to prepare yourself. If you do decide you want to get married then it isn't as simple as showing up at the border, declaring your intention to marry a citizen and get her pregnant. You have a long process to go through (we filed in November 2008 and my visa was issued in june 2009....I have a clean record, good education, no problems with exit and entry and my visa forms were PERFECT)

Good luck and best wishes to you and the girlfriend.....whichever avenue you choose. If you do decide to go through with the K1 or CR1...read the guides at the top and utilise VJ as much as you can.

Thankyou for that!

I think our intention is to possibly get married one day, but we will have to see when we talk about it in depth more!

I'll make sure I can get her to read this whole topic and maybe me and her can discuss things with each other!

[Adam_1988 0]

My fiance and I spent about 2 years visiting each other back and forth...he would come to US for 3 months, I would come to UK for a few weeks. It's not ideal, and you'll miss your SO like crazy...but it at least gives you some time before you make a decision about getting married

It does seem like it should be easier, especially with two countries that are so similar and on basically equal economic standing (not like people from a poorer country trying to find anyway to get in and live off benefits ) but unfortunately there is a lot of red tape, and it is even more difficult if you are not ready to get married.

Have you already been to university? You could try for a student visa! You would be able to work at the university if you went that route.

No I have not been to University yet! I don't know if I even planned on going!

And you're right, I do miss her all the time! 3 months would be ideal to start off with, I'd like to see how we would handle that amount of time together!

I think firstly I will do either the VWP 90 days or the Tourist Visa, depends what me and her can agree on!

[Going Green 5]

Hi, my fiance is British and when we were in the 'just dating stage' he was gonna apply for the tourist Visa the London Embassy told him, he would never get approved only less than three precent get approved. They said it also had negative effects of him applying for any other type of visa even just coming to see me... It was enough to put us off... Good Luck I hope you find a solution, I know it is rough when it is in the begining stages!!!

Lexi and Nick

[Adam_1988 0]

Hi, my fiance is British and when we were in the 'just dating stage' he was gonna apply for the tourist Visa the London Embassy told him, he would never get approved only less than three precent get approved. They said it also had negative effects of him applying for any other type of visa even just coming to see me... It was enough to put us off... Good Luck I hope you find a solution, I know it is rough when it is in the begining stages!!!

Lexi and Nick

Well I would try for the Tourist Visa anyway or get more advice on it from the Embassy before I shoot the idea down.

But even if that fails, VWPs are awesome back-ups.

[R.&S. 2]

See..

1. There would be 100% denial of visitor visa IF you state to them that you are going there for visiting/meeting your girlfriend ( I experienced that twice).

2. You need to show your income tax return documents of you and your parents too I think.

3. Your might get a visitor visa for maximum 10 years( one time stay would not be more then 6 months) with multiple entry but still it would depend on Immi officer at the port of entry that how long you are allowed to stay.It might be only for few week to maximum 90 weeks but you can get your stay period increased by requesting them.( Totally depends upon their choice).

4. After observing all of your questions it seems that visitor visa will suite for you.

Good Luck.

[Boiler 43,787]

I can see this ending in tears, especially if you follow some of the advice on this thread.

Always difficult to guess chances of a visa issue, 3% does not sound that unreasonable.

With a refused visa on your record you will have the pleasure of a pretty much guaranteed trip to secondary on entries and being quizzed. Combining that with all your other factors is not a good idea.

If you are seriously contemplating moving to the US and you have no qualifications, further education seems a good compromise.

[Nik+Heather 121]

I agree with Boiler. I'll bet any tourist visa interview would be fairly short:

CO: Why do you require a tourist visa rather than using the visa waiver program?

Adam: I want to visit my girlfriend for 6 months.

CO: I'm going to deny your visa and flag you in our system for suspicion that your intent is to marry this girl and stay in the US. Have a nice day!

Obviously, you don't have a job (not one worth keeping, I guess) if you are planning 6 month trips, I'm going to guess that at 21 you don't own a house or anything, No kids who you would want to come back to? And unless your parents are very ill and you're their care giver, having family in the UK isn't really a proof of ties against your girlfriend (who they will assume you intend to marry and adjust status with).

They start out with the presumption that you will stay, and you have to provide proof to the contrary, and what we are telling you is that you DON'T HAVE IT.

Also, I found this graphic somewhat humorous when we were going through the process, it sums up this thread rather well, and although cartoon, it is basically true. Note that the you are the parent of a US citizen, they have to be 18 (or 21?) YEARS old - not weeks. Also, for work visas, note the word "skilled". And later on - do you have a degree (at minimum).

http://reason.org/files/a87d1550853898a9b306ef458f116079.pdf

[Adam_1988 0]

I agree with Boiler. I'll bet any tourist visa interview would be fairly short:

CO: Why do you require a tourist visa rather than using the visa waiver program?

Adam: I want to visit my girlfriend for 6 months.

CO: I'm going to deny your visa and flag you in our system for suspicion that your intent is to marry this girl and stay in the US. Have a nice day!

Obviously, you don't have a job (not one worth keeping, I guess) if you are planning 6 month trips, I'm going to guess that at 21 you don't own a house or anything, No kids who you would want to come back to? And unless your parents are very ill and you're their care giver, having family in the UK isn't really a proof of ties against your girlfriend (who they will assume you intend to marry and adjust status with).

They start out with the presumption that you will stay, and you have to provide proof to the contrary, and what we are telling you is that you DON'T HAVE IT.

Also, I found this graphic somewhat humorous when we were going through the process, it sums up this thread rather well, and although cartoon, it is basically true. Note that the you are the parent of a US citizen, they have to be 18 (or 21?) YEARS old - not weeks. Also, for work visas, note the word "skilled". And later on - do you have a degree (at minimum).

http://reason.org/files/a87d1550853898a9b306ef458f116079.pdf

I think what I/we plan to do is have me going over there on VWPs now until we sort something more long-term out (if we both decide we want that). Please don't assume that because I am 'only' 21 that I'm not serious about her because I am, although I can see it from an immigration officers point of view, where they might think I'm just trying to get into the US to marry her and stay.

VWP seems the best option at the moment, and I think I'm going in October for 3 weeks which should be a blast.

Thankyou everyone for your help!