How did you end up moving to the US?
Discussion
I'm interested to know how any PHers ended up moving to the US and what route you took to get there? I'm currently pursuing it through a career I don't have any interest in but seem to have skill in, if I had any choice in the matter then building a business in the US doing something with cars would be the dream but the capital and time required mean I have to stick with IT which is rather soul crushing but my want to live there outweighs my want to enjoy my job. I'd be very interested to know how any of you went about moving there and what advice you might have
I met my American (ex-wife) drunk in a bar in London......the rest as they say...…
Emigrated to South Carolina in 2004 and been here ever since. Early 50's, divorced, no kids, done OK for myself. Like you I'd love to do something with cars, but when you've got a good job with benefits etc over here it counts for a lot. You can do well and get on, but you can also fall far and hard as there's less of a safety net over here. I became a US citizen in 2012. Not sure I want to spend my retirement here though. Touch wood I've never had to had to use the medical system for more than routine stuff. The system here scares me silly with the costs, even with insurance.
Let's see what others have to say. Who you are and where you might want to live can have a massive influence on how you'd get on over here. I'm probably still very "British", haven't lost my accent, but I've integrated pretty well and have some good friends.
Emigrated to South Carolina in 2004 and been here ever since. Early 50's, divorced, no kids, done OK for myself. Like you I'd love to do something with cars, but when you've got a good job with benefits etc over here it counts for a lot. You can do well and get on, but you can also fall far and hard as there's less of a safety net over here. I became a US citizen in 2012. Not sure I want to spend my retirement here though. Touch wood I've never had to had to use the medical system for more than routine stuff. The system here scares me silly with the costs, even with insurance.
Let's see what others have to say. Who you are and where you might want to live can have a massive influence on how you'd get on over here. I'm probably still very "British", haven't lost my accent, but I've integrated pretty well and have some good friends.
Met my now wife in France where she was on a wine tour. Had a great time and we kept in touch. Got a call one day that she had a few weeks vacation and why didn't I come over for a while. Went drinking in Pasadena, and woke up with a hangover and a wife. (still have the wife)
I then had to decide if I wanted to stay in Southern California or go back to my grotty flat on Roundshaw. I pondered this question for many microseconds before deciding to stay
Lived in LA for 2 years, moved to North Las Vegas in 1998 and bought a brand new house just before the market boom. Sold the house in 2005 just before the market imploded, moved here to New Mexico and bought my present house outright for cash.
I was conned into applying to the police department where they couldn't get me hired fast enough. I could read, write and pass a drug test, so I was a bit of an oddity.
Went from rookie to officer then to detective. Worked with the DHS, FBI, ATF and Border Patrol, so it was always interesting. Specialized in white collar financial crimes and following drug money.
I'm now 67, retired and living comfortably on my Social Security and police pension cheques.
I then had to decide if I wanted to stay in Southern California or go back to my grotty flat on Roundshaw. I pondered this question for many microseconds before deciding to stay
Lived in LA for 2 years, moved to North Las Vegas in 1998 and bought a brand new house just before the market boom. Sold the house in 2005 just before the market imploded, moved here to New Mexico and bought my present house outright for cash.
I was conned into applying to the police department where they couldn't get me hired fast enough. I could read, write and pass a drug test, so I was a bit of an oddity.
Went from rookie to officer then to detective. Worked with the DHS, FBI, ATF and Border Patrol, so it was always interesting. Specialized in white collar financial crimes and following drug money.
I'm now 67, retired and living comfortably on my Social Security and police pension cheques.
NMNeil said:
Met my now wife in France where she was on a wine tour. Had a great time and we kept in touch. Got a call one day that she had a few weeks vacation and why didn't I come over for a while. Went drinking in Pasadena, and woke up with a hangover and a wife. (still have the wife)
I then had to decide if I wanted to stay in Southern California or go back to my grotty flat on Roundshaw. I pondered this question for many microseconds before deciding to stay
Lived in LA for 2 years, moved to North Las Vegas in 1998 and bought a brand new house just before the market boom. Sold the house in 2005 just before the market imploded, moved here to New Mexico and bought my present house outright for cash.
I was conned into applying to the police department where they couldn't get me hired fast enough. I could read, write and pass a drug test, so I was a bit of an oddity.
Went from rookie to officer then to detective. Worked with the DHS, FBI, ATF and Border Patrol, so it was always interesting. Specialized in white collar financial crimes and following drug money.
I'm now 67, retired and living comfortably on my Social Security and police pension cheques.
You lazy bugger, Harry Bosch is 68 and still working cold cases I then had to decide if I wanted to stay in Southern California or go back to my grotty flat on Roundshaw. I pondered this question for many microseconds before deciding to stay
Lived in LA for 2 years, moved to North Las Vegas in 1998 and bought a brand new house just before the market boom. Sold the house in 2005 just before the market imploded, moved here to New Mexico and bought my present house outright for cash.
I was conned into applying to the police department where they couldn't get me hired fast enough. I could read, write and pass a drug test, so I was a bit of an oddity.
Went from rookie to officer then to detective. Worked with the DHS, FBI, ATF and Border Patrol, so it was always interesting. Specialized in white collar financial crimes and following drug money.
I'm now 67, retired and living comfortably on my Social Security and police pension cheques.
NMNeil said:
Monkeylegend said:
You lazy bugger, Harry Bosch is 68 and still working cold cases
The department and I had a falling out, and I retired early. I can bore you with the details if you like.
I am very receptive to being bored. It would make a welcome change to read some real life drama.
Monkeylegend said:
I am very receptive to being bored. It would make a welcome change to read some real life drama.
I took the job of detective in charge of the property room due to an injury. Part of the duties were the disposal of property from closed cases, found property, contraband to be destroyed etc. Many of these items were decades old as the property room had been mismanaged.
A few months into the job I came across a big pile (2 truckloads) of equipment that had been used to grow weed. Lights, pumps, hydroponic nutrients etc. about $6000 worth. The case had been adjudicated 2 years prior and the owner was doing time for murder and growing the 2 pounds of weed they found dried and packaged ready for sale.
Told the drug agent in charge that I was going to destroy the equipment and his reply of "I've made arrangements to return it all to the family so they can sell it" shocked me. I said hell no and told my sergeant. He told me to get it destroyed.
Filled out all the paperwork for a destruction order, had it approved by the District Attorneys office, had it approved by a judge and took it to the city dump and watched it being crushed.
The drug agent filed a complaint and I ended up being demoted and suspended without pay for 14 days.
I quit.
Later, because my certification could be suspended I had a review with the Law Enforcement Academy. They exonerated me of any wrongdoing.
There's more if you want.
The Moose said:
aaron_2000 said:
Appreciate the replies. It would've been far easier if my girlfriend was a US citizen 
It'd be easier to change the girlfriend...aaron_2000 said:
The Moose said:
aaron_2000 said:
Appreciate the replies. It would've been far easier if my girlfriend was a US citizen
It'd be easier to change the girlfriend...I think we may have already had this conversation in the past, but for what it's worth, I worked for a UK based company that wanted to break into the North American market. They asked me to create a business case and then a business plan to accomplish that. I was then asked to execute the plan that I'd created.
They moved me to Orlando FL on an L-1A visa in October 2001 - so weeks after 911 attacks, which wasn't an ideal time to start a new business from the ground up. My wife and then 19 year old daughter came with me.
The business was a huge success and is now the market leader here, by a very large margin - however the guy who owns the company was a bit of a snake and reneged on his promise to sponsor permanent resident status for me, because it would have allowed me to leave his employ if I chose to.
Luckily I found an employer (initially on an H-1B) who did sponsor me and I became a US citizen in 2016, as did my wife. My daughter did it through marriage to a USC and became a citizen before we did.
Coincidentally, (per this thread) she is also in law enforcement - currently a patrol sergeant, but has also had stints in gang unit, sex crimes, SWAT and most recently VOWS, which did keep her mum and me awake at night sometimes. We are extremely proud of her. She had just embarked on a police career with the Met when we moved here - I don't think she would have had the diversity of opportunity, had she stayed in the UK.
They moved me to Orlando FL on an L-1A visa in October 2001 - so weeks after 911 attacks, which wasn't an ideal time to start a new business from the ground up. My wife and then 19 year old daughter came with me.
The business was a huge success and is now the market leader here, by a very large margin - however the guy who owns the company was a bit of a snake and reneged on his promise to sponsor permanent resident status for me, because it would have allowed me to leave his employ if I chose to.
Luckily I found an employer (initially on an H-1B) who did sponsor me and I became a US citizen in 2016, as did my wife. My daughter did it through marriage to a USC and became a citizen before we did.
Coincidentally, (per this thread) she is also in law enforcement - currently a patrol sergeant, but has also had stints in gang unit, sex crimes, SWAT and most recently VOWS, which did keep her mum and me awake at night sometimes. We are extremely proud of her. She had just embarked on a police career with the Met when we moved here - I don't think she would have had the diversity of opportunity, had she stayed in the UK.
Although I know a lot of people end up using the L-1 route, I took a job with a US-based company without a UK presence (but qualified for a different visa so I could move straight away). They were good enough to sponsor me for my Green card despite knowing it would mean I could move companies more freely, although I stayed with them until they were acquired by a larger company. Been a US citizen for the last couple of years but my wife and I aren't sure we'll stay here when we retire (although I have a few years left to think about that!!)
Monkeylegend said:
Yes please, you can't leave it there
We have what are called whistleblower lawsuits. If you are dismissed, demoted or retaliated against in any way for refusing to follow an illegal order you can file a civil lawsuit, but you have a definitive time limit in which to file such a lawsuitI got an attorney, who assured me that everything was in hand. One week before the filing deadline the attorney contacted me and simply said that he didn't want to represent me, and then admitted that he had done absolutely nothing regarding my case.
I went it alone as no other attorney was interested (very incestuous industry). I lost the case, but the judge, in his final decision stated that even though the law said this was drug paraphernalia, if the owner can show that it could be used for a lawful purpose, it was no longer drug paraphernalia!
NMNeil said:
Monkeylegend said:
Yes please, you can't leave it there
We have what are called whistleblower lawsuits. If you are dismissed, demoted or retaliated against in any way for refusing to follow an illegal order you can file a civil lawsuit, but you have a definitive time limit in which to file such a lawsuitI got an attorney, who assured me that everything was in hand. One week before the filing deadline the attorney contacted me and simply said that he didn't want to represent me, and then admitted that he had done absolutely nothing regarding my case.
I went it alone as no other attorney was interested (very incestuous industry). I lost the case, but the judge, in his final decision stated that even though the law said this was drug paraphernalia, if the owner can show that it could be used for a lawful purpose, it was no longer drug paraphernalia!
Monkeylegend said:
Would the Judge not appoint an attorney to represent you in such cases or does the police union have attorneys?
As I was the plaintiff, not the defendant, no.I was never a member of the police union as all they ever got their members was the worst pay and highest pension contribution in the state.
I’m not at the living in the US stage, but I’m part way through the process.
Back in September 2016 while visiting the US I got talking to a girl in a bar on Broadway in Nashville (Layla’s, for anyone who knows the area). We spent the night chatting and at the end of the evening said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The next night while myself and my friend were in our hotel getting ready to head out for another evening of fun, the hotel phone rang, she’d tracked me down as it seemed I’d left quite an impression on her (she had also been on my mind since meeting). We swapped details and stayed in touch. In January 2017 I flew out for a 4 day visit and we’ve been flying back and forth ever since.
In September 2019 while we were in New Orleans I proposed. Our visa application (K1) was submitted in December 2019 and since June of 2020, because of the global situation, has been sitting with the USCIS. The London Embassy currently isn’t processing K1 visas either which is getting rather tiresome.
As of Monday it will be a whole year since we last saw each other. Fingers crossed this all moves along soon.
Back in September 2016 while visiting the US I got talking to a girl in a bar on Broadway in Nashville (Layla’s, for anyone who knows the area). We spent the night chatting and at the end of the evening said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The next night while myself and my friend were in our hotel getting ready to head out for another evening of fun, the hotel phone rang, she’d tracked me down as it seemed I’d left quite an impression on her (she had also been on my mind since meeting). We swapped details and stayed in touch. In January 2017 I flew out for a 4 day visit and we’ve been flying back and forth ever since.
In September 2019 while we were in New Orleans I proposed. Our visa application (K1) was submitted in December 2019 and since June of 2020, because of the global situation, has been sitting with the USCIS. The London Embassy currently isn’t processing K1 visas either which is getting rather tiresome.
As of Monday it will be a whole year since we last saw each other. Fingers crossed this all moves along soon.
Edited by offspring86 on Saturday 6th February 23:13
My wife's from the USA. We met in 2008, got married in 2009 and she moved over to the UK. We spent three years there before I got seconded to work for NATO in Germany in 2012. We spent five years there before we decided to head over to Colorado in late 2017.
I've been working in law enforcement since early 2018 and love it. We live up in the mountains and really enjoy it out here.
I've been working in law enforcement since early 2018 and love it. We live up in the mountains and really enjoy it out here.
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