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A British expat site that I use in regards for my future British wife to move over here, states that most Brits that live in the U.S. are here either on a L1 visa, or on a spousal/immediate relative visa (K1/CR1). The H visas you need to have a skill that is high in demand and isn't being filled by Americans. Those you usually need a master's degree in order to qualify
Indeed, the visa issue to work in the US is a real mess. It should be point-based as for Canada or Australia. But this is another debate.
How would people compare life in the area of Sydney or Melbourne to San Francisco ? Is Australia more close to the US than England or the contrary with respect to the way people live, etc ? And would you choose Melbourne or Sydney ? In which place would IT engineers have the best opportunities ?
Indeed, the visa issue to work in the US is a real mess. It should be point-based as for Canada or Australia. But this is another debate.
How would people compare life in the area of Sydney or Melbourne to San Francisco ? Is Australia more close to the US than England or the contrary with respect to the way people live, etc ? And would you choose Melbourne or Sydney ? In which place would IT engineers have the best opportunities ?
Someone could elaborate on what I say, but what my research told me was that the Australian lifestyle is similar to the American one, as far as a car-centric culture is concerned, everyone living in sprawled out suburbs from the main core city, etc. The car will be very important there, as it is in the U.S. unless you live very close to the CBD but that's extremely expensive. As far as IT jobs are concerned, I'm not too sure on that.
For Melbourne vs. Sydney, Melbourne is obviously somewhat smaller than Sydney and of course colder and wetter being further south.
I've never lived in the USA, but am possibly going to move to CA soon. So I can't contrast the two, but I can give you a perspective on Australia. My mother is Australian so I got citizenship by descent, and I moved there as an adult and lived in Sydney for 10 years.
I've lived and worked all over the world, and Sydney remains my favourite city to live in. It is the best combination of physical beauty, natural wilderness, outdoor life, and big-city (just) work and culture that I've experienced. There are plenty of work opportunities for IT-related work, from development through to support, and as an example, my brother has made a great 20-year career there as a contractor (PM) and fully expects to continue that. There is enough cultural life to keep all but the most discerning happy, and the city has a good buzz of social life to it. It is a very walkable city, as in you can walk everywhere safely and enjoyably, and has many different concentrations of shopping, bars, nighlife areas etc. It is stunningly beautiful, both in terms of architecture (eg skyline as seen at night from harbour) and physical location (eg harbour as seen from skyline :-). You can choose a more urban lifestyle (small terrace houses within walking distance of the city) or suburban (larger houses with gardens a bit further out) or if you have serious money, both (large waterfront houses from $5m up). However you cut it, houses are expensive - I think the median is now around $500k (US/AUD much the same now) and that won't get you anything near the city or shore. Think $1m for tiny terrace close to the city, or medium size house on small plot within 20 mins. But the weather is wonderful, the beach beckons, and if you want bushwalking, camping, endless sandy beaches, rock climbing, any kind of outdoor sport you can think of - its easy to get to and free. Its a great place for kids (schools are good), medical care is good and reasonably priced, the people are generally friendly, happy and healthy. Something north of 50% of people living in Sydney were born outside of Australia, so it is a pretty cosmopolitan place, and generally accepting of immigrants - although there is definitely a rascist streak in Australia's make-up, Sydney/Melbourne are probably the most accepting / liberal.
I like Melbourne a lot to visit, but I'll leave someone else to blow its trumpet - for all that it has an image of being more culturally interesting (and is a pretty city too) the weather sucks, you may as well stay in Sunderland ;-)
Sydney car-centric? Maybe if you live in the far suburbs... and not a single one of my (South African, New Zealand, UK, Canadian) immigrant friends lived in the far-out suburbs. My inner city friends mostly dispensed with cars, and walked, cycled and scootered everywhere the trains don't go - and the train & bus network are really not bad. You'll probably want a car unless you are in the inner city, but it is very easy to commute to work by train from many many areas, and save the car for weekend get-aways or going to the beach.
^ I agree with everything technogeekery said... although not all real estate in Sydney has reached the lofty price heights he quoted. A friend of mine has a one-bedroom apartment (3rd floor, with 2 elevators, undercover car parking and pool in the grounds) in Surry Hills which is currently worth something around $470,000. Several other friends own 1 or 2 bed apartments in similar areas (Camperdown, Moore Park, Rosebery) worth pretty much the same give or take $20,000.
My Surry Hills friend owns a car, but only drives it at weekends. He's an ex-New Yorker (so is used to a good system of public transport) and has no complaints about the PT he uses to get to work.
"The Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey covering markets in six English-speaking nations and Hong Kong found that the ratio of house prices to median annual household income was 9.6 in Sydney. It put the median house price at $634,300 and median income $66,200"
Only HK rated less affordable (ratio of annual income to median house price) worldwide...
As far as health care, I would assume the IT company provides a health insurance plan. It's not like this guy plans to come here illegally and expect free health care like so many others do. If you pay into health insurance here in the USA, the healthcare system is great.
People keep saying this, but I think it's false. I have great insurance, but the American healthcare I get is awful compared to what I had in the UK.
Though the individual doctors are good, and many of the facilities are very nice, it's all very fragmented and disorganised.
I agree, even with insurance you can still be out of pocket by thousands if something happens. In my village you have to pay $1500 just for calling an ambulance.
A British expat site that I use in regards for my future British wife to move over here, states that most Brits that live in the U.S. are here either on a L1 visa, or on a spousal/immediate relative visa (K1/CR1). The H visas you need to have a skill that is high in demand and isn't being filled by Americans. Those you usually need a master's degree in order to qualify
Yes , but you said L1 was the only option. The H visas you need to have a skill that is high in demand and isn't being filled by Americans.
That's misleading. You have to compete with US applicants in the application process (just like with any job), but if the company wants you then they have to show that you meet all the criteria for the job , as documented in the job description.
For a Green card , apart from some occupations, it has to go through labor certification where they will scrutinise the job description and ensure that the wage is not below the national average, which may discourage US citizens from applying.
The H1-b which is a 3 year (dual intent)non-immigrant visa is available for people who have a Bachelors degree,not just Masters.
If someone with a Bachelors can secure a job then at the moment their chances of getting an H1-b is good because with the recession there are fewer companies employing foreign workers.
As a fellow European I find the health care system here in the States exorbitantly expensive, terrible value for money and, overall, a fiasco.
If you call a mugging a fiasco...It's an extortionate shake-down by organized crime. It really is.
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