which is better US L1-B visa or UK HSMP( Tier-1) visa

[ukhsmp]

Hi all,
Can u pls throw some light on which is a better option .
1.Going to US with L1-B visa thro indian employer with a monthly allowance of 3300$/month for 1-2yrs or going to UK with HSMP visa and searching for a job

[MORBULOUS_PRIME]

Hi all,
Can u pls throw some light on which is a better option .
1.Going to US with L1-B visa thro indian employer with a monthly allowance of 3300$/month for 1-2yrs or going to UK with HSMP visa and searching for a job

Under the present climate in the UK and the state of affairs at the BIA, I would go to the US. There, they tend not to change their immigration rules retrospectively to those who have already arrived to make a new country their home.

[MyHSMPApplication]

Tough question to answer really. It depends on what your long term goals are. 3000 USD for 1-2 years will no doubt fill your wallet but having said that, L1 visa by no means will make you eligible for a Green Card (correct me if I am wrong)
Where as with Tier 1 you are assured that after 5 years you will end up being a permanent resident of UK.

With L1 visa you are under the whims of your Indian employer who might decide to replace you with some one else. But with Tier 1 you are on your own and you have the flexiblity to do what ever you want.

Cheers
Pg

[rajesh9pl]

UK!! if you manage to start initially and later succeed to secure a good job.

[simar]

Hi all,
Can u pls throw some light on which is a better option .
1.Going to US with L1-B visa thro indian employer with a monthly allowance of 3300$/month for 1-2yrs or going to UK with HSMP visa and searching for a job

If I have been you. I would prefer to go to US on L1-B visa & apply immediately after reaching in US for Canada immigration as processing time in US is a 1 year or so. And at same time start try apply for H1B while in US by giving interviews

hsmp UK is getting dangerous & unpredictable with fast changing rules now. Though many people think in 5 years ILR is achievable. But I doubt. They may change rules to make ILR in 8 years.

Basic fact is, Britain is island. It is not going to expand. Its north sea oil is going down. I don’t blame locals if they are getting angry with immigrants. While US Canada have big lands, big untrapped oil to expand & explore. Think about 10-20 year time. It is definite north America.
You can also come on hsmp in uk and apply for Canada immigration.

Have ask me same question 3 years back. I would have said hsmp uk is much better. Not anymore sure now.

[ashishashah]

I support it..Go to US..
I am in UK on HSMP(HIGHLY skilled) but not too many employers know about it and always asks "When is it expiring?"..And r u an immigrant??

If your skills are really in demand then world can be your home and you will be respected where ever you go..But some how i feel that in UK people label you as "Immigrant" which even includes family immigration,asaylum seeker and all other categories..
I think in US ,no one tell you that u r not "native" bcoz no body is native and all are same...

[goldfish]

Where as with Tier 1 you are assured that after 5 years you will end up being a permanent resident of UK.

No, you are not. They change the rules frequently and apply them retrospectively. They are also planning to change the residence/citizenship rules completely later this year. The only certainty with the UK HO is that they will certainly change the rules !

[Kelvin]

I've been to US myself though didn't stay very long but still, long enough to perceive the difference between US and UK. Go to US, my friend - it is a place where the sky is the only limit of your ambition, if you get Canada passport later on, you can freely seek employment in US.

Having said that, why am I myself stuck in UK ? Too sad...

Where as with Tier 1 you are assured that after 5 years you will end up being a permanent resident of UK.

No, you are not. They change the rules frequently and apply them retrospectively. They are also planning to change the residence/citizenship rules completely later this year. The only certainty with the UK HO is that they will certainly change the rules !

[simar]

I've been to US myself though didn't stay very long but still, long enough to perceive the difference between US and UK. Go to US, my friend - it is a place where the sky is the only limit of your ambition, if you get Canada passport later on, you can freely seek employment in US.

Having said that, why am I myself stuck in UK ? Too sad...

Where as with Tier 1 you are assured that after 5 years you will end up being a permanent resident of UK.

No, you are not. They change the rules frequently and apply them retrospectively. They are also planning to change the residence/citizenship rules completely later this year. The only certainty with the UK HO is that they will certainly change the rules !

I do not agree on your sky is the limit theory in America only. London also is great for making money. Mittals , Vodafone CEO till two days back
all doing great here. So are many professionals in finance, software field are good. U have market to rent a car for 3500 pounds per day (did u see
Apprentice program last night -))
Not all people happy moving to north America nether all people sad here. The judgement for each case is best known to person himself.

[SKUK]

It depends on how you see it and how you manage your move to a new country.

Do you have prior UK experience. Then probably it becomes that much easier to land up with a job here in UK. In your current circumstances it looks US is a better option.

Why?

Why because you have the cushion of an Indian employer bringing you to the US with a salary to start with and probably providing you with the initial accomodation. Also probably your project mates are already at the client site and that will prove helpful as well. Once you get to test the waters of the US job market and gain US experience you can prepare to permanently settle there. All these of course should be done before your project gets over or before your project meets the doomsday (being cynical here ).

Also I think there are far more avenues in the US than the UK because of the sheer size of States. UK is more London centric, jobs in other places are few and far between.

Again it's a different story if you have relatives and close friends in the UK and you know what to expect here and how to go about job hunting/giving interviews. In such a case your decision can be slightly tilted in favour of the kingdom.

[nairsanty]

My friend, I normally only read posts on this site and dont contribute anything, I think you could really do with some advice !! You will make a big mistake if you dont take the US option.

1. I know of reasonably qualified high flying young guys from India who took more than 8 months to find a basic decent low paying job in UK. Take a ready job any day.

2. Your employer is not going to replace you. It costs money to get you flying to US, visa, etc. Till he is able to pay you cheaply - he will keep you.

3. Ignoring UK for a moment, L1 B visa is the best possible visa to the US. Grab it. L1 B allows your wife to work for any US employer (unlike HI B) and route to Green card is faster...as no labour certification is required. If you work well and have your employer impressed and play your cards right, your green card processing is very likely. 2 years easily become 5 years. Thats how every body ends up staying for years. It most often starts as a 2 year assignment !!

4. American work environment is much beter - more open and free. Prove yourself - sky is the limit. UK - restrictive, colonial, unimaginative. If you prove yourself, sky is the limit - but you rarely will get the opportunity to prove yourself

5. US is much better weatherwise and general quality of life - relative to UK. Big roads, big houses, big cars........unfortunately no cheap gas anymore !!!

No need to tell you more of the negatives of UK .........this site is full of them !! Go to US. All the best. Let us all know

[MissIntrigued]

Strangely, I have been researching how to get a UK visa (I am an American citizen living in New York), but the more I read about, the more I wonder if it's even a good idea.

If I was you, I would go with the US option. 3300 a month (im assuming that is gross, not net) is not the best salary in the world to be honest. that's about 40K per year, which after taxes means you'll be taking home maybe 2K a month , maybe a couple hundred dollars more. It depends, you did not say where in the US the job would be? In NY, 3300 a month gross will not take you far. it is possible if you have a spouse who is contributing to the income of the household though.

The benefits of america, is that i feel it is easier to find a job if you have the qualifications and experience. It seems to be lately that in the UK, if you are not an EU citizen, it is near impossible.

I keep hearing horror stories of people searching for jobs for 6, 8, 10 months or more! Plus, even living in NY, which is not a cheap city, I can say that London is ten times more expensive, the grocery stores are awful and not quality either. That may sound silly, but the same grocery shopping I can do in NY for 100 dollars, will cost me double in London! I've been to London many times and I really want to try living overseas for a while because it would be a great expereince, but I wonder if there is even a point in trying.....to spend all that money on a visa application is useless if you end up searching for a job for months and never finding one and blowing what little savings you have!

I would go with the US one, though perhaps negotiate for a higher salary? unless the company is paying your rent for you, in which case, 3300 a month is fine.

Good luck

[ukhsmp]

Hi all thanks for all your valuable points.
To give more details abt this.
3,300 $ is the Net take home and not the Gross.And also The location in US is Charlotte , North Carolina.Also the duration of my stay will be between 12-18 months.
The benefit I have in UK is that my brother is living in UK , he has been there for the last 4 yrs. he is in Northampton.So I though Settling down there with a decent job will be good.

Pls advise.

[Kelvin]

I don't disagree with you in terms of the fact that you can make a good life in UK too if you are capable of it. My point is, you will have much greater chance to have a much better life living in US than UK after putting the same degree of your effort, or much less struggling.

Personally, I will definitely go to US sooner or later after I will sort out myself here in UK (I am in IT and almost everything in IT is from US), of course, not by cutting off the tie though.

I've been to US myself though didn't stay very long but still, long enough to perceive the difference between US and UK. Go to US, my friend - it is a place where the sky is the only limit of your ambition, if you get Canada passport later on, you can freely seek employment in US.

Having said that, why am I myself stuck in UK ? Too sad...

Where as with Tier 1 you are assured that after 5 years you will end up being a permanent resident of UK.

No, you are not. They change the rules frequently and apply them retrospectively. They are also planning to change the residence/citizenship rules completely later this year. The only certainty with the UK HO is that they will certainly change the rules !

I do not agree on your sky is the limit theory in America only. London also is great for making money. Mittals , Vodafone CEO till two days back
all doing great here. So are many professionals in finance, software field are good. U have market to rent a car for 3500 pounds per day (did u see
Apprentice program last night -))
Not all people happy moving to north America nether all people sad here. The judgement for each case is best known to person himself.

[simar]

Hi all thanks for all your valuable points.
To give more details abt this.
3,300 $ is the Net take home and not the Gross.And also The location in US is Charlotte , North Carolina.Also the duration of my stay will be between 12-18 months.
The benefit I have in UK is that my brother is living in UK , he has been there for the last 4 yrs. he is in Northampton.So I though Settling down there with a decent job will be good.

Pls advise.

under ur circumstances. I think u better come to uk on hsmp. IT market is okay in uk. i got job within 1 week of landing from india on hsmp. One of my collogue get job in month time. Actually he got 3 offers so was thinking which one to join.
This is with assumption your brother and later on ur parents may move to live closeby. Best of luck

[yewhongwei79]

I have worked in US for 8 months, and now I have been in UK for 7 months, I can probably provide some inputs.

Whether it is UK or US, your age/stage of life is a key factor. If you are married, but before 26, without kids and you plan to go back to your motherland after few years, come to UK. The reason is, HSMP allows your wife, as dependant to work as well, may it be a low level jobs like working in Tesco/Post Office/Asda or whatsoever, you 2 can save more in UK, and then go back to your hometown to enjoy the rest of your life. If you are married with kids, do not come to UK because the nursery cost in UK can be easily equivalent to your wife's salary (unless she earns more than £20K a year). Having one income source in UK is a pain, because cost of living is so high in UK that most likely you will end up with no saving.

if I were you, I would choose US without hesitation. I said this based on my own situation where I am 29 this year, and I am slowly planning to have my first kid in 2-3 years time. I would like to have my own house before that happens. I could achieve that much easier, if I can get a job in US (and my wife does not necessarily need to work) as long as it is not in California/NY. The quality of life is much better in US because in overall cost of living is lower in terms of housing, entertainment, foods, fuel ... etc. For example, I used to work in Arizona, USA, and a big house over there is about USD200K-USD250K, which is very affordable compared to UK which is £200K-£250K. I might be earning USD80K in USA but I am just able to earn £40K in UK, can you see the difference?

Maybe it is just me, but overall, my wife and I feel that the feeling of discrimination is stronger in UK than in US. The topic of immigration has been consistently mentioned in the media nowadays, on how their public service has become worse due to huge amount of immigrants. While we from Asia has no right to use any of those benefits (and we contributed to it with high tax!), but in UK society, the term of "immigrant" includes ALL of us, in a bad way. I didn't really feel a strong discrimination feeling in US, and I didn't really see/hear any topic about this in USA. Perhaps this has got to do with the fact that, US society itself is a immigrant society since 20th century, even Americans are not native! As such, their degree of acceptance to new ideas, new people, new things, seem to be higher.

Working culture is different between UK and US companies. My experience told me that, the working culture in US is more free and open, in the sense that they are more results-oriented. You can have higher flexibility to decide your working hours (as long as you don't miss the meeting or behave too much) and as long as you deliver the results. But in UK, in the first few months I had myself into some troubles while trying to practice the same working culture. My current company does have the guidelines of flexible working hours, but I found the management (English Men of course) mindset do not seem to be ready/in-line with this guideline. I was rejected to go back home at 3:30pm when there's a electricity shortage in the company (although I offered to work few hours on Saturday, which I always do).

In conclusion, UK doesn't make me feel like settling down, this is just a place for me and my wife to save more money and leave. This is just my personal experience, which might not be true for everybody. I have seen friends doing very well in UK, but they have things in common, which is, both husband and wife are earning, together, £80K and above. The question is, how many couple, can have such ability to achieve such earning level?

[ashishashah]

I second yewhongwei79..Having worked in US and UK (and Belgium and India) i feel that UK is not good for long term...You cannot Settle down in UK...cost of living is too high so unless you and your wife both r earling,your savings will be nil...One persons earning goes in expense..in US even if you are earning alone, you can save for your future...

and yes, US gov. doesnt change rules retrospectively and doesnt increase the visa fee from 350 to 750 overnight!!!