Need help regarding US VISA.

M

Mystic20

New Member
Hi everyone.

I'm not sure if I am posting this is the right place but I hope I am. I am 20 and a UK citizen, and myself and my best friend who is 19, would like to move out to the U.S for a while - for at least 3 months. We dont have enough money to support ourselves so we will need to find employment and also accomodation. We've got our hearts set on Texas and have done for quite a long time.

The problem is neither of us know what kind of VISA we will need to move to Texas or if we decided to stay permentaly in Texas, whether or not we could do this and how would we go about it? Everything about the VISA's is very confusing to us both. We might eventually study in U.S but for finanical reasons that isn't possible yet. I would really appreciate help relating to obtaining a VISA from U.S and what kind of VISA we will need? Is there any other kind of VISA we will need to stay in U.S that wont have a time restricition on it? By this I mean if we chose to stay there permantely, how would we do this?

I dont have any American relatives. I was told my great-great grandmother moved to America so I probably have cousins there but I dont know where unfortunately. I do have relatives in Canada but I dont know if this will make any difference to the VISA.

Thank you.
 
This isn't really the correct forum, but even so, I'll give you a short summary.

As a British citizen you can come to the US as a TOURIST for 90 days without a visa. This is called the "visa waiver" program. Once here you will NOT be permitted to work, and overstaying however many days the immigration officer stamps in your passport at your port of entry (POE) can have an adverse effect on future visits.

Next up is a B1 or B2 business/visitor visa which allows you up to a 6 month stay per calendar year, repeated for as long as the visa is valid. You are not allowed to seek US employment, although you may conduct business (on a B1 visa) for the company that sponsored you. The B2 is a non-business visa for short term visits from3-6 month duration. They are reportedly VERY HARD TO OBTAIN unless you can show evidence of the ability to support yourself and strong ties to your home country. No money and no job? No visa.

Beyond that, there are H1 and E2 non-immigrant visa which permit you to legally work and reside in the US for some period of time. The H1B is probably one of the commonest, but with an annual limit of 65000 visas per year, they run out almost instantaneously. On top of that you need find a company to sponsor your application. Can take a year or more to obtain. E2 visa is for investors and requires chunks of cash and a solid business plan. Apparently also becoming difficult to obtain.

Finally, you have various immigrant options leading to a Green Card (GC) - the quickest of which is probably to marry a US citizen. Either way, it'll take several years to obtain.

Possibly more useful options would be a student visa (F1) or aupair visa (J1). Go do some google searching for more info.

boatbod
 
Mystic20 said:
Hi everyone.

I'm not sure if I am posting this is the right place but I hope I am. I am 20 and a UK citizen, and myself and my best friend who is 19, would like to move out to the U.S for a while - for at least 3 months. We dont have enough money to support ourselves so we will need to find employment and also accomodation. We've got our hearts set on Texas and have done for quite a long time.

The problem is neither of us know what kind of VISA we will need to move to Texas or if we decided to stay permentaly in Texas, whether or not we could do this and how would we go about it? Everything about the VISA's is very confusing to us both. We might eventually study in U.S but for finanical reasons that isn't possible yet. I would really appreciate help relating to obtaining a VISA from U.S and what kind of VISA we will need? Is there any other kind of VISA we will need to stay in U.S that wont have a time restricition on it? By this I mean if we chose to stay there permantely, how would we do this?

I dont have any American relatives. I was told my great-great grandmother moved to America so I probably have cousins there but I dont know where unfortunately. I do have relatives in Canada but I dont know if this will make any difference to the VISA.

Thank you.
Click to expand...

See the Embassy of the United states of America in London for more information related to visas.
Good luck.
 
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