Moving to america

[Youvegotafriendinme]

Apologies in advance as this is a long one! Me and DH have started to seriously consider emigrating to the USA and are struggling to find concrete answers so am hoping someone could help or point us in the right direction.
He is a skilled worker and has 16 years experience being a master technician within the VW group, 2.5 years experience making engines for ford and 8 years experience class 1 driving. I, unfortunately have worked retail management since leaving school nearly 20 years ago and don’t have ‘skills’ as such. We also have a 2.5 year old son. Our questions are: what visa would be the best for him to apply for or is that up to the government? Would I automatically be able to go with him as we are married or would I need to have a skill. If I do need a skill, I’m thinking of doing hairdressing or nursery assistant to cover this. Would I need to do 2 years here within the role to be considered and are these even considered skills America would accept. We have spoken on and off about this for the past 10 years but I lost my mum last year and now we have decided it really is something we want to achieve as you only live once! If it makes any difference we are both in our early 30s. Thank you

Hello! Have a look at britishexpats.com - it has a wiki on visas that might help..

Definitely ask the question on Britishexpats.com - the board is called US Immigation, Visas and Citizenship (I think)
The advice on there is invaluable.
Sadly, as you described in this post, there is pretty much no chance of being able to come live here. Most visas, besides marriage or investment by buying a US business or franchise, are employment based which means that you need to be working for a company that is willing to pay thousands of $$$ to sponsor you to come work here. The path for that involves working for a multinational company and they have to prove that you have unique skills for their business that no US person has.
Try British expats - you’ll get comprehensive advice there - but beware you may not get the answer you want. Good luck.

As barryallen stated, and based on your OP the only option for you would be for you DH to get offered a job in the US. Then his employer would get the visa sorted for you both.

If everyone who wanted to live here could live here, the population would be more than double. From what you’ve said, the only realistic option is an L visa (intra-company transfer) if the company your DH works for even transfers people to the US. At least an L visa would allow you to qualify for an EAD (basically a work permit) as his derivative. The other option is H-1B but this is:
A. Massively oversubscribed (only about a quarter who apply are actually successful in receiving the visa)
B. A visa that does not permit the spouse to work at all

Note that you cannot apply for the visas. A willing company must do all of that. They have multiple hoops to jump through and it costs a fortune so the question is:

What does he bring to the table that an American doesn’t, bearing in mind that an American costs nothing for the employer to hire (no visa etc), can start work tomorrow if needed and has skills and experience that are recognized here. Try telling people here you have A-levels, NVQs, HNDs etc. It means nothing to them.

Why would you? I could live here if I wanted to (I'm currently working here and have triple nationality which allows for it) but the healthcare 'system' alone is enough to put me off moving here permanently. It's also expensive as hell in a lot of places here now, even formerly 'cheap' ones, unless you're in a place that's a real dump.

One of my relatives bought a house in 1972 in a big city that was formerly 'cheap' for like $21,000. The area has shit schools, but it's near the motorway and easy to get to the medical centre which employs many people (or use a Park n Ride for it) and into downtown and other popular areas, so now these crap houses are selling for $200,000+ for 1500sq ft. It's ridiculous. This is in a 'cheap' state, too, with no state income tax.

America doesn't have a points based immigration system so skills are not relevant. You'd need a job offer and the company would have to successfully apply for a work visa to get you over. Sadly the skills your DH has are not difficult to find within the US so unlikely a company would go through the effort to bring someone over for it.

As to whether it’s a good place or not, depends on where you are. We live on the Pacific coast, a short walk to the beach, in a wonderful neighborhood. We bought a 3-bed 2-bath home with pool for less than I sold my 2-up/2-down in Surrey for. I do the same job here as I did in the UK but make double the money. I pay less tax and my employer covers my healthcare premiums. We have a wonderful lifestyle here. It’s not perfect but it’s as close as I’ve ever been.

My son is considering moving over (he's a dual national) to attend boarding school (near one of my sister's) but IME it only works really well if you're middle class or above, then you have a nice property to sell in the UK or rent out and a good job with good health insurance in a good location and all that. But that's true of just about any place.

You can't apply for a visa, you have to be sponsored by a company and they have to show that there is no American who could do the job to the same level. Given that the visa costs tens of thousands of dollars and the company have to pay, most only do it for high level employees earning 100k+. Or get a job for a company with American offices and transfer. That's it.

OralBElectricToothbrush well where in the UK can you buy a house for the equivalent of USD 200,000 that's also convenient for transport, jobs, and has good schools? Certainly nowhere in the Southeast.

We've lived in suburbs of NYC and London and value for money with regards to housing and school quality was better in NYC. Health insurance was covered by employer but yes if you don't have that it's a huge liability in the States.

Certainly nowhere in the Southeast.

There's a whole lot of places in the UK outside the Southeast .

And that's just a starting point. You have to send your kids to private school in that area, unless you want them going to a really bad school as that's what it's zoned for, and they are houses that naice middle class people who get work visas for NYC wouldn't want to live in .

If you have any nationalities besides British (like Irish) you could try the green card lottery?

OralBElectricToothbrush I'm aware there are places outside of the Southeast, but I'm sure you'r aware there are places in America outside of the "terrible" city your relatives live in.

And some of the best public schools in America are in NYC suburbs. Northern NJ, Westchester County, Connecticut.

I'm really not sure you know as much about the States as you think.

I didn't say it was a 'terrible' city . LOL! Oh, no, I know nothing about the States, I only lived there for 31 years, in 4 different states and am here now working and staying with my family and mum to two dual national children. PMSL! But you're right, I really don't know much about NYC, although I do have a first cousin who's been living in Manhattan for about 20 years or so, married a native she met when she was at MIT. Not a fan, no matter how amazing the schools are. Visited a couple of times, wasn't impressed, gimme RMNP any day. But their reputation for snottiness definitely seemed to have rubbed off on you .

Almost 4th of July! I'll need to get my beauty sleep soon so I can watch Trump's tanks and the hotdog eating contest in the morning. I have to console myself because I never lived in the Southeast of the UK or the Northeast in the US, so I know I'm just your standard yokel with a blue passport who knows nothing. 😂😂😂

OralB if you've lived in the US that long very surprised you characterise NYC that way.

A friend of a friend is a British woman who is an estate agent in northern NJ, she has made a very tidy business placing European expats into nice towns on the commuter lines into Manhattan and the children attend public schools in leafy suburbs.

So to say you have to attend a private school and there's nowhere a nice British family would dare to live in NY metro area is quite mind boggling!

In addition to good advice above go to us embassy website for initial advice etc.

I don't think this is a possibility tbh.
Maybe it would work if you divorced and both remarried US citizens. If not I'm not sure how you can emigrate to the US.

How about Australia or New Zealand? That could work.

if you've lived in the US that long very surprised you characterise NYC that way.

You're surprised that not everyone is in love with NYC and the Northeast? Really? It's a massive landmass. One of my sister's would rather live in Hawaii (landmass excluded). My brother, however, would rather shit in his hands and clap than even go there (there are 4 of us, 2 live in the US now and 1 in Canada and I have my principal domain in England). Personally, I'd prefer to live in Boulder, Colorado (although not there now). Again, I've got a first cousin who lives in Manhattan, has done for about 20 years now, but nope, not my cup of tea at all. She and her h have amazing jobs and 2 sons, live in a lovely 2-bed condo. Nice place to visit. My mother is particularly fond of visiting the Northeast. But nope, wouldn't want to live there and wouldn't be on my list to re-visit. Others do, that's great. There are 300m+ people in the US. There's room for us all, horses for courses. My kids are headed off to Disney Orlando next week with one sister and her family. I'd rather remove maggots from a pile of chuck meat and eat them than go, much less when it's bloody 100 degrees+ (Florida is humid, too). If I'm going to Florida it's to go to The Keys or to a cruise terminal. I'm off to tour Napa Valley instead.

Hope you can find a way if you want to move, OP.

Happy 4th of July!

If your OH works for VW has he looked at an internal transfer to the VW plant in Chattanooga? There are some good schools there and the housing is not expensive. Everyone I know who lives there likes it, including a few Brit expats.

Britwifeinusa- do you mind me asking which town you are in? I always assume the West coast is expensive all the way up so am interested in areas that cost less than surrey- we are in LA area.

irish and british nationals don’t qualify for the diversity visa lottery, only northern irish-norm people.