What are our options?

Hi All,

I'm after some good sound advice as to my various options with respect to emigration to the USA for myself, my fiancee (wife as of May 1st 2010)and 2yo daughter in the hopefully not to distant future. I am 26 and my wife to be, 32.

This is a dream I have had for many years, since my teens, certainly as long as I can remember and one both my family and I will always aspire to fulfil.

Some background about my education and career:

I am educated to A-Level standard here in the UK with my primary subject being IT and computing, but despite entry to university decided not to attend and went straight into employment instead, where I began my career working for a healthcare IT company as a support consultant.

I have since continued my career in Healthcare IT and 7 years later am now a successful technical project manager for a globally recognised digitial imaging and radiography company and hold a number of industry standard qualifications, some recognised in the US, others unfortunately only in Europe, although they do share almost identical methodologies with their US counterparts.

I enjoy my role and love the company I work for who do have a large operation in the US with a number of positions comparable to my current one available across a number of states (although unfortunately not FL - our desired location) so an inter-company transfer could be a possibility.

My w2b is not working at present as I prefer her to care full time for our daughter to ensure a sound upbringing and of course at only 2 she is defintely not working.

If my w2b did decide to work in the future in the US dependant on the length and success of our stay and any subsequent green card applications this may effect the type of visa we wish to chose, i.e one visa for all 3 of us or indeed a separate visa for her to enable her to work if she so wished...it may be worth noting her skill set is not as impressive as my own although she does have strong experience in a leadership role in a callcentre environment (so probably not deemed exceptional in any case).

Family background:

NOTE:

I'm not sure if any of this is even relevant or taken into account my immigration services when appling for a visa or green card in the US, but I feel it best to list all connections I have to the country to allow people on the forum to return me the best advice!

I have 2 parts of my extended family already living legally (in the most part on the US as business interest in the vacation property business already.

My aunt emigrated to the US in the 80's, obtained a green card, ran a successful business for a number of years, employing Americans and has been married to an American and a US citizen for many years now.

The American she married, my uncle has also had successful IT businesses and now works for one of the biggest financial institutions in the US.

My other Aunt/Uncle were both British citizens and emigrated in the 90's with my 2 cousins. There experience was mixed and there are a number of issues that have tarnished their 'records' with the US services.

Firstly their green card application was lost and so paperwork was set back and it took the best part of 10 years for their green card to come through, causing my eldest cousin to fall out if validity under the green card application and she still lives and works in the US in this 'limbo' status, knowing if she was to leave, chances are she would never get back in. As I understand it work is ongoing to try and rectify this situation in the legal manner. In addition to this my aunt and uncle have since spilt up, and my youngest cousin almost since her arrival had fallen in with the wrong crowds and is regularly on the wrong side of the law, spending time in jail and rehab.

Finally, the family I am marrying into have had successful careers here in the UK and have as such been lucky enough to be able to invest in 2 properties in FL and run a healthy vacation rental business.

IN CONCLUSION:

I think thats everything I can think of that could be relevant to our application.

Any advice anyone who has successfully emigrated to the US, or indeed have been unsuccesful please feel free to speak out with any tips, potential pitfalls etc!

Very much looking forward to replies!

Best Regards,

R Harris

Sounds like your only option is an inter-company transfer with an L1A visa (for managers). Your wife would then be eligible for an L2 visa. If you go down that route, it's important to discuss beforehand if your company is willing to sponsor you for a green card, as well as stuff like relocation expenses, holidays, etc.

I must say this is not the first time ive looked into this hence I have a bit of general knowledge about the visa types.

It looks as though year on year nothing really changes for us Brits, which is weird really considering the very close relationship between both countries which one would hope implies a bit of an easier route for Brits wanting to emigrate state-side, such as at least being considered as an eligible country for the green card lottery!

it still appears the only 3 valid options for any Brit are an L1 company transfer, a H type where you get a job and $5k sponsorship before entry into the US, or a lucky rich man H type where you promise to throw some green at the economy and employ a few locals!

I must find out how exactly my relatives did it...I seem to recall family already in the US, both US citizens setting up a business to get the sister, husband and children in as employees or something, but that of course was in the 90's and before 9/11!

ryanthelion84 wrote:It looks as though year on year nothing really changes for us Brits, which is weird really considering the very close relationship between both countries which one would hope implies a bit of an easier route for Brits wanting to emigrate state-side, such as at least being considered as an eligible country for the green card lottery!

It is indeed strange, considering that the other close partner in the "war on terror", Australia, has been rewarded with the E3 visa. I wouldn't be surprised if the fact that the "shoe bomber" was British had something to do with it.

ryanthelion84 wrote:it still appears the only 3 valid options for any Brit are an L1 company transfer, a H type where you get a job and $5k sponsorship before entry into the US, or a lucky rich man H type where you promise to throw some green at the economy and employ a few locals!

Still, unlike others, you seem to have a reasonable chance of getting a good visa (L1A).

ryanthelion84 wrote:I must find out how exactly my relatives did it...I seem to recall family already in the US, both US citizens setting up a business to get the sister, husband and children in as employees or something, but that of course was in the 90's and before 9/11!

Back in the 1990's it was much easier for anyone with a university degree or several years' experience in IT to get an H1B visa, which often led to a green card. The real problem was probably the dot-com burst, and the fact that lots of people from India working in the IT industry apply for H1B visas every year.

By the way, this other forum

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=34

also has good advice.

thanks for all yor advice, its much appreciated.

ryanthelion84 wrote: It looks as though year on year nothing really changes for us Brits, which is weird really considering the very close relationship between both countries which one would hope implies a bit of an easier route for Brits wanting to emigrate state-side, such as at least being considered as an eligible country for the green card lottery!

The reason British born persons are ineligible to enter the green card lottery is because so many people from the UK immigrate to the United States through family and employer based routes.

Canada is also ineligible - same reason.

But about 10% of British citizens are eligible for the lottery - born in Northern Ireland, born in an eligible country (eg Germany), or the spouse of someone born in an eligible place.