British citizen hoping to relocate.

[alexsimmons]

Hi everyone,
I was just wondering as a British citizen what my chances of becoming a police officer in the United States are? I have no obvious ties to the U.S through family, education, etc, but am determined to make the move affter finishing university and getting some experience as an officer here in the U.K.
If anybody has any advice for me including any departments that would employ me without U.S citizenship it would be much appreciated!

[ask80]

I think almost all agencies require you to be a US citizen. sorry man.

[PhilipCal]

British Citizen

Hi everyone,
I was just wondering as a British citizen what my chances of becoming a police officer in the United States are? I have no obvious ties to the U.S through family, education, etc, but am determined to make the move affter finishing university and getting some experience as an officer here in the U.K.
If anybody has any advice for me including any departments that would employ me without U.S citizenship it would be much appreciated!

Alex, we get this question quite often from some of our British colleagues. Unfortunately, the great majority of U.S. Law Enforcement agencies require U.S. citizenship. There are some exceptions though, and some agencies will consider you in Resident Alien Status. Lord, I hate that term!! Makes you sound like you're from Mars or somewhere. The obstacle to non-citizen employment as a Police officer is in State Law, or Agency policy. For example, the agency from which I'm retired, the Alabama Department of Public Safety,is bound by state law to require U.S. citizenship. The route I have suggested to several British Officers in the past, is the "Canada route". Several Canadian agencies will accept you on what amounts to lateral transfer from U.K. agencies. You can pretty well access most U.S./Canadian agencies from the Officer.com Home Page. Do a little research. Who knows? you might find something rather soon. Best of luck.

[wildestkabs]

Hi Alex,

I have some good news for you. Based on my research, Colorado seems to be the most "Green Card friendly" state in the US. Lots of police agencies in that state will hire you if you have a green card. Some will hire you even if you merely have work authorization. I am in the process of preparing a list of agencies in CO who will hire you if you are a permanent resident. Pm me if you are interested.

Also, if you are not interested in Colorado as a state as such, then another good option is to work as a Detention/Corrections Officer and gain some experience and then move on to become a street cop. All agencies that I checked willl hire you as a Detention/Corrections Officer if you have a Green Card.

Much like you, I am also a Lawful Permanent Resident aka Resident Alien aka Green Card Holder, and my research has led me to the conclusion that unless I want to wait for the next 2-3 years in AZ, before I am eligible to apply for naturalization, my best bet would be to relocate to CO.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Armitage]

Hi Alex,

Unfortunately I think that the main problem you face will be getting US Residency (a Green Card) - as you say you have no ties to the US through family (which is the easiest route to get one), and to get one through employment requires a lot of work and qualifications in order to qualify (the people I know who have done it that way, have Phds and years of research in their field).

I do hope that you will succeed in your quest to work in US Law Enforcement, as it's the greatest country in the world to live and work in IMHO, but I think that you should focus on obtaining US Residency first, as that will be a big stumbling block for moving to the US in the first place, let alone working in Law Enforcement. I think it's a shame that people's willingness to serve their country in some way and their actual love for the US is overlooked in favor of family connections and having a string of letters after their name, but then again I have no idea how someone could rate such a thing (having a "Do you really, really love the US?" box to tick on the application form probably wouldn't cut it )

[alexsimmons]

Thanks for all of your help everybody, im certainly going to keep on trying and i'll have a close look at all of your suggestions!