Getting started - work in USA - NYC, San Fran

[kratosaurus]

Hello All,

New member to these boards here and have a couple of questions you may be able to assist with.

I'm an IT Professional with 8 years industry experience in the web development area. I've lived (and worked) nearly my entire life in Sydney, Australia and am looking for a change. I've wanted to move to the US for some time and am now starting to look at it seriously.

I'm hoping to find work in NYC, San Fran or a couple of other major US cities.

Can anyone advise on any resources (web sites/organisations/etc) that can assist with finding work, accommodation, legal/general advice on making the move? Apparently there are some organisations that can assist with all the above - does anyone have any recommendations or feedback for where I can start looking.

Cheers,
Stephen.

[Bevdeforges]

Hi and welcome. Hope you don't mind, but I've moved you over to the America section, where you may find more answers to what you're asking.

As you'll see from the other posts here, now is not exactly the best time to be looking at moving over to the US - what with the current economic crisis.

However, if you want to start scoping out the situation for an eventual move, you should probably start with the job side of things. Beware of any commercial ventures offering to "help" you for a (hefty) fee, especially if they are promising, job, accommodation and the whole package. Even the high tech sector is having difficulty these days and chances are they won't be hiring for a while unless you've got some particular skill or experience that no American IT Professional has. (Even at that, there's no guarantee that a company can get you a visa.)

Looking for work, try the classified ads of the major newspapers (in your case, the NY Times, SF Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News or the newspapers for whatever big cities you're interested in). Professional journals also run job ads, plus there are the usual online job sites like Monster.

You should allow for making one or two exploratory trips to the US (at your own expense), if only to make yourself available for interviews - but wait until you've determined what the response is to inquiries you're sending out. I would be very wary of any job offer made sight unseen (there be scams everywhere these days!), and in the US it is almost always the employer who pays for job search services, not the person looking for work.
Cheers,
Bev

[Fatbrit]

Usually I'd not be very enthusiastic about your chances, but as an Aussie you have your very own visa -- the E3 -- to make life easier. Provided you qualify (go and look up the requirements), your main stumbling block is overcome. It's a relatively new visa, and the path to residency is not without issues.

[kratosaurus]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Hi and welcome. Hope you don't mind, but I've moved you over to the America section, where you may find more answers to what you're asking.

As you'll see from the other posts here, now is not exactly the best time to be looking at moving over to the US - what with the current economic crisis.

However, if you want to start scoping out the situation for an eventual move, you should probably start with the job side of things. Beware of any commercial ventures offering to "help" you for a (hefty) fee, especially if they are promising, job, accommodation and the whole package. Even the high tech sector is having difficulty these days and chances are they won't be hiring for a while unless you've got some particular skill or experience that no American IT Professional has. (Even at that, there's no guarantee that a company can get you a visa.)

Looking for work, try the classified ads of the major newspapers (in your case, the NY Times, SF Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News or the newspapers for whatever big cities you're interested in). Professional journals also run job ads, plus there are the usual online job sites like Monster.

You should allow for making one or two exploratory trips to the US (at your own expense), if only to make yourself available for interviews - but wait until you've determined what the response is to inquiries you're sending out. I would be very wary of any job offer made sight unseen (there be scams everywhere these days!), and in the US it is almost always the employer who pays for job search services, not the person looking for work.
Cheers,
Bev

Thanks for the advice Bev - and for moving this over to the the right section.

I recently visited the US and am attempting to find work/accomodation using the web, as it goes hand in hand with the industry I work in (being IT). For the career I have, my online portfolio goes a long way to securing me work - as it shows exactly what I'm capable of and the experience I have under my belt.

As a (somewhat) last resort - I'm considering just biting the bullet and heading over there. I can live off the fat while looking for work, it's just more the paperwork/legality side of things I'm unsure of, perhaps there isn't that much required to make the move.

Anyway, thanks for the advice - much appreciated.

Cheers.

[kratosaurus]

Originally Posted by Fatbrit

Usually I'd not be very enthusiastic about your chances, but as an Aussie you have your very own visa -- the E3 -- to make life easier. Provided you qualify (go and look up the requirements), your main stumbling block is overcome. It's a relatively new visa, and the path to residency is not without issues.

Thanks Fatbrit - I'll take a look into the E3 visa side of things and how to assess if I qualify. Cheers.

[Tiffani]

keep in mind that if you enter the US on a visa waiver (live off the fat while you look for a job) you will not be eligible to work or apply for a change of your visa status in order to become eligible to work. You will have to leave the country, apply for a visa (which could take a long time depending on which visa it is) and then re-enter on that visa.

Check out the E-3 though like FatBrit says. Australians are lucky in that they are one of the only, if not the only, nationality that has an exchange-like program with the US.

[kratosaurus]

Originally Posted by Tiffani

keep in mind that if you enter the US on a visa waiver (live off the fat while you look for a job) you will not be eligible to work or apply for a change of your visa status in order to become eligible to work. You will have to leave the country, apply for a visa (which could take a long time depending on which visa it is) and then re-enter on that visa.

Check out the E-3 though like FatBrit says. Australians are lucky in that they are one of the only, if not the only, nationality that has an exchange-like program with the US.

Thanks Tiffani - I once heard there was a quick way to deal with this. Not sure what other country was involved, but apparently some make a day trip to a close by country that specifically caters for turning around a new visa in one day. So people would make a day trip of renewing their visa and be back in the US within 24 hours.

Anyway, I'm looking into the E3 side of things. Cheers.

[Tiffani]

some people can apply in Canada or Mexico and have their new visa issued very quickly, but there's a lot of background work that goes on prior to that moment standing in front of the US consulate Somewhere in North America... and the caveat is that if you are rejected for the visa, you gotta get the next plane home to re-apply from Oz. I've flown from the US to Australia and it has made me never want to get on another plane again for the rest of my life. You probably want to avoid that possibility if you can.

the background work is what you need to be thinking about now. The actual process of applying for the visa stamp is one of the last things to do.

[kratosaurus]

Originally Posted by Tiffani

some people can apply in Canada or Mexico and have their new visa issued very quickly, but there's a lot of background work that goes on prior to that moment standing in front of the US consulate Somewhere in North America... and the caveat is that if you are rejected for the visa, you gotta get the next plane home to re-apply from Oz. I've flown from the US to Australia and it has made me never want to get on another plane again for the rest of my life. You probably want to avoid that possibility if you can.

the background work is what you need to be thinking about now. The actual process of applying for the visa stamp is one of the last things to do.

Cool. Thanks Tiffani - your advice is much appreciated.

[synthia]

Look here for E3 visa information. Just be aware that getting a job may be difficult, as Bev mentioned. I just saw a forecast of double digit unemployment for next year. I have some friends in IT who were laid off and it took them over nine months to find a job. You can't get preference by agreeing to work for less than the prevailing wage, either.