If, lets just say, for arguments sake…
How would a british truck driver, get to become a driver over in the states or even canada??
Never really looked into it, well, aint got my LGV Cat C+E yet, but going for it just after xmas, but how much red tape would I have to go through?? and what exactly would it involve…
Cheers
AndyM
Thats going to be the big problem with these new forums 
,if you go onto the old “locked” forum for Ex-pat drivers you will find plenty of advice and pointers on how to drive truck legally in the states 
You could also log on to Trucknet Canada and you should find a thread for drivers who want to emigrate.I haven’t been on it for a while but its easy to click on to the banner at the top of this page and it’ll take you straight there.
Posted twice by mistake! 
BryanH:
Posted twice by mistake!
Doh!
AndyM:
?Never really looked into it, well, aint got my LGV Cat C+E yet, but going for it just after xmas, but how much red tape would I have to go through?? and what exactly would it involve…
Cheers
AndyM
More red tape than you could ever shake a stick at,I’m afraid mate, and it is getting increasingly harder to get ‘in’ overhere. Now that the Yanks have ‘discovered’ Terrorism, they are about as paranoid as they can get over just about anybody ‘foreign’.(you should see the grief they give me everytime I return from Blighty) and I have lived here for 13 years! (mind you it’s possible they may have been reading the less than complimentory articles I write about them in T&D!)
As Big Truck says, go to the old forums there is some good pointers, I think it was Big Truck that came over here on the Agricultural ‘ticket’, I also know of several drivers who have done this (some are now back home, but others are still here)
If ‘KingJim’ would get off his lazy arse and start posting on here again he could give you a few pointers too, as he is still ’ jumping through his hoops’ to be here legit.
And if you are reading this Jim, when are you going to get yer mobile switched back on?, we have’nt been down the pub in a while anjd I can’t get hold of you to find out when you plan on going again, I replied to your e mail last week, but no doubt you have’nt paid yer interenet bill again just like yer phone bill…you tight fisted git!
i think I am about the most recent to cross the great divide and start again over here so i thought i’d better tell you like it is now.
1st;- It took 18 months after arriving to get a full green card even though I am married to an American lady. You have to have a very close relative here to even be considered. Once you are cosidered you get a short term work permit while INS check you out.
2nd;- You get a 2 year green card (this used to be perminant). 90 days before this expires you must re-apply with full records for the previous 2 years. If for any reason you do not apply during the 90 period you forfit the right to be a resident and get deported for a minimum fo 10 years.
3rd;- Your LGV licence has no value whatso ever here, you have to take the CDL test. I was very luck in finding a small local company who took a risk and loaned me a truck for the test for just a couple of hours (I still drive for them). Most companies want a few grand to do this for you. After 9/11 2001 you must show your S/S number to take a CDL test.
4th;- You will need a lot of money to survive while all this is happening. You will get no benefits from the USA while not working for the time it takes to do this.
You may be better off trying Canada because it is part of the British Commonwealth but DO NOT try Quebec, one stipulation there is that you speak fluent french.
Good luck.
All this un-neccesary hassle is what prompted me to email the whitehouse on the subject. I doubt it will do anything though, but it was worth a shot. I know it works both ways, since these xenophobic residency laws apply the other way, as someone pointed out on another thread.
Why can’t we have sensible laws that allow people to do what they really want to do (So long as it’s legitimate)■■?
I would give vital internal organs to end up hauling a wagon long distance in the US. After London with a loose load of cages in the back, even NY would seem like a day off.