Everyones views on foreign drivers

Depending on a persons abilities i had to do all that, i never ever had a issue at all with changing over to the wrong side of the road, i think the only issue he may have is having to pay $3500 to attend a cdl truck driving school i've tried a few times to phone trucking companies they love listening to your accent until you ask do you have any visa's theres a huge pause and they just say sorry can't help you Sir. As I mentioned the other day it is a complicated procedure for a company to get approved for H2b visa's and they have to pay for all the fees with costs so tight at the moment i'd say getting a much sort after visa is virtually nil. The USCIS only issue 50,000 visas which is a rock in the ocean they get taken up pretty quick allot of preference go to H1a visas which is any professional with a Doctorate, Masters Degree they tried to change the H2b category which basically is for "unskilled temporary workers" to the next level but to no avail. There is a special visa for Aussies called an E3 however again you must be skilled like with a degree of some kind, if they could get that to apply to truck drivers we'd be able to go over and work but no such endeavors had taken place.

 

custom harvest jobs are available at the moment H2a visa last for10months.but with the slowdown in the Dakotas and even the grain belt/oil in Canada people are getting desperate.

 

They talk funny

 

Hey Ozzie - Josh you adapted quite well i'd hate to have to drive on the wrong side of the road hey i see your near Airlie is that anywhere near Rock some thing ton us Jarheads got sent there in 1976 out on war games near Shoal water bay those muddies tasted delicious and fishing was fantastic hey by the way your welcome anytime in the south don't take any lip from no yankee ya hear. Just cause i took my cousin out on a date don't make me a bad man does it?

 

too right son too right Go the panthers for super bowl 50 hoo rah

 

For many truckers in the US (and canada), foreign = non white, non-anglo, non english-as-a-first-language.

If I were still trucking, I'd be more than happy to come across a driver from 'straya. Wish you the best of luck.. I'd love to drive across Australia and Europe some time.

 

The only foreign drivers I have a problem with are the ones that can't drive. You know the ones that see you coming for miles but wait until the last possible second to pull out in front of you and cut you off. Then they give you that little wave that I think means "thanks-for-slowing-down/stopping-so-you-didn't-slam-into-me-because-I'm-an-idiot"

 

Anyone from the country responsible for Kylie Minogue and Natalie Imbruglia is a-okay with me.

 

Hey Long haul guy, think you must be talking about Rockhampton yeah Airlie Beach is about 400 km north of there one of the nicest places in the world to live and the gate way to the Great Barrier Reef.

 

Well - make me break out the tablet, with keyboard.

A few know my nationality origin here, though in written form it's usually well hidden, unless spelling nazis spot slip ups - colour/realise etc.

@V8Wookiee - you've done a decent amount of legwork yourself and answered most of the questions, along with others - @aussiejosh - the harvest, H2B visas etc.

I came acros in 2004, I'm a US citizen now. I contacted Paul and Annette Carpenter, who were running a 'deal' called 'Truckers for USA' - a website. It was legit, almost. Well - no, to be fair - it was legit, nothing was illegal about it, it simply used some loopholes that exist/existed.

The deal was - TFU worked with US companies, and liased between the labor department and USCIS.As per the labor dept, companies advertised in local papers for drivers "Drivers needed OTR - 26cpm" - usually at a low rate. No response . Back to the labor dept.

"See - we can't get any drivers! Here's the advertisement, ran it for 3 weeks straight. Not 1 phone call. We need drivers - can we have some temporary H2B visas ? "

Visas issued. Now I have to show up at the US embassy in NZ, have an interview, get the H2B visa stamped in my passport, then I'm off. Few more hoops than that, but that's it in a nutshell.

Now - the loophole. By the time you set foot in the US, the visa has only 4 or 5 months if that - left to run. Annette would apply for an extension on the visa, which - so long as you have a reciept for filing said extension request - would allow you another 120 days or so pending the approval/denial of the request. Because USCIS is so behind with paperwork, they don't give a $%#@ - they just take the money - and you can stay in limbo for up to 2 years - legally.

The company (D&D Sexton) that I started with, wouldn't let me start without a SSN - took 6 weeks. Other guys had it in 2 weeks and less - not me. You had to get your car liscence, then written for CDL, then practical test.

This was where it got dodgy, and I'll accept some flames for it being so. Paul and Annette had left the US end up to a Bruce Norman - he organised the accomodations and transport over here. He was Australian, and a bit of an a-hole at that, though the job was similar to herding cats at times. He elected to use a shady training company where cash was exchanged for some very lenient skills testing. Great for me - I'd only driven small stuff, though I knew my written knowledge very well, my shifting sucked. I figured it out on the fly.

It came back to bite us in the butt. MO DOT closed down many schools a few short years later. Not only that, they went through the records and pulled the CDL's going back YEARS. I hadn't changed my address from Sextons - so I missed the mail. Had just started with ODFL - CDL pulled, no can drive. Very embarrasing and disruptive.

At that stage I was under an EAD, awaiting an interview for green card, as I'd married and applied under the family status - which shoots right to the top of the chain, while all work related visas remained backlogged - for YEARS. Bruce eventually got his green card based on work - after EIGHT YEARS.

So - I think as others have said, the rules have changed/ are changing - and it's become more difficult. I would guess that California still has some loopholes left to close - as a Chinese national on an expired visitors visa (that's the one TOURISTS get), some how had a CDL from CA, and killed 2 people in Republic, MO a while back - way over on his logs, no speaky Engrish, in prison now, for the rest of us taxpayers to take care of. Illinois has made changes recently too I think.

So - best bet? Come over on holiday. Hook up with @tommymonza 's ex-wife, get married, file the paperwork, green card, SSN, CDL - flip flops and adidas - You're teeeeeerrruckin' , son !!!

$2,000 airfares
$2,000 Marriage ( LOW estimate )
$7,000 immigration attorney and filing fees
$27 flip flops and Adidas
$2,000 CDL and associated costs.

Still looking attractive to do it the right way?

I think the Canadian route may be the better option. They are, after all - a Commonwealth country. Many forget that too - ANZAC (that's Australian and New Zealand Armed Corp) troops have fought side by side with Americans in WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. Grandad was a radio operator in the Pacific war.

Anyway - good luck. You're relatively well recieved here, so long as you do it legally and respectfully. No body wants to hear "Eeeeeen New Zeeeeeeeeeland, we do it like . . . . " - because if that's the case, you get told "Well go back there then". We have the benefit of looking like any other white person here, at least a third of Americans are descendent from the same blood lines as NZ/Aussie - until we open our mouths. There's still some that don't like immigration at all - from anywhere, for any reason, or the old "Oh, you're all right, I just mean those Mexicans" line. Those people, well . . . if we were all the same it would be a boring little world. Usually they're from their own little world, in states ranked fairly low in the education standings, that "ain't never done bin outta this county, don't figures Ah needs to Ah guess" - and well - I'll shut up now.