# Looking to move to FL in the next few years..



## WirralDave (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi all, My Fiance and I are looking to emigrate to Mid Florida in the next few years.
I'm an electrician and my other half is a qualified nursery nurse. We're looking to Florida primarily because her Grandparents and Uncle already live near Apopka, and they emigrated about 15 years ago. Would her grandparents be able to help use Visa wise? Or would we be best trying to get jobs and get our visas sponsored?

Thanks, Dave and Sarah


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

WirralDave said:


> Hi all, My Fiance and I are looking to emigrate to Mid Florida in the next few years.
> I'm an electrician and my other half is a qualified nursery nurse. We're looking to Florida primarily because her Grandparents and Uncle already live near Apopka, and they emigrated about 15 years ago. Would her grandparents be able to help use Visa wise? Or would we be best trying to get jobs and get our visas sponsored?
> 
> Thanks, Dave and Sarah


Neither your grandparents nor your uncle cannot sponsor you as relatives.

The chance of finding sponsorship through employment with your skills as described is effectively zero.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

As fatbrit says, grandparents and aunts/uncles aren't considered close enough relations for a "family" visa. And for immigration purposes, the wait can be considerable.

Jobs are the other way to go, but the US strongly favors university degreed professions - though even then you'd most likely wind up part of the H1B lottery. Both electricians and nursing are professions that are bound by state licensing rules. You might try checking the Florida state licensing boards for your professions to see if they offer any recognition of your qualifications as part of the licensing process.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Bevdeforges said:


> Jobs are the other way to go, but the US strongly favors university degreed professions - though even then you'd most likely wind up part of the H1B lottery. Both electricians and nursing are professions that are bound by state licensing rules. You might try checking the Florida state licensing boards for your professions to see if they offer any recognition of your qualifications as part of the licensing process.


I'm assuming a nursery nurse is not a regular medical nurse -- that would be a whole new ballgame! Say that they both managed to get state licensed -- then their chances of securing sponsorship through that are effectively nil. The sole path outside temporary solutions is the EB3 immigrant visa. Any employer would be required to both spend a lot of money and wait an awful long time until they were able to come over and work. And even then the path is not clear cut -- arguing that you can't find a suitably qualified electrician already here would be difficult unless the OP had some unusual specialty, e.g. experience with avant-garde such as solar power systems. I'd need to brainstorm for the nursery nurse position but maybe a language skill 

There are two places where they might gain an advantage using this method, however. One is where they had a mate who ran a suitable business and is propared to go the extra mile. The second is where the spouse on a non-immigrant visa but with work authorization (e.g. an E2) and can work for the company while waiting for EB to come through -- there are big caveats here though!

I really don't think it's sensible to give folks false hopes for the sake of being nice. A trip or three to Florida, a lot of studying, attendance at some classes perhaps -- and they're still no further forward than they were before but thousands of dollars lighter.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Does nursery nurse not translate to day care attendant/worker?


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

twostep said:


> Does nursery nurse not translate to day care attendant/worker?


I believe the new terminology is associate.


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## WirralDave (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes, the qualification she has is for a supervisory level in daycare/ or as an assistant teacher.
I'm also hoping to specialize in Air Conditioning Systems and/or Energy Efficient Home Heating Installation and maintenance (solar/wind power etc) but I've not done the courses yet!
Would there be any recommended sites or literature that anyone could point me toward?
Thanks for the replies so far, good to finally see a forum where folks are honest and don't try and blow smoke up peoples arses!


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

HVAC-Talk: Heating, Air & Refrigeration Discussion - Powered by vBulletin

These folks may be answer to give you some inside information about HVAC certifications ...

Bev - I hope I did not cross any house rules. If so - please delete. Thank you.


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## WirralDave (Aug 4, 2008)

*Fatbrit* Thanks, i'll have a look on there


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

WirralDave said:


> Yes, the qualification she has is for a supervisory level in daycare/ or as an assistant teacher.
> I'm also hoping to specialize in Air Conditioning Systems and/or Energy Efficient Home Heating Installation and maintenance (solar/wind power etc) but I've not done the courses yet!
> Would there be any recommended sites or literature that anyone could point me toward?
> Thanks for the replies so far, good to finally see a forum where folks are honest and don't try and blow smoke up peoples arses!


If you want an immigration site, many are just con sites trying to take your money by selling you useless literature or lists of employers you could have Googled for. The best ones are those belonging to reputable immigration attorneys. Try Shusterman's site for a good one.

Anyways for our continued journey, let's start probing:
Where were you both born? If the answer is the UK, tell me England. Scotland, etc.
Where were your parents born?
Have either of you had any arrests, especially drug-related ones?
If you both sold up totally and put all your cash together, how much would be in the kitty?


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## WirralDave (Aug 4, 2008)

Fatbrit said:


> If you want an immigration site, many are just con sites trying to take your money by selling you useless literature or lists of employers you could have Googled for. The best ones are those belonging to reputable immigration attorneys. Try Shusterman's site for a good one.
> 
> Anyways for our continued journey, let's start probing:
> Where were you both born? If the answer is the UK, tell me England. Scotland, etc.
> ...


Both born in Birkenhead, Merseyside (Well its was still Cheshire when I was born!)
All 4 parents born in Northwest England (Grandparents Irish on my side, English on Hers)
No arrests, nor anything remotely related, not even a parking fine, and at the moment we're probably only worth around 10K so we're saving hard and aiming for nearer 20K by the end of the year.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

WirralDave said:


> Both born in Birkenhead, Merseyside (Well its was still Cheshire when I was born!)
> All 4 parents born in Northwest England (Grandparents Irish on my side, English on Hers)
> No arrests, nor anything remotely related, not even a parking fine, and at the moment we're probably only worth around 10K so we're saving hard and aiming for nearer 20K by the end of the year.


Okay -- so diversity visa lottery no good, I'm afraid.
Also, not nearly enough capital to start your own HVAC business with a visa.

Personally, if you wish to emigrate short term, I'd look elsewhere -- OZ, NZ, Canada.

If you wish to leave it till the longterm, I'd look at starting your own HVAC or other electrically-related business in the UK, building it up, and then moving to the US to open up a branch of your business under an L1a. That or go in with the girlfriend and start a nursery-care business to do similar.

Search on web for L1a intracompany transfer to start researching the method.


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## synthia (Apr 18, 2007)

The Florida housing market is in the toilet. Many developments have been halted half-finished, condo associations can't afford maintenance, and the foreclosure level is very high. The building trades are repair services are not doing well.

I don't know much about the day care business, but I do know that the employees are generally not well paid. I don't know that there are any levels of certification for day care workers, even. Day care in the US is private, so centers must keep costs low to make it affordable. So salaries are generally not very good.

So here I go being negative again. This is not a good time for immigrants who are already in the US legally, as many get lumped in with the illegals in peoples' minds (though this is mainly a problem for Latinos), let alone those who are trying to get in. The US, unlike Australia, is not seeking immigrants.
Australia, however, has a shortage of people in the trades. Have you thought of that as an option.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

WirralDave said:


> Yes, the qualification she has is for a supervisory level in daycare/ or as an assistant teacher.
> I'm also hoping to specialize in Air Conditioning Systems and/or Energy Efficient Home Heating Installation and maintenance (solar/wind power etc) but I've not done the courses yet!
> Would there be any recommended sites or literature that anyone could point me toward?
> Thanks for the replies so far, good to finally see a forum where folks are honest and don't try and blow smoke up peoples arses!


If I were you, I'd hold off on taking the air conditioning or energy efficient home heating training until you can get to the US for it. (Ideally, see if you could get your employer to send you to the States for this sort of training.) This type of work is linked to local building and electrical codes and I suspect could differ considerably from what you'd be learning on a UK training programme. Besides, most American employers don't want to bother trying to figure the equivalents when dealing with foreign qualifications.

One avenue to explore might be to look into international companies (preferably US based) dealing with air conditioning and heating - Carrier is one, and there are others. Working for them in the UK might give you the possibility to go to the US (though not necessarily to Florida) at least for training and possibly give you the chance to make other opportunities for yourself. (Getting yourself known to your US colleagues in a large international company is the best way to work out a transfer or job offer.) It's definitely a long-range plan, but until and unless the economy and immigration regulations change, probably your best option.

I don't have the same faith in immigration attorneys that fatbrit does - and I think it's difficult to sort out the "good" ones from the shysters based on their websites. I think they're probably more useful once you have determined the basis for your visa and then need expert assistance making sure you're stating your case correctly. (I.e. for a US citizen returning to the US with her non-US husband) If you can manage to find a company to transfer you, they'll use their own attorneys to handle the paperwork. But if you don't have family or an employer to sponsor you, there's not much an 
attorney can do for you no matter how much money you throw at him.

In your wife's case, there really aren't any "day care" level qualifications in the US, which makes it unlikely she can get her qualification recognized. For a supervisory level position, she'd either need a degree in "early childhood education" or in business. (Everything is a business in the US!)

There is always the student route - one or both of you attending school in the US for a time, which would give you a chance to look around and see for yourself what your work options might be. But you need to have the money saved up to live on, as working on the side is pretty strictly limited by the visa terms.
Cheers,
Bev


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

You can take a career in child development particularly in early child development from a certification course to work at a church day care center to a PhD. The sky is the limit and so is compensation.


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Bevdeforges said:


> I don't have the same faith in immigration attorneys that fatbrit does - and I think it's difficult to sort out the "good" ones from the shysters based on their websites.


Just for the record, fatbrit does not have undying faith in immigration attorneys. In fact, fatbrit has been rather nasty to a few of them on immigrations boards already. (One of the ones I enjoyed most was this plonker who used to accuse us all regularly of UPL. A few of us played a vicious game of Mornington Crescent around him one evening. Afraid you might need to be British to understand this, Bev.)

OP asked for a site where he could read about immigration issues. There's little that would relate to his circumstances (given he really doesn't fit in the niche), and the .gov sites are totally unintelligible to anyone who doesn't have a lot of knowledge about the system. Gave him a site where there's plenty to read and start to learn about it. He might also try Sheila Murthy if he wants to look at another comprehensive site.

Determining whether you need an immigration attorney and finding a suitable one is indeed a difficult task. One things that confuses Brits is the degree of specialization within the law over here. Not only do you need an immigration one, but you need one that specializes in your type of case. An attorney who specializes in 601 waivers for marriage applicants is probably not the person to sort out your TN status, for example.

The basics if you need a lawyer is to check their membership in AILA.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Fatbrit said:


> (One of the ones I enjoyed most was this plonker who used to accuse us all regularly of UPL. A few of us played a vicious game of Mornington Crescent around him one evening. Afraid you might need to be British to understand this, Bev.)


I think you're right in that I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about here. I did live in the UK long enough to be able to imagine what might be involved, though, and perhaps I'll stick with that image! 

A few years back I was on a forum where the common wisdom was that anyone thinking of moving to the US MUST consult an immigration attorney without fail. I've always found that a bit overblown, though Americans do tend to run to the lawyers for every little thing and marvel that others don't.

I'm also astounded at how many Americans insist that everyone must have a "tax advisor" too. (And I am a CPA/accountant.) Oh well...
Cheers,
Bev


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## Fatbrit (May 8, 2008)

Bevdeforges said:


> A few years back I was on a forum where the common wisdom was that anyone thinking of moving to the US MUST consult an immigration attorney without fail. I've always found that a bit overblown, though Americans do tend to run to the lawyers for every little thing and marvel that others don't.


Think there are always two factors to consider: complexity of issue and complexity of poster. I keep a DSM IV on the desk for reading some opening posts.


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