Meili studied communication sciences at Chapman University after his arrival in California. After earning his college degree in May 2004, he found employment in the security sector. On 14 May 2005 he became a naturalized United States citizen. In an interview with the Swiss newspaper "Sonntagsblick" on 21 October 2006, however, Meili re-iterated his criticism of Fagan and the Jewish organizations who had once championed him, stating again they had let him down. Meili, who then lived in Southern California, stated in an interview that he was working for a minimum wage. In 2009, divorced from his wife, Meili then traveled back to Switzerland to restart his life for the last time.