UK - US Job Transfers and Job Market

Hello all,

From what I understand, the job market in the US isn't doing too hot at the moment.

I have family in FWB Florida, but most of the IT related jobs listed in the region are only open to US Citizens. (Is this the doing of the Patriot Act?)

Hubby (UK citizen) and I would eventually prefer to move to the US. However if there are no jobs, and it takes Hubs a year to get his SS number, I'm worried about not having adequate funds to move back to the UK if our situation in the US becomes dire.

Has anyone moved to the US, only to have a job prospect dissolve before your eyes? What specific hardships did you face? Anything you want to share?

Laura

Do you need to move back to Florida?  There are plenty of IT jobs in others parts of the country. 

Why would it take your husband a year to get an SS number?

It took DH 3 months to get a SSN.  Since he came in on a finace visa, it took 1 month to get the green card and temporary work permit paperwork together, 1 month to recieve the temporary work permit, and 2 week to get the SSN after applying for it. 

Once you have work permission, it only takes around 10 business days to recieve the SSN in the mail after applying for it. 

Do you need to move back to Florida?  There are plenty of IT jobs in others parts of the country. 

Why would it take your husband a year to get an SS number?

We would have to move back to the southeastern US if we were to go back. My family is there, and that would be the only reason for us moving back. I'm 38 weeks 4 days pregnant with our first child, and we have a choice between having an English mother-in-law (great lady) or access to my mother, grandfather, grandmothers and an overall nice, supportive network of immediate relatives. Working on the west coast would be counter-productive to our reasons for moving back in the first place.

I read a while ago from a site you should anticipate a total time of one year minimum in order to get your UK spouse residing and working legally. If that's not the case, then I'm relieved.

I read a while ago from a site you should anticipate a total time of one year minimum in order to get your UK spouse residing and working legally. If that's not the case, then I'm relieved.

Are you sure that's not 1 year minimum to get the paperwork to even enter the US to work?  Getting the SSN once you have work permission is reletively simple, but I know there is alot of paperwork and time to get a green card, and you husband cannot work in the US with out it or a work permit.

I'm the US Citizen, my husband is English. We lived in England and applied from there to get his Green Card. It is called the DCF process, and you can do it if you, the US Citicen, have been in the UK long enough. Right now I beleive you have to have ILR. We got his green Card (the whole process took 4 months from beginning to end, but can take longer) and he had his SS number when he got off the plane in America. He got the visa regardless of his job - as we had a financial sponsor in the US. They'll let you move to the US with nothing in your pockets beasically (like we did) as long as someone in the US is willing to be your joint sponsor. The idea at first was that we moved to the US without him having a job, and we'd live with family until he found one. Fortunately a job offer came up at the last minute (after we had already begun the green card process) and we moved over here with a job waiting for him. If you have been in England long enough, it makes a lot of sense to do the DCF process rather than a work visa. That way he's got freedom, and doesn't have to have an offer to go there. If you have family to rely on, or any savings, it would of course be a risk in some respects but it is definitely possible. We did it.

how long do you have to be in the UK before you can apply for the DCF process?

http://www.usembassy.org.uk

You have to have indefinite leave to remain (I think it is called something different now?) to do the DCF process, but if you haven't bene in the UK that long you can still go through another process to get the visa, details are at the mebassy website, and many people here on this board have gone through both processes, I've only gone through the DCF myself.