British Expatriate Network

My wife and I have been living here in the US since January and I'm still unable to work. We signed for my work visa in January and I am still waiting over 6 months on!. My wife is the only one able to work and on top of rent, phone bill, her student loan, food etc we are barley able to survive. None of the inlaws understand! they think I should just work illegally. I can't even drive untill I get my work visa as I don't have a liscence from the UK, so I have to take a test here and I can't untill my visa goes through. So for 6 months I have been stuck in a house. Its a small town and theres no real bus serivce so I can get around at all. It has been the worst 6 months of my life so far. I have had opportunites to work illegally and SOO BADLY have wanted to, especially when we havent had money to put food on the table. For a guy I feel horrible. My poor wife working all the hours God sends to beable to keep us afloat. On top of it being homesick doesnt help, coming from Newcastle to a small HICK Town in the middle of no-where, no other Brits, nothing to do, nothing here hardly. Now my grans died and her funreal is next week and I LOVED my Gran and wanted to go to the funeral next week but if I go I will lose all the 6 months waiting time, the $645 we have paid for my visa so far. I hate the INS for that. Its so unfair......

I am totally sick and depressed now..its gone on too long...I've had enough.

That sounds awful. Is your wife a US citizen? If so, how come you didn't get a stamp saying you were legal to work when you entered the country? What is the hold up? Did you marry here or in the UK? Either way, I got my visa and right to work as I entered the country, after a four-month wait in the UK after our wedding.

I sympathise with your position very much, but am wondering how you come to be in it.
???

I went through the same feeling and experience. Got here end of January '98 and did not get a work permit until the October. I was able to find some voluntary things to sort of keep me occupied but I know it can be frustrating when you want to work and worry about getting out of the habit.

Not sure on working illegally but I did read somewhere that the INS forgives instances of this when you file for an adjustment of status. I wasn't exactly inundated with offers but I did turn down a couple of instances because I did not want to jeopardise my status in any way.

Just hang on in there a bit longer and things will turn around for you.

Hi Midgure,

I was in a similiar situation except I never applied for a work permit. I was just waiting to go through for my greencard. I was and still am unable to drive ( now just to waiting for lessons). I was unable to work as no authorisation etc. Now my green card has come through and with that the freedom of some choices is so uplifting. My grandmother also past away a few weeks after arriving here.

What I'm meaning to say is that I totally sympathise with your situation but just hang in there. It may not seem like it now but will do soon when you recieve what it is your waiting. Have the INS given you a receipt number etc that you could contact to find out about the amount of time its taking?

Zed

I would definitely chase it up again and see if you can find a sympathetic ear at the appropriate office. If you don't get a date/progress report, keep on calling until you do.

Good luck, and well done on staying sane thus far.

Hi Neil,

I suppose it's of little comfort now to say that your life won't be like this forever, but truly it won't. When I went through the immigration process I was in the UK whilst my husband was over here and I hated the INS with a vengence for causing my family so much suffering.

So sorry to hear about your Gran. Mine died a couple of months ago and I know how it feels.

Hang in there.

Here's a thought of something you may be able to do which will distract you from your boredom....and is *legal*.

Do you have a YMCA in your district? You can volunteer to help out in all kinds of ways; helping out at the front desk of their leisure centres, mentoring a child, teaching swimming or sports skills, helping new immigrants to learn English etc. It may be possible for you to come to a deal where in return for volunteering, you may be able to use their gym or pool free of charge? Also, it would look good on your CV if you are helping out in your local community, and you may get a reference too.

Their main website http//www.ymca.net has an icon to click on at the top of their homepage for people interested in volunteering.

I send my condolences to you regarding your Gran's death, you must be feeling so unhappy at this time. I've just had a phone call from home to say that my favourite Aunt & Godmother died last night. The airfares are currently $1500 from New York to London if you fly within the next seven days sad

Everyone,
Thanks for your encouragement and support. It actually does help alot.
I have taken down all your advice and will be following up leads you have given me.

Its annoying as I don't actually want to live in America I want to live in England, but my wife doesnt want to live in England. So I lose. No disrespect but I just prefer England on a personal level. People are like 'ohh well you will get use to it in time?' I'm like 'well why can't my wife JUST get use to England?' She makes out that its easier for me to get use to America than it would be for her to get us to England..just cos well theres not as many jobs there and she says the health system in England is crap etc.

Well thats the story so far...

Cheers
Neil

Dawn,

I have been on the Website for the YMCA and the nearest one to me is 4hours drive!

Ohh well

good luck ... by the way Hertford INS is one of the best in America ..friendly and quick and answer your phone calls quickly ..

Ditto! :grin:
(but we're not married)

The only way I can make extra money is by babysitting. My visa only allows the one job and from what I've seen/know nobody counts casual babysitting as a "real" job so it's not a big thing to do it "illegally".

Could you not do something handy-manish for a while on a casual basis for friends? Painting, pool cleaning or similar? I know it's not fun but at least it would be something to do and would give you a bit of pocket money without being totally illegal.

Just a (pretty poor) suggestion.

Stel.

I'm not in the same boat as I love living here, but, having said that, have you thought about trying to get her to move somewhere with more Brits (and more of a sort of "international" city, i.e., more stuff to do!)?

I live in LA, for example, and there are tons of British and Irish people here. One figure I heard tossed around, which seems amazing, but given the number of times I hear English accents could be true, is 200,000 in Southern California. Certainly there are a host of british shops and pubs. Funny thing about LA is that you have your obvious British pubs (like the Kings Head in Santa Monica -- a Brits in America institution and drinking spot for every famous Brit to ever stop in LA) but you also have places that do not play up the theme very much at all but are pretty much exclusively filled with English, Scottish and Irish people (and the places look like your average anonymous crappy cookie-cutter pubs -- but are oddly comforting, none the less).

Other places with loads of Brits are the NYC area and quite a few parts of Florida. There are pockets of Brits all over, as this board shows.

Just a thought.

P.S., Aren't the royalties from "Vienna" still keeping you in tea and buscuits?

You said you cannot drive over here, but you can get an International drivers licence from the UK and drive around using that until you get your american one.
I was pulled over on it and it was never a problem.

Yeah, but some states (this was my problem in NJ) won't let you get insurance until you have a US licence, which you can't get until you have a visa that lasts for 6 months or more...

So you basically can't drive.

It's catch 22.