by amanda in CA » Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:28 am
Hi, Hal. I don't really know the answer to your question I'm afraid. I'm here in the States on an H4 visa which is issued to me as the spouse of my husband, Steve. I'm not too sure how a potential employer would view someone with renal failure on dialysis or even for that matter for someone with a transplant. We have not had any problems with health insurance, as it is provided as part of the work package, and here in California, (not sure about other states) health insurance companies providing health coverage to a company (rules vary depending on the company size) have to cover all employees and any dependents covered by the plan, irrespective of their medical condition. In some cases, though there is a 6 month waiting period for that cover to start and Medicare isn't an option unless you have made a large enough contribution to the Social Security system.
Paying for dialysis even for 6 months would be exorbitantly expensive. Mine costs thousands each month!
As far as the visa application process its self goes, this is what I know. Steve's visa is dependent on him being employed by his current employer since that is who sponsored him for the visa. Currently he can't change employers unless a prospective employer is willing to take on the sponsorship (I imagine that involves money) or he, and therefore, we get a green card.
We moved over here four years ago before the tech industry took a nosedive and even then, Steve had to demonstrate that he had special skills when compared to prospective American applicants in order to get his H1 visa. Unfortunately, when the employment rate climbed, the number of H1 visas issued/year was drastically reduced. Furthermore, with a larger pool of appropriately qualified individuals seeking work, it has also become much more difficult for a prospective employer to demostrate their need to employ someone from outside of the US and thus to get H1 visa approval. I must admit that I don't know about the situation with other types of visa although I understand that it can be a very long process to get a 'standard' work visa.
Getting a green card is not the same as taking citizenship. A green card allows you to work in the US for an indefinate period (unlike a visa which has to be renewed). It also allows for a person to move jobs. Your status is that of a 'resident alien'. However, I believe that you have to have been working/living in the US before you are able to apply for a Green Card. If you take citizenship then you have to renounce your citizenship to Britain. I am not even sure even if something such as renal failure would be an automatic bar to taking US citizenship, since I haven't looked into it.
If you are interested in working in the US, probably the best thing to do is to apply for a job and see how you you get on. If you have the right qualifications, then you never know. Steve's employer knew about my medical problems before he was offered the job (and I definately think that it would be something that you would need to come clean about before taking up a post in the US) and it did not present a problem to his employment.
Hope that my ramblings have helped you somewhat. best of wishes, and luck, Amanda
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