hi guys
i have been interested in moving to the states for a while, my uncle works for star out of ohio, and i have the bug now he drives a ken unit sorry don’t know much about them yet!! i have relitives that live in nj.
i can do security alarms and trucking (class 1), i have heard of a working visa that lasts for 6 yrs, and you can get citizanship after 5.
what is the best way to get the ball rolling??
i am married, with two kids (4yrs+ 1yr).
i would be looking at living in the nj area.
any info will be great, ie getting visas, houses etc.
phil 
i dont think you will have much luck getting stateside. its a nightmare even if you marry an american. but you can but try 
however, i would not want to live anywhere near new jersey. pretty rough is an understatement. was there just over two years ago, two of us where asleep in the cab and someone get in and stole our wallets etc whilst we were asleep.
we never heard a thing. which is a good job really as these scumbags carry guns. 
was looking at living in willinboro near my aunty, i liked the area v.quite!! 
but obviously will do roaming/tramping.
i’m thinking of going to the us embessy?? in london to find out what would be needed!
Go to the US embassy/consulate. Getting a work visa is quite difficult unless you have a “profession” that is needed in the US. As of right now, driving a truck is not considered as such, but this may change.
Regardless, you will need to acquire a US Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), since your British one is not considered valid here. If you go to a subsidised trucking school, you should be able to get certified for about $2000. If you know somebody who has a CDL and can get you to take a test with his vehicle, you can do it much cheaper, but you must first pass the written test. Then, finding a company in the US that will accept your British employment as experience is going to be a chore as well.
As far as living in NJ is concerned-there is a lot of freight there, and you’ll be more likely to get a day job there than most places in the country. You would likely get home every weekend and still be able to make enough money. Remember, though, drivers are almost always paid by the mile, not by the hour here. If you can handle London traffic, then NYC/Boston/Philadelphia/Baltimore should be no problem.
The biggest hurdle, though, is getting that work visa. Try, but don’t expect anything quick. We have a few British, Polish, South African and even Bangladeshi drivers working for us, so it is possible. Whether or not you like the business over here, however, depends on what you want.
He won’t get a work visa for having an HGV licence or having an Aunt in NJ, unless his Aunt adopts him or he divorces his current wife and weds a US citizen he should just give up.
It took me 18 months just to get a work permit and my wife is American. 
Pat Hasler:
He won’t get a work visa for having an HGV licence or having an Aunt in NJ, unless his Aunt adopts him or he divorces his current wife and weds a US citizen he should just give up.It took me 18 months just to get a work permit and my wife is American.
WOW!!! only took me 6 months.
Bully
Thats because I used a 'Cheating, thieving, useless INS lawyer who after all we had paid her didn’t even show for the main interview.
The INS officer told me that I could have saved a fortune by doing it on my own, he didn’t need her there.
hi guys
thanks for the info, i thought that the US was screeming out for drivers like canada?
i was also under the impression that a uk hgv was better than US as we carry more weight?
btw just done a run today, got a good 8.9mpg loaded and 10.5mpg empty! my uncle said the he can’t even get that running unit only!
thats because a us gallon is smaller than a uk (imperial)gallon
DAVE a us,gallon is 3.8 lires & a British gallon is4.5litres so the0.7 litre
does make some difference, but the trucks in the USA are still in the stone age ,where uponn the Trucks from EUROPEAN manufactuars
are much much more Modern.
phil6697:
hi guys
thanks for the info, i thought that the US was screeming out for drivers like canada?
i was also under the impression that a uk hgv was better than US as we carry more weight?
btw just done a run today, got a good 8.9mpg loaded and 10.5mpg empty! my uncle said the he can’t even get that running unit only!
Well, we say we are, but in reality, company owners want to have drivers sitting on their behinds waiting for freight (unpaid, of course). Most of the ‘lost loads’ are phantom loads, caused by nervous shippers who hedge their bets by booking the same load through multiple carriers, then cancelling the loads once the first carrier arrives. Occasionally, they have to pay a no-show fee, but that’s just another cost of business for these shippers.
The problem is, though, that company accountants see these no-shows and assume that they lost the load because they didn’t have enough drivers to get somebody there quick enough. In the end, though, the freight that really exists gets picked up and drivers still sit around waiting for freight. There really is no dire shortage of drivers, just a manufactured excuse so that large companies can convince the government to allow low-paid drivers from Mexico to drive our freight around for $.10/mile, rather than the $.35-.40/mile that they pay the American drivers.
Yes, we carry less weight, but pull it in longer units.
thats because a us gallon is smaller than a uk (imperial)gallon
True. I did some research and found that, considering horsepower, laden weight and gallon size, US and European trucks get roughly the same fuel economy.
Oh, BTW, our motors are fairly advanced here, as good as anything you have over there. It’s just every other system that’s behind the times…
There are stacks of companies advertising for drivers, but how much of that is down to driver churn? I’d suggest only half those vacancies are real ones. Which still leaves 40-50,000 jobs available for truckers on the east coast US alone. However, the US immegration laws don’t have an easy way in for “low skilled workers” unlike the Canadian laws. Which is why most UK drivers go Canuck.
Well, that “40,000 to 50,000” number probably refers to the dumb…bunnies who quit every 6 months and go to work for the company down the street. There may actually be 50,000 job openings next year, but that’s because 49,900 guys quit to go work for the next company. The actual growth in this industry is level right now, and if manufacturing goes down, you can bet that so will transportation.
alex pretty much hit the nail on the head. The companies that are screaming for drivers are generally the ones that let drivers sit around for days. At these places, one should expect $25000-$30000 for first year earnings which equates to 13500-16000 sterling. That’s really bad when the hours away are figured into it.
Gee, I was making $35k back in 1990 driving.
i’m pretty sure cr england is hiring students for $0.24 a mile. check.
gorgeousload:
i’m pretty sure cr england is hiring students for $0.24 a mile. check.
I once looked up C R England on the web They have so many law suits against them from unpaid drivers I lost count.
CR England - AKA Crash and Roll…
One down from Swift…
You are right in saying there is a massive shortage of drivers in the US when l went out in 98 to winter park Florida to attend the MTA school(which you do the written and practical training to aquire the CDL) there was a shortage of about a third of a million ,they seem to get round this by recruiting drivers from porta rico and costa rica etc ,and giving Brits like ourselfs a Visa for a year ,but l,ve heard some horror stories they tend to give us all the jobs you don,t get the miles in so not much$,its a tough up hill battle and like some one pointed out the best way to get in on a perminant basis Marry a Yank,even then you will have the lns knocking on your door asking 20 questions every so often to make sure the marrage isn,t a scam,but best of luck anyway Glen