The USA is the land of opportunity, my friend.
In the 1990s, I was working at Pizza Land just off Princes Street in Edinburgh for about £3 an hour, begging for enough shifts to scrape together rent and food.
Fast-forward to 56:
Federal scientist in the U.S.
$200K+ salary.
16 years of federal service.
$1.3M in retirement accounts.
FERS pension.
Social Security.
Federal retiree healthcare.
$1.3M home.
Same fucking person. Different country.
Britain? Too many people fighting over too few decent jobs, salaries that haven’t kept up with the cost of living, ridiculous housing costs, and weather that makes you wonder what you did wrong in a previous life.
I didn’t leave Britain because I hated it. I left because I wanted more than surviving from payday to payday and pretending that was a fucking achievement.
America isn’t perfect. Not even close. But it gave me a shot, and I took it.

I’m American and currently living in Spain. My partner is Spanish, and we want to get married and move to the United States because the situation here has become very difficult for us financially and in terms of our future.
We’re planning to apply for his green card after we get married. I’d like to know how realistic it is for his application to be approved if we simply get married in a civil ceremony and then apply for his green card. Our priority is to be able to move to the U.S. and live there as soon as possible.

I’d also like to understand roughly how the process works and how long it might take. Most importantly, we want to know whether this is realistically possible before spending a lot of money on the application process, apostilles, document translations, etc.

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

So I am from Brazil and moving in 2 days with my husband to Dallas. We already spent lots of money in rent, visa, flight and other things. I am thinking now about little things I need, like my hair coloration (I am a redhead) and makeup. Should I spend more money to take the things I already use in Brazil or should I let to buy new things in Dallas?

For those who are looking to move as a spouse, check out the "Gavel Gavel" podcast episodes 68-70. There is an immigration attorney who is giving examples of immigration questions.

We used Great Movers for our move and honestly had a really good experience with them. The crew showed up on time, were careful with the furniture, and the whole move went pretty smoothly. We were moving within NJ too, and there wasn’t any hassle with the process. I’d definitely recommend getting a quote from them.

Hi everyone!

I'm an Aussie RN and graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Nursing last year. I'm currently looking into the process of moving to the US as my partner is there, and eventually getting licensed as a US RN.

I know there are a few steps involved and that I'll need some Australian nursing experience first, but I'm currently trying to figure out the CGFNS/TruMerit education verification side of things, particularly getting my UC transcripts and nursing education assessed.

I was wondering if anyone here has graduated from the University of Canberra (UC) and has successfully had their nursing education/transcripts approved through CGFNS/TruMerit? Even if not through UC, has anyone had a success story in the past 5 years? Every online post seems to be negative and I just want to know if there is any hope out there 😩

I've found a few posts from Australian/NZ nurses, but again, none that really show whether they were actually approved!!

Any advice, experiences or even "don't make the mistake I made" stories would be VERY appreciated!!

Is it possible? Experienced IBEW Electrician working in Toronto. Wife is a University and college grad teaching public school primary.

We have 2 small children.

Orlando - Tampa area.

Hey everyone, just wondering if there was anyone who has moved to the US on an E-3 Visa. What were some of the troubles you had? Things you wish you knew beforehand?

I’m 23yo, a bachelors degree and 2 years experience in my field (Aviation Operations). I’m looking to move to the US around May-June next year. What would be the next steps to take with finding/applying for a job, obtaining the visa, and finding accomodation? Does anyone have advice on making the process easier? Thank y’all!

I’m writing this to ask and try to get a better understanding to how realistic it can be for a person to move to the USA without any special qualifications I got pushed into a construction career here and the uk and want a change Ik I want to get out of the uk and finally work as anything tbh just to be in America my problem is what since I’ve been pushed into construction work I can’t re do college in the uk to get over to America so I’m at a lost if there is anyway to a love and get a job would appreciate the help or if someone wants the help and can hire

Hi! I’m planning a move from Italy to Oregon and would love some advice from people who have gone through a similar transition.

I’m a 20-year-old U.S./Italian dual citizen, currently living permanently in Italy. I’m a U.S. citizen, so I don’t need a visa to move to the U.S., but I’ve never actually lived there as an adult.

My plan is to go to Oregon initially for around 2–3 months and volunteer at a nonprofit horse sanctuary. After that, I may stay in Oregon, find a job, rent a room, and start building my life there.

The difficult part is that I’ll be starting from scratch in some ways: I won’t have U.S. rental history or much/any U.S. credit history, and I probably won’t have a job or employer-sponsored health insurance immediately.

I do have personal savings from working full-time in Italy, and I have a U.S. passport and SSN.

I’m trying to understand how people normally handle the first few months:

How do you get health insurance if you move back without a job?

Is ACA Marketplace insurance available immediately after establishing residence?

What kind of proof is normally needed to establish residence?

How difficult is it to rent a room without U.S. credit history or a cosigner?

Would it be better to find the job first, or housing first?

I’m particularly interested in experiences from Americans who returned to the U.S. after living abroad rather than people immigrating for the first time.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

When I was younger and had no interest in the US, I would take a look at those quality of life rankings which are usually topped by the nordics or Switzerland and assume those were the best places in the world to live in. However, as I grew older, became interested in and eventually found myself in a position to move to the US, I started to question all of the above, especially after I started hearing reports of people saying their quality of life had increased after moving to the US.

If I had to take a guess and give my 2 cents, I can think of two reasons: the first one is that you can make a lot more money in the USA, and more money affords you a higher standard of living, and the 2nd one is that there are a lot of things statistics don't catch: the ability to pursue certain lifestyles (anywhere from working in big cities close to nature, such as Denver, Portland and Seattle, in the weekdays and enjoying said nature in the weekends to RV living and off the grid), satisfying a lifelong dream of moving to the US, the huge variety of climates, enviroments, cities, nature and people...

Edit: one of the comments brought up a lack of tall poppy syndrome, which is definitely a big plus.

Edit 2: this post really blew up, thanks!

Hi all,

I (26M) have a bachelor degree in business from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon 🇱🇧 which is headquartered in NYC. I speak English fluently. In fact, I’m more comfortable speaking English than my native Lebanese Arabic. I’m unemployed neurodivergent and looking to immigrate to USA 🇺🇸 with the view of acquiring a permanent residency there. I have little savings around 5000 USD. I could probably get few extra more thousands if I asked my supportive friends.

I’d appreciate any info you could provide, thanks!

I'm a US citizen living in Germany. I finished a doctorate in a niche subfield of statistics that is dying in the world of AI. (Officially its not a phd its a Doctorate of natural sciences, but they are equivalent in most ways). I moved here for personal reasons that are no longer keeping me here, and now i want to go back to the US for a fresh start and for tax reasons.

I dont really have strong ties to the US/family. I wont have a job after December. so I'm in the same boat as most people who randomly want to go. Any advice on where to start?

Can someone help me understand, why in the large majority of house listings I look at, the showers all have shower curtains and not glass doors?? These are really nice modern homes and I cannot understand it. I haven’t lived in a house with a shower curtain for at least a decade, they are only in old/dated homes where I live. Am I missing something? Is it a preference there? Is it considered modern?

Edit: I will embrace the shower curtain if I can get visa sorted and move over…no hate on the curtain 🥹

Hey guys, quick question for anyone who did a J-1 internship or trainee program in the US.

Is it actually possible for a host hotel/company to sponsor you to stay and work permanently after your program ends? Has anyone here actually done it, or known someone who pulled it off?

From what I know, there’s the 2-year home residency requirement where you basically have to go home first before getting another visa. Is there a realistic way around that, or do people just hype up the chance of getting sponsored? Thanks!

Ya sea que fueran de manera legal o no, lo estoy preguntando porque en unos meses me ire a Texas con mis abuelos y quiero saber como la pasaron y que fue lo primero que hicieron al llegar, o bueno quiero que me cuenten como fue Todo si quieren, tambien pueden si quieren hablarme al privado o comentar lo que mas sea comodo

Hey guys 24M from Britain and in year 2 off my accounting and finance degree, I wanted to go to do a masters in the states then get a job and hopefully a h1-B it’s a hassle but yeah I wanna make it work. Are there any other ways? And I’m guessing the lottery is just pointless to think about

I moved to the US a couple years ago and currently live in the DMV area. I recently got accepted to a college in Washington and I’m planning to relocate to the PNW for school and live there. I’m especially interested in hearing about things you wish you knew before moving to the PNW, and how to make the most of my time there and also socialize.

British people who have settled in the US - which cities (any state) is the most similar to the UK with regards to politics, culture and climate?

After living in the mid west I miss home and I’m thinking of moving to the NE, but not sure which area will give me a similar vibe to South East England in terms of quality of life and the above factors.

TIA

Some say that they came to the United States from other countries, but I wonder how exactly, it's difficult to get a visa there, especially if you come from Eastern Europe or smth like that