Whats it take to migrate to the US?  Ive been thinking about it for a bit, and if my current situation doesnt improve, I dont see why I shouldnt move there.

I hear of this "green card".  What exactly is it and whats required to get one?

I am completing a Mechanical Engineering degree currently.  Are Australian Mech Eng degrees accepted in the US?  Are there many mech eng graduate jobs?

A friend said that life in the US was fast paced.  Is this true?

What are taxes like?  What is the healthcare system like?

I reckon the biggest difficulty I would have moving, besides the seperation from my family, is the beer.  American beer is like water .


Cheers

Hey we sell fosters



You can come over here and chase crocs and snakes too

Quoted: You can come over here and chase crocs and snakes too

Dont you have alligators?  Arent all your snakes like...not that dangerous?

Im gonna miss my roos .  Its gonna be hard using "cars" to travel

Quoted: Quoted: You can come over here and chase crocs and snakes too Dont you have alligators?  Arent all your snakes like...not that dangerous? Im gonna miss my roos .  Its gonna be hard using "cars" wearing shoes to travel

thats more like it

Quoted: Whats it take to migrate to the US? Get a U.S. company to sponsor you for a Green Card.  I'm sure a head hunter could help you with that. Ive been thinking about it for a bit, and if my current situation doesnt improve, I dont see why I shouldnt move there. I hear of this "green card".  What exactly is it and whats required to get one? See above. I am completing a Mechanical Engineering degree currently.  Are Australian Mech Eng degrees accepted in the US? I don't know.  Ask a headhunter.   Are there many mech eng graduate jobs?  See above. A friend said that life in the US was fast paced.  Is this true? Depends where you are.  It can be but you can find any lifestyle you want, paced like you want. What are taxes like?  Very reasonable compared to just about anywhere else in the world. What is the healthcare system like? I'm a doctor.  It is excellent compared to anywhere else in the world. I reckon the biggest difficulty I would have moving, besides the seperation from my family, is the beer.  American beer is like water . I drink Canadian beer. Cheers

I moved here from Canada.  I may visit, but I would never move back unless I was forcibly deported.

Quoted: Whats it take to migrate to the US?  Ive been thinking about it for a bit, and if my current situation doesnt improve, I dont see why I shouldnt move there.

No Four 'n Twenty's  and their footy is played by poofters in body armor and crash helmets…

Don't blame you for wanting to go tho! None of my assorted relatives who live or emigrated there has ever wanted to come back across the pond from America except an Uncle who escaped from Kalifornia back to Ireland.

ANdy

Quoted: Quoted: Whats it take to migrate to the US?  Ive been thinking about it for a bit, and if my current situation doesnt improve, I dont see why I shouldnt move there. No Four 'n Twenty's  and their footy is played by poofters in body armor and crash helmets… Don't blame you for wanting to go tho! None of my assorted relatives who live or emigrated there has ever wanted to come back across the pond from America except an Uncle who escaped from Kalifornia back to Ireland. ANdy

I like to visit GBR on occasion, those swinger/sado bars really should advertise better as to what they do inside before a dumb yank wonders in and flips the fuck out.

I like to see Brits show up here, as long as they don't want to bring merrie olde England's laws with them, like some of the canadians I know.

I think you should be able to move here...it is harder for professional people because you can't just come illegally (tourist visa) and stay on because you need the right immigration documentation (work visa or Green Card) to have a professional job.  Our typical border-crashers all work manual labor for cash so they don't need documentation.  

One way to do it might be to apply to a PhD engineering program here.  You can drop out of school after a year and find an engineering job.  The American girls will love your Outback accent.  Another good way to get a Green Card is to marry an American.  

Taxes are okay or bad depending upon where you live.  There are web sites with state tax rates somewhere.  

GunLvr

Marry a fan, ugly American girl.

Quoted: I like to see Brits show up here, as long as they don't want to bring merrie olde England's laws with them, like some of the canadians I know.

Bloody hard for British people to get into the States… we're even excluded from the Green Card Lottery!!! Funny how people from your best friend and ally find it the hardest to move there…

ANdy

Just go to Mexico and walk on over, everyone else is!

Each country is given a fixed number of visa's from the State Dept. each year.  You have to apply for a visa from them and for Im status from U.S. Immigration.  It would depend on what kind of visa you wanted,  tech worker, student, business, battered spouse .

Probably your best bet is to get sponsored by a company.  The aforementioned headhunter is the way to go. They can help negotiating all the hoops and jumps Immigration will put you through.  

This being the US, you can get damned near any beer  you like.  There's satellite TV / Digital cable to catch those footy/rugby/aussie rules football matches.  

Some of the benefits that my Aussie friends speak of do not exist here. Normal vacation time is one week after a year, two weeks after two years, and usually three after five years.  Sabbaticals from anything other than an academic job are unlikely.  

I've travelled all over (not Oz or NZ yet), and I still like the USA the best, not that we couldn't learn a thing or two.  We need a better work/life perspective.

My wife has worked in the engineering field for a while.  There are tons of foreigners in that industry working in the US.  They all initially come over on a special technical worker visa that allows them to stay indefinitely as long as they are working, this gives them time to get a green card and apply for citizenship.  Some of the engineers she has worked with were Kiwis, so I imagine an Aussie could probably slip in as well.  Lots of places have a majority of foreign engineers.  The reason America invents so much of all the new technology is that we're smart enough to recruit a lot of the smartest people from overseas!

For point of clarification, a green card, is the slang term for legal resident alien  status.  A resident alien can stay forever, and has most of the rights of a citizen.  They can't vote or hold political office, but they can own guns, and they can serve in the military but not as officers.

Also, although Budweiser, Miller, Coors, etc; are piss weak beers, you can buy all manner of beer at an ordinary supermarket in the US.  My local supermarket stocks all the big brands, probably dozens of smaller beers, micro brews and imports.  Not to mention hard ciders, mead, etc.  You can find a beer you'll like in the US.

And, a big bonus that was mentioned above, for some reason American girls love the Aussie accent.  You'll probably do 100% better with girls in the States than at home, because over here you'll seem exotic.

Since 9/11 the U.S immigration laws have changed considerably.  It is much harder to get visas, or green cards nowaday than ever before.  Stricter screening and longer wait.

Your best bet is to marry an U.S citizen and wait (Long wait for a visa to come in and a longer wait for the green card).

Best is to go to Mexico and walk accross the border and stay illegal for awhile until the U.S gov. give a pardon. It worked before. No shit.

Ill be working here for a few years before, possibly in the Army as an officer.

No non US citizens as officers?  Damn...

Sounds like a bitch to migrate.

Quoted: We don't have the high taxes like Australia, nor the high duties emposed on imports. Petrol is $2 a gallon which is like a quarter of what you pay. We don't have nationalized health care which means you get to see a doctor of your choice faster - but get to pay for the care directly or normally it's a benefit of your employment. Depending on where you live life is faster or slower than Australia. Move to one of the big cities on the east or west coast and hang onto your hat mate ... move to the smaller more rural ones or down south and things are just a wee bit slower.

$2 a Gallon is about 74c Aussie a litre...we pay about $1 AUD per litre right now.  25c off...not bad...

Whats the car insurance like?  It seems as if you all have modded cars or something.  Im not even considering buying a sports car here ever because insurance is just too much.

Can someone living in the US in one of those working scheme things own guns?

Good overview of State Taxes here:

www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/state/state_tax_home.asp?link=2

Quoted: Since 9/11 the U.S immigration laws have changed considerably.  It is much harder to get visas, or green cards nowaday than ever before.  Stricter screening and longer wait. Your best bet is to marry an U.S citizen and wait (Long wait for a visa to come in and a longer wait for the green card). Best is to go to Mexico and walk accross the border and stay illegal for awhile until the U.S gov. give a pardon. It worked before. No shit.

Actually marrying a US citizen is a fast way to do it.  You first get a K-visa when you get engaged and then a temporary (2-year?) green card after marriage.  Did it with my wife and it was fast and fairly painless.

GunLvr

There's an Australian immigrant on www.full-auto.com, I forget his name.  He left after the Aus. government seized his huge gun collection.