Question by : Finding a job in the IT industry in St. Louis?
My girlfriend lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and I live in Cape Town, South Africa…so quite a distance. I met her last year when she was here. Things are very serious now, and it seems that our only option in terms of taking things to the next level is for me to move there. It isn’t financially possible for her to move to South Africa, nor do we want her to be that far from her little sister until her sister is a bit older. I have done a great deal of research into the possibility of getting an H-1B visa in order to move there (I hold dual citizenship in South Africa and Italy) but that requires a company in St. Louis to sponsor the visa and make the request.

I am qualified and skilled as a Microsoft SQL Server specialist or as a senior C# developer, and am currently running an IT department for a national FMCG concern, so I know I will be an asset to a prospective employer. I have, thus far, been blanketing personnel agencies and applying for jobs I find on Monster and CareerBuilder, but the reality is that few companies are willing to take the risk in this still-depressed economy. Does anyone have any advice as to how I can find an employer willing to take the risk? To be brutally honest, I am willing to take a mammoth pay cut and do just about anything, as once I’m there and I’ve settled I can look at other employers willing to do an H-1B visa transfer. Any advice or personal contacts would be so greatly appreciated.

One final thing: I am going up for a month in September, so I know that I can wait until then and have face-to-face interviews, but the H-1B visa approval process takes 3-6 months and opens now on April 1st…I don’t want to have to wait till the end of next year before I can move near to her…It’ll kill me:(
zzThe Outlaw: great points…with regards to low level tech jobs, I’d gladly work as a window washer if it got me in the same city as her. The problem is that the H-1B visa specifically requires the company to motivate that the skills are high end and not necessarily readily available locally, so basically it would have to be a reasonably high end position (from a technical perspective, not from a salary perspective).

Best answer:

Answer by zzThe Outlaw Josey Wales
Tough situation. have you ever considered having your girlfriend blanket local area employers with your resume? Monster and Career can help but there have hundreds of guys on there applying. If she was to hit a bunch of companies in Missouri with your resume it would improve your chances in a local way. She would be closer to the scene and could scan the local daily papers as well as research employers. You may have to take a low level tech job just to get your foot in the door- that is another alternative.

I had a few MS certs myself at one time.
Good luck.

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