dear cliff

[daftramper]

liked the pic’s of mats looked like you sunk a few,thats a real cool pickup you have.
now here’s the thing if i get married out in the states how long before i could get work of anykind, 2nd how long to get my cdl ive been class one here for 12 years,plus ive driven 3 states but only in pickups and cars,o plus small u-hall.
so driving on left im ok.
im thinking how much dosh am i going to need to tied me over, before i start erning,i could get together about £6to8 thousand after all my bills are paid.
i dont want to go half harted and come back scint.
o by the way im going to houston is this a good place to find work.
any help ex-pats would be welcome help another driver to leave blighty.

rgds mark.

[cliff_warby]

Hello mate, cheers for the compliment on my pick-up…I kind of like it too!

It’s been a long while since I emigrated over here (14 years), things have changed quite a bit since then and they are still changing. When I first came over and got married I got for a temporary work permit almost immediately while my temporary ‘Green Card’ was going through the process, you get a temporary one ( 2 yrs) before they will give you a permanent one (10 yrs). I think they still do that but I’m not sure, I reckon Bully would be able to help you out better than me, as he has arrived more recently than me. I know when they tried to deport me back in '94 I had to get another temporary work permit whilst my Lawyer fought through the system. I eventually got my ‘permanent’ green card after all that crap (although they may try and make me go through it all again when my current green card expires next year, but this time I won’t fight it, so long as they let me keep my pick-up truck I’ll glady leave!)

As for getting your CDL, you can either go to a truck driving school or sign on with a company that will put you through it, either way you will still pay ( about 3-4 grand) but you can do this as soon as you have a work permit, despite having 12 years experience you will be treated as though you have never driven a truck before, the yanks don’t consider foreign driving experience as valid, despite the fact the driving standards of the average UK driver are far superior to the average American driver!

if you plan to have 6-8 grand in pounds, that will be plenty, especially at the current excahnge rate!

Good Luck!

[bully]

daftramper:
liked the pic’s of mats looked like you sunk a few,thats a real cool pickup you have.
now here’s the thing if i get married out in the states how long before i could get work of anykind, 2nd how long to get my cdl ive been class one here for 12 years,plus ive driven 3 states but only in pickups and cars,o plus small u-hall.
so driving on left im ok.
im thinking how much dosh am i going to need to tied me over, before i start erning,i could get together about £6to8 thousand after all my bills are paid.
i dont want to go half harted and come back scint.
o by the way im going to houston is this a good place to find work.
any help ex-pats would be welcome help another driver to leave blighty.

rgds mark.

Hi Mark,
I don’t know if I can help you or not mate. My circumstance’s were a little different as I married an American in the UK and filed all my immigration papers with the USA embassy in London.
I met my wife (aka Kiddo) in an internet chat room in 1999. She ended up emigrating to the UK in 2000 and after 2 years she was getting home sick and wanted to go back to the USA, so we contacted the USA embassy in London and they sent use the necessary paperwork for me to emigrate over there.
They was a lot of paperwork to fill in and I also had to get a sponsor in the USA (my wife’s brother in law) and then had to attend an interview at the USA embassy in London which also included a medical, x-rays and a bunch of needles (ouch!). When they were satisfied with the paperwork etc they issued me with a temp green card there and then.
The whole process took around 4 months and cost about a 1000 quid.
A couple of month’s later we flew out to the states and landed at Detroit Airport where you get rushed off to the immigration department where they check you paperwork and take you fingerprints which took about 4 hours.
When we finally arrived in Ohio the first thing I had to do was apply for a social security card before I could start work but that only took about a week.
And the rest is history as they say.
Regards taking your CDL when you get here shouldn’t be a problem, I attended a School with one off the major truck company’s over here (US Express) which meant me being away from home for 3 weeks and cost about 3 grand which you don’t have to pay as long as you stay with the company for at least a year and the test was easy. I bailed out after 6 weeks over the road as it wasn’t the life for me; I missed my wife and my own bed to much and had to pay the 3 grand back.
I decided that I wanted I local driving job that would get me home everyday but found nobody would touch me because of my lack off experience driving a truck in the USA, It didn’t matter that I had been driving big trucks in the UK for 10 years. I stuck at it filling out application after application until I finally landed a job pulling a coal bucket with a local company. I now have my 2 years experience and that means I could go anywhere now.
I hope this helps, if you have anymore questions then don’t hesitate to ask.
Also may I suggest you check out the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Service’s site.

Bully

[pat_hasler]

I recon I was the lucky one then
After asking several companies all of whom wanted a few grand to show me how to do what i have been doing since 1975, the company I now work for loaned me a truck for 2 hours, orriginaly for $10 per hour the fee was refunded when i offered to join them.
There will be no resistance Cliff. Providing you have a good record your green card will be renewed, but when you apply you will get a letter saying that esidency is extended to carry with you, like the one I now carry (mine was a two yera green card).
My Lawyer didn’t even turn up at my INS interview and the officer told me I shouldn’t have wasted thousands on him when all I needed was to download the forms off the net and pay a couple of hundred dollars. His exact words ;- "Hey ! you are British and a corcasion, if you were Asian or something like that then you may need a lawyer.

[big_truck]

Daftramper,
I don’t know much about the emigration/green card thing but I do know the easiest and cheapest way to get a CDL,go on a USA harvest run over the summer months I arrived in N.Dakota on 9/5/02,applied for social security number on 10/5/02,got number on 13/5/02,and took the easy and “dopey” CDL test on the 17/5/02,passed no problem and it cost me a massive total of approx $50!!! As you can see to get a full CDL took just over a week and within a fortnight of arriving I was hauling combines from N.Dakota to Northern Texas to get them down there ready to start the wheat harvest in the middle of May.Going on a harvest run will get you a CDL and a massive amount of Stateside trucking experience in a short time span of 6/8 months,but most important of all you’ll have a social security number and a bank account!!!

[daftramper]

thanks for the p.m. cheers cliff i think the sweety sock look, is best kept for the jocks.
you no what the yanks are like they will think all jocks look like that err?.
ok so its not without some hardship if i have to sing onto a local trucking firm for a year or 2 on crap wages so be it.
I was tramping out to france belguim mon to sat so regionl i could do but over the road i think takes some doing out maybe 3 or 4months at a time.
i think cliff in one off his letters from the u.s said he met a canadan who was out for 9 months and just married.
i no my company would have me out till i droped its just i say no i cant see the point in parking up all weekend for a 8.00am tip monday. no showers toilet i meen i need some comforts.
thanks guys you were a great help.
rgds mark [was spurs fan]

[munchman]

OK, DafTramper, less of the Jock stuff…!!!

<<----100% Jock that can help…!!!

First of all, I wouldn’t go to Houston unless you wanna live in regular 100% humidity and sweat like a waterfall every day. Second, I did exactly what you are doing, I married a US citizen here in the US, when you get your K-1 visa from the US Embassy in London, which you will HAVE to get first, and that includes some stupid doctor visit and a chest x-ray, you get over to your port of entry, and they will pul you aside and take your picture, then hand you a temporary work permit, which is good for a year, then you must renew each year at around $100 a time, plus you will fill out your name and address about 500 times over the next 3 years for the same people the ICE.

Secondly, when I went to get my CDL, I was offered countless chances to sign up with a school and pay $4000-$5000 to learn what I had known for more than 10years, and the instructor had been driving less than me, when you join a company and get a “trainer” he most likely will have less experience than you, all I can say is bite the bullet, take the ■■■■■■■■.

You can find like I did, small CDL training schools that will give you 45minutes practice and put you straight thru the test, thats what I did, they make you do the manuovers?? thing, for a few minutes, then they test you, invariably in an automatic truck. It was quite clearly the easiest test I have ever done. Definitely go and get all your endorsements like HazMat and Tanker and if you want doubles and triples, companies like that, expecially important is HazMat, its a ten minute test, nothing lilke ADR back home. Tankers is 5 minute test as is doubs and trips.

Before you can get CDL you need car licence which is usually a drive round the block don’t crash kinda thing, also very simple.

All in all, my CDL cost me $160, endorsements an additional $40, and my car licence around $30, there is NO need to drop thousands of $$$$, do not be sucked in by the scams of “I’ll put you thru your CDL then you must stay here for two years or you pay for it” it will be misery and you’ll end up hating the US. I made my life here and I wouldn’t change it. It won’t happen overnight, but with hard work you can have all the things that I know Cliff has and the toys that I have, like a fancy new F-150 pick up truck, a gun arsenal, a newly built house with a pool and all the other good things the US can give you.

If you need anymore advice don’t hesitate to PM me, I’ll be happy to give your some advice, btw its only been 5 years since I did it, and I came to the US with (GBP)800…!!!

Good Luck

Stuart

[munchman]

OK, DafTramper, less of the Jock stuff…!!!

<<----100% Jock that can help…!!!

First of all, I wouldn’t go to Houston unless you wanna live in regular 100% humidity and sweat like a waterfall every day. Second, I did exactly what you are doing, I married a US citizen here in the US, when you get your K-1 visa from the US Embassy in London, which you will HAVE to get first, and that includes some stupid doctor visit and a chest x-ray, you get over to your port of entry, and they will pul you aside and take your picture, then hand you a temporary work permit, which is good for a year, then you must renew each year at around $100 a time, plus you will fill out your name and address about 500 times over the next 3 years for the same people the ICE.

Secondly, when I went to get my CDL, I was offered countless chances to sign up with a school and pay $4000-$5000 to learn what I had known for more than 10years, and the instructor had been driving less than me, when you join a company and get a “trainer” he most likely will have less experience than you, all I can say is bite the bullet, take the ■■■■■■■■.

You can find like I did, small CDL training schools that will give you 45minutes practice and put you straight thru the test, thats what I did, they make you do the manuovers?? thing, for a few minutes, then they test you, invariably in an automatic truck. It was quite clearly the easiest test I have ever done. Definitely go and get all your endorsements like HazMat and Tanker and if you want doubles and triples, companies like that, expecially important is HazMat, its a ten minute test, nothing lilke ADR back home. Tankers is 5 minute test as is doubs and trips.

Before you can get CDL you need car licence which is usually a drive round the block don’t crash kinda thing, also very simple.

All in all, my CDL cost me $160, endorsements an additional $40, and my car licence around $30, there is NO need to drop thousands of $$$$, do not be sucked in by the scams of “I’ll put you thru your CDL then you must stay here for two years or you pay for it” it will be misery and you’ll end up hating the US. I made my life here and I wouldn’t change it. It won’t happen overnight, but with hard work you can have all the things that I know Cliff has and the toys that I have, like a fancy new F-150 pick up truck, a gun arsenal, a newly built house with a pool and all the other good things the US can give you.

If you need anymore advice don’t hesitate to PM me, I’ll be happy to give your some advice, btw its only been 5 years since I did it, and I came to the US with (GBP)800…!!!

Good Luck

Stuart

[cliff_warby]

Hey Stuart,

Is this twice you have gone through all that now?

[munchman]

Stop it…!!!

Stuart

[cliff_warby]