Need help getting away !

[Kapitan]

Ok guys im sick and tired of the UK ive planned for the last few months with my friend and we have decided enough is enough and we want out.
For a time we had decided that LA would be a good place to go too, however i did learn it was very expencive to live there same as NY.

I have very limited experiance im a refuse collector (garbage / trash man) this is roughly all i have done, if i do get my position in the RFA i will tough it out for a year and then go.

The thing i need help with is the following:


How do i apply for a green card
How do i find employment
I need a cheap area to live and i dont care where as long as they have jobs
Any other advice you may have.Thanks any help is much appreciated.

[Iceman]

If you look at the fastest growing cites..../ states....Arizona and Texas are right up there...particularly AZ...Phoenix,Mesa,Gilbert...for the prices of housing verses costs of living you probably wont find a better place to live...the Summers are brutal though....brutal for people not used to 100+ degree temps...I bought almost 2400sq ft, 4bed ,3 bath, home 3 months ago a little outside the metro are for less than 200k....it is a perfect time for anyone looking to buy almost anywhere....I would think you could find a collector job out here prety easy....do you or are you able to drive the big collector trucks...here the all use a big arm off the trucks and just drive all day...all kinds of that kind of work I would think around here.If you are looking for a 2 or 3 bed home brand new you can find em here for under 100k no BS...brand new.

Just look up the local newspapers around here...the AZ republic or East Valley Tribune...

http://www.azcentral.com/

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/


This company WM...Waste Mgmnt I see they're trucks all over out here...
http://www.wm.com/


This was good info also..Chandler AZ is a good city too...
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-106.html

[Skybird]

Good luck, Kapitan, and respect! That step shows courage, if you really carry it out.

If I would have had children, I would have given it a serious thought to leave germany, too. Just no idea where to go. :D

listen around for greencard lotteries, i mean somebody who won a card but does not want it. Ebay! Can't comment on these being fakes or not, though, so be careful. In the past twenty years, my father knew at five times of colleagues or their relatives who won a greencard without even wanting it! True.

[fatty]

If you are set on the U.S. then I can't say anything, but I thought I'd mention the Alberta oil sands projects anyway. The drilling companies are in dire need of young, able workers like yourself. Most of my friends from high school have moved out west and are working there now. I believe they all provide training, but seeing as you have experience operating heavy machinery that is an asset. And since you're drilling for black gold the pay is $$$$. You wouldn't live in a major chic metropolitan area like LA or NYC, but Calgary is a pretty booming place I'm told.

[Kapitan]

I currently hold HGV class 2 which allows me in the UK and europe to drive any viechle on a rigid chasis upto the maximum of 32 tonne with no trailer over 750kg.

However none of my licencies will stand in the US as im on a sponsored driving scheme which means if i leave my job i loose my licence till im 21, however i dont care about that i want out.

[Iceman]

I hear nothing but good things from our neighbors up North in Canada as well...always all good. :up:

[Kapitan]

Id rather move out to the USA canada is a close second and AZ does look cheap and the company link you gave me for WM im having a look at that maybe they could sponsor me or something now to find out how to contact them.

[Torplexed]

Wow...this is quite the sad demographic trend for the UK. Young people in their twenties and thirties packing up and leaving for good. People feeling stifled, fed-up and wanting out. I've been reading about it for a while now.. Hopefully the last person leaving Britain will turn out the lights. :cry:

[XabbaRus]

Hey if I could I would but I have kids. I really want to move back to Russia, just got to get a few more years under my belt where I am to get experience then will try somewhere else. Only trouble is my daughter started school this year and I don't want to screw that up.

One of the reasons why is I am fed up with f**king freebie grabbers and I'm not talking about the asylum seekers but home grown brits.

Little story, over the road from me is a single mum 26 with 4 kids from 3 different dads. She even gets her driving lessons paid for. Now she had a job in Aker Kavaener in the HR department which her cousin got for her. After tax she was gettin £770-800 a week, but complained after bills she only had £70 a week left, WTF...even with child care I can't see where the money was going.

Case number 2. Single mum with 2 kids by 2 dads, pregnant with current man. They have just bought a house. However they haven't been living together he pops around for a couple of nights a week. Why? If he moved in with her she would lose her benefits like council tax rebate, etc etc..she would have to pay full rent on the housing association house (mine is one of 3 here that are private) and here I am working hard, staretd at my job green as a tree, built up experience and a repuation, worrying about money getting stressed and hoping I get the raise I have asked for and these barstards are getting freebies....that is why I'd like to leave, nothing to do with immigrants more to do with lazy assed brits. Hell the Polish guys who come over here at least they work bloody hard.

RANT OVER......Good luck Kapitan, send us a postcard.

[Torplexed]

I hear ya...it's my understanding that the number one emigration destination for Brits is Australia followed by New Zealand, and Spain. At least the weather is sunnier. :sunny:
Where I live in the US we're having Wales' climate at the moment...bleah. :nope:

[Kapitan]

The low down on the demise of the UK:

Permanant jobs in the UK have decreased 86% since 2000
Temporary jobs have risen 24%
63% of jobs in the area i live in are filled by immigrants both legal and illigal
54% of the people in my area claim state benifits because they cant get a job

I work in refuse and recycling ive been waiting for a full time job in that field with my local council for nearly 2 years, alot of the guys i work along side who are permanent were in my situation for 4 or 5 years before they were allowed to be taken on by the council.

I work for £5.52 an hour i do the standard 5 day 40 hour week if i work a full week sometimes theres only work for 3 or 4 days, on average after tax i take home £163 before tax i get roughly £217 my car insurance a month is £173.11 it goes down in january to £109 a monththe repayment on my loan is £105 a month petrol costs are £120 a month (never had a full tank yet).
On top of that i have to get food for the week i manage by limiting myself to around £20 and most are the cheap microwave meals, im fortunate that i dont have to pay rent and im lucky that ive got an overdraft on my account which at this rate i can never clear.

I cant afford to move out into my own place because the rent for a one bedroom flat is around £600 a month plus council tax of around £1100 a month then the untilaty bills i just couldnt do it.

So my only way out is to sell what ever i can save it in cash not use it and then try and scrape together enough to atleast get a plane ticket to the US i dont mind getting there and sleeping on the streets for a time till i find a job i can cope with that but its better than being here.

Theres little hope in my area for any jobs in the near future house prices are rising fast, prices of petrol and travel on public transport are rising,food prices are rising the cost of utility items are rising also but wages are remaining the same.

there was a guy that said to live in england comftably (southeast region) you must earn around £35,000 a year, i earn around £10,500 a year.

Petrol prices are to go up again next month tax again is set to rise, i just cant afford to live here anymore.

[Torplexed]

Good luck Kaptain. If Arizona doesn't work out look into Wyoming. This article is about a year old but might still be valid. Real hungry for workers last I heard.

http://www.workpermit.com/news/2006_11_01/us/wyoming_emplyment_opportunities.htm

[Kapitan_Phillips]

I'm out for good too. Going over to study, then coming back for a bit, then pissing off for good to work and live.

I'll be damned if this government is taking most of my hard earned cash and pissing it away on crap.

[elite_hunter_sh3]

yet immigration spiked up dramatically while jobs went down... :hmm::hmm:

move to the New England Area, Maine, Conneticut, etc.. virtually no crimes.. rarely any illegal immigrants (which means jobs are plentiful there:up:)

LA is detroit in its early stages.. dont bother with Arizona or southern Texas (Illegals galore:shifty:) .. Northern Texas seems pretty good..:up:

[PeriscopeDepth]

I like the Pacific NW. Relatively low cost of living, and there's certainly jobs here.

PD

[fatty]

http://oilsands.infomine.com/careers/

There's a list of a bunch of jobs in the oil sands out west. As you can see, dozens are added daily so it is quite the operation. Lots of full-time postings for labourers, drivers, etc. I'm not trying to sell this option or anything (I'm actually a little angry at the oil sands for sucking all of the labourers out of my area) but it deserves consideration.

[kiwi_2005]

As long as your decision is not a spurr of the moment thing then good luck.

Have you thought about travelling the world - join up with a back packers group and travel round the world each place you stop at you find work and because you belong to the backpackers you always find work, you dont need heaps of money as you all look after each other and in every place theres a backpackers sleep in. A friend whos daughter is doing just that at the moment shes in the Philiphines shes into her 2nd year and shes loving it, sends us photos of her trips shes been to places i never knew existed! She had no good reason to do it, she had a good job was paying off her own home then one day out of the blue she told her mum im sick of this way of living im off to see the world. Quit her job, and off she went. Only 24 years old so why not.

So far shes been to Uk, States, Israel, South Africa and now in the Philiphines next stop is the Med

Its just a thought alot of young people do this these days. I wish i had when i was in my 20's

[Iceman]

yet immigration spiked up dramatically while jobs went down... :hmm::hmm:

move to the New England Area, Maine, Conneticut, etc.. virtually no crimes.. rarely any illegal immigrants (which means jobs are plentiful there:up:)

LA is detroit in its early stages.. dont bother with Arizona or southern Texas (Illegals galore:shifty:) .. Northern Texas seems pretty good..:up:

Dont bother with AZ....what a ding dong post....lol...I am a native Zonie born and raised here and the illegals are no more than a mild eyesore nusiance to the average joe....they present they're own unique set of problems but that is another story....they come here because ...hum lets see....it is the shortest walk....but we got Sherrif Joe for them.

I meet people constantly moving here to get away from snow,in the East and cost of living in Cali....no work in Northern states....all of America is awesome and any state I would think is better than most places in the world.....you can drive from state to state...no papers...even let you have a recreational vehicle and you can raise and cook and eat your own rabbitts. :) but you'll need a fat american wife to cook them lol...
:lurk:

I also know alot of people move up NW ways and do alright too...but alot of them move here because they say all the rain constantly up there is depressing...?I had seen on the news about a year ago how Fatty said about huge amounts of oil being able to be gained from up there and knew then it would bring jobs...be a good place to at least make it over to this side of the globe....and go from there.

[SUBMAN1]

Not to dash your hopes much, but there is a waiting list a thousand miles long for the US. Only 4 ways to get into the states anymore -

1. Wait a long time.
2. Find some young American chick and then marry her! :D
3. Have a US company request your entry.
4. Invest in the country. I beleive $100K of investment can buy your way in.
5. A student Visa (temporary only though) can at least get you here.
6. If you have a college education, you get a better chance in the wait line.

Thats about it. Coming from a European nation you have a much better chance than others though. Expect a green card to cost about $12K US last I checked, for lawyers fees, etc. This is 1990's prices though. Probably higher these days.

-S

PS. Coming from England, it is a shoe in to get in to Canada, so maybe you should really look over there for now. Look at Vancouver or so, and then maybe make plans to enter the US from there.

PPS. The reason I know this is I married a Canadian from Montreal. Talk about a pain to get her across the border even after we were already married!

[Torplexed]

Coming from England, it is a shoe in to get in to Canada, so maybe you should really look over there for now. Look at Vancouver or so, and then maybe make plans to enter the US from there.
Or go on vacation in Mexico and then walk over. Hell...everyone else there does. Wear a tweed hat. It'll charm the border agents at least. ;)

[Kapitan]

According to your immigration regulations (USA) a british person has the legal right to come into the united states and find work to which he can then claim a green card (obviously the employer sorts that out) however the restriction is the british citizen must find work within 3 months of entry otherwise that person must return home.

Also as a foot note a british citizen at entry must declare the intention to live and work in the united states and produce a valid return ticket.

[SUBMAN1]

According to your immigration regulations (USA) a british person has the legal right to come into the united states and find work to which he can then claim a green card (obviously the employer sorts that out) however the restriction is the british citizen must find work within 3 months of entry otherwise that person must return home.

Also as a foot note a british citizen at entry must declare the intention to live and work in the united states and produce a valid return ticket.Good luck. It is not that easy. Its a pain getting the wife over from Canada, let alone the UK!

Let us know how it turns out though!

-S

[Ducimus]

For a time we had decided that LA would be a good place to go too, however i did learn it was very expencive to live there same as NY.

Ill assume you mean anywhere in the Los angelus basin - which encompasses many different counties and cities.


Allow to me confirm that this place is expensive for you:

- My residency of the last 5 years was terminated by a "buisness decision" by the property owner. Since i wasnt on an annual lease i was easy to get rid of. I was paying 890 dollars a month for a 3 bed, 2 bath ranch style apartment. This was after 5 years of rent increases. A 1 bedroom in the same complex now goes for around 1100.

- My current residence of a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment costs me 1178 dollars a month.

- This area is the nations leading area for home forclosures. Which means its driving a spike in the demand for rentals. Also, housing is incredibly hard to qualify for now.

- Your average McMansion costs 550,000 to 600,000, with some areas reaching 700, to 800.

- The cheap gas here, costs around 3.30 to 3.50, prices fluctuate. We'll probably be hitting 4 dollars a gal before anyone else.

- illegal immigration takes up alot of jobs.

- area is extremely congested. and it gets worse every year.

etc etc.

In short, LA, is a bad area to move to.

[sonar732]

I would look at states which have higher minimum wages than the federal rate. Since these states bumped up their wages, employers have had to relent to those who make over minimum wage for raises. The classic "if they got a raise, why not me?".

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

[Hakahura]

Interesting thread, but I feel I have to put the alternative view.

As a British serviceman (RAF) I've served all around the globe and spent quite a bit of that time in the US. So after 19 years service this isn't just unqualified xenophobic crap.

As much as I've enjoyed some of my travels, I would still not live permanently anywhere else other than Great Britain.

Maybe anyone thinking of emigrating should just do a little bit of travelling. It's a well used cliche, but it's only when you've been round the world that you appreciate what you've got at home.

Regardless of some of the problems we've got here in the UK there is still no-where else I would rather live.



(Hakahura steps down from soapbox...)

[swifty]

If you heart is set on the the US your best bet is to to obtain a student visa and go to university. You may have to get student loans to help pay tuition and board but you can offset the cost and maybe pay for every thing by working at the university either in administration, the bookstore, as a teachers aide, etc. This is the only legal work option for international students while in school. After earning a degree you will be allowed to stay in the states for one year and can work at any job. After that you will need a US company to sponsor a visa to work longer. If you are good at math and science I would recommend engineering or science degree. These two fields are some of the highest in demand in the US and you will have the best opportunity of finding a job after graduating.

As for area I would look at the Southeastern US. Warm pleasant climate, affordable living and also supports growing industries and an expanding job market. Take a look at Jacksonville, FL, Atlanta, GA, New Orleans, LA, Memphis, TN.

[baggygreen]

Or, you can come join the rest of your countrymen and live down under!

Go out west to the mines, earn 100k a year drivin big trucks... housings the issue there tho, you might end up in a van, but you've said you'd be happy to go the streets which is pretty extreme

[I-25]

humm that reminds me of a curtain song...

"Do you come from the land down under, where women grow and men plunder"

Sing it now!:arrgh!:

[Kapitan]

With what i earn i might as not work, i live off of now £11 a week thats all i got to buy food for myself, so yeah the streets are a better option in my oppinion.

Australia is a good idea i will also look into that one but right now money is the big factor.

[Rotary Crewman]

Kapitan, (If it has been mentioned before then I apologise as I quickly read this thread) after our other discussions, have you thought about joining a foreign Navy? We have a few New Zealand, Australian and Canadian guys who have joined the RAF and they didn't seem to have a great issue getting in. What about joining their respective Navies?

Good luck with it all though, have a great amount of respect for you if you give it a go!

[I-25]

LA ain't gonna be the thing for you believe me i spent a while there and it still aint cheap at the cheap places. Anything In Southern California has sky high prices and their still going up. as previously said if you move into the US look up the cheaper states.

[Foxtrot]

It might be a cruel thing to say but marriage with Canadian, US, Australian chick can save you from a lot of troubles.

Just do a background check like if she got any mental disease in her family. Schizophrenia, Bi-polar and mood disorder runs in my SO family like cancer, I wasn't aware of it during "dating" period, and I have no intention to increase my family due to this "God-gifted" ability :(

(Hope that your girlfriend is not reading this thread :))

[Kapitan]

well im planning on seeing if i can join either the USN aussie navy or even the new zealand navy, i havnt got a HGV class 1 so its not really going to go in my favour driving truck in aus or even in america much cause i only have a class2 (rigis bodied).

Il see what happens on the 14th of january and if i get accepted into the RFA then il tough it out for a year or two then il sling me hook abroad if not then il go tommorow lol.