I always envisioned and wanted to come to the US. The opportunity knocked on my door when in 2003 I first came on a "Work and Travel" student program (http://www.ciee.org/wat/). It basically allows students from other countries to come and experience a little of America while working and travelling for a limited time period. It's usually during summer breaks, and for only 3-4 months. It is a great thing because you gain international work experience for your resume, you get to brush up on your English and meet a lot of people from different places of the world. For me it worked great! That's how I started working at my former job. I hated the job as a server but I believed it was temporary and I stayed open-minded about the experience. I made friends and my English improved.
They probably started liking me because in October that year they offered me to stay on a different kind of visa, a H2B. An H2B visa is a visa that is is available to employers of foreign workers not working in the agricultural field and that are seasonal. The employer has to prove that there are no unemployed US workers willing or able to do the work. This is established through the state's employment agency using a labor certification process. At the end of the visa, the employee has to go back to his/her country and if there's another visa arranged for him/her, they can come back for another "season". I had to go back to Romania in July 2004, but I came on another H2B in October. At that time, I had been already offered another type of job in the office. I started to like it here. And they liked me back. So much so that they arranged another type of visa for me for the next year -an H1B. This visa is usually for a longer period of time: 3 years and it can be extended longer, for another 3 years if there's a Green Card application pending. I was "promoted" to Contract Administrator and I loved my job doing real estate contracts. We were very busy and I strived in the demanding environment. They even applied for a Green Card through employment for me last year and an extension was approved for me until 2011. But work slowed down quite a bit and I had to be let go after all this time.
I consider myself lucky, it could've been worse. I heard a lot of stories from foreigners that have not been this blessed. My employer took care of me and that is important when you come to another country. I even think that the opinion about your time in the US is correlated to your "luck" with the employer. I can only be thankful... Even if I got laid off, I'm still grateful.
If everything was very easy until now because I had a company-paid immigration attorney to do all the paperwork for me, the hassle just starts now. I have to apply for everything myself. When you can't afford an attorney, you have to do it yourself. As much a crazyness as that sounds. It's not an easy process and everybody knows Immigration is not a "consumer-friendly" department, but I'm ready to take the challenge full on.
And with my journey, I'm hoping I can educate you too on what to do and maybe not to do if you are finding yourself in my position. Trial and error...Hopefully, not many errors, I need to work ASAP!!
So stay put for next posts on what you can do ahead of time...even before getting married!
XOXO
PS: helpful link: always the trustworthy http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
They probably started liking me because in October that year they offered me to stay on a different kind of visa, a H2B. An H2B visa is a visa that is is available to employers of foreign workers not working in the agricultural field and that are seasonal. The employer has to prove that there are no unemployed US workers willing or able to do the work. This is established through the state's employment agency using a labor certification process. At the end of the visa, the employee has to go back to his/her country and if there's another visa arranged for him/her, they can come back for another "season". I had to go back to Romania in July 2004, but I came on another H2B in October. At that time, I had been already offered another type of job in the office. I started to like it here. And they liked me back. So much so that they arranged another type of visa for me for the next year -an H1B. This visa is usually for a longer period of time: 3 years and it can be extended longer, for another 3 years if there's a Green Card application pending. I was "promoted" to Contract Administrator and I loved my job doing real estate contracts. We were very busy and I strived in the demanding environment. They even applied for a Green Card through employment for me last year and an extension was approved for me until 2011. But work slowed down quite a bit and I had to be let go after all this time.
I consider myself lucky, it could've been worse. I heard a lot of stories from foreigners that have not been this blessed. My employer took care of me and that is important when you come to another country. I even think that the opinion about your time in the US is correlated to your "luck" with the employer. I can only be thankful... Even if I got laid off, I'm still grateful.
If everything was very easy until now because I had a company-paid immigration attorney to do all the paperwork for me, the hassle just starts now. I have to apply for everything myself. When you can't afford an attorney, you have to do it yourself. As much a crazyness as that sounds. It's not an easy process and everybody knows Immigration is not a "consumer-friendly" department, but I'm ready to take the challenge full on.
And with my journey, I'm hoping I can educate you too on what to do and maybe not to do if you are finding yourself in my position. Trial and error...Hopefully, not many errors, I need to work ASAP!!
So stay put for next posts on what you can do ahead of time...even before getting married!
XOXO
PS: helpful link: always the trustworthy http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
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