Thanks for the advice. I just thought there would always be other candidates in front of me with Rails professional experience, so I would always be at the end of the queue. The dev bootcamp would be my strategy for moving further in the queue, but I guess that's not the only way.
Thanks for your comments. I agree that I can learn Rails myself, but I assume the dev bootcamp would be a good proof that I actually know it and I assume I could learn more in less time. Besides, if I learn it myself, I could come up with an idea and build a web app, but would that be enough for a company to consider me (specially when there are probably many developers already with professional experience trying to move to the Bay Area)?
About the H1 visa, the problem is that, according to what I read on the internet, it's estimated that it will be exhausted by July this year. In the meanwhile, I was also told that J1 visa is a possible alternative, but I haven't investigated that possibility yet.
If a company decides to hire me, but is afraid I might be cheating on a technical video conference, I wouldn't have any problems to go to the US for a face-to-face interview, even if I would have to pay the costs myself, simply because I don't cheat. If they are happy with me on a video conference, I'm sure they would be happy after a face-to-face interview.
I think if you learn Rails, build an app in it, and open-source it on GitHub or similar, that would be fairly strong evidence that you know what you're doing.
If I were in your position, I would go to the source ( http://www.uscis.gov/ ) and examine the visa categories that are available to you. Immigration law is complicated, but not as complicated as, say, the tax code. If you've completed a Masters in CS, you can probably navigate it yourself. Protip: Do not lie or mislead USCIS or USCBP (i.e. customs) as you can be banned from the country easily.
Unfortunately it may be very difficult for you to get a visa to DevBootcamp as it's almost certainly not a SEVP-certified school, so ICE / USCIS won't grant visas to people to attend, and you can't just get a tourist visa if you're intending to study. I would instead learn Rails yourself, start / open source a project, and try to get a job offer here with a company that will help with your visa situation (once you have a job offer, immigration becomes much easier as long as the company is game). I guess my main question becomes, is DevBootcamp the only reason you want to move to the US?
I'm an immigrant from Canada but I'm more familiar with family-based immigration as that's how I came across (fiance visa).
Dev Bootcamp is not the only reason I want to move to the US and that's why I posted this question. My main goal is to have an interesting job in the US, but I was in doubt between applying for an iOS developer job from London or go for the dev bootcamp first and then look for a job where I could eventually use my knowledge on iOS and Rails, as I think it would be a good combination. I'm starting to be convinced that I should go for the first option and I'll continue learning Rails on my free time.
Yes unfortunately the option to learn on your own and apply for a job in the US is your best bet. Immigration law in the US is very strict and confusing. Focus on getting a good job offer and once you are inside the US, you can try and get your employer to file for your permanent residency.
Its not as simple as that. No company would let you pay for your own flights because it reflect badly on them and how they treat their talent, at the same time they most definitely will be reluctant to fly you from abroad to interview. Hiring is not so cut and dry, although you may have the best technical abilities they may reject you simply because of bad cultural fit.
devbootcamp is clearly not an option for you, i suggest you take spoom's advice and open source a project you can be proud of in Rails. Then maybe attend some conferences in the US, and try and network to seek jobs. I believe you can get a B1 visa to attend conferences and you should be legally allowed to interview, although IANAL so double check.
