Advice on possible immigration to America

[paddy1984]

Hi Everyone,

I hope that someone may be able to offer some advice to us.

We feel in love with America during a visit 2 years ago in September. So much so that we are returning to get married in Central Park in two years time and bringing the family with us.

I was wondering if anyone could give their opinion on the possibility of us gaining a visa for America.

We are both UK residents (Scotland) with no immediate family in the United States. We are both professionals. My fiance is a Lawyer (is planning on sitting the NY bar) and i am a political advisor (i have a Masters in Political Studies and planning on studying a further batchelors degree while working).

We don't have any criminal convictions and when we apply to immigrate my fiance will have 8 years experiece as a British Lawyer and i will have 12 years experience in the politics/government field.

I understand the difficulties to immigrate to America, however we are both determined to fulfil our dream. We are willing to move jobs to international organisations if that helps or even change the direction of our careers to aid us.

Any advice or general comments would be warmly welcomed.

I hope all of you are well.

Paddy..

[Administrator]

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Are you looking for permanent relocation? As in, are you looking toward an immigrant or a non-immigrant method?

You can be hired by an international company that needs you in the U.S., in which case you would be looking at an L-1 visa. It is non-immigrant, so you have to go back eventually.

However, once you're in the U.S., depending upon the type of visa you come in on, you can switch your status to an immigration path.

Of course, there's the H-1B visa .. but you'll have to wait until next 01 April to have a company submit a petition on your behalf. Might be a tough sell claiming that the U.S. has shortages of lawyers or political consultants ...

Along those lines, if you can find a university willing to hire you ..? They have a bit of an easier time justifying foreign-born employees and are generally prepared to deal with the paperwork required.



Unfortunately, anyone born in the UK (except Northern Ireland) is ineligible for the Green Card Lottery.

However, that Green Card is the eventual goal. All your searches are toward finding a residency option tat lets you stay long enough to qualify for applying for a Green Card.

To get your foot in the door and try to locate & exploit other opportunities, consider coming in as university students. The contacts you would make would probably allow you to research everything you need to know & do & to locate substantial employment offers.

So, your more immediate routes in are via employment or studies. It doesn't seem there is another (such as family, asylum, lottery, etc.).

the Admin