Visa requirements and working in the USA

[marchilton]

Hello all.

 

I was wondering if any one on here had any knowledge or experience in looking for work in the USA. I am a British citizen and wanted to know the feasibility of moving to the US, namely Seattle. Is it possible to get a visa for this kind of work? I'm gathering it's fairly hard if not impossible. Also do arch vis/3d companies really look to employ foreign workers or is the industry already over saturated as is? I've 6 years experience working in the industry and although I have a degree in Digital Animation I don't have a masters which I think may affect visa applications? Any information from personal experiences or hearsay is very welcome at this point.

 

Many many thanks.

 

Marc

[Scott Schroeder]

You have four options to get a visa in the US;

 

E-3 visa which is the best bet. Needs a bachelors degree from an accredited university and 3 years of work experience plus a sponsored company that meets the requirements. Best thing is your spouse can work.

 

H-1B standard working visa. I believe you need a bachelors degree from an accredited university and a company that will sponsor you that meets the requirements.

 

O-1 visa is a special case visa. If you don't have formal education but you are very well known in your field, have had multiple interviews, wrote papers, did lectures, has been on TV, ect ect. Think of it like a celebrity visa.

 

And finally a J-1 visa which is a student exchange visa. This is highly unlikely to be possible unless the company has proven to the government that is is a training facility or school. It's time consuming and costly for a company to setup, hence why it is a very unlikely visa to obtain.

 

If you don't have a degree, your only option is to provide DOCUMENTED work experience from every employer on a signed letter headed document. This includes any freelance. Pay slips and base statements is not enough.

 

Each year of schooling is equivalent to 3 years of work exp. So to get an e-3 visa you need a minimum for 12 years of documented work experience. That's 3years of schooling times 3 + 3 years of work exp.

 

Usually many of the larger firms may employ foreign workers through a work visa, however most smaller ones won't. It is a pain of a process just to get the visa, let alone the time (usually around 6-8 months of process) it takes usually isn't worth it for most companies. Plus the immigration lawyers are not exactly cheap and require things that just make you scratch your head.

 

One bit of bad news is that if you are older than 31, the visa becomes exponentially harder to get.

 

Some ref:

http://london.usembassy.gov/visas.html

[Ernest Burden III]

You have four options to get a visa in the US...

 

Scott,

 

How in the world do you know all this stuff?

[marchilton]

Wow. Thank you so much for your help. Much appreciated.

 

I'm not sure I can get the E-3 visa as I think you need to be Australian. They might be bad at cricket but they get good visa allowances!

 

In regards to the H-1B, I do have a degree and I'm under 31. Can you explain the sponsor company aspect a little please? Is it just a case of sending my showreel to companies and explaining the situation and they decided if they want to 'sponsor' me or do I need to target specific companies that fit certain criteria?

 

Thanks again for all your help.

[Scott Schroeder]

Scott,

 

How in the world do you know all this stuff?

 

This was one of those .05% of the time things that Google wasn't used to waste time at work. Plus I taught at the University level and inevitably the foreign students would wonder about working in the US after school, after so many times listening to the foreign students office explain this I guess it sunk in.

 

Wow. Thank you so much for your help. Much appreciated.

 

I'm not sure I can get the E-3 visa as I think you need to be Australian. They might be bad at cricket but they get good visa allowances!

 

In regards to the H-1B, I do have a degree and I'm under 31. Can you explain the sponsor company aspect a little please? Is it just a case of sending my showreel to companies and explaining the situation and they decided if they want to 'sponsor' me or do I need to target specific companies that fit certain criteria?

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Any company can sponsor you as far as I know. It is generally up to them if they want to go through the process, which is why it is more typical of the larger firms to do this rather than the smaller shops. That is not saying the smaller shop won't do it, but it might be on a special case by case basis.

 

I think there are a limited number of H-1B visas that the US gives out every year so there is a long waiting line to get one. I seem to recall something on NPR radio about our Gov making an exception for high-tech workers and giving them a special tech visa, but that may have been a dream after a long day at work.

 

Usually when you look for work, a company will state no visas or something like that if they are not looking or even thinking about hiring from overseas. I would guess if they don't put that on the footnote, it would be worth a shot at applying.

 

Some more ref:

http://www.h1base.com/visa/work/Information%20Obligations%20for%20H1B%20Employers%20Sponsors/ref/1172/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa

[marchilton]

Thank you so very much for your help Scott.

[Tommy L]

I came to the USA on an H1B. Well actually I came on a 90 day visa waiver, found work (officially as a contracted consultant) and then returned to Europe waiting for H1B paperwork to be sorted out. This is a good way to do things as you both have a 90 day trial of each other, you also get a taste of Seattle and will know whether its a good fit and all before the company has to decide whether to commit to an H1B. There are a limited number of H1B's given annually, but its a fairly generous amount. It will cost the company roughly $5k. Not a huge amount for a big arch firm, but a considerable sum to a small arch-vis business.

Your best looking for an architecture firm of some stature thats used to doing this periodically as they are familiar with the process. There are not many arch-vis companies willing to take on H1B's as they are a legal headache and expense that they can do without by just hiring local.