# Partner moving to Boston, MA - how can I join him?



## charlottefhutton (Sep 17, 2014)

Hi eveyrone,

New to this site so any help/advice would be most appreciated!

*Little bit about me....*

I have a First Class (BA) Honors Degree in Business, 5 years experience working for a UK defence company in various roles (procurement, project management, business devleopment and bid management) and 1 year working for a B2B conferencing company in London, where I am the Programme Director for my company's European portfolio of Supply Chain and Logistics events.

*My current situation...*

My partner (not "yet" husband) works for a manufacturing company in the UK - it is a family business, his dad is the CEO. They have sites all around the world including one just outside Boston, MA in the US (where his dad's brother is the current MD). He is looking to retire in the next 2 years and move back to the UK and my partner is being lined up to run the US office for an (approximate) 5 year stint which would mean relocating, within the next 18months - 2 years.

I obviously want to go with him and have just started doing some preliminary research into how this would be feasible as I understand that because we are not married, I would need to apply for a Visa on my own merit.

I am not expecting this to be an easy process but from what I gather so far, the easiest way for me to get a Visa would be to have a transfer to a US branch of a UK company that I have been working for for at least a year (I have enquired with my current company who have an office in NY, which would mean be "working from home" from Boston, travelling into the office a few days each month). I am not yet sure if this is even a possibility and if it is not, then I need to start thinking about other options.

*Some questions I have......*

If my partner and I got married before we moved, would I be able to get a Visa as his spouse? If so, what would I then need to do to get a Visa to permit me to work in the US (we can probably live off his salary in the meantime) and how long would that take?

Could his current company employ me in a low-level adminstrative position and sponsor a joint Visa application? And then I can find alternative employment once I am settled?

Could I apply for a new job with a new company in Boston and get my Visa via them?

Any other advice or general tips would be great as this is all very new to us and we are curently on a massive "fact-finding" mission.

Many thanks in advance!

Charlotte


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

What is your partner's (future husband's) citizenship or immigration status with respect to the United States? Is he a U.S. citizen or U.S. national?


----------



## charlottefhutton (Sep 17, 2014)

BBCWatcher said:


> What is your partner's (future husband's) citizenship or immigration status with respect to the United States? Is he a U.S. citizen or U.S. national?


He is a UK citizen just like me. We haven't begun to apply for any visa's yet, as I'd imagine his will taken care of by his sponsoring company, I just wanted to look at what my options were for accompanying him.

Thanks


----------



## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Depends on what sort of visa his employer is sending him over on. If it's a "transfer" and thus an L1, his spouse would get an L2 visa, with which she can work, no problem. (Well, other than finding a job.)

On most other sorts of "work visas" the trailing spouse can't work. But given that it's a family business, it shouldn't be too difficult for the company to go the L route.

As far as getting a work visa on your own, it's not the easiest thing in the world to do and if something should go wrong with the job, then you'll have to leave the country pretty quickly after the job ends.
Cheers,
Bev


----------



## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Family business has no impact on requirements for L1. 

If he qualifies for L1 the spouse qualifies for L2 and her EAD can be applied for with the visa. Otherwise there is B2 accompanying partner.

BA in business and all but one year experience in non-public sector is not likely to attract a US employer to go through H1B.


----------



## charlottefhutton (Sep 17, 2014)

twostep said:


> Family business has no impact on requirements for L1.
> 
> If he qualifies for L1 the spouse qualifies for L2 and her EAD can be applied for with the visa. Otherwise there is B2 accompanying partner.
> 
> BA in business and all but one year experience in non-public sector is not likely to attract a US employer to go through H1B.


Thanks for your comment. Just to clarify, the 5 years I spent in the defence industry was for a private company so in total have 6 years private industry work experience.


----------



## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

If you married before he transferred and he gets an Lx visa then you would obtain an L2 and could work once your Employment Authorisation Document comes through - 9 to 12 weeks. You could apply for any job, anywhere.

If you don't marry then you would need to get your own work visa and the prospective company would need to sponsor you.

It's most unlikely that you would get a visa for a low level admin job (plenty of admin people in the US) so not worth thinking about really.

Marriage is by far the best/easiest route.


----------



## JoeyJoJo! (Jun 25, 2013)

America hires only elite innovations and people with very technical unique skill sets. Nothing you have said would make you stand out in getting a visa here. Basically in my opinion you aren't good enough to qualify on your own. I would be getting married.


----------



## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

JoeyJoJo! said:


> America hires only elite innovations and people with very technical unique skill sets. Nothing you have said would make you stand out in getting a visa here. Basically in my opinion you aren't good enough to qualify on your own. I would be getting married.


I think you're confusing the visas that mainly U.S. tech companies get for foreign engineers and programers -- which allows foreigners to travel to the U.S. for jobs -- to work visas that foreigners who are already in the U.S. can get from employers who want to keep them there. I've seen it happen time and again with companies I've worked in, or for people I've known. In an international PR firm where I worked, we hired a woman for a low level administrative job, which was legal for her for six months after graduation. A Ukrainian national. Boss liked her and it was fairly easy to get her a full-fledged work visa, saying the position called for a Ukrainian-Russian speaker with knowledge of Ukraine, Russia, no U.S. citizen available. In a journalist company, they wanted to keep a Basque from Spain. They simply described the job position as needing a Basque, Spanish speaker who writes English and knows Spain. Approved. Happens all the time. It's not something anyone can apply for. The employer has to know you and want you.


----------



## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Meritorious-MasoMenos said:


> I think you're confusing the visas that mainly U.S. tech companies get for foreign engineers and programers -- which allows foreigners to travel to the U.S. for jobs -- to work visas that foreigners who are already in the U.S. can get from employers who want to keep them there. I've seen it happen time and again with companies I've worked in, or for people I've known. In an international PR firm where I worked, we hired a woman for a low level administrative job, which was legal for her for six months after graduation. A Ukrainian national. Boss liked her and it was fairly easy to get her a full-fledged work visa, saying the position called for a Ukrainian-Russian speaker with knowledge of Ukraine, Russia, no U.S. citizen available. In a journalist company, they wanted to keep a Basque from Spain. They simply described the job position as needing a Basque, Spanish speaker who writes English and knows Spain. Approved. Happens all the time. It's not something anyone can apply for. The employer has to know you and want you.


OT:

This was when? It may have been a bit more difficult to find a Basque native speaker who is fluent in Spanish and English than someone with procurement in a rather niche sector. 

OTP is not for low level positions. 

BTW - you never got into details about your wife's Green Card.


----------



## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

twostep said:


> OT:
> 
> This was when? It may have been a bit more difficult to find a Basque native speaker who is fluent in Spanish and English than someone with procurement in a rather niche sector.
> 
> ...


I just think that many folks take all of these rules far too literally and believe that that is how they are actually implemented across the board. I've lived in New York City and Washington DC in my adult life when I wasn't living overseas. Believe me, thousands of foreigners come to these two places every year on all kinds of visas and stay for as long as they want. Not all, of course. But many, many, many. It's not that employers have personal relationships with the bureaucrats who grant visas or extensions. I know for a fact that my boss who hired that Ukrainian gal never tried for a foreigner visa before. It was just very easy to get, and she was a low level worker. What kind of visa, I have no idea. I was just aware of his decision to try and keep her, and there were no hitches.

That was in DC, but of course, both NYC and the DC region have huge proportions of foreigners, legal, illegal, and may legal in on various visas, many who overstay. NYC is an official refugee city for illegals, so they have no concerns about getting into any kind of problems with police if they get stopped for anything. Employers have to be careful, I imagine. The feds would have objections to illegals in the work force, but no one else.

The DC govt is also officially welcoming of illegals, I believe, as is Maryland. Virginia state govt not so much, but I believe governments of Fairfax County and Arlington County are. 

In this context, citizens of the UK especially are welcomed as long lost cousins, as are Aussies and Kiwis. Canadians just merge right in. Getting-by employment is easy. Go into any Irish pub or English one and listen to the employees. Think they all have green cards? Almost as easy for folks from Western Europe.

Now, for immigrants from Asia, Latin America, Middle East, I'd say that people who overstay tourist, student visas, or just plain border crossers, get much the same support from their communities, which are gigantic in both NY metro and DC tri-state (well, DC, Maryland and Virginny) areas, until they figure out a way to get legal.

I oppose all illegal efforts, but I describe them to give the context in which people who are here legally can slide into one slot or another if they are persistent. That's why I shake my head whenever a poster tells a Brit, Irish or Aussie that he or she has no chance to stay legally in the U.S. Again, all perfectly legal. I'm not saying I'm in favor of it. It's just the reality.


----------



## JoeyJoJo! (Jun 25, 2013)

Meritorious-MasoMenos said:


> I just think that many folks take all of these rules far too literally and believe that that is how they are actually implemented across the board. I've lived in New York City and Washington DC in my adult life when I wasn't living overseas. Believe me, thousands of foreigners come to these two places every year on all kinds of visas and stay for as long as they want. Not all, of course. But many, many, many. It's not that employers have personal relationships with the bureaucrats who grant visas or extensions. I know for a fact that my boss who hired that Ukrainian gal never tried for a foreigner visa before. It was just very easy to get, and she was a low level worker. What kind of visa, I have no idea. I was just aware of his decision to try and keep her, and there were no hitches.
> 
> That was in DC, but of course, both NYC and the DC region have huge proportions of foreigners, legal, illegal, and may legal in on various visas, many who overstay. NYC is an official refugee city for illegals, so they have no concerns about getting into any kind of problems with police if they get stopped for anything. Employers have to be careful, I imagine. The feds would have objections to illegals in the work force, but no one else.
> 
> ...


I semi agree with what your saying.

Immigrants from Latin America are illegal and needed in low level skill jobs. This lady is not going to flip burgers at McDonalds. She wants a professional job. That requires a work permit that since the 1980s is extremely difficult to get. A Spanish Basque English intepreter is quite a unique job. What this lady does is not.


----------



## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Meritorious-MasoMenos said:


> I just think that many folks take all of these rules far too literally and believe that that is how they are actually implemented across the board. I've lived in New York City and Washington DC in my adult life when I wasn't living overseas. Believe me, thousands of foreigners come to these two places every year on all kinds of visas and stay for as long as they want. Not all, of course. But many, many, many. It's not that employers have personal relationships with the bureaucrats who grant visas or extensions. I know for a fact that my boss who hired that Ukrainian gal never tried for a foreigner visa before. It was just very easy to get, and she was a low level worker. What kind of visa, I have no idea. I was just aware of his decision to try and keep her, and there were no hitches.
> 
> That was in DC, but of course, both NYC and the DC region have huge proportions of foreigners, legal, illegal, and may legal in on various visas, many who overstay. NYC is an official refugee city for illegals, so they have no concerns about getting into any kind of problems with police if they get stopped for anything. Employers have to be careful, I imagine. The feds would have objections to illegals in the work force, but no one else.
> 
> ...


As always - no information.


----------

