Hello,
Well, to help you find some answers to your question, other then the need for the Visa, I do not want to rain on your parade, but the economy in the US right now is not really in the best shape. You may want to re-plan your trip for 2011 and give the economy and the Job market time to improve.
But here is some information to look into.
The weather in September starts to cool off, so depending on where you end up living / working, it only going to get "colded" from the time of your arrival. Other then California, where it's always nice, not hot, but nice, the only other area during the winter months to stay that is warm is Florida. But only for the cities that are south of Tampa Bay. Orlando, Florida (Disney World) is nice most of the winter, but, like this year, we are getting a lot of cold air from the north and it's getting down close to 32* degrees F ( ? 0* degrees C?) at night. The northern part of Florida is OK, but will have a lot more cool or cold days then middle of the state.
What Florida (normally) has to offer:
-Warm weather
-It's where the old / retired people stay or families vacation (holiday) for the winter. So most of the state is made up of hotels, everything from Ma & Pa little hotels to Ritz Carlton, etc.
-Tampa, Florida has some bigger companies, you might find Computer and PR / Advertising work in Tampa. *see economy comment above*
-Miami has a VERY large Cuban population, so if you can get along with the Cubans, and can work out the differences in your languages you might do very well down there. They have a lot of high-end hotels in Miami Beach, and some of the most beautiful people. (models, stars, etc party all night down there) Everyone goes to the beach to see or be seen / people watch.
-Your girlfriend might do well in the computer part of the bigger hotels, and speaking both English and Spanish you would be useful.
!!!NOTE!!!! THE PAY IN FLORIDA IS LOW, DO NOT THINK TO ARE GOING TO MAKE MORE THEN $10 US / HOUR WORKING THESE TYPES OF JOBS.
Now, if you don't mind snow? Do you snow ski? You might want to look into ski resort jobs in Colorado, do a Google search for "Ski Resort Jobs, Colorado" and you will get a list of all the resorts. Places like Vail, Snow Mass / Aspen, they all hire people for the winter months. But you better like snow, because on any normal year they get a LOT of it. Many meters, to get one meter in a day or weekend is not unheard of. It's nice, light powder snow! The best thing about a place like Aspen is they get so much snow and there's all these people to transport around the area, the resorts do a great job at using buses. It's a normal thing in Europe, etc, but here in the US, we love our cars. The state of Colorado is like the size of Germany, so we really do need better trains, etc, but don't, so everyone drives.
Some good thoughts on Colorado:
-Even if you don't work in the ski resorts, but work around Denver or Fort Collins, computer companies like HP, Oracle, etc are all in the area. *NOTE, DON'T LIVE TOO SOUTH OF DENVER, GOOD CHANCE YOU WON'T LIKE IT.
-Beautiful area, I love the Rocky Mountains.
-Nature, if you love nature, you'll be in heaven in Colorado, even if you're cold. The winter time weather in CO is all over the place, if you are not living "in the mountains", but say are in "the front range" (cities like Denver, Fort Collins, etc) it can snow a half of meter on one day and the next day be 65*F. And at least when it snows, it gets it done and then it's blue sky afterwards.
-Ski resort jobs, I know for a fact a lot of the companies will help on Visas, (FOR SOME JOBS) !!!NOTE!!!! JUST LIKE FLORIDA, JUST ABOUT ANY HOTEL JOB IN THE USA IS NOT GOING TO PAY VERY WELL. Now the PR job at a hotel / resort company, that might pay OK.
-Ski Resorts have free bus service for employees and some offer cheaper apartments / living for their employees. See the resorts websites for career and housing information.
-Will NOT need a car if you work at ski resorts. You will fly into Denver Int'l Airport (DIA) and then take a train or bus to the resort. Then once there you can get around with the local bus. One of the few places in the US, OTHER THEN LIVING IN A CITY LIKE NEW YORK, CHICAGO, ETC that you will not need a car.
OK, that should get you started. One other thought, if you are set on living somewhere warm and things don't work out in Florida or California, I would look into the Bahamas / British Virgin Islands or the US Virgin Islands. The pay will be low, the jobs will be basic, but you can not go wrong with the blue water, sand, and relaxed life style. I'm not sure where you live, but if you don't like a fast pace life style, you are not going to like a lot of the bigger cities in the US.
Denver has it's bad points, but over all I don't think of it as a "big city." I was born in Chicago, IL and have lived / worked all over the US. I now live in Longboat Key, Florida, and my ex-wife was from Fort Collins, Colorado, so this is why I pointed out these areas. I also looked into the ski resort jobs this year when I started thinking about returning to college.
OK, happy researching!
SirDude
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