How hard is it to get a work visa in the US these days?
 

I've been given an open offer to come down to Florida and work with a mainstream CPA company in house for a salary + commission. There is a lot for me to learn here, and a lot I think I can take away from the experience this opportunity is offering should I take it. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to jump all over it. The only issue I can see at the moment is in getting myself a work Visa. The few people I've talked it over with make it sound like getting a visa so I could come down and legally work in the US is eithe a) going to be a massive pain in the ass, or b) unlikely altogether.

Honestly I don't know a shit about getting a visa. I don't know shit about how to go about it or how hard it is even going to be. Anything I should know? Anyone here from outside the states enterred the country to work, and what were your experiences?

you need to get a good immigration lawyer that does this kind of thing all the time, then they will likely have to get the company to sponsor you, which will first involve advertising in a publication to try to fill the job with an American (but they can make their job requirements very specific so that it is likely that they won't find anyone that is as qualified as you are)

it is not easy, and if you try to cross the border without having this all ready, you will be surely turned away if they even think for a second that you are going down to work


it is easier if you have a post secondary degree of some kind as well, but there are ways around it, but it is not easy

unfortunately, the easiest way is to marry an American, but that is too ultimate of a sacrifice to make

there are lottery programs to get in too, but it is probably easier to get in from a third world country than it is to get in from Canada

it used to be pretty easy if you had a degree ....( a real degree )

i have a degree in 'smartass who spent too much time on the internet' but that's about it.

I'd rather chew my own arm off :1orglaugh

There are some pretty decent options under NAFTA...

What do all the Cubans do when they come to Florida? :1orglaugh

it's actually easier for a migrant farm laborer to do it, there is a need for extremely menial labor at very low wages

as for the illegals, they are condoned because they fill a need, and once they are here they often live a somewhat underground life without proper identification and on the fringes of society without credit or driver's licenses and insurance etc etc

Damn, doing some reading now, and this seems like it ain't gonna happen at all :(

Or at least sounds like way more jumping through hoops than I care to do. I thought getting my passport was a pain in the ass...

you know how to speak fluent english?

your employer must be responsible for your working visa

sort of...

I used to work at UC Berkeley. One of my job functions was preparing the H1-B visa applications, among other types, for post-docs, researchers, adj. profs....

The company will have to show BCIS (used to be called INS) that you and only you can do the job, that, you have specific skills most Americans do not have. The Company will have to offer the job locally and prove they have done that...

Considering this economy I would say a snowball has a better chance in hell than you do.
An immigration lawyer is just going to suck you dry for no result.

PLAN B... Tell BCIS you are really Mexican and have been beaten down by your own stupidity. They will green-light your ass lickity split. lol.

But really, it is in the employers court. If they are saying just "come on down," and they are not willing to do the H1-B process for you/with you, I would take the offer as disingenuous.

Well as it stands now, I'm not sure buddy who owns the network is entirely sure what the process entails even. I'm not worried about the offer not being genuine, I'm sure it is. We've been working together on projects online for some time, since before he launched his network early this year. We're already partnered on plenty of things, and I manage some media buys on commission already. I'm planning on heading down for a week in the new year to meet up and check out his setup regardless when my passport application comes through. From there if I decide to go ahead with things, I guess the ball is in his court. I wouldn't blame him if he changed his mind though, it does sound like a major pain in the fucking ass, and if I did put him through that I'd want to be very sure that I intended on sticking the job out for a while...

whatever you do, be very careful what you say at the border, if they think you might be going down to work, even if you aren't, they could easily deny you, then you are flagged and fucked

Don't worry I know that much. I'm heading down for a week to get away from the cold and visit a friend. :thumbsup

Welcome to the United States of America, where we fight, kill and die for freedom. We value or "freedom" so much, we prefer to fight "them" over "there" so we don't ever have to fight them here. We even erected a giant statue, The Statue Of Liberty, to welcome all immigrants from every country, to the greatest country in the world.

Having said that, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME!

P.S. It is best if you come illegally. You will find many more opportunities this way.

i'd just go and do it lol tell em you're going on vacation.

:1orglaugh ...

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

all they have to do is touch land.. wet foot dry foot.

If you want to be a doctor/teacher there's probably paperwork but they'll let you in.

If you want to work in IT/internet/online porn it's a lot harder.

If you can do the job remotely from outside the US they'd rather you did that.

It's easy for Canadians to travel to USA and back and find work. They don't even need a visa. Canadians and Americans have a history of about 100+ years peace or something like that.