Moving to The United States
Imagine, you have been on holiday to The United States and you have completely fallen in love with everything the country has to offer. You want the American Dream as well. But, do you have the option to just pack your things and move to The United States? In this article we will try and give you more information on moving to The United States.
Visa
If you have been to The United States, you will know that you can not visit without a visa. If you only plan to stay for less than 90 days, you still have the option to travel with an ESTA. However, do you plan to stay longer, you will need a visa to do so. And even with a visa you can’t just stay to live there. If you wish to migrate to The United States, you will need to be in possession of a green card. Getting a green card is not easy, a couple of options are listed for you:
- Marrying an American
- Winning the Green Card lottery
- Getting employed by an American employer
- Money
Marriage
If you get married to an American, you get the option to apply for a K1-visa. This is the so-called engagement visa. You do need to get married within three months and you will have to stay married to each other for at least three years. Then you can make a claim for a green card.
Green Card Lottery
In this lottery about 55,000 green cards a year are given to people that apply. Everybody can join this lottery for free. Registering for this lottery is relatively simple, so you can do this on your own. Because of this lottery everybody gets a chance to become an American citizen. However, so many people join this lottery every year (about 20 million) that the chance is very small that you will actually win.
Employer in The United States
If you have an American employer and you have the ability to work in The United States, you can apply for a green card after you have worked in The United States with the L1 visa for a couple of years.
Money
If you can really contribute to the American economy and society, you will be eligible for a green card much faster. But when you own a lot of money, you will also have a bigger chance at a permanent residence permit. Do you have 1 million dollars at your disposal? In that case you will be able to get a permanent residence permit (EB5-visa) is no time. With this money new jobs can be created. The requirement is that you do need to have at least ten employees. You can also put in $150,000. - dollars. This will help you get and E1/E2 visa, with which you can apply for a residence permit, however not a permanent residence permit.
The move to The United States, you have been able to get a Green Card in one of the ways mentioned above, congratulations! Now the real work starts, what do you have to take care of?
Transport of your belongings
Make sure you think about what you want to bring and leave behind at forehand. Do you already have a place to stay in The United States? These are often furnished, so you won’t have to take everything with you. Therefore, really investigate what you will need to bring and what things you won’t need to bring. To get your belongings to The United States you can let them be transported by a cargo ship. This is the most common way of having belongings shipped. If you are in a hurry to have your belongings shipped, you can also make use of a cargo plane. Do keep in mind that this will be a lot more expensive. The price for transporting by a cargo ship will differentiate depending on the company. Mostly, it depends on how long the shipment will take and which route the ship will take to The United States. Tip: compare the prices and ask for quotations from multiple companies, since the prices can differ quite a lot.
A job in The United States
Finding a job in The United States can be rather difficult. They use a lot of nepotism when it comes to getting a job. Which means you will not easily get picked out. If you don’t know anybody you can choose to do some volunteering first to get some experience. This looks very good on your résumé. If you do know people, send them your résumé to have them send it to their business associates. At least keep track of newspapers, magazines, job fairs and employment agencies.
PTIN (Prepare Tax Identification Number)
As an American citizen you have to get a PTIN number. This number is used in The United States for all your tax business. Make sure you apply for one right away!
