How tough is it to go and live in the USA

[bigbadwolf]

so student visa or marriage look to be the best routes.

I'm just wondering how expensive doing a phd would be in the states. I'm guessing a year's fees would be astronomical...how easy is it to stretch it to 3-4 years?

First of all, why this fixation with the United States? It's golden era is over. In Argentina you must surely have run into many America expats who voluntarily left the USA for greener pastures? The grass only looks greener on the other side. You're already 40 years old and a humble teacher of English. The problems you will have with getting a steady job, and with pension and health care, will be intimidating. If you were a 25-year-old tech whiz kid intending to set up his own operation in Silicon Valley, it might be a different story. There are already many unemployed (and U.S. qualified) teachers of English, history, and so on. This now extends even to areas like maths and physics.

At the end of the Ph.D. -- assuming you get some teaching assistantship that allows you to keep body and soul together -- you will have the same problem again. You will be in your late 40s by the time you finish, and competing for the few tenure-track jobs with people in their early 30s. In all likelihood, even if you managed to get some work visa, you would join a burgeoning population of Ph.D. lumpenproletariat in the humanities, making some kind of precarious living as adjunct teachers. It's an unenviable existence.

 

[ssr]

First of all, why this fixation with the United States? It's golden era is over. In Argentina you must surely have run into many America expats who voluntarily left the USA for greener pastures? The grass only looks greener on the other side. You're already 40 years old and a humble teacher of English. The problems you will have with getting a steady job, and with pension and health care, will be intimidating. If you were a 25-year-old tech whiz kid intending to set up his own operation in Silicon Valley, it might be a different story. There are already many unemployed (and U.S. qualified) teachers of English, history, and so on. This now extends even to areas like maths and physics.

At the end of the Ph.D. -- assuming you get some teaching assistantship that allows you to keep body and soul together -- you will have the same problem again. You will be in your late 40s by the time you finish, and competing for the few tenure-track jobs with people in their early 30s. In all likelihood, even if you managed to get some work visa, you would join a burgeoning population of Ph.D. lumpenproletariat in the humanities, making some kind of precarious living as adjunct teachers. It's an unenviable existence.

So ridiculous...

 

[mini]

I'm just wondering how expensive doing a phd would be in the states. I'm guessing a year's fees would be astronomical...how easy is it to stretch it to 3-4 years?

Oh, the good thing about a phd is THEY PAY YOU!! (Ok, very little. But they do pay a stipend, which doesn't matter as you don't need the money. You'll have to teach some classes. That's OK too. It'll be fun & you might find the right girl!

A master's program you'd have to pay which can be quite expensive which I'm afraid to say you might have to before entering the phd program. They are of course cheaper at smaller not so well know school in rural areas. Where do you want to live? Do you have a bachelors or a masters yet? Combined masters phd's can be up to 6 years.

Good luck!

 

[majordomo]

I agree with most of the posters above. Acquiring US citizenship is an onerous process. Have you considered Canadian citizenship? It would be much easier for you, and quite frankly living there feels like living in the US, (Unless you live in the great white north). If you live near the border, you can pop down to the states any time you want. Many Canadians spend their winters in Florida, and most of Canada is pretty nice in the summer. As a matter of fact, living in a city like Toronto has most of the benefits of living in an US city, while being cleaner and better run than a lot of the US alternatives.

 

[porteña]

I also agree with most of the posters here.

I am a Ph.D. in ed student in California and a US naturalized citizen. I am also an Arg repat. Several of my classmates have arrived at the university with a student visa and, some of them, have met their US husbands or wives once they were there. You can only work at the university as a grad student but, if you are in a good program, they will try to give you employment for most part of the year. The issue is, you may need to leave the country afterwards, unless you marry an American or you are doing something so great that your employer will request you and pay for the lawyer and all the fees (I have seen this happen, by the way, in the public and private sectors - with university professors, some super smart Stanford and Berkeley grad students and scientists, Silicon Valley engineers, etc.). However, unless you are doing something very, very special, do not count on an employer applying for you. They will have to prove to the US government that no other American could do your job...

Personally, I would not dream of marrying anyone just to have the US passport! But there are lots of cases like this...

If you are planning to keep working in the education field, avoid California, especially if you are not a fluent bilingual in English and Spanish.

I agree with majordomo about Canada. I have Arg friends who have lived there, as well as in the US and France, and they absolutely loved it!

Best of luck with everything!!

 

[Melilelen]

A friend of mine just posted that Over 21,000 Teachers in California (alone) were just "given pink slips" (laid off/ fired).

Good luck convincing the US Govt to let an English teach who misspells "flavor", "neighbor", "theater", and several other words to come into the country and teach.

suerte[/QUOTE

Napoleon just to educate you on the subject, the english language derives from England, so the correct spelling of such words which you mention are originally spelled as per the British language. and supposing that the teacher in question ends up relocating she would be smart enough to adapt those few words which are spelled differently. This is no excuse to discriminate a qualified english teacher from England. There is plenty of work in the ESL arena. Good luck to her.

 

[Ries]

I find it amusing that the vast majority of posters on this website are always talking about how to scam the argentinian immigration laws, to basically be illegal aliens in argentina, endlessly shuttling to colonia- and then somehow, disregard the very real option of being an illegal immigrant in the USA.

An estimated 4% to 6% of illegal immigrants in the USA are f
om europe, many from the UK.
If you accept the anecdotal accounts that illegals in the USA has approximately 20 million illegals, that means close to a million people from blighty are hanging around. Even if its only half that, its still a sizeable number of people.
Obviously the risks of deportation are much slimmer if you speak english, are educated, and can navigate polite society.

(note- I am not advocating you break the law- only pointing out that hundreds of thousands of your countrymen do it, and get away with it, right now)

I have personally met "illegals" from Ireland, Israel, Russia, most european countries, and many more places.
The reason they come to the US varies, but most dont seem to care that the "Golden Age" is over- instead, they realize that you can make money in the US, with very few problems, and many do. I used to make a lot of store fixtures and furniture for a french guy, who, with his wife, owned 3 or 4 boutiques in LA in the 80's. Both "illegal", and both living high on the hog, in a way that would be impossible in France.
I know that in the Boston/NY area alone, there are tens of thousands of illegal irish, with a huge support network of jobs, night life, and relatives.

 

[sdpreston]

Esllou
Send me your private email. I live in the US and travel to BA all of the time and might have an idea for you. My email is [email protected]
Sharon

 

[Denver]

That the reign of the US should be over is simply ridiculous. Which nation is supposed to take its place?

If you are dead-set on living in the US, you can simply come as a tourist and overstay. They will never, ever come looking for you. I don't even believe an arrest would cause you to be deported. But, if you insist on working on a chicken processing plant alongside 230 illegal Mexicans, then you could get rounded up at the next raid.


I would not entertain the notion of a proforma marriage. Those times are long gone.

Neil

 

[SaraSara]

That the reign of the US should be over is simply ridiculous. Which nation is supposed to take its place?

If you are dead-set on living in the US, you can simply come as a tourist and overstay. They will never, ever come looking for you. I don't even believe an arrest would cause you to be deported. But, if you insist on working on a chicken processing plant alongside 230 illegal Mexicans, then you could get rounded up at the next raid.


I would not entertain the notion of a proforma marriage. Those times are long gone.

Neil

Quite right. Except that, in my view, at this time it is hard to find well-paying jobs in the US. Recent college graduates are having a hard time finding jobs, and it is even harder for unemployed people over 45.

However, I believe (hope??) this is a temporary situation.