Tuckster

I would be on my current salary. I've been told that much for sure. My British company will continue to pay me £XXk. The referendum result has cost me $9,000 a year (which is growing) in exchange rate.

For them to pay me in dollars what I would've been earning pre-Brexit, would currently cost the company £7,800 a year.

scrubbedexpat099

Maybe if you were coming for a few weeks/months, but that does not tend to be how overseas placements are done. General comment on here is that you get a substantial uplift when moved to the US just to be on parity.

And the benefit packages are different, health care etc.

Tuckster

I understand what you're saying and that would be awesome. But I've explicitly been told that my salary won't change.

scrubbedexpat099

You have other problems, sounds like a no goer.

Nutmegger

That would seem to be essential for a move to NYC. You don't want to be living on a shoestring here.

Also, if after obtaining her EAD your wife is unable to find employment with the company you mentioned, OP, expect it to take a few months (at least) to secure a job. So you should be planning for aboout six months on one salary.

Tuckster

Yeah... never gonna happen.

Noorah101

I just wanted to say I'm sorry it seems like this isn't going to work out for you. It makes no sense to me that they would pay you in pounds instead of dollars for several years. You would have to be on the US payroll to have tax deductions and medical insurance, etc.

Rene

Canveydave

Echoing this.

New York does not strike me as the sort of place to be living on a shoestring.

Ask lots of questions at your next meeting, hopefully things can sort themselves out. To be able to move you on an E2 they must have moved some people before, so should know how it works

Tuckster

Unfortunately not. They've moved people on I visas before, but I was going to be the guinea pig E visa. So they're learning as they go too.

Rete

This move is not for you and your family. You cannot, repeat cannot, afford to live in or around NYC on the salary you mentioned. Have you done any search for homes, apartments, food costs, utilities, autos, insurance, etc. for the NYC area. Healthcare alone will break your back if your company is not offering healthcare at no cost to you AND YOUR SPOUSE. And if they are and there is a high deductible, forget even that.

You do not want to accept that your wife will NOT be working for a minimum of 90 days after she enters the US. She is required to have an EAD to work. She applies for one after she enters the US on a valid visa and then does biometrics and then waits for it to be approved and issued and mailed to her.

An H-1B requires that the sponsoring company files the application in April 2017 and if she is one of the lucky ones to get one of the very sought after, oversubscribed visas, she cannot work until November 2017.

I understand that you would love to do this but it does not seem feasible and your company appears to be a cheap sob place who are only out for their profit and benefit and more than willing to screw you in the process. With their attitude, I can't see them giving you a good relocation package, if any.

If you qualify for a L visa, then insist that you will only come here with an L visa, a good relocation package, be paid in the US with US dollars at the going rate of salary for your field and with your experience, and that they must provide adequate vacation time, sick time, personal time, healthcare, dental, vision, temporary housing while you search for a place to live, an auto rental for at least 3 months while you obtain a driver's license, auto insurance and a car, etc. Your head is in the clouds with the thought of living and working in the US. You are not thinking clearly at all and going about this half assed. Sorry to be so blunt.

ian-mstm

Whatever else you do, do not get yourself into a worse financial situation than you're currently in. There is no social safety net in the US and unless you're making a decent salary (using NYC criteria) you'll either wind up living in a not-very-nice area or be forced to commute 45-60 minutes each way to work. What about health care coverage. If the company isn't going to fork out $$ for that, then you'll need to cover those costs yourself and that could be very expensive. Note: a single hospitalization in the US without health insurance could very easily bankrupt you! Not good!

Ian

Tuckster

The only new information is the fact that she has to be in the USA while waiting for the EAD.

Re: your other points (and you assume a lot by the way, that's something you should look at).

Yes, we've looked at living costs, we're not stupid. I currently work in London, and live just outside. In lots of ways we'd be saving money by living in NYC because I wouldn't have to spend £5,000 a year on the train. My company provides healthcare and dental, I'd be on the same employment benefits re: sick pay and holiday as I am here. I won't need a car (so we're saving money there too). Utilities are cheaper than here, plus heating and water are often included in the rent, that doesn't happen here.

Living costs are totally affordable if she's working on a salary anywhere near her current one, but the likelihood is that she'd be on more than she is here, and plus she would be getting paid in dollars.

I repeat, the only new information is that she can't apply for the EAD while we're still here in the UK, and yes, that does seem to be a bit of a dealbreaker.

Rete

From a New Yorker who has lived 68 years in the area and worked in Manhattan for 48 of them ... I don't need your unwarranted attitude. See ya in the soup kitchen.

ian-mstm

Rete provided information based on the information you posted... not based on information you failed to post. Perhaps it wasn't accurate because there was undisclosed information, but that was no reason to be rude - especially when she was only trying to help you.

Ian

Nutmegger

Obviously we don't know in what field your wife works, but if you search this forum, you will see how long it has taken many people to obtain work in the US -- and they aren't in NYC, the most competitive place of all.