I want to move to America!

Aussies are travelers by nature and many want to make the journey to the States sometimes before or after their London trip. They start off with lots of energy and enthusiasm, then hit roadblocks practically on day 1. It's not as easy as getting a visa to live/work in Canada or England. Not by a long shot!

Sure you can stay in the country for long periods on a tourist visa, you just have to pay more for the long term multiple entry visas. However, the big catch is that you cannot legally work here. Unless you are comfortably in the 'trust fund baby with uber dough' or the 'starving backpacker couch surfing' lifestyle, you have to work if you want to stay anywhere for a while. The uber rich do exist in small numbers and there are many more of us working plebs so I will concentrate on this population. As for the starving backpacker/fruit picker combo, I would warn you to think again. You have a plus, you speak English with that is seen as a cute accent here. However, there are large populations of illegal immegrants here who already have the fruit picking, under the table restaurant workers and other cash job markets cornered. Not saying you can't find work but there is a lot of competition out there!

Now for those that do want to live/work there are several options. I will mention them briefly here and expand in future posts. First off it depends on how long you want to stay and if you are/or want to be a student.

http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/

Student options:
1. If you are a full time student you can get a J1 exchange visitor visa. It is basically a seasonal work visa which technically can allow you to work for a 'season'. Though Summer is included they are mainly referring to Winter. The American students get the Summer off too and flood the seasonal market then. This means working for minimum wage or less at ski resorts sharing accomodations with a house full of people.

2. If you want to go back to school some programs offer the student visa. This means you can come in for school. Of course your program will be charged international student fees. Some programs will allow you to work up to 20 hours a week. For programs like a Bachelors or a Masters they may allow you to work for up to one year after the program. If at that point you can't find someone to sponsor you for an E3 of H1B visa then you must leave.

Working options:
1. E3 - Must have a Bachelors to apply for this and be sponsored by employer

2. H-1B - Very similar to E3 but much harder to get since the whole world applies for this, where as the E3 is only for Australian citizens. This can be exchanged for a green card though.

3. Green card lottery. Actually not as bad as it sounds. Across the world each year millions of people apply for what is called the 'diversity lottery'. 50,000 are selected and from there the process goes on. The program is that many who are selected cannot actually afford to complete the process. It is not free you still have to pay immigration fees, legal costs plus of course the cost of moving to the US within the time frame given. At the end of the day it is something like a 1 in 200 chance as many apply who cannot financially complete the process even if they were selected.

4. Tourist visa - that you can live here for a short period and work remotely from overseas. But this means that you cannot get a legal job here, drivers license or social security number. AND you MUST leave the country every 6 months to get a tourist visa. Do this a few times and immigration may have more questions for you.

These are the main legal ways of moving to the US and being able to legally work and stay here. There are of course illegal ways of doing this too, which I won't be covering. Why? Because it is a lot of effort and extremely high risk. I have known of people who were deported. Deported is not only for third world nation non-English speakers. They WILL deport you if you are caught living/working here illegally. Deportation is not a pretty picture. It means being taken off to jail when ever they get you. This is immediate, they won't let you go home and pack a nice bag for the trip! You will leave behind all your worldly posessions. You will sit in jail until they can get a flight out for you and they are in no rush to do so. So you could be waiting for up to a month unless you have money or friends to purchase a ticket immediately. You will also be barred from entering the country again for a period or a lifetime depending on the severity of the case.

Sorry to be such a downer but I really want to be truthful and not sugar coat things. If it is your dream to get over here I want to give you the information you need for it but it is of no help to you if I don't tell you the truth.