board77

I have a friend who lives in the UK and his girlfriend is in the US. She is terrified of the concept of marriage, and is afraid he might propose to get the right to work in the US (to the point of saying a flat-out NO and dealing with the consequences).

Now, what I am trying to do is find some OTHER ways he can more easily work in the US without having to worry about the whole marrying thing. Hopefully someone will have some experience in this matter because I sure as hell don't.

Those who think they know who I'm talking about please keep this under your hat. Only one of them knows I am doing this and I would prefer the other not find out.

Well, since he's a UK citizen he can't play the green card lottery so that's out.

If he's got a degree he might be able to get a H1 visa, but he needs to have a job lined up here in the States first. It's a highly stressful process that requires, among other things, a lawyer, but the employer will pick up all the expenses and it sets one up nicely for a green card. My understanding is a H1 lasts three years and can be renewed twice. If he doesn't have a degree he can try for a H2, which is for unskilled, guest laborers and last a few months (most of the foreigners you see working at resorts and such are on H2s). There're also the F and J student visas. I'm not sure what the nitty gritty details are, but I do know that witha J visa you have to return to your home country for two years before returning to the US, and with a F you can immediately roll onto some other status (my boyfriend had a F, which is why he was able to get approved for a H1 this spring). It's a thorny-ass mess and your friend would do best to check out the INS website and maybe pay his nearest US consulate a visit.

No matter what, if he's at all religious, tell him to pray very hard that his paperwork is not lost or misfiled. The INS will blame him before it blames itself. My boyfriend was illegal for most of the summer because some idiot in Nebraska stamped the wrong box on one of his papers.

Well, Iavas is from the UK and we tried to find other ways for him to come into the country instead of the whole getting married thing. Needless to say, we had to do the whole getting married thing in order to be together (though we didn't mind of course).

He could look into student visas. A work visa could be extremely hard to get. He'd have to get a company to hire him without having met him, then the company has to prove that no other American was able to fufill the job, and then the company has lots of paperwork to do to get him over.

Yeah, and the beauty of a student visa is, after a year, you can get a job legally to help support yourself and, more importantly, you can start making contacts that will make getting a job after you're no longer a student easier. It's a slow road though, and not without it's own hassles.

The H1 market was kinda slow this year. They maxed out the quota this month, and my boyfriend tells me they usually fill up earlier. The Bush Administration has people running scared. Hell, my boyfriend's got a visa and he's still scared about what might happen to the rules. They change fairly frequently. The sad thing is, I'm told that the US is relatively easy to immigrate to...

I don't know if the Uk has a similar treaty with the US with regards to working visas. Here's it's called "Schedule of Treaty Professions" or a "Schedule A" in most countries. It lists professionals that they need for example accountants, lawyers, doctors, nurses, teachers, people in the scientific, medical and mathematical field and hotel workers (chef). He better look into it.

My friend and my wife's friend got H1B visas through that. One of my best friends who is a doctor in Chicago got in easily but my wife's friend who is a chemistry teacher had to wait about a year or so for her to get approved because of all the paperwork the NYC public school system had to show the labour department that they need her.

Like River said, it's slow right now after 9/11, they screen all the people they let in. I know a few people who didn't get the their temporary visas renewed after that.

Marriage is the easiest way, unfortunately.

Damn.

Unfortunately, the options stated are ones that have already been researched. He is trying for the H1 (I believe) as he's a programmer and there is a company that wants him. He has already finished his graduate work so I am doubting he can get a student visa, although with a little chicanery he might be able to pull it off.

Ok, thanks y'all. If you think of anything else please let me know.

The company will have to sponsor him if they want him that bad. It's the only surefire method of expediting it.