I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B).<p>My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironically she got a special commendation award for her volunteering signed by George W. Bush's signing machine.<p>Eventually I got fed up with the bureaucratic farce whereby US visa regulations provide compliant, indentured foreign programmers to US businesses at below market salaries in exchange for the remote possibility that they'll eventually get a green card.<p>So I left and now live in Australia, where I am self-employed, can take time off to work on my own side-projects, and pay less than $300/month for private medical insurance for my family of four. American exceptionalism? Sure--if you're a sucker.
This is the main reason I've given up. It's not an effective use of anyone's time to wade through the US immigration mess. My J-1 visa expired last October. I was in SF for my PhD research on a J-1 and had to suddenly return to Europe last April due to unforeseen family circumstances. I was in the process of filing for a waiver when I was in SF and had a long call with someone at Google about a position I'd applied for. I discovered that I had just missed the H1B deadline, so there was pretty much no way for me to get a job in 2013.<p>Now that I'm back in Europe, I've been looking into applying for a J-1 waiver and it's just form after form after form. Additionally, you have to pay something in the region of $2000 according to an immigration lawyer I sought out and with that I'd only be throwing my name in the ring, with the possibility that the State Department would reject my waiver application apparently.<p>I absolutely fell in love with SF whilst I was living there and would love to make it back now that I'm wrapping up my PhD, but I think it's neigh on impossible given the current bureaucracy involved.<p>Guess I'm just gonna wait it out and hope for immigration reform to kick in.
There are two things that give me serious pause about living and working in the USA, and that have made me not pursue or accept opportunities that I've been offered in Seattle and San Francisco.<p>1) Visas & immigration<p>2) Health
FTA:"However, in my experience, it's absolutely worth it. Moving here was the best thing I ever did. It's an incredible country, and the opportunities here in tech are second to none."<p>I wonder if given the current political, social and economical situation in the US, whether this (still ?) is the prevalent view within the tech community ? Having been to the US multiple times between 2005-2012, I was completely turned off the country. While I agree some of the best companies are based there, I wouldn't like living there.
"It's for this reason I suggest coming out to SF on your own accord, staying for a short while, and lining up a bunch of interviews with all the companies you're interested in."<p>I believe this is only for B1/B2 visa holders and those who are part of the Visa Waiver Program (UK/Aus etc.).<p>You're not supposed to look for work or attend interviews on a tourist visa.
I am fairly interested in the rules around Visa Waivers.<p>I have been working for american companies remotely for a while, I do fairly regular visits to the american offices, generally 'Work Meeting' will get you straight passed, but I have a few times been questioned exactly what I do at these work meetings and once tiredly and mistakenly mentioning programming, was very close to being refused entry.<p>The other issue I couldnt find any documentation on how long a visa waiver is valid for, it is given for 3 months, but is that 3 months out of the year or just 3 months at a time? over a full year I occasionally get close to this and was mostly curious.
> If you lose in the lottery, they'll refund the fees. One caveat to bear in mind is that applying for this visa shows intent, which may disqualify you for visas in the future which aren't dual intent, such as the B-1 & B-2 visitor visas.<p>(IANAL, but:)
This is very wrong on at least two counts: there is no fee for enrolling in the lottery and if anyone charges for it, they are a scammer and you should enroll directly on dvlottery.state.gov site (as explicitly stated in its FAQ). Also, simply signing up for lottery is generally not sufficient ground for immigration intent (though being conservative doesn't hurt).
It's not worth it<p>You can get a "similar to H1B" visa in Ireland in 2 months time and a lot less paperwork. Germany (and other countries I believe) has a similar schema.<p>With some requirements slightly higher than an H1-B you can be a permanent resident of Canada (maybe Australia and England as well, though I'm not sure how the conditions are on the latter today)<p>So, why bother?
Excellent guide; shame the situation sucks.<p>The H-4 & O-3 mean that I have these options:
- Work at a US startup, marry my girlfriend, she has to be a non-working housewife
- Work at a US startup, live the rest of our lives in a long distance relationship
- Move to work at a big company like Google (not my scene at all) where I could get an L-1 (which has a good spouse visa)
- Go for an O-1 or H-1B & hope that my girlfriend can get one in the same batch.
- Just give up on the idea of living in the US<p>I love California; wish it wasn't so hard for me to live there :(
"When the H-1B cap is reached, large companies like Google often look to L-1s instead, moving new employees to their Canadian offices for a year to make them eligible."<p>Huh. I knew Microsoft did this in Vancouver but hadn't heard about Google also using it although it makes sense. As a Canadian I'm not sure if the country really benefits from it, although I guess it boosts the Canadian offices.
I found this diagram informative (although not comprehensive, and probably a bit politicised):
<a href="http://reason.com/assets/db/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://reason.com/assets/db/07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad...</a><p>(via <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2008/09/24/new-at-reason-mike-flynn-shikh" rel="nofollow">http://reason.com/blog/2008/09/24/new-at-reason-mike-flynn-s...</a> )
If you are are fortunate enough to have the liquidity needed (E.g.: you've already participated in a successful exit in a startup in your home country), there is always the EB-5 investor visa. (invest a half a million to a million dollars and create 10 jobs)<p>Obviously not an option for everyone, but if it is available to you, it may be one of the easiest ways, as you can get a green card relatively quickly via that route.
It's missing the H1B1 visa which is very easy to get but isn't dual intent. It's only available for citizens of Singapore and Chile. It requires little paperwork and takes about a week to get. If you're so lucky as having a Singaporean or Chilean passport i recommend you look in to it.
"L-1 visa for inter-company transfers<p>If you've worked for the company in a foreign subsidiary for at least one year in the preceding three years, you may be eligible for a L-1 visa. When the H-1B cap is reached, large companies like Google often look to L-1s instead, moving new employees to their Canadian offices for a year to make them eligible.<p>The foreign subsidiary must be related to its US counterpart in one of four ways: parent and subsidiary, branch and headquarters, sister companies owned by a mutual parent, or 'affiliates'.<p>It's a fairly straightforward visa to get if you qualify, and has the added bonus of being dual intent."<p>Would it be possible to open a US business remotely, then a foreign subsidiary in your country of residence - work for a year there and then be eligible for an inter-company L-1 transfer?
This is a nice run-down for those looking to swerve into the U.S. for a valid reason (work/study)<p>If anyone seeks less-than-a-year-long work, J-1 Visas are arguably the easiest to get if one has some affiliation with a university. (i.e. students)<p>Proof of concept: I have co-run a non-profit program which connected people in Finland with startups in the Bay Area. I wish there would be more programs similar to <a href="http://startuplife.fi" rel="nofollow">http://startuplife.fi</a> (sent close to 100 so far and more than a dozen YC companies have signed up for the program last batch.)<p>Another related blogpost for the J1 track: <a href="http://blog.sendtoinc.com/2013/12/11/silicon-valley-internship-j1-visa/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.sendtoinc.com/2013/12/11/silicon-valley-internsh...</a>
L-1B (Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge)<p>"Specialized knowledge means either special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures (See 8 CFR 214.2(l)(1)(ii)(D))."<p><a href="http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/l-1b-intracompany-transferee-specialized-knowledge" rel="nofollow">http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers...</a><p>The definition of "Specialized knowledge" is very broad. Can somebody share their experience of getting L-1B visa?
To anyone with experience with a H1-B: How closely related does your degree have to be?<p>I get the impression this is a relatively grey area - I have a BEng in Civil Engineering, in my opinion it's somewhat related, I just wondered if there is a clear guidance on this?
Nice summary. I think it missed one important detail, only US-masters can apply to the extended H1-B quota, if you got a master degree outside the US you are not eligible to that quota and falls under the normal cap.
Great guide, I'd love a similar one for Green Cards.<p>For instance, does a Masters in CS qualify you for an EB-2 filing? A search shows that the employer would have to give evidence of the advanced degree being necessary for the job. Usually you wouldn't need a Masters degree for a programmer role but I'm wondering how strict this is in practice.<p>Concretely, if you were to enter the US on a H1-B for a SDE role with BigCorpA and had a Masters degree in CS, could you immediately file for a Green Card under EB-2 category?
What's the perceived benefit of not allowing the spouse to work? Is this a "they took our jobs" situation, or is there something substantive behind that policy?
i'm surprised no one is mentioning the eb-2 visa. if you have a masters or higher in cs and are not born in the india or china the wait times seem to be reasonable. [1]<p>the h1b is a dangerous game. it's essentially a do whatever i say, and i "may" sponsor your green card "eventually", with an emphasize on the may. not everyone uses it that way, and i would would be leaning out of the window saying most do, but it's definitely enough to be a common issue.<p>i was brought into a university with an h1b under the premise that i could work on my own startup. what didn't tell me was that that what they meant was that i should work for them for 5 years before they would consider sponsoring a green card application, and that they expected me to work unpaid overtime whenever they asked me to.<p>i've heard from a friend running a consulting company in the area, that a lot of companies bring in workers with h1b's and then don't even have the decency to sponsor a green card after keeping them for 6 years.<p>to my remembrance there was a house voting sometime last september about an immigration reform. one side of the table was asking for better accessibility to visa's for specialized workers(including cali afair), and the other was asking for more audits.<p>sadly i can't tell you how much good came out of it, maybe someone else can elaborate on that.<p>edit: there is a reference at the end of the ops post, but it's not really prominent. eb-3 wait times can be years, which is why it's not really a reasonable choice, but eb-2 is different<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-2_visa" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-2_visa</a>
I'm surprised no-one mentioned the E-2 (Treaty Investor) visa. It allows someone from a Treaty country (which includes a lot of developed countries) to start a business in the USA. It's not an intent visa, though (more on that later).<p>I'm from the UK, and did the E-2 application myself (having found that it took as much time to explain to a lawyer as to write the application). My initial investment was $100k (enough to start a software business, provably). I have been renewing that visa since 1999, while living in NYC.<p>Now, however (partly to do with having a 3-year-old), I've moved with my family to Singapore. Visa process took 3 days, and is valid for 12months (and a 12month extension will be very doable, apparently).<p>One aspect of the Green Card process (which is, I believe, somewhat achievable even starting on a E-2, is that you get caught in the US tax regime semi-permanently. Which is taxation on world-wide income. That would make moving to another country relatively painful (and that's partly why there are so few Americans in Singapore : there's no tax advantage to them).<p>Happy to answer any questions.
This thread seems like an excellent opportunity to ask for some advice.<p>I'm a British software engineer based in London, while my girlfriend of 3 and a half years is an American working for a publishing company in NYC. We've been trying to work out whether we think the relationship will work out in the long term, but the only time we've ever been in the same city for more than 3 weeks was the 6 month stint we were at university together. She's very reluctant to move to London - apparently publishing jobs are hard to come by, and she's loathe to leave the current one. As a result, I've been tasked with finding a way that I can spend some time in New York. It wouldn't have to be long - 6 months would be plenty - but I would have to be able to earn money since she currently doesn't really make enough to support herself, let alone me.<p>Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could go about doing this?
This is a guide to US visa fraud.<p>Software developers are expressly excluded from the TN visa program. If you show up at the Canadian border as an American or the American border as a Canadian and announce you intend to work as a software developer, you will not be admitted. Of course many commit fraud and represent themselves as "Computer Systems Analysts" or "Management Consultants."<p>L1B visas are meant for those who possess special knowledge of "the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures." If you announce you intend to work as a software developer you will not be admitted.
Can someone further explain the dual-intent portion of this? I'm a US citizen and my girlfriend, who is from Iran, is working toward her PhD in CS here in the States. Currently, she's on a F-1 visa(the site says it's not dual-intent), and would like to remain in the states after she completes her studies to work at a US company(most likely in the valley). This caught my eye as a point of concern, so if anyone can elaborate it'd be greatly appreciated:<p>"If you're not on a dual intent visa then you may be asked to prove that you have significant ties to your home country, and no intent to reside in the US permanently or apply for a green card."<p>It's worth mentioning we will probably marry before she completes her PhD.
Cool guide, but I think the E-3's dual intent rules are a bit weird:<p><a href="http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/Static_Files_Memoranda/Archives%201998-2008/2005/e3polgdnc_121505.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memorand...</a><p>"An application for initial admission, change of status or extension of stay in E-3 classification, however, may not be denied solely on the basis of an approved request for permanent labor certification or a filed or approved immigrant visa preference petition."<p>It's not explicitly dual intent but the memo makes it clear that they won't kick you out for pursuing PR.
The article missed pointing out a very important detail about H-1B1 visa (for Chile and Singapore): unlike the dual intent H-1B visa, the H-1B1 is a non-immigrant visa. This means that you must establish the non-immigrant intent to get it. It also means that, should you happen to change your mind after some time, you would have to switch to H-1B visa before trying for the green card.<p>Also, speaking from the personal experience, the fact that the H-4 visa doesn't allow your spouse to work deserves more emphasis. If there's anything that might drive me and my family back to Chile, it's the H-4 visa.
Here's another one which might help some that want to move to US - Diversity Visa Program(DV Lottery).<p>If you are lucky enough(like my wife was) you will have your green card and visa for the whole family.<p>Some more info: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa</a>
With reference to the Green Card Lottery [1] "if you lose in the lottery, they'll refund the fees", there are no fees to enter the lottery, however if you win the lottery there are fees to start the interview and visa process.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/" rel="nofollow">https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/</a>
<p><pre><code> The important difference is that the TN isn't dual intent, and you therefore can't apply for a green card while on it
</code></pre>
Is there a path to permanent residency for this specific visa or you're better off finding H1B sponsorship?
Credit History<p>It would be worth adding a note about Credit history and some simple steps you can do to start establishing a good one. I recall getting a joint-loan with my wife (girlfriend at the time) to get things started. I'm sure there are many other ways.
"Getting a bank account is fairly straightforward, and most don't require a SSN."
I don't know about this. It's pretty much impossible to open a bank account without a SSN or TIN.
Thanks for this a lot! I'm planning to move to USA when I can and this helps to see the whole picture.<p>My best bet would be a company that really wants me to work for them and arranges all of this.
> TN Visa<p>> Processing time: Weeks<p>Actually for Canadians the visa is usually given at the border at time of entry. I applied at the US embassy in Bangkok and it didn't take more than a couple of days.
You should also mention EB-5. Pay $500k and get a green-card. No questions asked. Although, you may or may not get back that $500k (considered an at-risk investment) :).