Does anyone know about nonimmigrant visas?

[BustyTheClown]

My SO and I are in a long-distance relationship, and after nearly 3 years apart, we're itching to move in together. Well, we think we are, lol. We're toying with the idea of getting a house where I live (in Arizona -- he lives in England), and having him work while he's here to help pay rent and so he has a reason to get a visa.

I've been scouring the net for any useful information about visas, and have made a few phone calls -- but I'm tired of letters and numbers that make no sense to me, of little or no explanation behind certain terms and/or qualifications, and of recordings instead of a real, live person to talk to.

So I thought I'd come here, and ask if anyone could give me any useful information about nonimmigrant work visas? We haven't started looking for a job yet, since we're not even sure if we can make it work, but I wanted to see what was available to us. I know that there are lots of work visas for all sorts of different jobs (doctors/nurses, entertainers, technicians, etc.) but I can't find one that just says "As long as you work while you're here, we don't care."

Oh, we are aware of the fiancee visa, but circumstances are just not ripe for marriage yet. We definitely plan on getting married in the future, but that needs to wait a little while yet.

Thanks for any help!

 

[someplace]

Don't know if this would help, but

I used to work for a foreign government here in the US. Many people travel the world, living in different countries LEGALLY for extended periods of time by working in a consulate or embassy as "locally engaged" staff. This means that the govt doesn't pay for you to move there -- they hire you in the city where you're going to work. The pay is usually not that good, but the perk is that your visa status is changed. If you quit, you usually have 6 months to leave the country.

Being from England, your friend could apply at all the English speaking consulates or embassies (in DC): Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

The downside of this is whether there are any consulates in Arizona. I believe there might be a few in Denver, then San Francisco & LA. Good luck.

 

[QuickDuck]

My ex went through it all just recently as well, and if i could, i would ask her.

What i do know is that generally the easiest (or hardest depending on how you look at it) way, is to get a company to sponsor you for a working visa.

I think it's alot of work and red tape though, for them as they have to prove that you are the best person for that job and that no Americans are really qualified or able to do the job.

Please don;t quote me on this, as i have just picked bits and pieces up from hearing her talk about it.

I will be really curious to find out though, anything that you do.

/wave
QD

 

[BustyTheClown]

Thanks for your replies someplace and QD. Lol it seems as though everyone else is as confused as I am about the whole thing. I've been told it should be much easier for my SO to get a visa to come to the US than it would be for me to get one to go to the UK, but it's still really damn hard!

I'll be sure to keep you posted.

 

[SweetCherry]

Busty, try checking out this site. It's a "free legal advice forum". You may be able to get some help here.

http://forum.freeadvice.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=9

 

[BustyTheClown]

Hey, sweet, thanks for the link. I've bookmarked it, but will post my message when it looks like some lawyers are actually reading and replying to what people post, lol.

 

[SweetCherry]

Busty, there's quite a bit of legal advice on that site. Your best bet is to kinda search around. There's a FAQ sectoin that should be able to give youa bit of advice as well.