As a non-programmer to move to the United States: step by step instructions

Habré has many posts on how to find work in America. The problem is that it feels that 95% of these texts are written by developers. This is their main disadvantage, because today a programmer to come to the States is many times easier than to representatives of other professions.

I myself moved to the United States more than two years ago as an Internet marketing specialist, and today I’ll tell you about the ways in which non-programmers have emigration.
')

Main idea: it will be extremely difficult for you to find a job from Russia

For a programmer, the standard way of moving to America is either a self-directed job search or, with good experience, a response to one of LinkedIn's recruiters' messages, several interviews, paperwork and, actually, a move.

For marketing professionals, system administrators and other professionals related to the Internet, but not the development, everything is much more complicated. You can send hundreds of responses to jobs from sites like Monster.com, look for something in LinkedIn, the response will be scanty - you are not in America, but in this country there are not enough programmers, and there are more or less administrators, marketers and journalists . Finding a job remotely will be extremely difficult. Relocation on a work visa for one employee will cost the company ~ $ 10 thousand, a lot of time, and in the case of a work visa H1-B there is a chance not to win the lottery and remain without an employee. If you are not a quality programmer, no one will be so tense for you.

It is unlikely that it will be possible to move and get a job in an American company in Russia and ask for a translation in a couple of years. The logic is clear - if you recommend yourself and then ask for a transfer to a foreign office, why should you be turned down? In reality, in most cases, you most likely will not be denied, but the chances of getting to America will not increase much.

Yes, there are examples of moving under this scheme, but again, it is more realistic for a programmer, and in this case you can wait for relocation for years. A much more practical way is to engage in self-education, professional development, work on interesting projects, and then take the destiny into your own hands and deal with the move yourself.

To help those who move to the United States, I launched the SB Relocate project - this is a website where you can find the most up-to-date information on various types of visas, get advice and help in collecting data for your visa case.

Right now we are voting on our project on the Product Hunt website. If you like what we are doing, or have any questions - ask them or share your experience of using / your wishes on the development of the link .

Step 1. Decide on a visa

In general, at the moment there are only three real options for moving, if you do not take into account the gain in the green card lottery and all sorts of options with family immigration and attempts to obtain political asylum:

Visa H1-B

Standard work visa. To get it, you need a sponsored company. There are quotas for H1B visas - for example, the quota for the 2019 fiscal year was 65,000, despite the fact that 199,000 were applied for obtaining such a visa in 2018. These visas are played during the lottery.

Another 20 thousand visas are issued to those professionals who received an education in the United States (Master's Exemption Cap). So it makes sense to consider the option of studying in the United States and looking for a job already with a local diploma.

Visa L-1

These types of visas are issued to employees of US companies that operate outside the country. If the company has a representative office in Russia or, for example, in Europe, then after working there for a year you can apply for such a visa. There are no quotas for it, so this is a more convenient option than H1-B.

The problem is to find a company that will take you and then want to relocate - usually the employer wants a good employee to benefit in the current place as long as possible.

Visa for talented people O1

O-1 visa is designed for talented people from different fields who need to come to the United States to complete work projects. Business representatives are given an O-1A visa (this is your option as an employee of a commercial company), while the O-1B subtype visa is intended for artists.

This visa does not have quotas and you can arrange it completely independently - this is the main plus. Do not rush to think that it will be easy, quite the opposite.

First, an employer is required for an O-1 visa. You can bypass this item by registering your company and taking yourself to work. You will also need to meet a number of criteria, and to prepare a visa application to hire a lawyer will take at least $ 10,000 and several months to complete all this. I wrote in more detail about the process of registration here , and here in the document there is a checklist for self-assessment of my chances of obtaining such a visa - it saves a couple of hundred dollars at the initial legal consultation.

Step # 2. Creating a financial airbag

The most important point, which is often not thought of, is the cost of relocation. Moving to an expensive country like the United States will require a significant amount of money. At a minimum, you only need the first time:

• Rent an apartment - pay a minimum down payment and a security deposit in the amount of a monthly fee. In large cities, finding an apartment cheaper than $ 1,400 / month will be difficult. If you have a family with children, a more realistic figure is from $ 1,800 for a two-bedroom (two-bedroom two-bedroom apartment).
• Purchase basic household items such as toilet paper, detergents, some toys for children. All this usually takes in the first month $ 500-1000.
• Most likely - to buy a car . In the States, usually without a car is hard, although there are exceptions. With high probability at least some kind of car you will need. Here, costs may depend on preferences, but more or less normal, not quite old used Chevy Cruze sedan (2013-2014) can take from $ 5-7k. You will have to pay cash, since nobody will give you a loan with zero credit history.
• To eat - food in America is significantly more expensive than in Russia. By quality - of course, you need to know the place, but prices are higher for many things. So for a family of two adults and two children, the cost of food, transportation, household items are unlikely to be below $ 1000 a month.

Simple calculations suggest that in the first month you may need more than $ 10k (including the purchase of a car). At the same time, costs tend to increase - children will need a kindergarten, which is usually paid, used cars break down more often - and mechanics in the States just throw out the part and install a new one with the appropriate price tag, etc. So the more money you have, the calmer you will feel.

Step # 3. Job search in the US and networking

Suppose you managed to save a few tens of thousands of dollars, find a lawyer and arrange yourself a visa. You have arrived in the USA, and now you need to look for new projects / work here. Make it real, but it will not be easy.

The main point to remember is that the more you actively engage in networking, the higher the chances of getting a job as soon as possible. It is clear that for introverts there is nothing worse, but if you want to build a successful career in America, then the more different acquaintances you make, the better.

Firstly, networking is useful even before the move - to get the same O-1 visa you need letters of recommendation from strong experts in your industry.

Secondly, if you have acquaintances among those who have come your way earlier and are already working in an American company, this opens up new opportunities. If your former colleagues or new acquaintances work in good companies, you can ask them to recommend you for one of the open vacancies.

Often, large organizations (such as Microsoft, Dropbox, and the like) have internal portals where employees can send CVs of people who they think are suitable for open positions. Such applications usually take precedence over just letters from people from the street, so extensive acquaintances will help get interviews faster.

Thirdly, acquaintances you will need at least to solve everyday issues, which will be mass. Deal with medical insurance, the finer points of renting, buying a car, searching for kindergartens and sections - when you have someone to ask for advice, it saves time, money, and nerves.

Step # 4. Further legalization in the USA

When you solve the problem with work and start earning income, after some time the question of further legalization in the country will arise. There may also be different options: if someone comes to the country alone, you can meet your future spouse / spouse with a passport or green card, while working in a conventional Google, you can also quickly get to the green card - the benefit of such companies is a lot of naturalized employees. residency and self.

By analogy with the O-1 visa, there is the EB-1 visa program, which involves obtaining a green card based on professional achievements and talents. To do this, you need to meet the criteria from a list similar to an O-1 visa (professional awards, speeches at conferences, publications in the media, high salaries, etc.)

You can read more about the EB-1 visa and estimate your chances with the help of the checklist here .

Conclusion

As it is not difficult to understand from the text, moving to the USA is not an easy, long and costly process. If you do not have a profession that is so demanded that the employer will be responsible for visa and domestic issues, you will have to overcome a lot of difficulties.

At the same time, the advantages of America are understandable - here you can find the most interesting work in the field of IT and the Internet, an extremely high standard of living, unlimited prospects for you and your children, the overall positive atmosphere in the streets, and in some states, a wonderful climate.

As a result, whether it is worthwhile to strain for the sake of all this, everyone decides for himself - the main thing is not to feed unnecessary illusions and immediately prepare for difficulties.