Advice on emigrating to the USA or Canada ... eldest two DC's half American - will that help us?

[rosieposey]

We have been talking about moving to the US or Canada for a little while now but have never really started to look into it. I married ( but lived here in the UK ) an American who is my eldest two DC's dad. He doesnt see them since he left 12 years ago but i did sort out eldest DD's citizenship and she did have an American passport. We need to do the same for DD2 and they are in touch with their dad via e mail and phone so he would help out and sign whatever needed signing.

My question is whether their being half American will help our case for getting into the the US. My DH is a fully qualified accountant and he says that his CIMA qualifications are world recognised but he would need to find work over there first i am assuming before we could move - its all a bit confusing as someone told us that basically the only way to get into the US is working for an American company and getting work over there then applying for citizenship? Does anyone know what the procedure is? We are also considering Canada but again dont know what you need to qualify to get in. We have two other DC's and a dog any advice would be gratefully received!

rosie, here is the Canadian immigration site:

skilled workers to canada

I'm in Canada, but my DH and I got jobs before we came (with the same company) and they organised everything. DH is an engineer. We have 1yr TWP which we need to get renewed for the duration of our stay.

Not sure on the US front, but a friend there at the moment managed to get a sponsor and job before he went. They go in the yearly lottery for a green card, so it didn't seem it was easy to apply for citizenship in the normal route of things.

BrownSuga thanks for the link will have a look. I did think that it was a bit harder to get into the States as opposed to Canada which is why i wondered if my two eldest DC's being half American would help at all.

Have heard of the yearly lottery for green cards but not sure what it entails - will have a look on line though. Thanks again!

Hopefully someone with more experience will come along and answer your q's re US. You'd think it would make a difference your DC's being 1/2 n 1/2.

I hope it works out for you.

Thats great info Riven - My DD2 never got registered at the embassy the way DD1 did as ex DH went home for good when she was 13 months so i know we have to go through the same paperwork as we did for DD1 and tbh he cant put much effort in to send them a birthday card each year and the phone calls are pretty sporadic so getting him to sort out her dual nationality and a passport might be a long old process iyswim can ask him to renew DD1's though and have the conversation about sorting out DD2's.

Sounds like my DH needs to look for work via an American company in order to actually get us over there - we kind of figured that but given the current economic climate might be easier said than done. Lots more research is needed methinks as its a bit of a minefeild and it doesnt sound like the girls having dual nationality will make much difference to me DH and our other two getting into the States.

As a matter of fact its me thats keen to move there ( DH would prefer Canada ) just because i lived there for a short while with ex DH and liked it hence why we are exploring both options - thanks once again for the info though - much appriciated!

Your children cannot sponsor you for an immediate relative visa - they do not affect your case one iota. You would have to do it under your own steam, ie a work visa.

Your US citizen children would not need visas, as they would have their American passports (they would have to have these, so need to get her birth registered at the consulate by their natural father). Your other two children would need dependent visas for the class their father would get.

If your DH were to work there, he would need to either have an intercompany transfer (does he work for a company that has offices in each country?), or a skilled worker visa (H1B). I would imagine the current climate is not the right time to get a H1B visa, as there will be lots of competition from within the US for his particular skills.

Work visas are temporary and have a maximum timeframe of 7 years after renewals. It would be possible for an employer to sponsor you for a greencard after a few years. If this were to happen, you could possibly be looking at citizenship 10 years after first arriving.

An alternative route is to wait until your DC is 18 - then you could be sponsored for a green card as an immediate relative.

Thanks for that scienceteacher - my eldest DC is 18 in 18 months but surely she would have to be resident in the US before she could sponser right? Or could she do it from here? My DH is an accountant and im pretty sure that his current company dont have any offices outside of Europe but that doesn't mean to say that he cant get a job with a company that does iyswim. The economic climate being what it is atm i dont think this is something thats going to happen for a while anyway but we are just putting feelers out right now.

Gosh had no idea that green cards cost money! I thought they were something that you could just get after living there for a while.

Riven i lived in Charlotte NC for a short while and liked the lifestyle although tbh if we were going to move to the states we are quite keen on the North as opposed to the South as have since visited Boston and Chicago and found them to be culturally alot more inkeeping with the kind of lifestyle we would aspire to over there.

Your DD would have to move ahead of you or with you to the US.

That would be about the quickest route to the US, but it obviously adds a lot of complications of its own if your DD doesn't want to go too.

Check out the US consulate's website - it is very good. www.usembassy.org.uk