I want him here with me!! :)

[merlinkitty]

My SO lives in the UK, is currently unemployed, looking for work, and is on government assistance. He doesn't have a degree, but has discussed returning to school to help with employability. We've never met face to face, but are determined to this year. With him on assistance he can't leave the UK on holiday as he will lose his benefits. The last thing I want to do is mess up his precarious position. He has also expressed interest as well in seeing if he can find work in the US to give us some time together to see how we get on.

Has anyone who's been in a similar situation have any suggestions how to navigate something like this? I think he and I would both prefer it if he could come here for a time and work (legally) since I have a more stable situation. I would love to be able to provide him a place to get his feet back under him, but I want to make sure we do things by the book. If he is unable to leave the UK this year, we've talked about my going to him. He really would prefer to come to the US, but neither of us wants to screw this up. Any suggestions would be helpful. I'm so out of my depth with this. We both just know this thing with us is too important not to explore.

[silvermoonfairy3]

With the caveat that I'm not an immigration lawyer, I'll be blunt.. if he has no degree/no marketable job skills, chances are it'll be really difficult for him to get a work visa and get a job here. Immigration to the US for work is a highly desirable thing, and it has a lot of hoops.

He can't really just come stay with you and look for work, either. He would need to be legally in the country on a visitor visa (which has a 90 day max) and isn't supposed to be doing anything related to jobseeking on a visitor visa. So he'd need to be applying for jobs from the UK, and find a company willing to sponsor him for a work visa. The type of companies that do this are companies that need special skills, technical degrees, people advanced in their fields, shrewd businesspeople, universities, hospitals, etc. There are some restrictions, too, that companies have to prove they couldn't find a suitable American candidate for the job they want a foreigner to fill, and with the US economy still in a bit of a recovery mode, that's a bit harder now.

He could potentially get a student visa and come to school in the US, but as a foreigner I don't believe he's eligible for any higher education financial aid, so he'd have to secure funding some other way. And foreign tuition is higher at many schools.

It should also be noted that doing a 4 year degree here doesn't automatically guarantee anything as far as staying here after completion, and that he may still have to return to his country to apply for a different visa even if he gets a job offer from a company for right after he's done with school. (That happened to a friend of mine, actually. Such a pain.)

So.. as much as it sucks, the best bet is probably for him to find work in the UK and get his feet under him, and for you to visit there if you guys want to meet in person this year.

Good luck!

[merlinkitty]

Thanks for the reply. This is the same information I'm running across. No one said this would be easy lol so we continue to work toward solutions and learn as we go

[silvermoonfairy3]

Mmm hmm. Sometimes things are just a bit of a process that needs to be dealt with.

There's no reason you couldn't go visit though, to at least 'tide you over' so to speak.
If you haven't been to the UK, I recommend it, it's amazing.

[merlinkitty]

I think that's where we are. We were talking last night and developed a plan I think We're going to make sure business is taken care of first and I think the rest will fall into place. I'm just impatient I'm determined not to stress about this too much cause it's going to happen one way or another. And I've been wanting to visit the UK for years now. This just gives me a reason to speed the process up