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Relocating to the USA
- Thread starter -Asdfgh-
- Start date
I'm not even British, but the UK (and Edinburgh in particular) has been the place I call home for many years now. I'm actually from Madrid... trade places?
I miss Madrid! Edinburgh, and Scotland in general, is beautiful and I love it here, but the weather gets annoying.
...yeah. I'm going to avoid saying anything directly political here, but trust me, I've been following.by the way, if you had followed the 'negotiations' between the UK's government and the EU after it was decided to leave... suddenly it would all made sense, as a lot of the headlines seem to translate as "we want out, but having much of what we had when we were in"
It would be funny if it weren't real...
Dude, I just moved down here from Amsterdam. You really think I'm going to move somewhere with even worse weather?!I'm not even British, but the UK (and Edinburgh in particular) has been the place I call home for many years now. I'm actually from Madrid... trade places?
'Scuse me, I just spotted three skinks chasing each other beside the pool. Gotta grab the camera...
I can give you a good recipe for stinging nettle soup, with a nice piece of dried larch bark.
I've looked into this in the past and it's a lot easier to move to the US than to move to most other countries.
Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer.
I emigrated from the UK to the US, happy to answer questions over DM. My biggest piece of advice would be to get yourself an immigration lawyer if you don’t already have one. There may be more options available to you than you think.
To get permanent residence, unfortunately, is going to be a slog.
Here’s a flow chat me and some friends used to keep track of where we were in the process:
Invalid Link Removed
Be wary of the bits where you have to wait. Recently waiting times are being measured in years!
I emigrated from the UK to the US, happy to answer questions over DM. My biggest piece of advice would be to get yourself an immigration lawyer if you don’t already have one. There may be more options available to you than you think.
To get permanent residence, unfortunately, is going to be a slog.
Here’s a flow chat me and some friends used to keep track of where we were in the process:
Invalid Link Removed
Be wary of the bits where you have to wait. Recently waiting times are being measured in years!
devnulljp
Supporting Member
Money
Many countries, US included, have a deal where you invest a chunk of change in the economy and they'll let you stay. You can buy your way in with something like $1Million
Yes, this!
Whichever country you're trying to move to, this can help immensely. Even more so if you're doing it in a hurry.
If you have an employer willing to pay for it, so much the better. I've tried it both ways now, and it's much nicer when somebody else picks up the tab.
Good to hear countries other than Canada are also messed up. I have no problem with 60km or 5/32" (actually I always do actions in 64s so I would mentally convert to 10/64").
Indeed. The waiting bits can be problematic at times, that's when everything runs smoothly... these days? I imagine the waiting times will be much worse.
I got into a bit of a funny situation with US immigration because I left the US in the middle of the whole residence paperwork (it clearly stated I should stay put until processed, but I needed to go).
Grab a cup of coffee if interested:
My then girlfriend and I had decided to get married... but with a loose timeframe at the time. She was half Spanish half American, living in Washington DC. I was finishing my PhD in the UK, and we had spent some time travelling back and forth and had decided to settle in the UK together.
However, she had a great job opportunity at the IMF in Washington DC and I said why not, take it, I'll be able to finish my bench work in a couple of months or so and then I can write up my thesis in DC while we sort out the paperwork.
It looked simple. As long as I had filed all the papers and passed the first inspection, I'd be given a temporary work permit. I already had good contacts at the NIH/NCI so it looked ok.
We decided to get married in Washington, as soon as I would be able to arrive, thinking it would make things easier. It did... but we got stuck in a Catch22 situation:
As she was my spouse and she was officially maintaining me (I had my savings, but I was officially her dependant), I needed to include evidence of her tax returns for the previous 3 years. However, as it was close to the time to file that year, I was asked to include that too. Ok, no problem, I thought.
The problem is she needed to include me in her tax stuff because we were married and living together, even if I was there still officially on a tourist visa and not working etc. Ok. For that, I needed to obtain a TIN (tax identification number).
In order for me to apply for a TIN, I needed to submit her tax returns.
And round and round it went.
I had to talk to various people, fill in countless mindnumbing forms, but it was sloooooow. I was ok to stay until all that got sorted, but I was not allowed to leave the US until the process finished.
But I really needed to get back to the UK for a couple of weeks. So I left.
When I returned, I had to explain at the airport why my previous visit had been longer than the period allowed as a tourist. They took me to a room and I was interviewed by a couple of immigration officers. As I expected issues, I had with me all the paperwork, receipts, everything, documenting my previous stay in the US, as well as my marriage certificate. I have to say, they were serious to start with, but once they saw what the situation was, they were really nice. They were actually a bit amused, I think, because, as they told me: "this is the situation we're in, on the one hand you broke the rules for the visa waiver scheme so we cannot let you in now and we should put you on the next flight back to the UK... however, because your wife is American, there is probably a way to let you come in, we just don't know how yet!".
It took about an hour, and this woman came very cheerful "got it! there's a kind of visa we can give you right here and now, based on your situation and the documents you've got, it'll allow you to enter, join your wife etc, but it doesn't give you rights to work, would that suit you?" I jumped at it "of course!!!". "But don't leave again until all that other paperwork has been approved!". We laughed, cool.
- "It's $200, please."
- "Here's my credit card"
- "Oh, it's cash only"
- "really???"
I had about $80 on me only, as I tend to just use ATMs as I go along.
- "ok, then I need an ATM, is there one around here?"
-"erm... they are all on the terminal, but you'd have to cross officially into US territory to access, so we can't let you go"
Nervous laughter. Hmmm.
Eventually they just called my wife, who was waiting for me in arrivals, met her, and she took $200 to give them. A few minutes later I was given a visa and released.
That was fun.
Not.
Totally self-inflicted, of course, and it actually worked out more smoothly than I had hoped for: part of me expected to be sent back without recourse, but US immigration is not always as evil as it's portrayed.
However, this was just pre 9/11. I wouldn't attempt to play these games today.
the current immigration policy in the UK extends to just one generation. My father in law was born in the UK, emigrated to Canada in the 50s. My wife could get UK citizenship. My daughter would not be able to. My ancestors came to North America from Scotland in the mid 18th century. I’m totally out of luck.
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
The whole of Europe was on its knees after WW2, but it was the UK that was in such a mess two decades on... I believe Italy currently holds the "sick man" title. Interesting that the term dates back to the 1800s and the decline of the Ottoman Empire
Hmm, it's more mixed there than I thought. Still there's much healthy resistance.
Infographic: Only Three Countries in the World (Officially) Still Use the Imperial System
Go Liberia and Myanmar!!!
Yes, the whole world is watching and hoping the USA makes a full recovery.
