
Ask HN: How to Emigrate from Europe to USA (Sillicon Valley)? - MilusW
I found process of migration to USA quite complicated. I tried to do some research, but still I don&#x27;t know how to approach it:
1. should I find a company in SF Bay, which sponsor visas?
2. should I find a company in USA and then migrate to SF Bay area?
3. or maybe should I find an international company in Europe (like Google), try to get a job there and then migrate to USA?<p>What&#x27;s more, I don&#x27;t know which visa should I get - H-1B or another one?
Where can I look for housing?
Where can I look for a company? Especially that even those big companies don&#x27;t want to sponsor visas.<p>Any ideas and advices?<p>BTW I&#x27;m 24, with BSc in computer science and 2 years of experience as Scala developer
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Eridrus
So to start with you need an employer; you're not going to get anywhere
without a company sponsoring you.

The problem with H1-B visas is that there is a cap on visas that only meets
~1/3 of the demand, and the way this is resolved is via a lottery system. You
need your paperwork in on a given date in the year (Early April iirc), and it
will take a few months to know if your application has been selected; if it's
not, you have to wait until next year to apply again.

Another option is the O-1 visa. You don't need to have a Nobel prize to get
one, but it's definitely the one where you have to show that you are special.
As an example, one of the things they like to see is that your proposed pay
would be at the 90th percentile of people of people with that role in that
location, but there are other criteria.

L1 visas are great since there is no lottery, but you do need to work for the
same company internationally for a year first.

Given all of this, your best bet is to find a large international company you
want to work for and apply there and try to work out a plan with their
recruiter who should be able to tell you about how they deal with this
situation since I'm sure it comes up very often. The most likely outcome is
that unless you've nailed down a job before April and are fine with only a 1/3
chance of having a visa in ~August, they'll recommend working in their EU
location and then transferring later.

Also, the "dual intent" doctrine allows you to get a green card from all of
these visas, even if they are considered non-immigrant visas.

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smb06
The easiest way, and i say that with a big pinch of salt because migrating to
the US is not easy in any way, is to come here for school, get a graduate
degree, get a job through the academic environment (job fairs etc.) and then
get that company to sponsor your H1-B visa.

Having a company sponsor you for a work visa while you are not physically
present in the US is quite difficult, unless you are an expert in your field.
In that case you can look at O1 visa which is meant for special talent.

Coming to the US and then looking for a job here is pretty much impossible
(assuming you still want to be legal). L1 visas work for transferring from
your existing employer to the same employer in the US but they are short term
visas, not meant for migrant intent.

Even H1B and O1 are short term visas with no migrant intent. Depending on your
country of origin, it could take anything between 2yrs to 9yrs to get a green
card, which is the migrant "visa". During that time you have to maintain full-
time, gainful employment in the US.

Although i should point out that 9yrs is only for Indians and Chinese but you
are still looking at a multi-year process before being a full-time migrant
worker in the US.

~~~
konzhi
L1 visas immigration process is almost identical and sometimes (L1a) even
better than H1b, so they are definitely the way to do it if you have a chance

