So Confused, Help?!

[paigex]

Hi guys, I'm a newbie!

My other half and I are looking to move out to the USA (probably Texas) in 5-10 years and we're planning for that now with career choices ect.

The confusion I have is about visas, none of the information I find anywhere is conclusive and it's so complicated! Basically, we want to move to the USA for my other half to pursue a career in personal training and nutrition, and for myself to pursue a career in Childbirth Education and a Doula, among other things.

Would either of us be able to get a visa (we're planning to be married by then) for either of those careers, or would we have to find a sponsor? My cousin is currently a student in Buffalo, does that make a difference? I think he's planning to stay. We'll also hopefully have 1-2 young children by that point, would that make any difference?

Thanks guys

[twostep]

Originally Posted by paigex

Hi guys, I'm a newbie!

My other half and I are looking to move out to the USA (probably Texas) in 5-10 years and we're planning for that now with career choices ect.

@@@What do you know about life in TX? BTW - right now we have winds at 70mph howling across the praerie in Ft. Worth.

Originally Posted by paigex

The confusion I have is about visas, none of the information I find anywhere is conclusive and it's so complicated! Basically, we want to move to the USA for my other half to pursue a career in personal training and nutrition, and for myself to pursue a career in Childbirth Education and a Doula, among other things.

@@@Personal training and nutrition will be very unlikely to attract a US employer. It seems to be a very popular course of study currently. You will get US certifications; go back to school. Google is your friend to find details. Let us know if you get stuck in information overload.

Originally Posted by paigex

Would either of us be able to get a visa (we're planning to be married by then) for either of those careers, or would we have to find a sponsor? My cousin is currently a student in Buffalo, does that make a difference? I think he's planning to stay. We'll also hopefully have 1-2 young children by that point, would that make any difference?

Thanks guys

@@@Only immediate family can sponser which takes the cousin out of the equation. Sorry, no bonus at US immigration for offspring:>)

Go through the stickies at the beginning of the US Forum. They are fairly easy to read and very explanatory. The basic options are US employer, internal transfer, family, diversity lottery, investment.

[Crawford]

Basically, if you want to come to the US with a job waiting then you have to have a prospective employer who is willing to sponsor you to get you a work visa.

The employer applies for the visa not you i.e they sponsor you.

The application is expensive and time consuming so you usually need to have academic qualifications and/or experience and are in a field which is desired by US employers.

Apart from that you can apply for an investment visa which means you putting up lots of money and starting a business in the US. Some investment visa do not qualify for eligibility for a Green Card.

As said above there is also sponsorship by close relatives and diversity lottery.

[paigex]

Thanks for the replies, I'm looking at a few states actually - Idaho & Texas are the top two runners because of their lax home education rules. When I have my kids, I want to be able to educate them in the best way possible and in my own way, I don't want local authorities checking up on me every five minutes! I also checked the average salary of personal trainers in a few states and they seem reasonable, so it's just finding the states that suit us most really.

It's looking like a difficult job to get in then, how does the diversity lottery work? It's seeming like an insurmountable task, considering neither of us have specialist skills or the capital to apply for an investment visa!

[mamasue]

Sorry... bad news. If you're from England, you can't apply for the diversity lottery.

[paigex]

Oh okay.. I might as well just give up all hope!

Thanks anyway guys