My situation is this: A while back I met a girl from Maryland, USA, and we have now decided that it would be nice if I could move over there and work, so we can get a place together. We would get a place in Maryland, not too far from Washington DC - where I understand there are lots of businesses & job opportunities.
We have both been doing quite a bit of reading, on the internet, etc, to see how I would go about getting over there. I graduated in Computer Science last year, so from what I understand, the best option for me would be to try and find an employer who is willing to sponsor me, and apply for a H1B visa for me. Although I am not sure how easy it would be for me to find a job, as I am quite a new graduate with little work experience (my main work experience is 1 year with IBM, and my current job as a VB.NET programmer - which I have only just started).
I am currently working here in the UK, and plan to pay off some small debts and save a little before I try and make the move to the USA. Therefore I think I will be ready to make the move in around 6 months time - and we have both agreed that 6 months is about the longest we could stand being seperated like this (having to fly back and forth every couple of months to visit each other).
I must admit that the whole process does look very confusing to me, so at the moment I am favouring the option of paying one of those companies setup to help people like me out - namely h1base.com. I was chatting to one of their advisors earlier, and although he was a little difficult to understand, I think that he was trying to tell me than even if I started my application within 6 months time, it would be impossible for me to make the move before April 2008, as I would have to wait until April before the US Government assign the visas to people. This sounds quite upsetting to me, as obviously I would like to be with my girlfriend as quickly as I can
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Any advice that anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated, as it seems like there are a lot of "in the know" people on here. Am I persuing the best immigration route for my situation? Is there anything which I can do now to make the whole process quicker/easier in 6 months time, or should I even start the process now? Realistically, what are the chances of me finding an employer willing to sponsor me?
Many many thanks in advance, Adrian & Erica
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