Moving and living in the States.

Sobanek

Well, I just want to get some info.
How hard would it be for a college graduate with a Bachelor's degree to get a job?
What's the best place to live there anyway? (Low cost of living etc.)
How hard is it to get a permanent visa?

silja

What is you bachelor in? Very difficult to get a work visa or greencard unless you work in a highly sought after area (science etc). Did you graduate within the last year? You could go for the one year J1 intern visa to try things out.

As to where to live, it depends what work you do, and what you like (big city, culture, partying, skiing, warm weather etc).

Sobanek

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Software Development.

I'm not in a hurry to move there. Just wanted to get a feel of what's it like to live there at the moment.
I like big cities, I don't mind to go out to a club, weather is not so important.

silja

Leaving aside the difficulty of getting a visa, Silicone Valley is the obvious choice, but you should also consider other places. For example I live in NorthWest Arkansas- beautiful countryside, and has both Walmart and Nestle HQ, both of which employ a large IT staff including programmers, web devs, sys admins etc. Not a big city in sight though

lil_lisa

There are a few options for visas if you graduated within the last year. If not, I would look at the training visa, there's more info in this thread on some available.

Killer Wench

The northwest is one of the places to be in the software industry. Seattle is home to Microsoft and Amazon with Google, Expedia, and other large internet companies having substantial offices there.

However, since there is a huge saturation of people with tech degrees there, and the fact that most of those companies seem to recruit from Asia than Europe, you may want to consider looking into cities in the southwest or southeast.

Sobanek

I was looking more into iOS software since.there is a huge potential in that market

Fr Tod Umptious

The greater Boston arae is also a technologhy hotbed, second only to Silicone Valley they say.

Also it is only a short hop home to Shannon or Dublin.

Get yourself on Monster.com with your cv and indicate that you would like sponsorship (H1).

Anachrony

Software Development is one of the best fields for finding an employer and getting an H1B visa to work in the US. It's very competitive though. The degree isn't enough, you also have to demonstrate that you've very good at it.

You'll probably want to try finding a good job in an interesting field first and then consider whether to move there, rather than picking one specific area and looking for work only in that area. The wider net you cast, the more likely you are to find a good combination of a job you'd like and a place you'd like to live. There are many nice areas to live but they won't do you much good if you can't find the right job there.

Sobanek wrote: »

What's the best place to live there anyway? (Low cost of living etc.)

Do you want the best place to live or a low cost of living? Those two things are somewhat opposite of one another, since a major factor in the cost of living is what people are willing to pay to live there.

Sobanek

Anachrony wrote: »

Do you want the best place to live or a low cost of living? Those two things are somewhat opposite of one another, since a major factor in the cost of living is what people are willing to pay to live there.

Well, a bit of both let's say. I don't want to pay $1500 for a studio (California...). Range between $650-800 would be fine for me (studio or 1 bedroom)

Killer Wench

You need to be using Twitter!

Google and Amazon have both launched hiring initiatives for 2011. Google is spitting out job announcements like mad. They are even posting jobs for here in Ireland. If you are the patient type, jump on a job here for a year then apply internally for a job in the US, or you can just continue looking for jobs abroad.

Microsoft is also hiring and they recently posted the highest company wide raises in corporate America.

If you are planning to move abroad but have no job and a set income, I would recommend looking into college housing for the summer. Since students scamper back home during the break, campuses lease out rooms at cheaper rates. You may be able to get a postgrad apartment for really cheap.

Sobanek

What about making a living? If I rent a studio for $650, what would be the minimum cost of living? Breakfast, lunch, dinner everyday + possible 15mile drive to work.

Sobanek

Rumours of the new budget brought me back here.
What are the steps of obtaining a visa?
Is it possible to receive a green card with my godfather being a US citizen?

silja

Your godfather cannot get you a visa. Only a parent, child over 21, spouse, fiance or sibling can.

You do have a decent education, so you could try to get sponsorship from an employer. The employer would file for the visa, not you. So your "step to get a visa" would be to find an employer who wants to hire you, and is prepared to pay the $5000+ for labor certification (which means it's usually only big firms such as Google, IBM etc).

Sobanek

silja wrote: »

Your godfather cannot get you a visa. Only a parent, child over 21, spouse, fiance or sibling can.

You do have a decent education, so you could try to get sponsorship from an employer. The employer would file for the visa, not you. So your "step to get a visa" would be to find an employer who wants to hire you, and is prepared to pay the $5000+ for labor certification (which means it's usually only big firms such as Google, IBM etc).

Since my parents are here, I've no children and I'm single, is there any other way for obtaining a green card other than the DV lottery?

silja

Other than DV lottery or work visa (which can, but doesn't always lead to a greencard)- not really. There are some more obscure ways such as large investments.

cena

silja wrote: »

Other than DV lottery or work visa (which can, but doesn't always lead to a greencard)- not really. There are some more obscure ways such as large investments.

A large investment would be half a million right.

silja

cena wrote: »

A large investment would be half a million right.

Minimum yes- the $500'000 actually doesn;t get you a greencard, but it gets you a investors visa, which eventually can lead to a greencard.

Palmy

The $500,000 would need to be invested in a Setting up your Company or buying an existing Company.So you cant just come with that money buy a house for $300k and spend $200k setting up or buying a Buisness.:o

cena

Palmy wrote: »

The $500,000 would need to be invested in a Setting up your Company or buying an existing Company.So you cant just come with that money buy a house for $300k and spend $200k setting up or buying a Buisness.:o

I do know that. But who would half a million these days. Imust go ask my great aunt for the loan of it.:D