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Moving to America

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Hello,

I want to move to America, specifically California, but there seems to be mountains of red tape to get through. I run my own small business here and so do not have an employer to transfer me or whatever. Can it be done? Can you point me in the right direction? Has anyone done it?

Thanks :)
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My friends parents are moving to the states and have looked into it all - if you dont' have an american then you have to have to qualify in one of the following areas:

    1) You have to have a confirmed job offer from an American Company who are willing to sponsor your visa application - to get a visa you will have to prove that noone else in the states can do the job you have been offered. This obviously gets easier with age as people become more specialised but if your just out of university unless you have a very very specific degree its almost impossible.

    2) If you are an exceptionally tallented person - you can get an exceptionall persons visa - this normally means you have to be a film star, published author etc

    3) You can buy/invest in a small buisness - the minimum investment is $500,000 in a deprived area or $1million in a normal area (i.e most of Cali).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That what I thought / was afraid of.

    Thank you for your reply anyway :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You might be able to go on a short term work experience visa if your young and then do your best to meet an american to marry whilst your there....

    You could also apply for the Green Card Lottery - where a certain ammount of people get green cards annually - but millions of people probably apply for a very limited number of green cards.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    could you go ovrer ona 90 day visa waiver or holiday, marry an american girl in Vegas and then stay on and apply for a longer visa or status to stay?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not necessarily - no.

    You would need to go through the proper application process for applying to stay once married to the American - which could take longer than 90 days. If you reached the end of the 90 days without the application having been processed then you would have to leave the US and then return once your green card had been approved.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    how long does it take to approve your application?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I looked into the green card lottery, but you cannot apply if you are from the UK. I guess the US doesn't need any more Brits :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    draven wrote: »
    I looked into the green card lottery, but you cannot apply if you are from the UK. I guess the US doesn't need any more Brits :p

    Try Craigslist. There are lots of Americans out there who want EU residency, fake marriage, you get a green card and they get EU residency... Dunno of anybody actually doing it but have seen a few posts on there of people looking into it. (Of course a sham marriage would be totally illegal and you'd prob need to convince officials and stuff that the marriage is legit).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can you get jailed for that?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Probably.
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