# Moving to America after graduation?



## Fid (May 17, 2009)

Hi all,

I thought this would be a good place to ask and get some advice on this. I've always wanted to move to America, but I have been recently reading about getting visa's... and the fact it's quite difficult/impossible!

Anyway, I do plan to have a chat with my University careers people about this... but thought I would ask here to see if anyone could help/shed some light on this.

I've always wanted to be a teacher, and to teach in an American school sounds really interesting. However, I've read that they don't really accept newly qualified teachers from here often (i.e. going the PGCE route), so doing the PGCE here and then wanting to move, doesn't sound likely.

But what about being a student, and after graduating with my degree, going somewhere in America as a student to train in teaching? Would this help me gain a job as a teacher in America any better? (My university has links with lots of American uni's).

Secondly, if not teaching, what about going to an American university to do a Masters (I believe it is a year)... again through links from my Uni if possible?

I really do think the best route in... is the student way. I was intending to stay on and do a masters anyway.

Any advice on this? Am I thinking totally the wrong thing?

Cheers


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

You're going to run into a couple "gotchas" right off the bat with your current plan. First of all, this is just a bad time to be looking for work of almost any kind in the US as a foreigner. And fresh out of school makes things just that much harder. (It's almost a tradition that in tough times people "go back to school" to ride things out, hoping to find a new job when they are done with the next degree.)

Secondly, teacher certification in the US is done on a state by state basis, so to qualify as a teacher you have to be able to meet the standards in the state in which you are targeting. This can involve having certain specific classes, passing certain exams and/or student teaching within a certain set of guidelines, as well as some residency requirements. Most teachers are required to get their masters within a certain period of time after starting to teach - and many (if not most) teachers go to night school to fulfill that requirement.

It's not impossible, but do study your options carefully before you decide which way to proceed. At the moment, many school budgets are being cut back, so hiring is kind of on hold.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Skippy13 (Oct 1, 2008)

Just bear in mind that studying in the USA is very very expensive. Do you have 100K plus available to study?


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## expatconnector (May 3, 2009)

Instead of trying to move here, what about trying to live here for a while? Do you have a CIEE locally? You can often find some part-time work through them in other countries, if you're a student. In terms of the studying, if you can't afford, or qualify to study in the US, how about doing a program with a term abroad in the US? Just making a couple of suggestions, in case the official, long-term, move plan doesn't work out.


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