Discussion Forum
Share via:
Forum Home | Feed Tacoma | Requests / FeedbackMoving to Tacoma
 by sillypunk on 1/26/2009 @ 5:03pm |
Hello!
I shall be relocating to your fair city next year (from London, England). I am wondering if anyone can help me with some info. Basically I am confused about Visas but I'll probably have to look into that myself. As far as I understand I'll need a job before a Visa (UK/Canada have working holiday visas but I don't think the US has the same thing). Plan one is to do a PhD at U of Washington but as I've only got a 1/6 chance really at landing that, I'm going to also work on plan two which is get a job. So. What are the best approaches at getting a job, good agencies etc. (I doubt temp agences can get me a Visa though). My other bet is to go the NAFTA route (I'm a canuck) and find jobs that don't require me to have a Visa. As that is unlikely, I'm going with generally getting a job (in a recession. BRIGHT. I know.) and somehow getting a work Visa that way. I kind of want to hit the ground running. I shall be over in July again (then will probably move a year after that, with my freshly minted Masters degree) and could possibly make contact with job agencies and stuff while I am there. I am starting this way in advance as I know its going to be scary and hard and weird and such. So yes. Thanks :) |
 by intacoma on 1/26/2009 @ 5:12pm | what sort of work do you do? |
 by NineInchNachos on 1/26/2009 @ 6:01pm | my advice: marry izenmania (if only on paper) and get your citizenship. Then join C.L.A.W. cartoonists in Tacoma need to rally, maybe start investing in gold. It's probably a good time to get out of the UK as I predict Iceland type government meltdown situations across the EU.
Also start practicing your chainsaw skills (for zombie apocalypse). |
by sillypunk on 1/27/2009 @ 1:05am | I assure you sir, my zombie survial skills are top rate! (Although I'm better with an axe, farm girl and all, used to chopping wood).
My job here is a weird one, I work in Alternative Formats (translating various things into Braille, Audio and Large Print for the visually impaired). I am going to try and get into assistant research position or something involving project development because I'd rather do that. But you know, recession, and what not. |
by intacoma on 1/27/2009 @ 6:13am | you do art at all? that avatar is cracking me up |
by sillypunk on 1/27/2009 @ 6:29am | No, at my best I can manage stick figures. The avatar is a Rat Creature from Jeff Smith's comic Bone. |
 by Urban E on 1/27/2009 @ 7:23am | This almost sounds like one of the craigslist scams where they send you a deposit on a rental then cancel and ask you to send the money back. All along the check they sent you was no good.
|
by sillypunk on 1/27/2009 @ 7:48am | I have heard of this mythical craigslist, it does not exist in the UK. Here we have gumtree with lots of Russians looking for passports...I mean, husbands. Yeah. That's it. |
 by izenmania on 1/27/2009 @ 8:26am | @Urban E
I promise she is actually real. And if it's a scam she's gone to an awful lot of trouble :) |
 by DumpsterDivingDiva on 1/27/2009 @ 9:10am | Yes, Craigslist does exist in the UK!
|
by sillypunk on 1/27/2009 @ 11:42am | I must have had a bad google day when I decided it didn't exist...but perhaps I can use it to divest myself of...oh god...3.5 years of stuff from living over here.
Anyway! I can assure everyone of my existence post-Comic Con joy in July. I will be working on my thesis and probably sitting at the Parkway while Izenmania is at work and enjoying the pints. I think I've figured out the Visa bit (terrifying) but basically I have 3-4 months that I can job search for before I actually come over, so hopefully I'll land one (or get into U of W). I had dual citizenship with an EU country, so it was super easy to move over here. I can't believe its so much harder to move from Canada-US :p |
 by jenyum on 1/27/2009 @ 12:58pm | Be very careful with a student Visa if you plan to live here long-term, as they can restrict your ability to work in the US after graduation. If you are considering moving here permanently it might be worth talking to a US immigration attorney first.
|
by sillypunk on 1/27/2009 @ 1:19pm | This is why your Visa system is scary :p |
 by Dave_L on 1/27/2009 @ 1:36pm | In my experience, despite its vast improvements in the past several years, it seems USCIS (INS) is still a jumble of paperwork, huge fees, affidavits, and frequent mistakes and delays. And of course the last 7 or 8 years have made it even more difficult. At least with the internets you can get a lot of the info online before the human elements become involved.. I’m sure by now you’ve already checked out the various State Dept. and USCIS links
travel.state.gov/visa/visa_1750.html www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem... travel.state.gov/visa/temp/temp_1305.htm... I have no idea, but that sounds like a unique area of expertise, I would hope there would be a need and demand for such skills. For example I have a good friend who got a masters at UW in a unique foreign-language technical-writing course and spent a while as a translator at Nintendo. Now has a private translation business. In the last year or so I’m finding that print is shrinking, so I think your skills will be more and more in demand. Obscure reference from my generation: OUR TOP-STORY TONIGHT…. |
by sillypunk on 1/27/2009 @ 2:12pm | Hee. I've had a look at all the sites before. I am going to start collecting the HEAPS of info they need (like police checks on everywhere I've lived since 16 and immunization records. JOY.) this year so hopefully I'll start to be prepared by the time I need to apply rolls around.
All I needed to move to the UK from Canada was my EU passport :p |
 by Altered Chords on 1/27/2009 @ 4:01pm | Do you have any experience in business to business sales? |
 by fredo on 1/27/2009 @ 8:22pm | Say sillypunk, assuming you're a woman, would you compare yourself more to Posh Spice or to Margaret Thatcher? |
by sillypunk on 1/28/2009 @ 3:48am | @altered chords: No, I've only audited my Sales Dept here (I'm an internal auditor as well) but thats as close as I've gotte
@fredo Since I'm not a Peer/ former PM who busted Unions in the 80s or the new face of armani underwear, I'll go with neither. |
| Post Reply: |
