How to move to USA...?

Anything to do with the traditional world of get a degree, get a job as well as its alternatives
Nomini
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How to move to USA...?

Post by Nomini »

Basically as per the thread title.

Currently a public sector worker in the UK (mid-ranking policy advice-type work) which is perfectly fine, certainly can't complain, but I'm also not getting younger and always had a vague dream at the back of my mind about moving to the States. If I think about it, it's actually not necessarily about the States specifically, but the things that attract me in principle are:

- Salaries (I'm currently near enough as high as I can go in my career at ~60k USD per annum)
- Similar or better weather than the UK (more sun, less rain - obviously depends where in the States)
- The adventure of moving to the other side of the world (have previously lived in other European countries and loved being an expat)
- It still being an anglosphere country (been there, done that with foreign languages; don't mind it, but it's not my preference)
- Better value real estate (also, oviously depends where)
- The 'get up and go' vibe I feel far more when over in the States than here in Europe

Retraining in something more portable (accountancy? IT? engineering? economist? - all sound perfectly interesting) might be possible, albeit expensive and time-consuming, but does anyone have any neater ideas about how to do it? I suspect that when push comes to shove, I don't want the move to the States hard enough to go to all that trouble (and if the answer is, "well it's just not possible without putting in a Herculean effort of some kind", then fair enough)

chenda
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by chenda »

Could you work remotely for your current employer ? Might be easier, I have several colleagues who do that, one who was working from Dubai for a while. Just like working from home.

A disadvantage you might find working for a US employer is the likely much shorter leave entitlement.

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fiby41
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by fiby41 »

Would you have to give up the healthcare benefits if you moved?

Stahlmann
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by Stahlmann »

just steal jobs from entitled 1st worlders :-DD

to some extent, their jobs are in your country or on their way to India :-DDD
Last edited by Stahlmann on Sun Oct 27, 2019 3:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

Nomini
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by Nomini »

chenda wrote:
Sat Oct 26, 2019 6:16 pm
Could you work remotely for your current employer ? Might be easier, I have several colleagues who do that, one who was working from Dubai for a while. Just like working from home.

A disadvantage you might find working for a US employer is the likely much shorter leave entitlement.
Unfortunately, I do need to attend certain things in person - too many to be commutable from the US - so I'm pretty certain my manager would not entertain the idea (there may well be practical barriers, too, such as not being permitted to take the necessary IT equipment out of the country due to security concerns).

However, a variant of your suggestion is 'could you work for your current employer non-remotely in the US?'. Again, I'd become rather focussed on the idea that UK govt jobs are UK based, so had missed this angle. Although suitable jobs e.g. at the embassy are rarer than hens' teeth, they do come up occasionally, and would be infinitely preferable to having to retrain, plus they would come with UK holiday allowance, subsidised (maybe even free) accommodation, paid relocation etc. etc. They're very competitve, so I'd probably need to take a major salary hit and a demotion to be in with a chance, but that has to be the most elegant solution I've heard so far.
fiby41 wrote:
Sat Oct 26, 2019 10:49 pm
Would you have to give up the healthcare benefits if you moved?
Yes, kinda. Not healthcare benefits specific to my job, but the general healthcare benefit of living in a country with free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare through the National Health Service.

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by jacob »

Read this: https://www.internations.org/expat-insi ... /usa-39854

It sounds like you also want to work in the US? This precludes cycling through tourist or business visas on a 90 day rotation.

The US takes a rather ambivalent (corporations) but ultimately dim (government) view to not following the rules when it comes to work. Note that this has historically been a grey-zone (reason there are so many illegal immigrants here) but this is changing fast. If you get caught, you risk getting run through the system (the ICE camps), then deported, then barred from entry for N-years.

IOW, you'd need either a non-immigrant or immigrant visa to get a job or stay beyond 90 days. These are getting rather harder to get. You might have noticed that the current administration is comprised of anti-immigrant hardliners(*) but that they are also depending on congress to change the laws which they won't because of their corporate backers (like food processing and agriculture and also tech companies) benefiting from the current system. Since congress won't, what the administration has done is to slow processing down, tweak it, and otherwise make the US appear unattractive to immigrants.

(*) It's not been pleasant to live in a country where politicians constantly talk about how bad/evil/etc. immigrants are. On the flip-side, I've never heard this kind of rhetoric from individual Americans, so if you can tune out the noise, it's probably not a problem.

At the top of my head, there's H1b which is the temporary foreign worker visa which is the "standard way". Many of these H1b's go to former F1s. You get that visa via a job offer through a specific company. If they fire you or you quit, you have to leave the country again. So basically, you're at their mercy. J1 is similar for academia. There's been some talk about increasing the requirements (e.g. min salary of $80k) since certain software companies were using this to import cheap programmers from overseas. I think such companies have been relocating to Canada/friendlier skies in the past few years.

If you work for a transnational company, there's the L1. Pretty much same deal as H1b except you're being transferred instead of finding a new job in a new (to you) company.

If you're a rock star, sports star, movie star, etc. there's the O1.

There's also the F1 student visa where of course you have to have been accepted to study somewhere.

You can also, if you have a lot of money, "buy" your way in with an investor visa---this is possible in most countries. IIRC, that's 500k of investments in some company. You can't just buy 500k of stocks :-P but there are lawyers, etc. set up for this angle. Sounds sketchy to me.

Most if not all of these can later lead to a green card which is like a permanent visa. Note that there are origin-country quotas on these which are not in proportion to the number of applications. For example, if you're from China or India, you might be SOL. I heard (need to verify) that the current waiting time for Indians is up to 18 years. (That's a long time spent scrambling for H1bs :shock: )

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. There's also the green card lottery. I actually know two people who won it. The lottery is just like it sounds. You buy a ticket (it's free!) and maybe you win. It's actually open right now (just looked it up).

Also note that one way the administration has been able to achieve their policy goals of slowing down immigration is to increase processing times. Probably the best advice I can give if you do this is to hire a lawyer for the paperwork. I do this even for the simplest things now whereas I used to DIY some forms. One mistake and whoever is in charge of processing the paperwork can reject it and word is they're now encouraged to do so.

PS: Have you considered Canada? Panama? Belize? Malta? Singapore? Australia? Cayman Islands?

chenda
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by chenda »

@jacob - Is there an issue with working remotely for a foreign employer whilst resident in the US ? Or is it legally ambiguous ?

I would second Canada, especially as a long term bet with climate change. New Zealand is nice but very isolated and small. Australia is overrated imo with a very insular, chauvanistic culture. I'd much prefer North America over Australia. Ireland is sufficiently similar to Britain that the only advantage might be low property prices in remote areas.

RealPerson
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by RealPerson »

After clearing the hurdles Jacob brought up, social security and medicare taxes would also be a major drawback for a relocation under 10 years. You have to contribute a minimum of 10 years over your working lifetime to benefit from social security and medicare. Under 10 years, you contribute a lot of money over whatever number of years, without ever enjoying the benefits. You cannot obtain a refund of those contributions when you leave the country, except if some very special cases.

I second the choice of Canada as a better emigration destination in your situation.

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

If you have ambition and are capable, come to the States. We would be happy to have someone capable.

You can make insane money here.

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

I am not speaking on the difficulty of emigrating to the United States. I was affirming Dr. Fisker’s statement that the US government does not speak for its citizens.
jacob wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 9:04 am
It's not been pleasant to live in a country where politicians constantly talk about how bad/evil/etc. immigrants are (unless you're from Norway :-P ). On the flip-side, I've never heard this kind of rhetoric from individual Americans, so if you can tune out the noise, it's probably not a problem.
I am not suggesting it is easy to get here and stay here. But if you can get here, I suspect the opportunities are superior to elsewhere.
Mister Imperceptible wrote:
Tue Aug 28, 2018 9:29 am
Mr. Imperceptible’s peasant immigrant great-grandparents came from various corners of Europe, huddled in boats and came to America for opportunity between the two World Wars. They worked in factories, served in the military, and finally, Mister Imperceptible represented the family’s intellectual possibilities by going to college.

I am not here to wave flags, and talk about the merits of apple pie and baseball (though I do enjoy those things). I am suggesting that it is likely not a coincidence that so many of the best end up in the US as a result of serendipity. Mr. Imperceptible is extremely pleased that Dr. Fisker is here, and hopes he can stay indefinitely :D

I do think America is to Europe what Rome was to Greece. The intellectual inheritors and perpetuators of culture and civilization.

I think the current residence issues are dreadful. We have a president in office that is being draconian and anti-intellectual, and I do think that he is in office because as Dr. Peterson contends, the universities have encouraged identity politics that have divided the nation. (I know you’ve disagreed that identity politics are why Trump got elected, but we elected Obama twice. The country didn’t go from being racist, to not racist, to racist again.) That these horrible political extremes are gaining power and influence is a negative development, and a symptom of decline.

Did the residency concerns exist for you before Trump? I in no way want to minimize that. American exceptionalism can only be restored by ensuring the influx of the best new blood.

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by TopHatFox »

Nomini wrote:
Sat Oct 26, 2019 5:48 pm


Retraining in something more portable (accountancy? IT? engineering? economist? - all sound perfectly interesting) might be possible, albeit expensive and time-consuming, but does anyone have any neater ideas about how to do it? I suspect that when push comes to shove, I don't want the move to the States hard enough to go to all that trouble (and if the answer is, "well it's just not possible without putting in a Herculean effort of some kind", then fair enough)
I'm technically studying to be in the public sector too, and yeah, being in the public sector is about as portable as saying you can handle a desk job; It's really not that portable aside from saying you can work in an office. That's why I've been thinking of trying to get something more portable, but you're right that the opportunity cost of re-training is high: more school, potential for more debt, lack of salary, etc. Entrepreneurship might be possible though, and so would coding. Or maybe asking your current job if you could be remote, or starting a consultancy if you've been in the field long enough and are on the older side?

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by TopHatFox »

Mister Imperceptible wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 2:29 pm
You can make insane money here.
¿Cómo?

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

TopHatFox wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 8:47 pm
starting a consultancy if you've been in the field long enough

TopHatFox
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by TopHatFox »

Very true, that's a really good one! I wonder if it can be giving advice to US agencies about the European country of origin or similar. That'd be real cool.

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by jacob »

chenda wrote:
Sun Oct 27, 2019 12:57 pm
@jacob - Is there an issue with working remotely for a foreign employer whilst resident in the US ? Or is it legally ambiguous ?
I don't know, but this should be figured out before getting on the plane, hence my recommendation to talk to a lawyer specializing in immigration when the travel plans differ from the standard touristy plan.

I realize a lot of people are being "creative" on this front, e.g. working as a bartender or teacher w/o the proper visa while traveling Asia, but in the US, they take this stuff very seriously these days. Hence the heads-up.

What I know is that a B1 visa (the business via equivalent of a tourist visa... the rubber stamp you get in the airport after being asked "business or pleasure?") allows you to go to conferences and otherwise "do business" in the US. I don't know if it'll proceed as smoothly if you say you're here to "work remotely as an accountant", say. This might lead to a longer interview in the backroom while explaining exactly what "working remotely" means. I also know someone this happened to; the issue was worked out within an hour and they were let through.

PS: "Resident" has a technical meaning and it can differ depending on whether it's for immigration or tax purposes, e.g. you can be a resident in one case but not in the other.

thrifty++
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by thrifty++ »

I see NZ mentioned a couple of times. I don't recommend coming here. The pay is not high and its extremely expensive. Its the basics that cost a lot: food, transport, gas and especially housing. NZ has been ranked as having the most unaffordable housing in the world for the last 3 years in a row. To top it off, the housing quality is very poor, and would be unlike any you have experienced in the developed world. Its also very hard to migrate here now.

I like the idea of moving to the USA from a financial perspective. I definitely think its the best economically. Listening to USA based podcasts and reading USA based personal finance blogs I am regularly shocked at how high the pay is and how low living costs are, in particular housing. Its such a stark contrast to NZ. It would be so much easier to make progress and achieve financial freedom.

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by jacob »

thrifty++ wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 3:03 am
I like the idea of moving to the USA from a financial perspective. I definitely think its the best economically. Listening to USA based podcasts and reading USA based personal finance blogs I am regularly shocked at how high the pay is and how low living costs are, in particular housing.
The US is really good at "money", so US is certainly one of the best from an economic perspective, but I would take the "high salaries" with a tiny grain of salt. The US also has one of the highest if not the highest inequality of income distribution in the OECD. This is great if you're at the top---not remarkable (compared to the rest of OECD) if you're in the middle---and rather sucks if you're in the bottom.

If you read the internations survey (linked in my first response, there's one for each year which goes back to 2014), expats love the economic possibilities(*), but they don't like the high costs of health insurance/care and childcare/education which is something pretty much every American/resident has to worry about and that people in other developed countries generally don't. Since everybody pays "the same", this poses a particular problem for the median and low income groups. At the lowest rung of the ladder, living in the US does begin to resemble third world conditions complete with pop-up tent clinics.

See http://worldpopulationreview.com/countr ... y-country/

(*) And not just the potential for high salaries, but also the enormous variety of careers by virtue of living in a large and technologically and commercially advanced country.

Ahh.. perhaps it makes sense to talk about how US is better seen as bunch of different nations in that regard. For example, California is very different from, say, Indiana. Alabama is very different from Vermont. More different from each other than say England and Germany. Read this https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations ... 0143122029 and keep it in mind before choosing a state (or country).

It's also easy to think that the high salaries and the low cost of living exist in the same area. Again Silicon Valley is different from Humboldt county. Generally, they do not. E.g. a 1bd/1ba apartment in Menlo Park (Facebook HQ) where engineering incomes are in the six-fig range is about $2500/month. Whereas in the sticks, rent might be $400/month but the only jobs available pay $12/hr. However, one thing ERE can do is to find creative ways around that issue, but it might require living in an RV ;-)

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by jacob »

Recent changes to the health insurance issue:
viewtopic.php?p=198150#p198150

JuliusFC
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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by JuliusFC »

After clearing the hurdles Jacob brought up, social security and medicare taxes would also be a major drawback for a relocation under 10 years. You have to contribute a minimum of 10 years over your working lifetime to benefit from social security and medicare. Under 10 years, you contribute a lot of money over whatever number of years, without ever enjoying the benefits.
Not entirely true. The US has agreements with a number of countries. I worked in the US for almost 8 years and I will receive SS benefits via my Canadian benefits when the time comes.

WRT Canada, you can always do what some people do: Immigrate to Canada first because it's easier and after you get citizenship use the TN1 visa to move to the US, assuming that NAFTA option is still around when the time comes to use it.

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Re: How to move to USA...?

Post by jacob »

JuliusFC wrote:
Tue Oct 29, 2019 11:17 am
Not entirely true. The US has agreements with a number of countries. I worked in the US for almost 8 years and I will receive SS benefits via my Canadian benefits when the time comes.
Yeah, there are 2-3 different kinds of treaties regarding pension payments between the US and various countries. For example, as a Danish citizen, I can collect US SS if and only if I live in the US or Denmark. And I've lived outside Denmark for long enough that I will never be able to collect any Danish SS---because it requires you to be a resident for X number of adult years and X>Retirement age - My age. Fair enough---it's not like I paid much into it. The kicker is that if I move to any other country, I will get nothing(*), though. IIRC, both Sweden and Norway have better deals---Denmark is one of the few countries on the worst/least flexible treaty.

(*) Technically, I think I earned a tiny payment from Switzerland due to my four years in grad school there. Dunno what their treaties are, but IIRC, I get less than $10/month anyway :-D

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