Assistance required for Employment sponsored visa

[Sandi]

Hi All,
I have been reading these threads with interest.
I am very interested (read: talking about it for 5 years and am now GOING to do it!) in moving to the US.
These are my options;

My sister is a permanent resident of the US through marriage.
When she is a citizen, if she sponsors me, does that include my family? Hubby, 1 child, maybe 2 by then..!

My husband is Australian thereby we can enter the green card lottery. Have entered, Still waiting to hear results on that one...

My husbands work have agreed in principle to sponsor him to work for their American offices. If we take this option, can I work?

This is my dilemma.

If we go ahead and accept their sponsorship, settle in the US, sell up in the UK and the company is bought out or goes bust, then what? Do we need to return to the UK, or can we get work through another employer?
The company my husband works for is likely to be bought out before the end of the year hence the worry, and I have read that the visa is tied to the employer.

How many years do we need to be out there as sponsored before we can apply for permanent residency?

What happens after permanent residency?

We both work in IT, we both desperately want to live in the US, but it is so hard to get into! We are both skilled (although I have no degree) but applying for jobs from the UK for months gets us nowhere. It's quite draining but we haven't given up yet!

[Sandi]

Rachel I think you answered my question in that other thread ;-)

Can you provide more info on this transfer visa, where can I look it up?

[Sandi]

Ok more questions!
If we get an L1A, how long do we need to be in the USD before we can apply for residency?

If we are on an L1A, what happens if the company gets bought out/goes bust?
You can see my faith in this company huh ;-)

[Rachel_Heath]

Hola Sandi!

You're considered resident when you get the visa. As for the green card I think that you can apply pretty much immediately since an L-1 is not covered by the need for labor certification so my understanding there is that the process to a green card is somewhat easier.

However, as you quite rightly realize the L1 is entirely dependent on the sponsoring company and if it goes bust then yes, sadly you will be expected to leave the country.

If it is brought out then I think you're still OK, as long as hubby's still employed by the new owners.

Hope this helps!

[Sandi]

Thanks Rachel, sounds great. I think I can work this one, I need to give the info to hubby so he can tell his employers that actually Yes he is an executive don't they know

So L1A it is then - at which point he becomes a resident and can apply for a green card?

Can you please point me in the right direction for how to apply for this green card, and under what classification (E1B or something is it?)

I didn't realise you could apply immediately, that's very surprising.

[Bevdeforges]

One tiny correction - merely getting the visa won't make you "resident." You have to actually be admitted to the US before you can claim residence there.

It doesn't happen very often, but in theory you can be refused admittance to the US even with a valid visa in hand. Usually non-admittance would only happen if the CIS officer on arrival noticed something that was amiss - say, a discrepancy between the terms of your visa and what you said or did on arrival, or if somehow CIS had become aware of something you may have lied about or falsified on your visa application.
Cheers,
Bev

[Rachel_Heath]

Sandi,

Once you're over here your hubby's employer will need to file an I-140 "Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker" along with an I-485 "Application To Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status".

You can also apply separately for these, doing so together can speed up the process however there is the possibility if one is denied is for any reason, the other will be as well.

You can find out more information about the process here.

[Sandi]

Thanks Bev.

I certainly do want to be aware of the realities, as it would be a very expensive mistake otherwise.

My Husband WAS a manager and is now in a specialised position that reports direct to CTO's etc.
I just think it might need some creative wording to steer it down the executive route vs the specialized worker route.

I think it unlikely that they would find a discrepancy as my husbands role is a little unique in where he sits on the hierachal tree, BUT having said that the last thing I want is to move being ignorant/naive as to what might happen in a not ideal world.


I do want to say a big thank you though for highlighing an L1 visa that I never knew existed, it will certainly help us get our foot in the door.

And Rachel - we may see you in ohio, I am a QA engineer

[Sandi]

Thanks Rachel and Bev for your replies.

I feel armed to tackle hubby's company now with some degree of knowledge.

Rachel - I see you have sent me a message but I am unable to view it, it says I am not authorised and keeps logging me out.

I will try again but failing that you can contact me on an alternate address xxxxxxxxx)

Thanks again all

[Rachel_Heath]

Sandi,

Where abouts is your husbands company based over here?