The green card process?

[e2easy]

I'm tentatively exploring life options. I'm skilled in an area where there's a skill shortage (Adobe Flex developer) in the USA - so I'd be able to find plenty of well paid work there (and interesting and challenging projects).

What would be the process in obtaining a Green Card? I've heard about the "lottery". But I expect there are other options for skilled entrants? Or being sponsored by a company?

I'm 44. British. BSc (Hons) Computer Engineering. MSc Telecommunications.

What are my best options? What's the process?

[Fatbrit]

It's very difficult to sponsor yourself for a green card. You have to be outstanding and able to prove it. This generally means publications and/or world recognition.

So you can find a company to sponsor you or get an existing company to transfer you to their US offices:

For the former, the most common method is the H1b visa. Since this visa is numerically limited and greatly oversubscribed, a lottery opens for it on April 1 and closes when it's full -- usually April 2! But the company who is going to sponsor you needs to get you in the lottery -- you can't enter yourself. A company may also sponsor you directly for an immigrant visa (green card). This category is also numerically limited and there can be a considerable wait. This method is less usual.

The latter is the easier of the two options. Find a company elsewhere that has offices in the US and a record of transferring employees. Then work for them for a year and you're eligible for an L1 if they transfer you.

Both the L1and the H1b may lead to an eventual green card.

[e2easy]

About 18 years ago, I was doing stuff earning heaps of recognition and publishing lots of papers, and the author of an important patent. But I guess we're looking for something more current?

What's the probability of passing the April fools lottery? (Number of people selected / number of people in the hat ) ?

What about short-term contracts? Is there another type of Visa for this?

Is there a Visa for setting up a small company in the USA if you have sufficient funds?

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by e2easy

I'm tentatively exploring life options. I'm skilled in an area where there's a skill shortage (Adobe Flex developer) in the USA - so I'd be able to find plenty of well paid work there (and interesting and challenging projects).

I'm curious as to where you got the information that Adobe Flex developers are in critically short supply in the US. It would seem to me that any web development tool could easily be used at distance, sparing potential employers the expense and hassle of playing the H1B lottery.

What's the probability of passing the April fools lottery? (Number of people selected / number of people in the hat ) ?

Depends on how many employers are sponsoring people for the lottery these days, which may not be as many as before, given the state of the economy.

BTW, the deadline for registration for the 2010 lottery is well past - it was in December Electronic Diversity
Cheers,
Bev

[twostep]

What do you mean by "best options"? Try USCIS for starters. You fill find everything on one site.
Employment based visa for IT who is pushing middle age and was aktive 18 years ago? Start writing resumes because it will not be easy but possible.
Short term gigs? Only if your company sends you over for a special and limited assignment.
Do you mean H1B or GC with April Fools Lottery? British citizens are excluded for the second.
How does investment sound? Otherwise - matrimonial bliss?

[Fatbrit]

But I guess we're looking for something more current?
Not necessarily. But they're looking for #1 people.

What's the probability of passing the April fools lottery? (Number of people selected / number of people in the hat ) ?
Probably better this year than it's been for a while given the state of the economy. But you've missed the boat for this year I would think. Last year's whole allocation went in one day.

What about short-term contracts? Is there another type of Visa for this?
Not really. I suppose an H2b might swing it -- though they are often over subscribed, too.

Is there a Visa for setting up a small company in the USA if you have sufficient funds?
Yes -- but that company would need to employ people. A one-man band is not going to work. $0.5M down will buy you a green card if you just want to buy it.

[synthia]

If you are a UK citizen, you aren't eligible for the green card lottery (diversity lottery).

From the state department web site (U.S. Department of State)

"For DV-2010, natives of the following countries1 are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years: BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM"

These countries are not eligible because over the past five years they have had a total of more than 50,000 immigrants.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by synthia

If you are a UK citizen, you aren't eligible for the green card lottery (diversity lottery).

From the state department web site (U.S. Department of State)

"For DV-2010, natives of the following countries1 are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years: BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM"

These countries are not eligible because over the past five years they have had a total of more than 50,000 immigrants.

Grrrr!!!

................

[synthia]

Well, if people are going to continually offer up the diversity lottery to people in the UK when the chances they are eligible is slim, and without explaining the qualifications at all, then that is a graver error I think. Either way, I doubt this poster is eligible.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by synthia

Well, if people are going to continually offer up the diversity lottery to people in the UK when the chances they are eligible is slim, and without explaining the qualifications at all, then that is a graver error I think. Either way, I doubt this poster is eligible.

Yep -- but you're Americentric with a huge emphasis placed on XIV and jus soli. A lot of UK citizens weren't born there! (As weren't an awful lot of US ones, either!)