

Ask HN: How can I move to USA? - oscardelben

I want to move to USA in the next years and I would like to know which steps I should take to do that.<p>Currently I'm self employed and I'm not looking for a job in the US. I'm from Italy and have no family if that makes any difference.
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georgecmu
A better choice would be Canada. For an educated professional with command of
English or (even better if it's "and") French, it's very easy to become a
permanent resident in Canada. 3 years later you'd be eligible for citizenship
and ability to work and live in the United States (on a visa, but with very
few restrictions).

Otherwise, not having family in the States, you don't have many options,
although not needing to work makes a few things easier.

The easiest one is to enroll in an academic program. Another is to marry a US
citizen. I believe Italians are still eligible for green card lottery, but you
may want to double-check that. If you have 500K-1M lying around, you may
invest them into a company and get a green card that way. Unless you're an
Arab or a Jehova witness, you probably won't qualify for refugee status. Maybe
being gay in Italy can help, but I don't have much info on that. Finally, you
can get a job on an H1-B and apply for employment-based green card with your
employer's cooperation.

~~~
oscardelben
I don't have those money and I don't have a degree. However my mom was born in
Canada although she doesn't have the citizenship, maybe that could help.

~~~
gaius
A bachelor's degree will make things a bit easier, and a PhD a lot easier.

But remember, you can move anywhere you want in the EU like, tomorrow, with no
fuss whatsoever. Is the grass really greener on the other side of the
Atlantic?

~~~
fauigerzigerk
Assuming he speaks itialian and english the EU comprises the UK and Ireland
for him. About the only two places in the world that are greater desaster
zones than the US at the moment (well, apart from Spain and Greece maybe).

~~~
gaius
With only a little of the local language you can get by pretty well in
Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt... Any city with a significant
commercial/financial community. It is actually even more difficult to learn
Dutch in Amsterdam because as soon as you open your mouth, they reply in
English. Outside of the major cities yes you might find it difficult, but not
insurmountably so.

There are Italian-speakers in Switzerland too.

~~~
fauigerzigerk
Yes the Netherlands is probably an option. But settling in Paris without being
a native french speaker is notoriously difficult. That's what people tell me
anyway, I never tried.

~~~
gaius
Speaking from my own experience, and that of several friends, you need very
little French to show up in Paris and just get on with it. Numbers, how to
read street signs, what the different kinds of shops are, that sort of thing.
The only thing you need good French for is if you need to deal with the local
bureaucracy (unless you are or are with a pregnant woman, that is the root
password to the French public sector). If you have lived in London or New
York, you could get a long way in day-to-day life in Paris on intuition alone.

It's a lot easier obv. if you already have a job there (I did, at a French
company with a significant UK presence), but that's true of anywhere. It would
be a lot harder to show up in a small town without good French, and some
places will be practically impossible unless you _are_ French, but that's a
political thing.

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Larry42
Hi, I'm in a similar situation. I live in Europe and plan to move to the bay
area after earning my bachelor degree here in Brussels.

I know some of the implications of moving to America, but I am wondering if
the following situation could make things easier for me.

I have co-founded a non-profit organization (incorporated in NY) with my
partner (who's living on a student visa himself at the moment). We also got
our own web development & consultancy company (though not officially
registered as a company yet), and I would like to work independently with my
partner when I move to the bay area.

Do you think the companies we have founded could provide us with a work visa?

~~~
gaius
If either organization employs 10 or more Americans, you could get a Green
Card very easily with an EB-5 visa.

------
andr
You have 3 options:

1) As an Italian citizen you can go to the US and stay there for up to 3
months at a time using the tourist visa waiver program. You are not allowed to
work, but you are allowed to interview for a potential job.

2) If you get a job, it is now easy for a company to sponsor you for an H-1B
working visa. It will last for 2 years, after which it can be renewed.

3) Other options, such as a Green Card, the EB-1 (Alien of Extraordinary
Ability), and an Investor Visa (if you have more than $1 million to invest)
exist, but don't apply to most people.

I'd urge you to consider such a move carefully. It is a commonly exhibited
bias to think everything will be better if you move to a new country, but
there is hardly a correlation. For what you will gain by moving you will lose
a lot of what you have in Italy.

~~~
andrewcooke
also, you can extend (1) to 6 months with a tourist visa.

and i can confirm the last paragraph. it varies from person to person,
obviously, but i have lived in a "foreign" country for around 10 years now,
and it's still hard at times.

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nfnaaron
It looks like <http://travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html> is step 1.

Step 2 might be to visit the nearest US embassy or office.

Step 3 is probably determined by steps 1 and 2.

Step N might involve one or two visits to a specialist lawyer in your country
or the US, for advice.

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elblanco
1) Come over on a student visa. Major restrictions, you have to go to school
full-time and you can't work anywhere. But in the meantime you can apply for
jobs at places that might sponsor an H1-B visa and/or greencard.

2) Apply for a job at places that might sponsor an H1-B visa and/or greencard.

3) Marry a U.S. Citizen.

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physcab
Sergey Brin gave a few maybe-helpful links:

<http://too.blogspot.com/2009/10/journey-of-lifetime.html>

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osipov
Mind if I ask why? US is in a serious decline and the future is looking pretty
bleak both politically and economically.

~~~
markpercival
Oh come on, is it really THAT bad? :)

As much as I like pontificate on the doom and gloom of our current economy,
there are PLENTY of opportunities left in the US for an educated worker.

~~~
fauigerzigerk
No, I don't think it's _that_ bad. Maybe a good comparison is with the UK
circa 1920. The empire is in steep decline, other powers are on the rise. But
during that time the UK was still one of the better places in the world, just
not the center of it any longer.

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peridot2001
$750,000 is a lot. I have known people first hand to invest only $125,000 and
get a long term business visa to US.

