So you want to move to the US and get a green card (permanent residence permit) or even US citizenship, how do you it? Typically you'll need and advanced academic degree (MSc or PhD), and lots of patience, time, energy and money. I'm not claiming to give any legal advice here, for that you'll have to pay an immigration lawyer $100 to talk to you on the phone for half an hour.
Well, if you had a family member who's a US citizen you'd be one of the lucky few who'd be able to get a green card with minimal effort and suffering, and you probably wouldn't have googled your way to this page. If you're not so lucky, marrying a US citizen is by far the easiest way. My understanding is that it's best to get married in your home country and then go to the nearest US embassy or consulate with your US spouse and marriage certificate and file for a green card. You can also apply for a fiancé(e) visa to go to the US and get married there, but these seem to be hard and slow to get.
If you don't have a family member that's a US citizen, things get a lot harder. However, there's a shortcut that's worth trying, the famous green card lottery! Yes, this program is actually real and gives green cards to 50,000 people each year. All that's required to participate is that you're born in an eligible country and that you have finished high school. Of the EU countries, only Great Britain and Poland are currently ineligible (because too many people from those countries have immigrated in the US in the last five years). A strong word of warning here. There are hundreds of web sites trying to fool you that they are the official site for the green card lottery, or that they can increase your chances for a small fee. I've seen ads in European newspapers for frauds like these, but it's all bogus. Only apply yourself and directly at the official US government web site! Actually, you should google for it instead of clicking that link, I might be bogus too! The application period typically begins in early October each year, apply as early as possible. Your odds will depend on your country of birth, but is often around 1% or so. If you're married, your spouse should also participate to double your chances. I would warmly recommend people to start participating as soon as they've finished high school. I've met several people who got their green cards this way. Even if the chances are not great, it takes almost no effort, so it's still well worth it. A word of caution. They typically notify more like 80,000 people that they've won, but only the first 50,000 are actually guaranteed to get a green card. The remaining 30,000 are reserves who will be bumped up as some of the first 50,000 are unqualified or can't claim their green card for some reason. You won't be told where your are on the list, but if you're interview gets scheduled late, e.g. in August, you're probably a reserve, but you might still get lucky.
I only participated in the green card lottery once (and didn't win), so I had to get my green card the hard way. I got my PhD in Europe and then got a J1 (visiting scholar) visa to do a post doc in the US. It was pretty straightforward and only took a couple of months to get. Some J1 visa holders get the dreaded "two year rule", which forces you to stay out of the US for two years after the J1 expires. The two year rule can be waived by your home country, but that's a slow and painful process. If your J1 has the two year rule or not seems to mostly depend on your home country. You can have a J1 for up to three years. A disadvantage with the J1 is that it's intended for temporary visitors. So if you have any thoughts about trying to stay in the US, ban them from your mind while you have the J1! You're therefore not supposed to file for a green card while you have a J1, and if you do you could find yourself in trouble with immigration authorities. I do know a guy who had a J1 with the two year rule, but still filed for a green card and got it approved in just over a year, which is pretty fast. I have been told that it's OK to participate in the green card lottery while you have a J1 visa. Only after you win and file for the green card, you might be considered to be violating your J1 non-immigrant status.
I followed the rules and had no wicked thoughts about staying permanently in the US until two years into my post doc, when I got a job offer and my prospective employer filed for an H1B work visa for me. Once you have an H1B, you should file for the green card as soon as possible. You can have an H1B for up to six years, but being an H1B holder has several disadvantages, including being stuck with the same employer (if you change jobs you need to transfer the H1B visa to the new employer). Many green card categories require a permanent job. This requirement is easier to meet if you work for a company. If you're at a university, often only tenure track or tenure count as permanent.
A huge problem nowadays is that the annual H1B quota has been reduced back to 65,000 after having been up to 225,000 (if I remember correctly) when I first got mine. The first day you can file for an H1B is April 1. Last year close to 200,000 applications were filed that day and a third of those were randomly approved. Even if you were among the lucky third, you had to wait until October 1 to be allowed to start working. Fortunately universities are exempt from the annual quota, but then you have to live with the disadvantage of post doc and scientist positions not being considered permanent, making several green card categories difficult for university employees. I'll talk more about the different available green card categories in a future post.
There is also an extra quota of 25,000 (last time I checked) H1B visas for people who got their highest degree from a US university. It might therefore make sense to come to the US on an F1 (student) visa and get an MSc or PhD in the US. Like the J1, the F1 is a non-immigrant visa so you're not allowed to do anything to try to stay permanently while you have it. An advantage of the F1 compared to the J1 is that you're allowed to get a real job after you graduate and work there for a year. You can then work while you wait for the H1B to be approved. A nice thing about the J1 visa is that for the first two years of your post doc, your a non-resident alien in the eyes of the IRS (for tax purposes), so you don't have to pay social security taxes.
Filing fees for visas and green cards are becoming substantial. For F1/J1 I think you're sponsoring university / other academic institution typically will pay. For companies it varies. In my case they pay for the initial filing, but not for renewals. The filing fee for an H1B used to be $500, but to get the visa approved in less than six months you need to pay an extra premium processing fee of $1000. If you hire an immigration lawyer to help, they typically charge $200/hour for their time, plus extra for every mail and fax they send.
I plan to make a brain dump here of my green card knowledge and experience in the near future. If you file for an employment based green card it's likely to take at least two years and cost you something in the neighborhood of $10,000 ($6,500 for an immigration lawyer and the rest for filing fees). So get ready to participate in the next green card lottery, your best chance to avoid doing things the hard way!
