# UK citizen to US : Any guide for the Visa options available?



## kbsk (Dec 28, 2020)

This is for my brother, who is a UK citizen, but wanted to migrate permanently to the US. I can see lot of people are moving to US from UK, but doing my bit of research, it seemed to be very hard. Wanted to understand how lot of people are moving or are there are visa options we overlooked?

Possible GC routes

Relative of a US citizen
Work/Employment routes
First preference immigrant worker (EB-1) (Priority worker)
EB2 route
H1B Sponsorship from a US company

Investment route (eg EB-5 Visa)
Lottery system (Diversity Visa) is almost non-existent for the UK nationals
​Wanted to see if there is any obvious miss from the above list? thanks in advance


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

Funamentally, that is the list... There are a few edge cases but basically the pathways are

Marry a US Person
Get a Job with a US Company
Set up a US company
Get Lucky


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

As the relative of a US citizen, I believe that US citizen must also be resident in the US. A US citizen living overseas can't sponsor a family member for a GC or any other sort of visa.


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

I would have to dig out all the old paperwork, but if I recall correctly, the petitioner must either be in the US at the time the visa holder enters the country, or they must enter the US together.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

Bevdeforges said:


> As the relative of a US citizen, I believe that US citizen must also be resident in the US. A US citizen living overseas can't sponsor a family member for a GC or any other sort of visa.


They can sponsor a spouse ....obviously US citizen must be moving back to US with said spouse.


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

Of course it is all moot unless the brother has a US citizen spouse, or other qualifying relation who could raise a petition for a family member.

But, back to his original question .. based on the facts at hand, the short answer is no, kbsk has not overlooked a visa category.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Crawford said:


> They can sponsor a spouse ....obviously US citizen must be moving back to US with said spouse.


The spouse has to evidence the intention to move back to the US with the spouse. But the statement mentioned just a "relative" - anyone other than a spouse has to be currently resident in the US.


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## kbsk (Dec 28, 2020)

Moulard said:


> Funamentally, that is the list... There are a few edge cases but basically the pathways are
> 
> Marry a US Person
> Get a Job with a US Company
> ...


thanks for that. Regarding. "Setting up a US" company, do you have the details of that. What I understood is approx $500K - $1m investment + provide min 10 jobs? Is that the same as setting up company or is an investment of similar amount to an existing company can be considered? (for instance, investing $1m into a startup company which already provides job for 100+ employees and having a stake in the company can be considered similar?)


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

kbsk said:


> thanks for that. Regarding. "Setting up a US" company, do you have the details of that. What I understood is approx $500K - $1m investment + provide min 10 jobs? Is that the same as setting up company or is an investment of similar amount to an existing company can be considered? (for instance, investing $1m into a startup company which already provides job for 100+ employees and having a stake in the company can be considered similar?)


Do you have 500K to 1m GBP to invest in a company - either start up or established? If so, then you need to be speaking to an immigration lawyer, experienced in setting up such businesses or investing in an established company and who can guide you through the onerous paperwork.


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## kbsk (Dec 28, 2020)

Crawford said:


> Do you have 500K to 1m GBP to invest in a company - either start up or established? If so, then you need to be speaking to an immigration lawyer, experienced in setting up such businesses or investing in an established company and who can guide you through the onerous paperwork.


thanks. He runs a company in the UK of similar value, which may need to be transferred etc. Will speak to immigration specialist then, to see investment rather than transferring is better or not.
So it seems there is no easier way/visa options for UK citizen other than the default available ones for other countries.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

kbsk said:


> So it seems there is no easier way/visa options for UK citizen other than the default available ones for other countries.


Not to be nasty about it, but take a look at the "visa options" for a US citizen (or any other nationality) to move to the UK. If anything, the UK immigration rules seem to be even more restrictive (and expensive) than the US ones.


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## kbsk (Dec 28, 2020)

Bevdeforges said:


> Not to be nasty about it, but take a look at the "visa options" for a US citizen (or any other nationality) to move to the UK. If anything, the UK immigration rules seem to be even more restrictive (and expensive) than the US ones.


Not at all. We were just looking for options for him to move out of the UK and thought if there was any specific visa available for UK citizens or if we have missed any obvious visa routes. Thanks again for all the answers.


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## Eliora (Apr 20, 2020)

Bevdeforges said:


> Not to be nasty about it, but take a look at the "visa options" for a US citizen (or any other nationality) to move to the UK. If anything, the UK immigration rules seem to be even more restrictive (and expensive) than the US ones.


I can validate what Bev writes, in that we have looked into both immigrations extensively ourselves.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

kbsk said:


> t
> So it seems there is no easier way/visa options for UK citizen other than the default available ones for other countries.


Correct.... there is nothing special set up for UK citizens to move to the US. Indeed, the diversity visa is not available to 90% of UK citizens.


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