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Moving to the States?

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  • 22-03-2009 7:36pm
    #1
    Fantasy_Suicide
    Registered Users Posts: 1,095 ✭✭✭


    Hey guys.

    I'm considering uping and leaving the country to move to New York. It's in the early stages of thought at the mo, but I'm looking to hear from people who've been there, done that so to speak.

    So how do you go about moving to a new country? Where do you start?

    Thanks a mil,
    Emmie


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    #2
    Rented Mule
    Registered Users Posts: 5,153 ✭✭✭Rented Mule


    I'd start here.

    http://dublin.usembassy.gov/general.html


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    #3
    IrishGooner83
    Registered Users Posts: 41 ✭IrishGooner83


    If only it was that easy to just up shticks over there.

    Unless your going down the overstaying your holiday visa route. Your going to need to find a company that will sponsor your visa to work over there.

    Given the economic situation and the scarcity of jobs this is a lot tougher than what it may appear and can be a long process. The company employing you will have to prove that they cant find a US citizen that has the skills that you have to employ in the job.

    Best of luck with it all though. I lived in NYC for 2 years and its an amazing city with great people!


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    #4
    Black Swan
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,251 CMod ✭✭✭✭Black Swan


    Wait until the Great Recession shows signs of recovery in the USA before considering a move.


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    #5
    bobmac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3 ✭bobmac


    I`m irish and live in texas and the recession has`nt hit us hard, it has hit new york. the econemy is better in the southern states. there is work here if you look and houses and rent are a lot cheaper.


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    #6
    Black Swan
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,251 CMod ✭✭✭✭Black Swan


    California's official unemployment figure recently reported was 10.1 percent, which is twice normal. Of course, what happens to you when you run out of unemployment benefits and consequently no longer get a check from, or visit the unemployment office? Do they assume you got a job statistically, or what? My guess is that real unemployment is more like 15 percent in California. It's very hard hit by the Great Recession.

    See NY Times article on the "Surge in Shantytowns"
    Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26tents.html?_r=2&hp

    bobmac said "go south?" Well, there are a couple southern cities mentioned in this article that are "south?"

    While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.


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    #7
    glenjack
    Registered Users Posts: 4 ✭glenjack


    Emmie,
    Having done the whole NewYork thing for Five and a half years i would highly recomend it BUT!!! Having a trade is really good for your job chances. Having a strong work ethic is a must, as you do work damn hard in the Big Apple.If you have family or friends there as i did, it's very helpful when getting up and running Also plenty of money to tide you over for a month as you probably wont walk straight into a job,I think it took me a month to get a start.New York is an expensive city to live in but worth it.The legal issue could be a problem now as i think more and more employers are reluctant to employ illegal Irish.But hey its worth a chance .


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    #8
    Ajos
    Registered Users Posts: 226 ✭✭Ajos


    Yeah, been here for about five and a half years myself, and I too would highly recommend it. I got a Green Card in the lottery, so I have no advice about how to get yourself legal. Before that fell into my lap I considered doping the illegal thing, but I decided not to. Absolutely the correct decision - I've met a lot of illegal Irish here and there are some heartbreaking stories.

    Don't know about the South, but I haven't noticed NYC being particularly hard hit by the recession - sure, if you're in the financial industry things don't look good, but I feel NYC will have a shallower recession and a quicker recovery than most places. It's definitely nowhere near as depressing to be as, for example, Dublin, where everybody I talk to is afraid for their jobs.

    I had absolutely no friends or family here when I arrived in 2003. No job, either. It was pretty rough. I would echo glenjack - bring money. It took me about 9 months to get sorted in a decent job - before that I was doing odds and ends, and not really making ends meet. It was a tough time - I was paying off one credit card with another, eating a lot of beans and constantly moving into smaller and cheaper apartments.

    Mind you, I had a very specific set of skills, and I was a hard sell because nobody in New York knew my work. I was reluctant to take any other kind of work to tide me over - I probably could have gotten bar work or construction work easily enough. If I was younger I would have, but I felt I had enough time invested in my career I didn't want to let it slide, even for a while.

    Eventually things worked out, I bought a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn a couple of years ago and I'm doing a job that I love that I never would have been able to get at this level in Ireland - it just doesn't exist. So do it! It's the best decision I ever made.


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