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Finding Work in the US as a Non-US Resident?
America-bound asks: "I'm a senior Java developer living in Europe with the wish to move to the US eventually and live with my significant other. Over here, I have a diverse set of experience working on in-house development and freelance/project work. I don't intend for this to look like a resume or request for work, so I won't go into specifics. Europe, or at least my country, has very healthy prospects for those working freelance, but I'm not sure how things are in the USA (California to be more specific). My timespan for achieving this is realistic; I'm looking at making the move within 2-3 years, giving me time to work on my skills, experience and do more networking, as well as get used to life in the USA. I would like to know if my plans for working freelance, or as my own company, are very realistic in the US. Perhaps there are other good alternatives that I haven't explored yet. Hence, I turn to Slashdot hoping for some clues by others who have either made the switch to living in the US or are working there successfully, as freelancers."
We're rapidly sliding towards a totalitarian dictatorship in this country... are you sure you want to move here?
--Mike--
Freelancing is always hard, my friend. At least, I think it is. However, if you're willing to fight the good fight in a free economy, then I say go for it. You should do well. I'd still rather have a steady job, though. The changes you have to make all depend on the country in which you're currently living. In general, though, moving from a Western country to the US shouldn't be that big a leap.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
Speaking as a freelance java programmer in the US, I think java in particular is on the way out. I hate to think what it'd be like in 3 years when you start. LAMP or MS based apps are more common and growing. Good freelancing jobs can be hard to get into, it's mostly about networking and having the right people trust you for the job. Why not freelance for people now? Why are you moving to the US?
-- these are only opinions and they might not be mine.
You really need to do your immigration research first. Unless you find a sponsor as far as work visas go, and then go through an extensive process to get a green card, don't even bother trying...
i.e. Been there, done that, back in Canada.
If you could get hired on by an international consulting firm, and maybe do something for them in Europe first, then ask for an internal posting overseas, that would be easiest. They have the resources to move people around, deal with Visa's, etc.
Both of these problems are easiest solved by marrying your significant other. You can get a temporary green card, and if she has health insurance through her employer, it will likely be expandable to cover her spouse (you). These are significant marriage benefits, and one reason GLBT people are requesting legal recognition for their marriages.
within 2-3 years ??
Are you sure you relationship will survive that long? I mean, you are an ocean apart.
"We're rapidly sliding towards a totalitarian dictatorship in this country... are you sure you want to move here?"*
As opposed to say Britian?
*Pet peeve of mine. Most slashdotters have NEVER lived under a dictatorship, and just know what they've read, or watched on TV or movies. Just as the rest of the world's view of the US comes through entertainment channels. Likewise most slashdotters have never actually encountered "evil", and gratuitiously throw the word around with not a hint of it's true depth.
Be thankful that you never grew up having to know what a dictatorship, or evil is, and stop pretending you do.
As for the OP. You're going to have to spend quite a bit of time developing a clientel. Skills, and knowledge are just wedges to get you into the room. You might be able to leverage the client base you already have in europe.
Most of Europe has a *much* higher standard of living than the United States: nationalized health care, various other supports important to a freelancer. 49/50 US freelancers go bankrupt at least once- is that really the future you want?
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Ingredients"
Take one communist moniker. Add a health dose of "grass is always greener". Mix well, and serve to an OP who didn't ask if the US is better than everyone else. But is interested in working here with his OP. Sheesh why can't you all answer the damn question without pulling some ideology bullshit?
Stay away from California. Why? It is expensive. You make a pretty penny there but every penny that comes into your pocket goes right out of the whole created by the state's cost of living. California is saturated with developers. If you are not top notch, well known developer you will be one of the many ants there. Lets face it California is galvanized and glorified throughout the world for being a gift from god but the reality is it isn't as good as advertised.
Two years ago I up and quit my comfortable real job of many years and moved across the country to move in with my now wife, so I can somewhat relate to your situation.
/.
First, for simplicities sake, I'll assume you get your own immigration details in order, since I have only nominal experience dealing with that.
Since you mention that you've been working freelance on and off my recommendation is to take your clients/work with you once you make the move to the states.
In my situation, I was able to work out a contract with my old employer to help them during the transition. Later on I picked up some work with one of their partners when they needed someone temporary to bridge a skill gap. All in all, it was enough to get me through my own transition. After about 8 months I ended up taking a full time position with a company out here instead of chosing to slog on with drumming up more business for myself, but there were opportunities out there.
Some things that helped me that might help you:
- I moved in with my then gf, who is gainfully employed. This cut down
on my expenses.
- I saved up a pile of cash to get me through potential lean times.
Fortunately, things worked out well for me and I never needed it, but
It was nice to know I could fall back on it. I faced the possibility
of having no income, half a rent payment in my new location and a
mortgage on my old house. I got lucky in that I was able to sell my
house in 6 days.
- (Good in any situation) I was very careful to avoid burning any bridges.
Sometimes this meant I had to smile and make nice to people I did not
have much respect for. This kept a lot of doors open that even now
are still providing opportunities.
- As part of my relocation planning, I had backup backup plans if things
got really tight. I've got some skill in construction and warehouse
work, and was prepared to fall back on that if necessary.
At any rate, hopefully you read the AC responses, since I've never seen a need to sign up for an account here in all the many years I've read
Good luck!
If you marry your aforementioned "significant other" and formally attain US citizenship, intead of just "living with" him or her. You'll probably wind up on a lot more solid ground as far as employment is concerned.
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
If you call your company "Alien Resident Development" and if you go around giving your card to everyone I bet you will be VERY successful. People love alien residents here in the USA (for some reason). you will do better than a US citizen.
Oh boy, where to start. First off, I'm a Canadian, working in the US. In my experience, the US immigration system is very slow, horribly complicated and arbitrary. IANAL but you can't just show up and open up shop. You need a work visa first, and you can't just get that, you need a 'sponsor', and that means that they need to get you the appropriate visa, and that takes time. Something like an H1 is good for a limited time (3 years, extendable once to another 3, IIRC). If you want to become a permanent resident (green card) you'll need to show expertise in a subject, and still need some sort of sponsor. (again, IANAL) If you do make your way over here and pass the legal hurdels, there are still issues with simple things like establishing credit so that you can get a credit card or a basic phone line in your apartment.
As far as I can tell, the easiest way to cut through all this red tape is to marry a US citizen and then after a year or so you'll be set
However might I suggest you try Canada. The immigration process is ridiculously easy relative to the US, as long as you can show that you have the cash on hand to support yourself while establishing your new life. It's just as easy to start your own business in Canada as in the US, and the countries are fairly similar. The bad things are: the taxes are way higher (especially for small businesses) and lower standard of living (aparently Canada fell below Ireland recently.. yikes!). But because of Canada's proximity to the US there is no shortage of business opportunities to pick up 'near-shoring' contracts.
Whatever you choose, good luck!
And in all honesty, people underestimate how things happen. I grew up to my teens under a dictator.
:( (and this is AFTER losing over 30 lbs this past year)
:)
What we had:
Better healthcare, better education, near ZERO unemployment, no sweatshops (our particular lord and master HATED dealing with the west because, as Hussein also put it "they lie so much, even they don't know where they stand" this being a VERY accurate assessment of the USA/Western business model, in AD&D terms, we'd call the west Lawful Evil (or soulless bureaucracy for pure material gain)... oh and we had VERY GOOD public transit... there was a bus to ANYWHERE in any town of significant size (pop. wise)... or trolley or metro or any combo of the 3. Cabs too. Most people were taxed at an even level, taxes were drawn out before pay, so what you were paid is what you got. Did I mention that people were allowed to grow their own food and did so admirably? I saw very FEW fat people until I came to the USA. Must be something in the food, air or water cuz I'm rather chubby now too
What we did not have:
Freedom to freely gather for whatever cause we wished to support. Freedom of religion (churches were watched, people going in or out were harassed and deprived of social boons (grades lowered, etc)). Having a second job or business was considered a crime, as was the act of abortion without a permit (same with marriage and having kids). Kept overpopulation down quite well.
His major flaws were the stifling of ideas... if the man had been less brutal and less greedy, he'd still be in power, instead of leaving a double to die on TV so he could retire with the missus. Needless to say, I presume the same will happen to Saddam, and to George Bush / Cheney when they are overthrown (I'm still waiting for the idiot in chief to declare martial law, the day he does is the day I'm a Canuck
if you were on the wrong side of our master there, he'd never hear of you... the job was delegated to his version of the NSA (and after a thorough investigation, usually taking a few seconds with a silencer or knife, nobody would hear of you again)... we had a saying "the walls have eyes and ears, say nothing and live long"... the only place people could talk was in the country in homes their grandparents had built in the times of the king before the "modernization" of the big cities.
~Daedalus
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
Discounting what some of the other alarmist posters are posting, I hope you find a good job that you'll enjoy. There's a good reason that people come to the states, and in spite of some people freaking out about what they think is going on over here, they're not so freaked out they're actually leaving in the numbers they say they represent. In other words, people are staying, other people are coming here, and they're staying too.
People come here to work every day. A lot of them start their own companies. It's not hard to start one... Keeping it going is another story. If you have that type of background over there, you can do it over here. Just be sure you have a good lawyer and a good accountant to keep you within the corporate laws of not only the country, but the state you're moving to.
If you do end up working for someone else's company, be aware that vacation time is drastically different over here than it is in Europe. You'll get two weeks per year to start....*if* you're lucky. Some jobs make you wait one year. The vacation time can sometimes be negotiated, so try to do that if at all possible.
With that out of the way, another piece of advice I can give is to travel around the country after you get settled and have some vacation time to spend. Living in one area in any country might give you a good idea of what goes on in that one area, but it won't give you a good idea of what the rest of the country is like. Go to Boston, South Florida, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Indianapolis (especially for the 500 race), etc. You'll meet a lot of great people, hear a lot of viewpoints on everything, and you'll have a lot of fun.
Good luck.
After you have H1, you can start looking at getting the "green card", One of my co-workers did this. Several years after getting the H1, getting the green card. Eventually marrying a US girl, I assume now he's in the US for good. :-)
Beware working with a H1, means the company may have you by the balls. If you stop working there, or they fire you, you may have to leave the country. This means making sure you want to work there, and it is a good company. If you want to change jobs, your only option is to find another company to sponsor the H1.
You said you are into Java. At the moement there are quite a few companies developing java apps for mobile phones, you might want to look in that job sector.
Immigrate to the USA the easy way.
1: Learn to speak Spanish.
2: Sneak across the Mexico/US border.
3: Work for cash.
You'll do fine.
I'm surprised nobody has stated the obvious. Form a company in your home country, and set up US operations. You will be able to travel back and forth at will. You can use your SO's address as the US base of operations--legally in most cases. You also become a more attractive prospect if you are a company that can be cast adrift at will, or hired just as quickly.
I'm assuming you have the european advantage of being multi-lingual. Language, coding, and business skills are a rare combination. You should work to refine that angle.
If you are not so ambitious, then get in line at your local consulate/embassy and play the immigration lottery game.
I think for your US operations you still need people legal to be in the US to be the employees.
The point is that you can easily get a business visa to be in the US legally.
I scanned through some of the suggestions on here. I saw some say that Java is on its way out (I haven't seen that - my wage has steadily increased over the last 6 years and jobs have been coming in faster than before).
There is two aspects. The first is getting a job right away might require that you find a company willing to work with work visas (H1-B isn't it?). Some will. Basically, some companies have done it and will do it -- while others don't know what is involved in doing it and avoid it.
The second aspect is to become a tax-paying citizen... talk to the immigration department and the social security office. Once you are a legal citizen, you are no different than any of the other job seekers.
The tech industry itself is always in constant flux. It is very common for a tech job to last about 1 year, at which point you have to find a new contract. While that isn't always the case, I think it would be the most common scenario.
You can work freelance (ie: multiple projects for different people instead of full-time contract for 1 client), but that is more difficult and doesn't pay as well. If you are at all worried about paying the mortgage, you will probably find yourself going the full-time contract direction. I personally am doing both right now, but the freelance projects are very few hours every few months; whereas my year-contract is paying the bills.
To find java jobs, I would recommend dice.com. It is currently listing over 13k java jobs in the US. Also, you don't necessarily have to work locally. I haven't been at the office in 2 months now.
http://www.google.com/profiles/malachid
ehm, no
We now have the technology to make a government by the people, FOR the people feasible. As Marx and Engels put it, if it were not for the excesses of the few, everyone could prosper, but the greed of the power mongers is nearly insatiable... they can never have enough.
Bush, Cheney, the bin ladin's in Arabia... Saddam... they all couldn't and can't get enough of power and money...
In the end, it will take a revolution, I just hope the geeks wanting a reform are strong enough to do it, and of course the old world will not go quietly, but as it was put by that oh so forgotten patriot / founding father, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants..."
Bush & his corporate buddies are the new tyrants... where are the patriots?! Or have they already been bled dry in Iraq, "protecting" our freedoms from those EVIL starving Iraqis.
~D
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
When I destroy all the tyrants in the world, I will rule everyone justly, and ensure that no other tyrants can possibly come up in their place! My tyranny^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hutopia will know no bounds! ....
Not really, I'm just joking... but that seems to be how many revolutionaries think
I am unamerican, and proud of it!
But, if you want to move here and work, you'll need a H-1B or similar visa. These are very, very expensive - lots of lawyers and legal fees involved. We're talking a five-figure sum by the time you've got to a green card. Used to be that companies would willingly pay for this - but that's much less common these days.
One thing to investigate is a multinational company. You might be able to start working for them in Europe, and then swing a job transfer to the USA. This is much easier and cheaper to get past immigration. There is a time limit involved, although it is several years (but then, a H-1 visa has a time limit as well).
Before you do anything, though, be very, very sure to get things from the company in writing. Remember, the penalty if they screw things up isn't just the loss of a job - it is immediate deportation.
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WROTE IN MY JOURNAL A FEW MONTHS BACK!!!
YES YOU ARE THE MAN!!! THANK THE FUCKING GODS ABOVE AND DEMONS BELOW!!!
yes... decentralization, indeed... taking power from the central "authority" and making it a mere arbitrator, as it SHOULD BE and AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!!
Taking those that gain too much by doing too little, and destroying their way of life... making them EARN what they get... so that the marine motto actually has MEANING... and they actually uphold it "never given, always earned"
~D
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
For freelancers, pretty much the only way is the visa lottery. I know people from Europe who did that.
A couple of caveats:
- there is a proposal on the table to get rid of the visa lottery.
- People born in some countries, e.g., the UK, are not eligible for it.
The usual work visas, H1 and L1, require employment and don't work for freelancing.
If you are really good, you may be able to self-petition yourself for a Greencard, but you probably would have to have a couple patents, etc.
How in blazes would I be from China and be THIS articulate?? You mustve had a very SMALL selection of extremely English proficient chinese individuals to sample from.
Also, in China they practiced brutal mass suppression, we never really had much of that, ours was more individual based. China is a very populous country, ours was relatively small, being that Russia (at the slightest nod of the oh so benevolent US gov't (the people we aided by turning guns on the Nazis)) divided what was ours to all their bootlicking comrades, I lost relatives I have never even gotten a chance to know in that bloodbath, the place is populated with Russians now, properly transplanted by Stalin to create a loyalist state (and well achieved). What had been a country the size of Texas, is in modern day, slightly larger than the size of North Carolina.
Its adjacent to the Black sea (which I've mentioned before)... look up pre WW2 invasions by the russians and check the map, I won't say more, I prefer using riddles... but it makes sense you'd ask if I am from China... after all, you're native to someplace in the US eh? Only native US'ies would assume that China is in Europe... since that IS where the Black Sea is. I live here, I see that sort of ignorance from anyone that isn't foreign educated or foreign born. (I give no credit to foreigners either, but I find most of them are far more aware of "them" not just "us".)
~D
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
I'm french *beep, bad answer*. Blame France. Hadn't paid attention to the Black Sea thing.
Why didn't I remember that Black Sea thing? Oh, I know! Maybe because you DID NOT mention it in the post I replied to, but in some other post that i just read that has nothing to do with it. Instead of treating me like a stupid muthafucka, make sure you ain't the stupid muthafucka, check which post I'm replying to
"you're native to someplace in the US eh?"
near, about 3,500 miles to the east.
"Only native US'ies would assume that China is in Europe"
man, americans ain't as dumb as you may think. I feel insulted for them. And I didn't assume China was in Europe, since you didn't talk about the black sea even once in the post I replied to.
You just got troll'd!
So you just jump into a thread in the middle and work your way down, ignoring the upper part of the thread?
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
i'm not supposed to read all of the 24 last comments he posted before i reply to one of his comments, am i??
You just got troll'd!
So I was mistaken, you didn't fail to read up, you didn't read down.
At that point he replies to you, about a day and a half later, and takes a tone which makes me think that wherever he left got the better of the deal, and, unfortunately, the conversation continued on that level.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
you didn't make the mistake of presuming me a liberal... which is a wonderful thing for you, because then I'd raise even more hell :)
HINT: I like neither side because as we've all seen lately, they are just two faces of the same rotten coinlike entity.
And rotten they are, all rich, all completely out of touch with any form of intelligent life, preaching to either a bible thumping chorus of idiots (or bible thumping chorus of rich assholes), or a welfare loving chorus of illegal immigrants... neither side seems to remember that they once STOOD for something MORE than taking bribes and representing the minority (rich fucks) that now run our country.
A couple that ARE in touch are simply incapable of swaying public opinion, because the only thing that sways public opinion is catchy sound bites, not facts (as proof I recall to your memory the use of "flip flupper" (or however bush pronounced flipflopper), where the idiots of the nation favoured bush's rhetoric only because for some odd reason, a lie to get us into a war is a lot "better and honorable" than a guy trying to win votes... hmmm... one guy goes all out to violate every international law that WE in the US put forth to "punish" "war criminals" at Nuremburg, and all of a sudden we are the violators, so we just plain ignore the very courts and laws WE set up... hmmm... talk about honour and honesty... oh and the rule of law of course.
~D
PS - and just in case you think I hold with clinton, I think he should've been impeached for the REAL offense, signing NAFTA... not for getting a blowjob... given that he's in what seems to be a marriage of convenience, waiting for Hilary to put out is like pulling teeth without anesthesia, I would rather give him props for getting a mere blowjob... at least SOME ppl in the white house are still men instead of bible thumping eunuchs or plain hypocrites.
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
You weirdos
You just got troll'd!