I want to do it in a few years and I know it's a difficult process, so I'm starting my research now. Perhaps you guys will give me a straight answer. I've searched through loads of forums, and the prospects don't look good. I'm a Northern Irish citizen, I am on course to getting good A levels (I suppose that's the equivalent on a high school diploma in the states), I have little work experience beyond working part-time in a shop for a few months, I have no skills apart from playing a mean guitar, I have no relatives in the states and I have little money. So, can I move to America with little more than my hope? If so, what visas etc. would I need? Hopefully someone will get me out of this tangle of red-tape. PS. I'm not asking if I should, I'm asking if I can, so no smart answers about being too young to make this decision. Life's too short. PPS. Hypothetical question: What if I was to go as a tourist and then just not leave? Would the feds be banging down my door? I know I couldn't work or vote etc., but what would happen if I just stayed? Why is it so difficult to immigrate to a country of immigrants?
Welcome to the United States of America.. you are making it more complicated than it actually is.. Apply for citizenship.. You are over 18 years old. You have been a permanent resident of the U.S., with a Resident Card, for 5 years continuously without leaving for long periods of time. You can read, write, and speak basic English. (Age or disability may allow exemption of this requirement.) You must pass a civics exam. You must be able to swear to be of good moral character. If male, you must have complied with the Selective Service requirements. If male, you have never deserted the armed forces. If male, you have never been discharged from armed services for being an alien. If male, be willing to serve in the armed forces, if eligible and required. You must certify that you will uphold the Constitution of the U.S. You must take an oath of allegiance to the U.S. If married, you have been married to a U.S. citizen for at least 3 years, and the spouse has been a citizen for more than 3 years. Tips: These are general guidelines only. If (a) you are under 18 years old, (b) your spouse has died serving in U.S. Armed Forces, or (c) you have served active duty in U.S. Armed Forces, different eligibility rules apply. If your spouse is a U.S. citizen and (a) works for the U.S. government, (b) is a member of the clergy, or (c) is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, different eligibility rules apply.
Thanks for the info, but I've heard that it also takes a lot of money. One website quoted $3000. I barely have enough for the plane ticket and (predicted) living costs.
Years ago I thought about moving over there on a work visa for a few months, and it look incredibly complicated to do. Orisons now made me think twice! It might take time, but if you want it, you'll get there. You have time to get some money together, it would be wise to do that first.
The cost of an airline ticket, visa and passport are the most money you will spend. Just my own plans to travel include them and I dont plan on staying anywhere, but if I died on the beaches of Jamaica then kick some sand over me.. Bilingual people have it made over here in human service jobs.
Well if you do end up coming over here, you should move to Omaha. The housing market is pretty good here. Plus it's where I live and it'd be nice to have a hippie friend
I'd love to, but I don't really care where I move to as long as there's other hippies. So if there's anyone out there who's willing to take in a long lost hippie brother, talk to me!
if you find America too expensive, you should have no problem getting a visa for Canada, since we're technically part of the commonwealth still.
Hmm, thats an idea. Hadn't thought of that! But I wasn't planning on living the high life. As long as I have somewhere dry and vaguely comfortable to sleep in, I'm living with other hippies and I have a place to put my guitar, I don't really care! The big problem with N. Ireland is the lack of other hippies. And the religious hatred. And the shitty music (seriously, there's nothing but pop-rock and dance.). I just want OUT!
you'd probably like the west coast of canada. vancouver doesn't really get snow (maybe a dusting once or twice a year), and the climate is perfect for growing weed, so you'll find a lot of hippies there haha. alternatively, on the east coast you'll find a lot of like minded people as well, mostly in and around halifax.
Hey, if it's in a couple years or more, I might be able to help. should have my own place by then! Just don't complain about boring ol' Indiana! lol
nooooo, america sucks. i suggest you read this article. read the whole thing. http://americathegrimtruth.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/america-the-grim-truth/
Hi Buddy, First thought, Northern Erie, that does mean a U.K. passport, correct? Or am I incorrect, here? If that is the case then I should imagine that it would be far easier from the U.K. to get a U.S. visa stamp than from most other nations. Just a guess here. First thought, is there a U.S. Consulate say in Belfast? Check the phone book at the library. Write for information or drop in. What are your options? What do they entail? All countries want you to have cash to visit. I'm sure that if I flew into London or Belfast for a two week round trip the U.K. would want to see at least a $1,000 US. Probably more. All countries ask you at customs upon entry. If you took the boat to France they would ask you. The bad new is that you'll need to earn some money. The good new is that it may just take you the same amount of months to be granted a U.S. visa. One never knows how long. Does anyone there do student exchange programs arrangements? Someone lives with a family and someone else lives with another family. Many years back my sister went and lived with a family in Tokyo for a month and a half. A wholly other family then ours was guesting or hosting a Japanese student. It one thing to check out. Super easy visa to get stamped. Your are sponsored by someone in the country. It's a visit. I would mix about with college age people at a college and ask about. You could easily run into many people who have already traveled to the U.S. and back. The best source of information is people who have done it already. Getting to the U.S. and over staying your visa. Nothing is certain. Maybe you'll get away with it. Maybe not. As I understand it, if they do catch you overstaying, you are barred from reentry. Don't know. At least 5 years. Something like that. Make an intelligent decision. The thing is the more info that you can get the better off you are. I had a friend who did overstay here. Student visa, Florida State in Miami. Dutch guy who grew up in Jakarta. After college his visa expired. His folks had moved to Saudi Arabia for work, he knew no one in Jakarta and hadn't been in Holland since he was 5. He was one of these blond hair blue eyed spoke zero accent American English and common phrases and had the advantage of living here soaking up American customs and such for 4 years. He also had a masters degree in business. When I lived in San Francisco he stayed on my couch for 6 weeks, and applied for a job in the mail room at the central Wells Fargo H.Q. building there. He got his own little apartment and went from mail room deliveries to the copying rooms in a week. After a month in copying he got another raise and another department. And he kept going up. Found a new American girlfriend. A year later they got married and he bought a new Harley on payments. Two years later he met an old guy out in the California farmlands who owned a Harley motorcycle dealership. The old guy wanted to sell the dealership and retire. They worked out a rare deal where he would take over the business an pay for the business and the stock out of the sales profits over the coming years. Being married I guess that he eventually became a U.S. citizen. One happy ending. Anything could happen. I'd say that if you are Common Wealth, then first go and make some money where ever the money is, maybe not in Northern Ireland. Like London or some place. Bahamas??? Swim to Florida? Hitch on a boat. Get a tan. Florida Keys? I'd guess off the top of my head that the best place for an Irish guy to lose himself in, in America, would be Boston. An eight of the city is Irish at least. An accent? Who cares. Also there are extremely cosmopolitan cities like San Francisco and New York. The populations are from all over the world. Anyone English speaking is way ahead of the curve. I always tend to try for the more moneyed neighborhoods or cities. Better odds of making money then in broke places. A real difference.
@Thekarthika: Thanks man, I'm sure we can make it exciting! @haha_wintaaa: I read the article, but strangely it just makes me want to come to America more. It makes me feel like I should be trying to change it. @Scorpio Kenny: I can have both a U.K. and Irish passport. I wonder which one would be better? I already have about £1,000 saved up for this. Half of that will be gone with the plane ticket, but £500 ain't that far away from $1,000. I'd love to go to San Francisco, if I had the choice. It'll be the best chance of running into other hippies. Hopefully one of them will let me stay on a couch. That's the real problem with N.I.: There are no other hippies at all! I don't really have a plan beyond saving up some money and hopping on a plane/boat to the States. California preferably. From there I'll look for a couch to sleep on, some hippies to get high with and a band to jam with. I refuse to think beyond that, because then it seems like such a chore. Fuck the consequences! And if anyone calls me naïve for thinking that way, then they don't belong on this site! eace:
Just to let you know, I live in Somerset Uk, in the Glastonbury area and we are knee-deep in hippies around here. Also around Totnes, you can't move for hippies. I don't know whether you've checked out the areas closer to home, but I really think you're missing something and we are just over the water! And you don't need a visa or have to go sneaking past borders etc! I have lived in the UK, in Canada and in the US (San Francisco area in the 60s) and I really would not leave the UK now. I have found it to be a kinder place, a more gentle place and I have found that people are friendlier here. I've never been to Nothern Ireland, so it may be different over there, but I would urge you to check out the UK West before you go running overseas. Best of luck, whatever you decide.
There aren't as many hippies in SF as you'd think anymore. Yuppies moved into most of the cheap areas once inhabited by hippies. The Mission is overrun with rich kids who are "slumming it" riding Italian Fixed gear track bikes taking over the places where the yuppies didn't. Haight Ashbury is just a shopping mall with dope dealers now etc. But I lived in a couple of youth hostels there. Being Irish you have a leg up so to speak on some under the table work. I did some pickup work with moving companies and the thing I noticed is that most of the guys I was working with and most of the guys who I knew who worked with movers were fresh off the boat Irish. A lot of the moving companies also have names like "Emerald Isle Movers" and "Celtic Moving and Storage" etc. Stay Brown, Rev J
