Stratts

Hi all

My boss called me in last week and offered me a potential move to Houston on a minimum one year secondment.

After some discussions with my wife and daughter (14), everyone seems happy in principle with the idea. Following this, my boss has now asked me to identify my key requirements and expectations regarding the move.

I'm looking for some advice on what things to consider. My start list includes:

Housing, one car, school all funded fully while on assignment
At least one trip home in the year
Some form of "expat premium" - e.g. 10% on top of normal salary
Salary fixed in USD paid from US payroll but remain employee in UK.
L1 visa so my wife can work (my employer has a blanket provision for this)
Agreement subject to UK law
Moving fees up to a fixed amount
Allowance for purchase of electricals

There seems to be a bit of expectation that they are doing me a favour with this job offer, which I can sort of see but not to the extent that I should not get some form of premium from the move. After all, I am having to uproot two other people who will find it much tougher than I will. My boss has already said that this "cannot be too expensive as it will be seen to be easier to hire someone in U.S. already" (not that they have been able to find anyone with my skill set and experience).

I want the opportunity and don't want to appear to be too greedy/demanding, but my expectation is that I should benefit financially as well. Am I seeing this in the wrong way?

Anyone with experience of what should be key considerations/negotiating points?

Thanks

fozzyb

Do make sure health insurance is included.

Accountant to handle taxes?

But what you have there is pretty much the same list as I was offered for a 1 year assignment. (Although the 10% "expat" allowance was titled "cost of living adjustment").

If you think that there is any possibility that you might want to make this a permanent move then get the commitment to sponsoring the greencard in writing now rather than later.

For me I was paid through UK payroll throughout, but with employer paying the cost of wire transfer to US and accountant to do the US and UK taxes.

SanDiegogirl

Presume you are not going to be selling your home in the UK if this is only for one year initially.

What about the costs of renting it out, management fees, repairs while away and re-decorating costs for when back.

Seems to be a big upheaval just for one year.

dfjordan

I would questionthe advisability of moving a 14 year old out of UK education, into US education. I can imagine it wont be positive. You will find it very inconvenient if you only have one car or perhaps you are assuming you'll take the cost of the car for your wife. Houston is built with the idea that you'll all have cars to get around with, as without them you are really stuck.

Jericho79

In my opinion, you really need to forget about whatever UK salary you have as it's irrelevant in the US. Find out what the going rate is in US, and if it's higher, that's what you want.

US companies are much more used to relocating employees, so dont sell yourself short on moving/relocation costs. These can add up very quickly beyond the cost of flights/transportation, so look in to this in more detail. You should factor in things like utility deposits, rental deposits, etc.

Pulaski

Moving a 14 year old seems like an especially bad idea - if it is for only one year it will completely ****-up her GCSEs. Once my daughter reaches her teenage years, or in fact several years younger than that, you probably couldn't pay me enough to move her between school systems.

jjmb

3rd agreed with Pulaski and Jericho79 unless you think this will be a permanent move. We did the same in 2000 when my eldest daughter was almost 15, son nearly 13 and daughter nearly 11. Turned out to be a permanent move and all of them are settled in Texas with 2 of them married. However those first few years were tough and probably detrimental to my 2 eldests' education. Fortunately, my eldest did settle down fairly quickly, on looking back but not before we considered the option of sending her back to Scotland and attending private school, as that was option with our contract.
There is a British school in Houston and I am sure someone will come along who will give you information on that option. However, your daughter will have an established social circle by now and like any teenager, moving into a different community will be difficult for a few months. By the time she has established herself, it will be time to come back by which time her own social circle will have moved on, so she might have difficulty re-establishing herself. I know as adults we do that all the time and even we find it difficult, to a teenager it can often lead to deep emotional trauma. I am still racked with guilt about my son's experience and although his life is OK, it is a very fragile OK, even 15 yrs later. Consider it very carefully and if you think your child is emotionally and intellectually strong , go for it,but be aware of the pitfalls of moving a teenager.
As to cars, 2 would be great but most companies will only provide one, so expect to buy one as you need it. Also what type of work, does your wife do? Most employers wouldn't be interested in someone who is only going to be there for a year, unless its retail which is very poorly paid and has erratic hrs, rarely the same hours each week.

petitefrancaise

If it's for only one year, then an international school would be fine....providing the syllabus was the same. And tbh, if she wanted to go to a local school for a year, she could do that and then just go back where she left off in the UK, ie. she would take another year to finish school. No big deal. And the whole family would have had the experience of living somewhere else too.

Pulaski has never moved his family and JJMB had a difficult time. My kids have flourished even though it was a bit tricky. If your daughter(?) is up for it then that's most of the battle won.

You're going to need 2 cars. Even if you ask for 2 smaller cars instead of a big one, I'd do that. Sharing a car is a pain in the backside.

Talk to an accountant about the best way to structure your salary for the year and do make sure you have the services of an international team until your tax situation normalises - ie you are at the point of only needing to report tax in one country......

We got extra pension payments made by the company every time we moved so there is something else you can use to negotiate a package.

petitefrancaise

oh and I was in Houston yesterday and it was f****ing hot. 100F. Austin at 95 suddenly seemed so much more bearable.

Make sure your living allowance includes $$$$ for air conditioning.

Pulaski

And I never would. IMO education is too important to put at risk. Sure, things might just work out fine, ..... or they might not. Someone else noted on a recent thread that their child (son?) dropped out of education after never settling and has drifted into adulthood with no career and little prospect of one.

petitefrancaise

Oh Pulaski, I could go on and on about the families I know who have successfully transplanted their kids from all over the world, with huge language and cultural differences.
International schools are full of kids doing very well all over the world....

I think a big key point is to make sure that the school they go to has kids that are "like them" in some way. Third culture kids mix better with other third culture kids. French speaking kids like to have other french speakers around, ditto with whatever language. I doubt my lot would have settled well into a school in rural west texas, but their school is full of kids like them...
I know families here in Austin who have had massive upheavals (death of a mother, divorce in junior year etc) and the kids are doing just fine - in those 2 cases, just off to Berkeley and Chicago respectively to study engineering.

I tend to think that blaming yourself for moving the kids is kind of missing the point. You have no guarantees that they wouldn't have dropped out wherever they were. But then, I would say that wouldn't I?

I feel desperately sorry for any parent or child that is struggling wherever they are but kids have a tendancy to get on their own paths which may not be the one we had planned for them.

Bob

Definitely for the first and last year here.

The wiki, up top has plenty of suggestions for things to ask in a relocation package though.

md95065

While I can't speak from personal experience and, obviously everyone is going to be different, it seems to me that most kids are surprisingly resilient and would probably not only handle the transition just fine, but also benefit from it.

That certainly seems to have been the case for several of my friends who were (IMO) lucky enough to live in 2 or 3 different countries while they were growing up.

It is also my understanding (both from observation and from memories of my own teenage years) that there will be many occasions on which all normal teenagers will accuse their parents of doing things that have "ruined their lives" ...

petitefrancaise

ain't that the truth!!

this week it's because I am refusing youngest to die her hair blue.

Stratts

Thanks all for the advice, but the education debate is for another time. In principle, if I can't get a suitable financial and personal arrangement then everything else is irrelevant.

There is a possibility that this could be a permanent move, it all depends on me finding another job win my company while I am in the country. Based on the advice so far, I guess I would be looking for a slightly longer secondment so that my daughter would finish high school/international school at the right time and we wouldn't need to integrate her back into her current school ini the UK.

I'll certainly look for a salary commensurate with the outgoing guy and tax advice, so that is for the pointers.