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Australian ES'er wants to move to DC


Chadwiko

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This is a very off-topic post, and obviously perhaps not the best forum to be asking this, but i'll give it a shot anyway;

Both myself and my partner would like to move to the United States, and specifically Washington DC, as we believe DC will have the best employment opportunities in our related fields.

We're both highly educated; I have two bachelors degrees (one in International Studies, the second in Political Science), and she has a bachelors degree (Development studies) and a masters degree in progress (Anthopology and applied development).

We've had a look at what the likely requirements are in terms of obtaining appropriate visas to relocate to the United States for work involve, and it appears that if we can secure employment there won't be too much drama in being allowed to immigrate.

So, why DC? (Apart from the fact that i'm probably Australia's biggest Redskins fan? HTTR!) Well, I want to work in politics, and she wants to work for the NGO (charity/lobby) sector.

I guess the reason i'm creating this thread is to ask a few broad and basic questions for those who may be in the know;

1) What's the best website/organisation to check out in terms of finding job listings in these sort of fields?

2) Anyone here at ES employed in one of these fields currently, and able to provide tips?

3) Anyone want to offer some hard-working and down-right awesome Aussies a job? :)

Thanks all in advance

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The good news is that only one of you needs to obtain an E-3 visa. Unlike with an H1-B visa, the E-3 is open only to Australians and is very generous with quotas. With an E-3, your spouse has full work rights.

However, the bad news is you still need to find someone to sponsor you. Many organizations around DC will not hire people who aren't already authorized to work in the USA.

Good luck. Where are you moving from? The culture shock may be massive. I just moved from Melbourne to San Francisco. I'm FROM the USA and previously lived in the Bay Area, and it was still big for me - and even bigger for my Aussie wife, who had never lived in the USA.

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From Adelaide, but living in Canberra for the past 2 years working for the Australian Federal Government.

Been to DC before last year and loved it. Culture shock shouldn't be too bad at all.

And yeah, we anticipate that the biggest hurdle will be finding someone willing to sponsor one of us to relocate.

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1) What's the best website/organisation to check out in terms of finding job listings in these sort of fields?

I mean you can't go wrong with Monster.com. I'd find you a job but I do not live in the district. But you can still send me a supersexyaussiebabe

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Unless you have very particular skills or experience, I think you'd be lucky to find a US organization to sponsor employment of a foreign national in your line of work via a job board. And if you have such valuable experience, you should go direct to the organizations in that niche, even if they are not currently advertising available positions.

Even though it may not be that arduous, the perception of wait times and the CIS bureaucracy discourage organizations from getting involved in hiring unless you have something special to offer.

You may already have looked at this, but I would think your best bet is to find a position via the Australian Government or your existing network.

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A few international development job sites to check out. Some google searches will find you plenty more. I'd also suggest joining linkedin if you're both not on that site already. It's great for professional networkin and finding new organizations in your field.

www.idealist.org (all kinds of nonprofit jobs)

http://www.devex.com/en/jobs (if you narrow your search to the US the majority of those jobs are in the DC area)

http://www.chemonics.com/ (headquarters is in DC)

http://www.fhi.org/en/index.htm (offices in Arlington which is just outside the city)

http://www.msiworldwide.com/ (offices in DC)

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Good luck. Where are you moving from? The culture shock may be massive. I just moved from Melbourne to San Francisco. I'm FROM the USA and previously lived in the Bay Area, and it was still big for me - and even bigger for my Aussie wife, who had never lived in the USA.

Hey, welcome back! Where are you living (and working)?

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