How to move to the USA

First of all, try to know someone in the area that you wanna move to. It's easier to get connections and stuff like that if you already have a friend living in the area. Some things can almost only be done from the united states too, so it really makes things easier with a friend there!

So the first thing you have to do is to decide if you wanna study or work there. Because you can't get a visa without working or studying, and jumping the allowed time spent in the united states is not such a good idea. I decided to study, at a college.
First you have to find a college that you want to study at (usually you start at a community college since that is the cheapest), hopefully somewhere in the area that you want to live in. When you have found one, get in contact with the International Student Counselor at that particular school and he/she will help you out on how to get accepted to the school. Don't underestimate the work to get accepted though, it can take a lot of time and energy, so start to look in to it in time! I started very late, and it bit me on the ass...

You have to take and english test before applying to the school. Usually it is the TOEFL test (Their website sucks) that is needed! It is not that hard to pass, but it costs money to do it and it might not be a lot of tests scheduled, so look in to that early!

Money... money is a big problem. For me it will cost around $6000 each year to attend the college I will attend. And that is without rent and stuff like that!
Here you can view how much money my school is suggesting that you've got.

If you live in Sweden like I do, you can contact CSN to see how you can get a loan from them!

Your parents are another alternative, just remember that you have to have proof from your bank that states that your parents got the amount of money you need for the education.

When you have got accepted at the school of choise, then it's time to get a visa from the United states embassy in your country. There are only one embassy in each country, so you might have to travel a bit to get to it. Mine was conveniantly in the same town as I live in!
There are a lot of paper work that you have to do before you go to the embassy (find your countrys united states-embassys homepage for more information, click here for the swedish one). They wanna know basically everything about you. Where you have studied before, all the names and adress of your siblings, every place that you've worked at and so on. The most important thing is to fill everything out right. I accidentally put down the wrong passport number on my application so I had to send my passport back to the embassy, I was just lucky that I caught it and that I caught it in time!
Remember that you can only get a student (F1) visa if you have been accepted to a school and have a so called I-20 form!

When you have got you passport back with your visa in it, just book the flight, and then you can go! wohooo!

Important Pointers

• Try to know someone in the area that you want to move to, it makes things easier
• Make sure you can get a hold of the ammount of money that is needed to attend a college in the United States
• Make sure you have enough time to get everything done. Rushing through the applications will only resolve in you doing mistakes and getting frustrated, trust me... I know...
• Read EVERY paper twice before you send them to the school or take them to the embassy.
• Check the visa and make sure that the information on it is correct, look at the passport number and the date of expiration for instant.
  
• Do not forget your passport, both when you go to the embassy and when you leave the country! [note to self]