Isn’t it ironic

dontcha think?

Pretty ironic that this time of year, I’m usually more immersed in US culture than usual due to football, yet this is the time of year for the past 3 years where my hopes and chances of moving to the US have been at their lowest point.

And this year, it’s the lowest point yet. My chances of obtaining a visa to legally live and work in the US are virtually nil for the forseeable future. The US immigration system is utterly broken for people wanting to play by the rules. No-one wants to fix it because it’s presumably deemed a political minefield.

I cannot get an H-1B because the numbers run out quicker than I can get a job offer each year. This year I’ve been trying since April, but it’s hard to convince employers to offer you a job when you can’t start for them until October (when the visa is valid from). I thought I was onto something in May when I went to CO for a week to attend interviews – had one very solid lead, one pretty good lead and a couple of maybes. But again, they couldn’t commit to me because of the time lag. I suspect if I could have started for them in a few weeks, I would be over there by now. By the time they started to think about maybe doing something with me, the visas had run out…..6 weeks before the cap year opened, in early August.

It’s virtually impossible to get employment-based permenant residence as that takes about 2-3 years to process. Every employer’s gonna take that up, of course!

I have no relatives in the US to sponsor me. I’m happily married, thank you very much, so that’s not open either. If I went as a student, I wouldn’t be able to take my family.

I don’t have the funds to start my own business and get a visa that way (sorry, don’t have a spare 500 grand or so to buy in), even if I wanted to or could run my own business, which I don’t have the skills for.

I’m at the point now where I’m more than 50% certain I can’t try again next year. I can’t put me and my family through another year of trying. Chloe will be 7 next year. Lucy starts school next autumn. It might be time to try and come to terms with the fact that it’s not going to happen. I’m not sure how I’m going to react if I make that decision. I’ve been wanting to leave Britain for the US since 2002. It will be hard to let that goal go.

Of course, if I wanted to just fly in and try and vanish, I’d probably be getting offered an amnesty in the near future. Lot of votes waiting there in the illegal hispanic block waiting to be captured. I won’t do that though. Even if I was on my own and didn’t have a family to consider. I don’t believe in the end justifying the means.

And because of that, I get screwed over.