EmigratingSwede

Some companies have VERY long hiring processes as well. I had my first interview by phone before I moved. I ended up starting the job three months later after two face to face interviews. I have a collegue who they kept waiting even longer.

I ended up in Florida too (Orlando). I love it here. At some point I would love to live on the coast though.

We just showed a U.S. Bank Account with 3x the amount ( about $55-60k). They were fine with that.

I settled in Orlando and like it just fine. It all depends on what neighborhood you live in. There are parts of the city that are really nice and there are poor run down areas as well. Traffic on i4 is not very nice though. Salaries in Florida are not high on average, but if you work in IT or some other high income profession it isn't that bad, especially considering you do not pay state income tax.

That was probably me :-) Not many people immigrate on a transatlantic cruise.
It was kind of cool immigrating on a ship coming into New York harbor. Unlike a hundred years ago we passed by Ellis island instead of arriving there. POE is a lot easier now then it was back then :-)

That was probably me :-) Not many people immigrate on a transatlantic cruise.
It was kind of cool immigrating on a ship coming into New York harbor. Unlike a hundred years ago we passed by Ellis island instead of arriving there. POE is a lot easier now then it was back then :-)

In general you have three levels for a lot of positions (At least for software development).
Junior [Jobtitle here] - Fresh out of college or with a year or two of experiance.
[Jobtitle here] - usually 5-7 years' experiance
Senior [Jobtitle here] About 8+ years' experance.

Things can work out quite well too. I worked in IT before I moved and had 8 years' experiance. We lived with my in-laws for a few months before we found a place to live. After three months I got a job doing exactly what I had been doing before I moved. Great benefits and an 83k starting salary (two years later I am making 90k+).

I don't know about India, but my employer didn't care that my degree was a Swedish degree. They verified my educational background and called every single previous employer to verify my work background.

I don't know about India, but my employer didn't care that my degree was a Swedish degree. They verified my educational background and called every single previous employer to verify my work background.

I bought a house last December, about 10 months after getting my green card. I had managed to get a good credit score so that was not the problem. The major problem was that most banks require you to provide two years of W2's to give you a mortgage. Since I had not worked in the U.S. for two years I had to find a mortgage another way. A local credit union gave me a mortgage since I could put 20% down. I did get a slightly worse interest rate though (3.75% instead of 3.5%).

I had interviewed over the phone for the job I ended up getting before even leaving for the U.S. and it still took three months before I got the job and could start working. I had to go to two more interviews in person before they ended up giving me the job. (This was for an IT job with a very specific skillset)

I finally managed to land my first job. I got a senior developer job at a municipal company doing almost exactly what I had been doing previously in Sweden. Luckily I have some very rare skills that gave me a huge advantage when applying for this particular job. It took over two months from first interview to agreeing on a salary and I still have to wait for the background check to go through.
I will be making more money then I used to in Sweden (mid 80s), but the amount of vacation is ridiculous. I will definitively negotiate for more vacation time rather then higher salary when the time comes.

Consider the provision quoted earlier:
"There is also a provision in the bill that everyone waiting to immigrate through the legal system when the bill is enacted must have been processed and finalized before any of the 11 million can begin the process of permanency."
There are people in the Philippines who are on a 20 year waiting list to get their visa. If they must first get their visas before any undocumented aliens can start their path to citizenship then they are going to have to wait a long, long time.

Make absolutely sure that your resume has correct language and grammar. If it looks like one of your posts you would not be considered at all. Once your have a good resume, make sure you have a profile on linkedin.com (and that you have set your preferences to show you are interested in new jobs etc), join a few linkedin groups related to what you hope to find work doing and then submit your resume to any recruitment companies that provide services in your area.
I applied for a few jobs but never heard anything back. All my interviews were set up by recruiters who contacted me. In fact the job I ended up getting was one I had applied for but had not been considered for. A recruiter contacted me about the same job (not knowing I had applied for it myself earlier). I got an interview (three interviews in fact) and eventually got the job (a Sr. Programmer Analyst position).
It may have been easier for me since I have almost a decade of relevant IT experience, some hard to find skills and accent-less native level English, but I have to agree with an earlier poster that recruiters seem to be the way to go for IT jobs.

My husband has worked in IT for 35 years in California, Your best likelihood of finding work will be through recruiters rather than websites.
Here are some good ones in Southern California.
http://www.ssouth.com/
http://www.cybercoders.com/?ad=googleitrecruiters
http://www.enamix.com/
http://www.newportsolutionsgroup.com/
http://technologies.randstadusa.com/
http://www.cydio.com/thecompany_overview.aspx
http://www.searchlightrecruiters.com/
Hope that helps.
Also check out www.theladders.com and www.dice.com

I would imagine the divorce rate to be at least slightly higher then the average for a normal American marriage. At least for K1-cases, since a lot of people end up getting married perhaps a bit too soon since it is the only way they can be together. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if the divorce rate is a bit higher even for CR1/IR1 couples even though they have gotten married and lived together abroad before moving to the states. Cross cultural relationships are hard (but definitely worth it).