I want to move to LA...HELP please...this is very serious for me

[EK111]

Ok, so i am 24 but have never ben ableto make my own choices in life due to circumstncs....i had always from a young age planned o move to america, BUT at 18 when i was fresh out of 6th form (avce double award in media) i was forced to move abroad. Unfortunatly things went wrong,and now have only just settled and i am now back here in the UK starting over with no relevant work experience or education as such.

Now, i want to move to LA so am going to use my time back here in the uK to build up to that point. im curently unemployed but will be saving up whn i get some work to do a make up couse, and then a short photography course..u know the ones u pay for and get a diploma..will this be enough? im also a part time modl at the moment...if i was able to make it full time and do well would that be ebopugh to move me over there?

i mean get the visa? I want a visa or permit that enables me to be there a minimum of 3 years...what do i need? please help? im aiming to start a new life, my own life over there and will be crushed if im not good enough to be acceoted, thats why im researching from now to make sure i get what i need to go.....

[dzug]

Start here:

http://www.usembassy....ew/visa/iv/index.html

Alas I don't think makeup and photography or modelling will get you anywhere - you need an occupation in short supply in the US.

Marrying a US citizen is the easiest way - and even then it isn't easy.

[Mr Veritas]

I am sorry to be blunt,but forget it!
To work in the USA(for any period) you have to have a "Green Card"(work permit).
These are only issued to citizens of those countries that are in what is known as the Green Card Lottery.
The UK is NOT one of these countries,this means UK citizens have no chance of getting a Green Card.
It used to be that if a US company offered you a job,then you MIGHT get a Green Card;but due to the world financial recession Pres Obamama has closed this loophole.
Ther used to be SOME excepted professions (from the UK) that the US allowed a Green Card to,but sadly this has now been phased out (as above)
As dzug say,marrying a US citizen might be one way,but you would have to live in the US (without working) until the US Immigration considered that the marriage was valid.
This (on average) now takes between 5 and 7 years.
It's easier to get into Canada(but still difficult)
Australia and New Zealand are easier still,but still have stringent qualifications.

[EK111]

what about from cyprus? as i am also a cypriot national

[Mr Veritas]

Well,if you scroll down this page:~
http://www.americangr...e.htm#anchor%20Europe
you will see that Cyprus IS eligible!
However,I get the feeling that you would have to prove that you were a residential citizen of Cyprus,and not JUST a Cypriot National.
I think it might be worth a try you sure aren't going to get in as a UK citizen anyway.

[dzug]

The only difference that being Cypriot means is that you are eligible for the green card lottery. It's based purely on citizenship, not where you live.

I don't know how oversubscribed the lottery is - I'd suspect massively but ICBW.

[sitges]

I don't know why you would want to go to L.A. but I am guessing that you want to be a model and or get into the movies. You and several million other people are trying to do this also. Unless you have a modeling career already, you probably do not have a chance to make it in L.A. This is not the land of milk and honey. There are hundreds of thousands of people who are out of work and the government is not going to want any more people there that they have to support. You best bet if you really want to come to the U.S. is to get hired by some company that operates in the UK and then perhaps they will transfer you to the US.

[Dee Sa]

you dont have the right qualifications to live there and wont ever have. To employ you the US employer has to prove that he cannot get a US citizen to do the job.
To me the only option open to you is to marry a US citizen, you can start on the internet looking for a soul mate or save enough money to go as a tourist [ max stay 6 months and then when u come back u cant go back again until 6 months have elapsed] and hope you find someone to marry you- watch the film Green Card.
Presume you have no convictions whatsoever or forget it, know someone once in the 70s whose whole family were refused immigration status because the grandfather [ then dead] had been a strong trade unionist.

[Dee Sa]

just thought, you might be able to get a job as a nanny out there but it would be for a specific time i.e one year not forever, also you would need some qualification with children and remember Louise Woodward the nanny who was charged with shaking a child to death.
Dont you have any Cypriot relations in the US and why must it be specifically LA ?

[itcouldhappen]

this is really heartbreaking for me to read...I am in the EXACT same position as you...part time model...I dropped out of my film and tv college course after meeting a famous music producer from Hollywood LA, stupid I know, I thought he would make all my dreams come true but he has massive moral standards and wants me to try to grow up to be independant without asking him for too much financial help. He is always on tour and we barely get to see each other so I don't think marriage is an option anytime soon ha... I had asked him to employ me as one of his assistants or someone to work for him so that I might have a hope of getting sponsered and get to go over there. Unfourtunately, he already has a large team that work for him and yes, with the huge budget cuts in the industry and the economic state the way it is, things look grey...I too am looking for a job at the moment, I am 19 btw, and currently living off job seekers allowance. Its absolutely crap. I am in such a state of depression I don't know which way to turn, and with my parents telling me I will never make it there it does not help...I have exceptional writing ability, I had hoped to write for a magazine out in LA perhaps, but again, another tough and competitive field right?
I have a small question for people who might be able to help, I was told it wouldn't matter because I never broke any laws, but in terms of my posibilities of eduction in america if i can aqquire the money, at the age of 16 I went on a student exchange service and was supposed to be living in ohio to attend high school out there for a year. The family they stuck me with were unhygenic and racist, generally the most hick family you could have, plus I was living in theghetto and my parents had paid an insane price for this (ACES- never go with them) I was not the only student there struggling with the placement and felt that the host family were only in it for the money. They showed little to no intrest in having me there. Tensi

[itcouldhappen]

Tension was caused within this state of living between me and the family, not intentionally but its going to happen isnt it. I came home late from curfew one evening, wasn't my fault, and then the organization accused me of breaking family rules and sent me home the next day to england. Just like that. Snapped my J-1 Student visa in half and sent me back even knowing my parents at home were not in the coutry at the time but on holiday, their excuse for this was, "you are no longer our responsibility" Digusting isn't it.
But ANYWAY, I had wondered whether this incident would affect my chances of applying for a visa. I'm sure I can visit but I haven't had a chance to fly out to america since.