British Expats - ACCA qualified - prospects in USA? + CMA exam?

Hi All, :welcome:

This year I am going to qualify as ACCA in the UK. My girlfriend is an American citizen and she is going to qualify as ACCA too. We are also going to get married soon. In the future we were thinking of going to the USA. We are tired of British weather...and we believe that US can offer a better lifestyle.

We have 10 years of experience (6 in the UK, 3 Denmark and 1 in Poland) in finance and accounting (biotech, manufacturing, non profit sectors, energy & oil/gas etc, BA + MSc from British universities. I work for a blue chip company at the moment (financial services) and she works for oil & gas, but might be moving to the financial services soon too. We both work as Accountants, but with different specializations (I am more into Mgmt Accounting & Analysis & Modelling and she is more into Financial Accounting). Our companies won't offer us a transfer to the US.

Now my questions is as follows. Let's say that my girlfriend goes to the US first (she has got family there), what chances does she have of securing a reasonable job with European job experience only? How is it perceived on the job market and what kind of salary should we be looking for at this career level? In the UK I am at 40k + benefits/bonus and she is 30k+benefits/bonus so in total our income is around 85-90k. (We are not fully qualified yet, but will be this year). We are both 32 years old and will be thinking of a move in 2-3 years.

I know that ACCA is not recognized in the USA and I was wondering if we should attempt CMA exam before we consider moving there. I am a bit pissed off that ACCA that markets itself as a global qualification is not recognized in the US..Therefore I was thinking of doing CMA which should give us a better start when we get to US. It seems like an easy qualification to obtain when comparing to the ACCA and surprisingly it pays a lot in the US.

Oh and the plan is that she moves first, secures a job and then we start the visa process for me. She is a citizen so no problem with work permit and I should be able to get Green Card. Also we were thinking of making a career break in the UK for a year, and go to US to check how it is like to work there. If we didn't like it, we would simply come back. We have a property here so it is not a problem and we both think that our employeers would agree to the gap year.

I would highly appreciate your views and share your own experiences.

Thank you for all replies :drinkingwine: