Moving to the States

[Maartje12 0]

Hi guys! 
 

I’m new here, and I’m hoping you’ll be kind. I come from the Netherlands. I have a question. For years I’ve been considering moving to the US, New York City to be specific. I thought now it’s time to find some more information about it. I would be moving alone. 
Does anyone know where to start and how to apply for a visa? I know it’s not easy, especially during COVID, but it can’t be impossible, can it? 
Any advice would be welcome! Thanks in advance. 

As far as job experience goes, I have worked in a lot of different environments, so I have experience in dealing with different situations. 
 

 

Kind Regards,

Maartje 

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi,

 

It can be be almost impossible to immigrate to the US.  There are probably at least a billion people in the world who would jump at the opportunity to immigrate to the US.  That can't happen so it's not easy to immigrate to the US.

 

You will need either a qualified US family member to petition for you or a qualified US employer to petition for you.  

Do you have any close US relatives?

 

Do you have a college degree?

 

What is your occupation?

[canadian_wife 1,829]

As an aside, NYC is a very expensive city to live in, are you aware of the cost of living and health care in the United States?  What country are you coming from?

 

good luck

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

2 hours ago, canadian_wife said:

 What country are you coming from?

 

 

Was stated at the beginning of their post. 

5 hours ago, Maartje12 said:

I come from the Netherlands. 

 

 

[canadian_wife 1,829]

15 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

Was stated at the beginning of their post. 

 

Ah!   Yes, you right!

In my defense, it was 4:30am!  Sorry OP, reading while sleepy!

[Maartje12 0]

@aaron2020 I don’t know how replying to a reply works, so I’m doing it this way. Unfortunately, I don’t have any relatives in the US. I have a college degree in Tourism, but I’m currently working for a retirement fund, so I have that experience as well. 

[Maartje12 0]

@canadian_wife that’s okay! 04.30 AM is early! Life in The Netherlands is expensive too, so I’m used to that.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

23 minutes ago, Maartje12 said:

@aaron2020 I don’t know how replying to a reply works, so I’m doing it this way. Unfortunately, I don’t have any relatives in the US. I have a college degree in Tourism, but I’m currently working for a retirement fund, so I have that experience as well. 

Does your retirement fund company have a US operation? If so you could try get a L visa transfer. Otherwise you are going to need to find a company in the US that will employ and you and will sponsor you a visa, quite a process so it generally needs to be a position they find hard to fill from within the US.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

24 minutes ago, Maartje12 said:

@canadian_wife that’s okay! 04.30 AM is early! Life in The Netherlands is expensive too, so I’m used to that.

Healthcare is usually the big shock in expense for those coming from Western Europe. And NYC in particular is expensive, FYI (as an indication, would not take this as the definitive comparison) https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Netherlands&city1=Amsterdam&country2=United+States&city2=New+York%2C+NY

[nastra30 2,359]

Unfortunately, it's not easy and simple just to fly (migrate) from old Amsterdam to new Amsterdam (now NYC) unless you have family or employer that will sponsor you. But I have friends you took a long term path to getting good paying jobs in the US, and eventually settling in the US.

• They applied and got accepted to STEM or Business/Finance courses for Masters or PhD degrees in US universities. Entered the US with F1 visas
• Had jobs lined-up after summer internships (CPT, while still a student) or after graduation applied to jobs using OPT. Eventually got H1B visas through those jobs
• And eventually getting greencards through jobs

This is a high level overview but there are many variables that will come into play with this long term approach.

[Pat&Vince 97]

13 hours ago, Maartje12 said:

Hi guys! 
 

I’m new here, and I’m hoping you’ll be kind. I come from the Netherlands. I have a question. For years I’ve been considering moving to the US, New York City to be specific. I thought now it’s time to find some more information about it. I would be moving alone. 
Does anyone know where to start and how to apply for a visa? I know it’s not easy, especially during COVID, but it can’t be impossible, can it? 
Any advice would be welcome! Thanks in advance. 

As far as job experience goes, I have worked in a lot of different environments, so I have experience in dealing with different situations. 
 

 

Kind Regards,

Maartje 

 

 

To echo my fellow VJ-ers have mentioned above, it's really tough to move to this country if you do not have family here.

 

As a starting point, you should subscribe to the DV/Diversity visa, also known as "green card lottery", I know a handful of people who have won it, so it's not that rare...

 

When it comes to work visa, this is a lot tougher. You should probably set a call with a specialized lawyer who can walk you through all the options (sponsored visa, transfer visa, investment visa, student visa, etc.). Be aware that this is a long, costly and tedious process. 

 

 

Best of luck!

 

[Just Paul 4,595]

Your practical options for immigrating to the US are:

1) Marriage / family sponsored

2) work sponsored

3) investment

4) DV lottery

[Crazy Cat 42,303]

16 hours ago, Maartje12 said:

Hi guys! 
 

I’m new here, and I’m hoping you’ll be kind. I come from the Netherlands. I have a question. For years I’ve been considering moving to the US, New York City to be specific. I thought now it’s time to find some more information about it. I would be moving alone. 
Does anyone know where to start and how to apply for a visa? I know it’s not easy, especially during COVID, but it can’t be impossible, can it? 
Any advice would be welcome! Thanks in advance. 

As far as job experience goes, I have worked in a lot of different environments, so I have experience in dealing with different situations. 
 

 

Kind Regards,

Maartje 

This might be helpful.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate.html

[Marieke H 2,523]

11 hours ago, Maartje12 said:

Life in The Netherlands is expensive too, so I’m used to that.

No, you're not. The cost of housing, health care, health insurance, etc in the Netherlands is nothing compared to the US, especially if you are planning to live in New York.