UK couple looking to relocate to Houston area (sales, move to)

[steve16]

Hi

We are a UK family (H,W and 1 child) looking to relocate to the Houston area, but as you may be aware it not easy with the visa regulations.

It appears the only realistic way woudl be a company sponsorship.

Any UK families in the Houston area got any experience of this or any advice - we have experience in the accounting and sales markets.

Thanks
Steve

[amyalta]

You're right, it is not easy - even for someone such as I, a UKC married for 16 years to a USC, married in the US and with 3 USC children! We plan to move to Houston and hope to get my visa on January 3rd - that will be 5 months from when we first petitioned! And that is less than the time they suggest as average, which is 6 months.

If you are able to go down the visa route via family or whatever, bear in mind that it is time-consuming, involves paperwork the sheer ambiguity and lack of clarity of which will drive you crazy, and also quite expensive - $355 just to petition, $400 for the medical (!) plus any shots you haven't had (and be prepared for your GP to say things like 'I'm not giving you these! This is stupid! We haven't had this disease in the UK for 30 years!') then $355 for the actual visa...

If you can't go down that route, then you need to be prepared for the fact that if you opt for a work-related visa, you need to prove that you are going to be doing a job for which USC were not qualified or available! Good luck!