What does he need to do to be able to live/work in US ?

[Preps]

26yo, absolutely smitten with an American woman. She is currently in UK for work, but has always been clear with him that this is a 2 year thing and she intends to return.

He has a good degree and accountancy qualifications, works for one of the big firms in the City.

He's hoping he can get some sort of job opportunity through his current firm to tf to US, but presumably that would only be temporary and is unlikely to be in the part of US she is from.

He's been told marriage wouldn't give him automatic rights.

What do people do in this situation?

At his age - get married, stay married and eventually apply for green card and citizenship.

Or transfer over and work in the states then get married later on.

Or find a third country they could live in together like Canada or Australia

I should have said he has joint British and Israeli citizenship, if that makes a difference.

Marriage does give thr right to apply for a visa
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/family-immigration/immigrant-visa-for-spouse.html

But does she want to marry him?

Easiest option is get married and stay married. The second best option is apply for an L1A visa via work and then apply for a green card but that takes years and there’s no freedom of employment whilst you wait, also the employer may impose stipulations about having to repay the costs if you use them for the green card then run the minute it’s granted. L1A is for senior employees, there’s also an L1B visa for regular employees but that’s harder to convert to a green card. There’s a mid ground too which would be move on the L1 and get married down the line. Israeli citizenship is also eligible for the green card lottery so maybe worth a go but it is exactly what it says- a lottery! Or find a friendly 3rd country to live in together e.g. Canada.

Dh and I were in the same situation. How long have they been together and how serious of a relationship is it? When I had to move home to the US, it wasn't by choice but due to visa issues (we were both living and working in another country together, not the UK, so no chance of long-term residency there for either of us). We knew at that point though that we wanted to be together and it was just a matter of figuring out how we were going to make that happen.

For 2 years, we literally worked to be able to travel back and forth. We alternated flying back and forth for a visit every 2-3 months and would stay as long as possible each time. Dh tried to get a visa. At the time, there was a work/travel visa where you could do however many months of travel and however many months of work. Unfortunately, he couldn't get that as couldn't prove he owned enough assets back in the UK to not be an overstaying risk. It's not particularly easy to get a US visa of any sort.

In the short term, I would consider either regular travel back and forth or a job transfer to a place where domestic travel to visit would be cheaper. Realistically, he may find that travel for visits is ultimately cheaper as cost of living is very high in the US, not to mention health care costs. If he is able to work and save money here (perhaps even get a job that can be done remotely), he can travel to the US on an ESTA for 3 months without needing a job or a visa. I would probably do that first before moving to test the waters. Moving countries is a big transition. I found it really unsettling at first and the US is a more unsettling place that most places to live. He may find it's not for him, or that the relationship doesn't last. That said, we are proof that it can work (though I was very happy to move away to the UK and never look back!). Dh and I have been happily married for 15 years and I/our dc all have dual nationality.