How can I (an EU citizen) move to San Francisco?

June 14, 2009 3:21 PM

How can I (an EU citizen) move to San Francisco?

I've visited San Francisco a couple of times and I've really enjoyed the vibe of the city. The diversity, the events, the attitude, it's all awesome. I'd move there if I could but it seems like it's next to impossible for EU citizens to legally immigrate to the US. Is there any chance I can make this work?

A few relevant facts:
- I'm from Estonia
- I wouldn't be changing employers since my current one is cool with me working from any place on the globe with an internet connection
- I make around 60 000 USD a year, so immigration through investment is out
- I understand grad school is pretty expensive over there as well, so moving for that is probably out too

posted by Omnibenevolent Supercherub to travel & transportation (11 comments total)

Graduate school in the United States is expensive.

In order to move to the United States, you would have to either (1) marry a US citizen, (2) have a company sponsor you for a green card, or (3) qualify under some other relevant law (say, political or religious asylum).
posted by dfriedman at 3:38 PM on June 14

Sorry, item number 2 should read "have a company sponsor you for a visa"
posted by dfriedman at 3:45 PM on June 14

- I understand grad school is pretty expensive over there as well, so moving for that is probably out too

Well yes and no. It is quite possible to get full funding for grad school if you get into a top programme. I think that the green card lottery still exists as well...
posted by ob at 3:54 PM on June 14

Even if you get full funding for a graduate school program you have to add to those costs the opportunity cost of foregoing income for the duration of the graduate school program.

The costs of education go beyond the mere expense of tuition, room and board, and books. The foregone income is a real, and significant, cost, that most people forget to consider.

If the program in question provides a stipend, this would reduce, but likely not eliminate, these opportunity costs.
posted by dfriedman at 4:01 PM on June 14

You could try entering the Diversity Visa Program, but you will have to wait for the next round, if there is one. This is the official free US Government Website. Sadly only 58 Estonians received a green card in the 2009 round.
posted by DOUBLE A SIDE at 4:39 PM on June 14

there is an "exceptional alien exception" in US imigration law. The EB-2 visa.
it is difficult to get legally classified as an exceptional person, but if you can, you can stay.

this visa is most common in arts and sports - it allows rock-stars, opera singers, and professional hockey players to get a visa, for example. but you can get it for other stuff too - in some cases, a respected PhD thesis can do it.

maybe a long shot, but just a thought
posted by Flood at 5:58 PM on June 14

I understand grad school is pretty expensive over there as well, so moving for that is probably out too.

This depends, field to field. Any science, math, or engineering program that is worth attending will pay your tuition and give you a stipend. You will not save much money, and your pay will be cut in half, at least, but grad school stipends are living wages (and are usually accompanied by health insurance, etc.), and any program not willing to fund you that well is a program you should not attend. If you're OK with simply getting by financially in order to do pursue a degree you want in a city you dig, it is definitely do-able.

If you are looking at grad school in the humanities, that is a different question entirely. In some fields, humanities students take on a job to support their PhD; depending on just how flexible your employer is, you might be able to work things out financially by attending grad school and continuing at your job.

Since you don't have an American employer to sponsor you, school is probably the easiest way to get a visa.
posted by ubersturm at 6:07 PM on June 14

Since you wouldn't be changing employers, the L-1 visa might be a possibility.
posted by needled at 6:08 PM on June 14

Also, getting married to a United States citizen no longer grants you instant citizen ship. Typically the process lasts about four years and requires you to get new visas every so often. It is no longer a carte blanche.
posted by ZaneJ. at 1:10 AM on June 15

The US doesn't recognize "EU citizens", any more than they recognize people who put on superhero costumes as a seperate category. You are, for any and all interactions with the US government, an Estonian Citizen. Estonia has been in the EU for 5 years, but you've only been able to travel there without visas for the past year or so. That's because the US signed a visa waiver program with Estonia and Latvia in 2008. If you're from Poland or Cyprus - countries that joined the EU the same day Estonia did - you get to apply for a visa like every country not marked in red on this map.
posted by jedrek at 2:08 AM on June 15

What age are you? When I was leaving college I got one of those 18-month "under 35" J-1 visas and moved to NYC with it (I'm Irish). By the time it expired, I had made enough contacts to have a couple of firms willing to sponsor me for a H1B.
posted by jamesonandwater at 6:26 AM on June 15