Applying out of your country?

ebagg

I know this is highly dependent on the company and country, but I have started applying to a few companies, I've tried to stay as local as possible, although there are a few opportunities at companies out of state or out of the country I am considering. I am guessing that companies are less likely to hire artists they have to help relocate? What is the process involved in getting a work Visa?

thomasp

hmm, for going overseas the situation is a little comlicated. might be easier if you just want to go to canada (or mexico ). the basic process would be that you yourself aquire a work visa by directly applying to that country's immigration office, passing whatever rating system they have. that is normally a long and cumbersome process that can take months and be heavily regulated. a company that has an interest in hiring you could get you a lawyer to help some.

i know EU companies like crytek had quite some problems trying to get americans into the country, for example. a company i recently worked with tried to hire hollywood film talent - total pain in the butt, takes so long the talent starts to get discouraged and settles elsewhere!

a company can't do that much, it seems and it will only bother if it can't find local talent. and even then you will normally end up with some shite time bombed work visa, not really the right to settle freely in this country.
some are considered extraordinary talent and can get better conditions but have to back it up in front of the government (for artists - you have to have won contests, held exhibitions, contributed significantly in your field of work and be able to prove it all on paper, no polycount forum threads ).

i am more familiar with the process to do it the other way around - to sneak into the US - and that's a total turn-off for my taste. i guess the best way would still be to cross the rio grande by night and then work illegally. seems i'd have similar rights to an H1B slave.

i heard today that during some talks in vienna, the eloquent leader of your country said something about easier visa process between EU and US in the future. not sure if that encompasses work visa as well but one can hope, at least.

Daz

If you're American you'll face the same need for a work visa in Canada that you would literally 'overseas' actually.

To be honest thomasp, I think you have it wrong and over complex.

There is a simple fact here. Some companies have policies of hiring overseas employees, some don't. The ones that do (usually the bigger fish), If they want you bad enough, they have immigration HR staff on site that will get you started on the visa process. It's really NOT a case of you applying off of your own back to that countrys immigration office at all. The company would apply on your behalf, and sponsor you in the petition. That is, again, simply a matter of whether or not they want you bad enough.
Some companies might stipulate on their websites their policy toward the hiring of foreign workers.

thomasp

hey daz, in the two cases where i was invited to the states it would have meant applying directly, assisted by lawyer/HR from the company. that would have still meant facing all the limitations of the system (e.g.small number of work visa that are made available per year), it was no backdoor that would have gotten me in faster. but those were no multinational corporations either, just mid-sized studios.

anyway it's different from one country to the next, i have been told even within the EU there are places with less restrictions than others for those coming from outside countries.

another possibility could be to get employed at one studio locally and then transfer within the company to a shop overseas. that seemed quite do-able when i was discussing it with one company but would have bound one to that company, of course.

Daz

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i have been told even within the EU there are places with less restrictions than others for those coming from outside countries.

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Well, it all depends on not only what country you are applying TO, but ALSO what country you are also a citizen OF. Some countries have visa treaties with other countries. Some countries are stricter than others about guest workers. Some *companies* like WETA, for example, have special deals with their own governments for quick and easy visa processing for foreign nationals.

As for your first point, If they were US studios and they were offering you (Im assuming a German national) a job then they should damn well have also been getting you an H-1B. Expecting you to apply on your own to the US govnmnt is unheard of in my experience, so that's testement to the quality of those studios! But yes, of course that's also assuming that the quota of H-1's isn't maxed out for the year.

Really, it all depends on so many factors.

As for your last point, that's how I got to the US. 3 years at EA UK>transfer EA CA. But that's pretty rare.

JO420

Yeah it seems like it can be hard, some how i managed to do it but it seemslike now the company i work for doesnt hire Americans any more due to the problems involved in get a work visa,but if you get offered something overseas and it seems like a good offer think it through,at least for me its been a positive experience but theres lots of little issues ive faced being in a country in which i cant speak the native langauge. In my case i think i was just lucky.


But it also is based on the company,its budget and demand.One company i know definatly has hired Americans is Guerrilla game in Amsterdam,i think they are working on the new killzone. But hope you have money saved up cuz the work visa application can be long(christ almighty especially in Holland) and the one guy i know who is American and was hired at Guerilla has been waiting close to two months to get his work visa.