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Topic: Work in the US for experienced English PR/journo
| Author | Message |
| UKPRboy | Posted – 7/16/2006 3:10:33 PM | show profile | email poster Hi, I'm an experienced PR and journalist (UK based). With a background in lifestyle journalism and lifestyle PR and events (specificallyfashion/beauty/health/travel/entertainment). I'm coming to NY, then San Francisco and then LA, early to late August and am hoping to set up some spec interviews with some agencies that have a speciality in any or all of the above in these areas. I'm looking for anyone with contacts and/or suggestions. I've already done a hell of a lot of research, including paid consultations with a NY solicitors who focus on visa applications. I've been told that my degree combined with my experience should mean that gaining a visa shouldn't pose a problem, providing I get a job offer. Any help would be great! Thanks, Paul |
| MedScribe | Posted – 7/16/2006 3:58:29 PM | show profile Paul, Do you have a valid work visa? If not you need to be very, very careful. I have a Brit journo friend who tried the same thing and didn't get further than La Guardia. Immigration was suspicious about her travel plans, searched her purse and found U.S. magazines and names of editors she planned to see. She was sent back to the U.K. and couldn't return to the U.S. without a massive legal hassle and thousands of dollars in attorney fees. Immigration is very tough on illegal workers and they will treat illegals from the U.K. with the same disdain as those from Mexico. If you don't have a work visa your best hope might be working as a correspondent: this means writing U.S. stories strictly for non-U.S. publications. You'll need a visa and proof that you can support yourself. It's not particularly easy to get this visa, by the way. Assuming you do have a work visa, keep in mind that your U.K. experience might not count for too much unless you've worked for publications or international P.R. agencies that are very well known. You'll need a healthy cash cushion! Good luck! MedScribe |
| MedScribe | Posted – 7/16/2006 4:09:07 PM | show profile P/S I'm sorry, Paul, I didn't read your post properly! You say you do not have a work visa but have been told that it's not hard to get one with a degree and work experience. Absolutely not true these days. I can't emphasize that enough. (The exception being big hires for mags. like Vanity Fair.) Brits working here in the U.S. in the media either have a U.S.-born parent, have lucked out in the Green Card lottery or found an understanding boy/girl to marry! |
| wryta | Posted – 7/16/2006 5:31:20 PM | show profile The British have come Hi, I wanted to chime in, as I am an English TV journalist working in the US, and I got my Visa through my company with no family sponsor. Granted, I got a job-offer first after an informal interview with an American company in Britain , but I still had to go through the visa process here in the States. My advice would be to tell Immigration at the airport that you're coming on vacation and don't carry anything that would make them think otherwise (like $10,000 for a 2 week stay). If they suspect you're planning to outstay your holiday visa you WILL be on the next plane home, and will have a hell of a job getting back in again. Once here, of course, there's nothing to stop you sounding out prospective employers. But keep in mind, they can't legally employ you unless they can prove there's no American suitable for the job, and, even if you do get an offer, the firm must be prepared to sponsor you for a working visa or green card (not green incidentally) or you won't be able to take up the job. Even if they do sponsor you, a visa's not automatic. What's more, it can also take up to 2 years to process, and you'll have to leave the country and come back in again to complete the process. Suffice to say, it's a minefield. But I've done it, and so have a couple of others I know, so good luck. P.S There is always marriage to an American, but that's a risky route, as the authorities are pretty wise to marriages of convenience, and will grill you and your "spouse" 'til you're well done, and then follow up at random afterwards to check you're still together. The legal route is therefore the better option in my view. |
| UKPRboy | Posted – 7/21/2006 6:15:06 AM | show profile Oh No... I've been told to bring a portfolio with me. And that would count as definite proof that I'm looking for work...I am writing a travel piece on NY and LA for a UK mag. Suppose I could say the portfolio is 'evidence' to show the various PR's that have given me media discount for hotels etc ? |
| mkelly | Posted – 7/21/2006 8:55:08 AM | show profile Have a friend FedEx your portfolio to whatever hotel you arrive at on your first full day here. Bring nothing suspicious through customs. Problem solved. |
| wryta | Posted – 7/21/2006 4:13:26 PM | show profile Don't drop yourself in it Just one other piece of advice. If you tell Customs that you're working for a UK magazine they'll expect you to have a different visa. I'm not sure what it's called, but when I came to work on reporting assignment for a British company I had to get a visa other than a holiday visa even though I wasn't seeking work in the USA as such. You're working "IN" America so you need some kind of temporary working visa. You're best bet is to come on vacation and say nothing about writing any article or looking for work, because, rest assured, if you do get blacklisted in this post 9/11 era, you will not be allowed back in a hurry. Good luck. |
| wryta | Posted – 7/21/2006 4:16:34 PM | show profile bad grammar O course I mean "your best bet" not "you're best bet"...I hate it when I do that. Like I said, good luck. |
