off_again

Hi all,

Well, job offer has been given and the money is good (relocation package to be sorted out later) and I have accepted a job in the Bay Area of California! Thankfully I work for a large US company who have a defined process and appointed relocation consultants to help in the process. But I have to say that I am scared about the whole thing - its bloody exciting, challenging and I am really looking forward to it, but scary.

Kids (2 of) and wife (1 of) as well as a cat and a dog will be tagging along for the ride. But pretty much everything else is to be sorted out. Which leads me to the point of the post - given that there will be a relocation consultant on the case for me, any ideas on what I should be doing now? Anything that is worth getting done well ahead of time? Oh, and I dont have a visa at the moment, but I am not expecting an issue with an L1 visa due to my specialist knowledge in key areas (hence the reason for offering me the job).

Oh, and when does this scared feeling go away?

Cheers,

Paul

Guindalf

Welcome to BE, Paul.

Glad to see you've just got the one wife or you'd be looking to move to Utah!!!!

Looks like you've pretty much got things sorted out. The plans usually take a while to get together, especially the visa application, so sitback, relax and enjoy the thrill ride!

BTW, the scared feeling will go away about five years after everything is settled and completed!

Hotscot

Paul

The house search will be a big deal.
Very expensive in the Bay Area itself...many people suffer a commute from the East. Dublin, Livermore, Tracy and further.

Do some checking as to what you'll be able to afford as soon as you can.

Maybe you could rent close to the office the first year or so?

When I worked for Adobe I worked from home many days of the week.

N1cky

Welcome to BE

Do your own research on the areas you would like to live, we've found the relocation agents work much better if you give them your preferences. Saying 'good schools' in the Bay Area is kind of useless, as lots of areas have good schools. Depending on your agent they might love Cupertino school district, which is full of tiger mums and the kids don't seem to have much life outside of math club, this might be totally wrong for you and your kids. Do you want somewhere you can walk to a downtown area, a YMCA, do you want to live on a community with a pool... What's the limit you want to pay in rent, housing here is ridiculously expensive, and it's also an extremely competitive market, expect to be looking at a house with 30 other couples. Go to all viewings with a completed application form, job offer, references, and although you won't have an American Credit Score, take your UK Experian report, in my experience people are happy that it's a recognized name, and you can explain that you are just moving to the country.

We live in Mountain View and really love it here. When we originally moved to the states we lived in Los Angeles and we hated it. We ended up living in an area that just wasn't right for us, it had none of the things we enjoy doing. When we moved to Northern California, I did all my research, and had more or less decided on MV before we even came for a look. We've never regretted moving here.

The scared feeling flips between that and excitement. I still sometimes feel scared about it all when I think back on it.

Let me know if I can answer any questions on the area.

off_again

Good question - rent for the first year is most likely what we will do. I was thinking somewhere like Dublin, Pleasanton and the surrounding area. Fremont seemed reasonable and schools looked good. But yes, budget for the rent will be the deciding factor. Any recommendations of a little further afield? I wont have to commute, but will need to go to San Jose every-so-often.

Hotscot

If you don't have to commute are you still limited to the Bay Area? East of there gets very hot in summer.
For example I lived in Orange County but flew up to our offices for meetings now and again.
SoCal has wonderful weather and beaches.

Danoz

Congrats!!!

I am going through the same process under similar conditions. The steps I have had to do so far:

1. Itemized inventory list of household items that need to be moved by sea freight and air freight. Surprising how long this takes to go through everything. Also forces the start of the "throw out junk" process! We are only in small 2 bed apartment, but we ended up with about 550 lines in a spreadsheet and took about two weeks to do.

2. prepare documentation for visa process. I think this may vary for different companies, but I had to photo copy all pages in every passport for myself and wife, provide copies of education certificates and grades, marriage certificate, a list of US visits and visas etc.. ask them what they need so you can start in advance. I had already left work when I needed to do all this, so didnt have access to a photo copier. Also if you are sending important documents to US, DO NOT use Royal Mail Airsure service. It IS NOT an express tracked service, once it hits US soil. I was told by Royal Mail it wold be tracked door to door and would be 4 working days. It took 3 weeks and is not tracked once it hits Kennedy in US. 20 GBP for a service slower than normal mail.

3. start process of looking for a car. We are using international autosource (xpat program). The reason why I say start now is that there can be long lead times on new cars as its the time of year that old stock is running out and need to wait for 2014 stock. E.g. we are getting an audi Q5 and its a 3 month lead time. Going down this route you might also need a letter from your employer verfiying longer term intent of you role and support in visa renewal process. This might take a little bit of time to turn around.

4. Finish current role and do all those things you have "put off" :-)

A few words of caution. Make sure they start the visa process early. My company left it quite late, as a result our original dates are all out the window. means I am now out of work for longer than wanted, so whilst more free time, no income so will eat into savings.

Good luck.

Sally Redux

I still get panicky 8 years on.

AlphaTangoMike

Welcome!

If you plan on staying in the US long-term, you should ask your employer to commit to green card sponsorship. (Ideally in writing and with a date specified). If you are not planning on staying long-term, make sure that they will cover your repatriation.

Bob

Just to clarify, but you've already worked for the place for a year already?

As for things to do, well read the wiki. There's a good deal of stuff in there to consider for relocation packages as well as info about credit info.

Worth looking at options of sorting out a couple of cars in advance v buying a banger for a spare car for a while.

Get medical records, especially kids vaccination records. Birth/marriage certificates.

Get company to stump for the missus EAD, even though she won't be allowed to work till she gets it and it takes around 90 days to get.

Discuss as a family contingency plans. What will you do if you don't like it, how long will you give it? What will you do if one of you likes it and not the other? If the kids are old enough to be listened too, what if they don't like it All that boring crap that won't be at the front of your mind, but worth having a think about and some thoughts because that's a big cause of break ups.

Bob

Definitely have contingencies for if you don't like it, what's the sliding scale of reimbursing any costs. What about if you're laid off, what will they cover? Getting it all in writing also makes you more expensive to lay off so it's the only thing that gives you a bit of job security over sacking and frog marching the person in the next office out of the door scenario.

off_again

Yes, over 5 years of continuous employment, so no worries there. I am a manager too, so this should help things along quite nicely. I have a particular set of skills and knowledge around some software (yes, I am in IT) that they need, so again it should all help - famous last words and all of that though!

Really? I am probably looking at three months but I will be "commuting" if everything goes to plan in advance. So I can rent a car while I am there and look around at something to buy. But these expat purchase / lease schemes look pretty simple and straightforward - I will see what I can do on this sooner rather than later. Can they do second hand cars too? Or does it have to be new?

Good point, I think I have all of that sorted - I will double check. Is it worth getting a second passport (UK)? I can get authorisation for this, but wondering if its actually worth bothering with - I have had two before.

Good point - plan is to have her not working, but will see what the options are. She's already quit work here in the UK, so planning to spend time planning, sorting out stuff and so on.

Good point - we have pretty much covered it all already I think. We have talked about it for a while, but this offer came up and without a definitive offer on the table, it wasnt quite "real". Now I have the offer, and accepted it, its a lot more real. Kids are 9 and 12 and are totally up for it. So far we are planning for 3-4 years, but could of course come back sooner. However, we are going for this - so selling the house and heading out. I do have a bit of a luxury in that I will be allowed to "commute" for a while, so timescales should all be fine.

The more I think about it, the more I am looking forward to it. Its going to be a fantastic challenge and a new chapter in my career. My kids will love it and my wife will enjoy the lifestyle. Its going to be great - hard work - but great.

Michael

Since you indicated Fremont as one of the areas that you may look at, look at the Mission San Jose and North Warm Springs areas which have the best schools and the nicest areas in Fremont. This is the area along Mission Blvd and Paseo Padre.

The following is the link to the California School Performance map.

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/...6%2C13%2C1%2C2

The following are pictures of a townhouse and the area when I lived in Fremont on Ocaso Camino off of Paseo Padre.

md95065

It would be wise to also consider the other possibility - that you and your family may decide that you want to stay for longer - in which you will want your employer to sponsor you for green cards. Now would be a good time to discuss that issue with your employer.

Also remember that, in 4 years time, it will probably be much more disruptive to relocate a 13 and 16 year old back to the UK than it is to take them to the US right now.

hungryhorace

I can't +1 this advice enough. When I relocated, I didn't ask for GC sponsorship as I was already in a relationship with a USC, and knew that my wife could sponsor me for LPR. However, if I wasn't in that relationship, I would have absolutely insisted that the firm put in writing they would sponsor me for LPR after 2 years (you'll have an initial 3 years on your L1, so petitioning very soon after the 2nd year makes sense).

I also agreed a relocation package BACK to Blighty should things not have worked out, as well as a severance package (3 months pay) if I was let go for anything other than gross misconduct. Sounds like your employer is a multi-national who will have done this 100x before, so hopefully they have this all as standard. It's still worth confirming though!

One more thing, ask for accountancy help. It's costing me just over $1k to have mine and my wife's tax returns filed next year. I also liquidated my UK stocks and have moved them into US stocks since relocating here. Others more in the know than me advise doing that before you leave.