Newbie

Maverick116 said:

Hi All

Me and my wife have discussed the possibility of moving to the US and are looking for some advice (apolgies if this has all been covered before).

How difficult is getting a visa and moving over? How difficult is it to make friends in the US? We've initially considere Florida as I specialise in the financing of high end luxury yachts and have some industry contacts out there and the possibility of a job.

As a bit of background we are both in our early 30's and have a 6 month old baby. My wife works in IT as a programmer / developer and as mentioned I specialise in the financing of large yachts for high net worth individuals.

Thanks for your help.

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It's always visa, visa, visa. Without that, there's nowhere to go.

A job offer does not automatically lead to a visa, nor do all visas allow a spouse to work. The best jobs for visas are transfers (L1) -- from a UK office to a US one. The spouse gets to work, too.

Outside that, the H1b requires both a degree (or 12 years experience in lieu) and a job that requires a degree. So you can't flip burgers for your mate's burger joint because you've got a BA in English Lang. & Lit. and expect an H1b. The spouse doesn't get to work on this one.

If you're putting your own money in (realistically start at $250k or up), then an E2 may be possible. The wife gets to work....but this visa is more difficult to step to permanent residence with.

Those are the main ones though there are certainly others.

Industry contacts is your best chance!