Electrician in USA

[caryn1205]

Originally Posted by Fatbrit

The answer is that it's state specific. Where are you going to live?

Thank you for answering.
I live in Colorado...and so that is where he will be too. (Denver area).

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by caryn1205

Thank you for answering.
I live in Colorado...and so that is where he will be too. (Denver area).

Colorado Electrical Board Home Page

[caryn1205]

Thank you very much!!! Great help!! :-)
Have a great night.
Caryn

[UKSA]

Hi. I am in the same boat i am moving to the USA next year and need to know how to change over. So please if you could pass on any information you reveive it would be much appreciated.

[Fatbrit]

Originally Posted by UKSA

Hi. I am in the same boat i am moving to the USA next year and need to know how to change over. So please if you could pass on any information you reveive it would be much appreciated.

Unless you're moving to Colorado, the info will not be good. Licenses for electricians are done by States -- so there are more than 50 ways of doing them.

[UKSA]

Originally Posted by carly26

HI, you guys answered this question . My boyfriend is an electrician in the UK -with decent experience. Will it be impossible for him to find work here in the states? This is a first for me- never had a long distance like this and we would like to make it work, but all this visa and finding a job thing is very disheartening! Doesnt seem as if things wil be possible : ( Any advice?

Hey Carly , I am in a similar situation.. My Gf lives in america and i wish to move there to florida next year. i am also and electrician and would like to know if you have found any information that you could pass onto me which may help me out a little. I hope everything worked out for you and maybe if he did make it in america you could put in a word for me Thank You.

[c. nuttee]

Facinating just facinating these kinds of conversations. I am American and my husband is French. We were married in France and have been married for four years and will eventually return to the USA. We have a son who is three and has an american passport and french passport. He is all set. I wrote the American Embassy in Paris contact person and they sent me a very suncinct explanation of how I can immigrate to the USA with a french spouse.


The remainder of this post is full of untruths, half truths and ambiguous statements. Readers are advised not to rely on any of the content. FB -- Moderator


1. Since we have been marrried for over two years most time limits will not be an issue. Under two years immigration is taken on a case by case basis. So what my husband will need to do, is go to the USA embassy with me in Paris and take an appointment for an entrance visa. If his paperwork is in order on the day of the appointment he will get an entrance visa immediately during his appointment. They print them right up on the computer and print them out. I was told DO NOT REPEAT DO NOT let homeland security apply for the social security number this can be done at your local social security office using your entrance visa. It all goes very quickly once you are married for over two years.
2. If you are married in the USA it also takes anywhere from one to two years to get a green card (residence permit) and social security number. The general rule is that immigration likes to wait their two years to make sure it is not a white marriage as they are called in France. Or fake marriage although many are. I have met an american who has married two foriegn women for cash. The deal is half at the marriage and half when they get their green card. He never slept with either of them and provided troves of warm and loving photos for the immigration officer. I think he got 30K for the first marriage and an alarming 60k for the second. He has been bombarded by offers since but has declined over heightened fears since the early 2000's. Both these marriages took place during the 90's.

so the general immigration rule of thumb for getting permission to work is about two years unless you enter the country already past that mark and than you can get set in about 4-6 months.

either way it is a financial burden to marry a foreign person. The change in job qualifications from country to country is not good and most people end up underemployed in their new countries.

C. Nuttee

[c. nuttee]

on the question of qualifications changing from country to country, generally they do not at all.

I am a USA nurse and to be a nurse in france I would have to take my last year of nursing school in france and take the french nursing test. than because i would be a newly starting
out nurse with no recognition for my previous experience in the usa, i would be obligated by
the unions to work nights and weekend for two years mimimum but could be longer. so i chose to teach english days during the week for almost the same pay as the nurses in france earn about a third of what they do in the usa.

very rarely do qualifications or university degrees make sense in forigen countries. some computer educations are transferable. some engineering skills are transferable depending on your language ability. but for the most part many educations are not recognized in foriegn countries without taking the standard test in your new country. my guess would be you would need to take the electrician journeymans lisence in the usa. one way to know would be to look on the internet at the state you are going to relocate to lisencing boards for electricians. if you are an english speaker my thought is that it would be possible to pass the test. likely you would need to take some mandatory safety classes also.

I have met some foriegn doctors who immigrated to the usa and although having completed their training for instance in india or germany. they must take their 4 year residency over again in order to be a doctor in the usa. i have also met a russian doctor who was refused immigration to the usa as a doctor and than went to nursing school and learned english and was able to emmigrate as a nurse to the usa and says he earns more as a nurse with safer better working conditions than he did as a doctor in russia.

anyway, in general qualifications do not transfer well, even computer tech stuff and programming, they likely would prefer someone who is local. i think the younger your are the easier it is to immigrate. it is almost like starting over. well it is starting over. so you better have a really good reason to do it.

c. nuttee

[twostep]

What next???

[c. nuttee]

I would start by looking on google for your girlfriends home state about journeymens lisences. Than I would ask your girlfriend the names of the local
techinical schools that teach electricians. You can look on their websites for the programs and email the teachers from the websites.

Either the state electricians people will know the rules or the schools. My guess is you will have to take some american classes and probally the test again. Which would be easy for you since you are already an experienced electrician.

The big part will be the waiting game for permission to work. After you are married and rush right over to immigration it just takes time to process and
also additional time waiting to get your number so you can work.

I am not sure but maybe you can go to school without a social security number
after you are married on a student kind of number as many foriegn students are
never given social security numbers. just the numbers so they can register
for classes at their school. i think most schools in the usa are used to foriegn students and know the rules well. most schools have lots of foriegn students.

so start with googling journeymen electricians for your girlfriends home state
and second look up teachers on the local community colleges (two year schools) or technical schools in her area. She will know the names. The teachers websites will be on the sites.

c. nuttee