Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Hi all,

Due to limited net access I haven't been able to update you until now.

I arrived with missus and son at the POE in Philadelphia after a smooth flight. The CBP office was mainly professional and I got processed quickly then continued on to Rochester New York. This past week I have managed to open a bank account without an SSN as it hasn't arrived yet but have found it difficult to apply for jobs as they require one as does the DMV apparently to issue a permit/state ID. I hope it arrives soon.


Am enjoying the experience otherwise although hope to move out of the ropey area missus's grandmother lives in once I get work. Pre K has been sorted fairly quickly for the 5 Year-old and we have applied for charter schools and are waiting to hear back. People like my accent and seem more chatty than in the UK.

Arrived on the 26th March so just waiting the 10 days before I go to the DSS office to ask them to look up the SSN.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

A social security number is not required for a job since your I-551 stamp in your passport should be proof. The employer's payroll system should have a way of paying you but not the IRS until you provide a SSN (often 000-000-XXXX is used by a payroll system). I suspect it is more about that employers don't know the law and think that a SSN is required.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

No words of wisdom, Hoffage but just want to welcome you to the US! I have been wondering when "we" would hear from you. Glad your entry was uneventful, and that you are settling in. Hope the weather has been tolerable - it's been a tough winter in upstate NY this year. My daughter and her husband head over to the US in just 3 weeks! It certainly has gone quickly (well, once the worrying was over!). Wishing you all the best!
Amy

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Thanks Michael and Amyjo.

Re: The DMV - the lady said that unless I had an SSN they wouldn't issue me a State ID, even a non-drivers one. Annoying.


Re: Medical care - Missus and son tried enrolling got all the way to the end but then it asked for proof of 5 year old son's income! Aargh.

At least the snow has melted now - had my first experience of snow shovelling on Sunday - apparently I am doing it all wrong lol (wife's Grandmother says).

:eek:

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

+1

I was paid without incident even though I did not have a SSN when I initially moved to the US. My employer was also my L-1A sponsor, so they were already geared up to pay me without a SSN, I'm not sure my experience would be so 'easy' if I had moved here as a new immigrant without an employer / SSN etc.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

+2

I was a "local hire" who had a job waiting in New York when I arrived, but although I had no SSN it didn't stop me starting work. .... Though my employer at that time was a major international corporation which was used to bringing people from overseas.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

People seem more chatty, but the conversation is only surface deep.

Anyway welcome to the US :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

I get the local news from Rochester here, we have the Rochester Fox affiliate on cable. Looks like a lovely place. :unsure:

FYI, the sneakers over the power cables mean they sell drugs in that house.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Oh and clearly another very important point - http://www.englishporkpiecompany.com in Buffalo, plus bear in mind in Canada they sell British stuff like HP, McVitie's, real Cadbury's, etc. What you're looking for is the "Real Canadian Superstore" (aka Loblaw's) in St Catherines.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Try a garbage plate sometime. http://americanfood.about.com/od/ext...a/garplate.htm

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

You can go down to your local SS office and they can give you the number there and then. The SSN card will come in the mail soon enough.

And welcome to the US! Another lamb to the slaughter lol

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

That's Georgia, civilservant. I can tell you from personal experience that there are just parts of the US where that is normal and you happen to be in one.

Context matters, too. My husband and I talked yesterday with a young immigrant whose brother, a London resident, says that he dislikes Houston because the people here "aren't as friendly". My husband laughed in astonishment. Turns out the brother, himself a young man, was mostly talking about the club and rave scene and how easy it was to pick up girls ;)

Edited because I remember my mother complaining about how unfriendly Rochester was when we lived there briefly when I was small. Of course that's obsolete information from a woman struggling with three small kids in a new place. :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

So far, the majority of people I have spoke to have been quite friendly - I've been offered two lifts from friendly strangers concerned I may have to walk 10-20 minutes down the road (I do walk a lot and although the roads are set up for driving here, I have found a few walking routes) and there is a lot more use of manners than where I lived in the UK (people getting up for others on the bus, saying please, thank you and you are welcome) - the area that I live in at the moment is very rough and there is a bit of bad language there which I don't like, but basically as long as you avoid eye contact all is good on that front, and I grew up in an inner-city environment so it isn't too much of a shock.

I am looking forward to getting a car though :eek:


Hoffage

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Haha, extremely "local" dishes found nowhere else--I love these!

Mind you I would NOT order nor eat a garbage plate, or any of the other strange local food 'inventions' I've found here in the northeast. But some are interesting. Philly cheesesteak, Rhode Island's coffee milk, MA's stuffies (stuffed quahogs), NYC's egg cream....

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

UPDATE:

I haven't tried a garbage plate yet, but there is a first time for everything lol ...

Most of my time has been spent sorting out getting my 5 year old into the full day pre-K and also a decent school for August, sorting out bank accounts, filling in mounds of paperwork.

I haven't felt too homesick yet - but that is because I am keeping very busy. I helped out at a local food pantry the other day and am trying some volunteering. I have had one or two job interviews but no luck yet - hoping to get work soon so I can get proper healthcare coverage/pay for food etc. Family-in-law doing my head in at times.

Sometimes I think whether I should have waited and saved up more before moving but hindsight is 20/20, innit. Things are getting better, my missus has work now and I have some work but it is part-time work at home low-pay, but it is better than nothing. Still waiting to have the immigrant success story, but will update you all when in a more stable situation.

Hoffage

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

It's 000-00-0007. Number signifies johnny foreign who hasn't gotten a number yet.

Means they withhold the max tax till you get your own number and update payroll.

All a bit moot now, a month later for the OP :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Well the Supremes came down with a public prayer decision from a Rochester suburb.:(

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Your local Wegmans sells HP brown sauce and custard.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

A county here in NC is (was?) fighting litigation on the same, or very similar, grounds. I do not know if there are material differences from the case that made it to SCOTUS such that the action will be further pursued. I suspect not (insufficient differences and it will not be pursued).

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

First thought: "I didn't know they were still together!" :lol:

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Update:

Things are slightly better - my missus has managed to bag ('sic') a job at a local grocery store as a Cashier as a stop-gap until she finds something more in standing with her qualifications and experience - so we have some regular money coming in. She had a positive networking meeting with a professor who may give her some adjunct work in the Fall and also has connections with community outreach, which is what she is really interested in (a position may be created for her, which we are waiting for).

I am doing some at-home Data Entry work, that is a bit sporadic but at least it keeps my resume current. I have also (subject to checks and placement) been accepted by a temporary staffing agency for the local Uni for a possible 6 month contract - the pay is low, at $11-$12/hour, but it will help us financially once I actually get a contract, that is the main thing at this point, as my sponsor (father-in-law) hasn't really been helping us out from the start, and his work situation has become a lot worse as well recently. Kind of complicated and annoying, but at least we have managed to salvage the situation from becoming too nightmarish. I have been applying daily for jobs, networking, going to job fairs etc ... I hope I get something regular/permanent soon ...

Health-wise we are all ok at the moment - registered with a low income clinic with a 90 day temporary discount which is a $10 fee per doctor visit and $10 per dentist visit (basic cleaning I think is included). Still grappling with trying to get Medicaid for wife and son who are the US citizens so I am going to go to the DSS office this week, the Health Marketplace site hasn't helped with that one bit really, so maybe speaking to someone in person will. We applied for Food stamps a while back but they have up to 60 days to respond so we have been going to food pantries to stock up and now that wife is earning some money we can actually shop for food regularly.

So yes, have been struggling a bit but things are coming together slowly but surely ... no one ever said it was going to be easy to establish yourself from scratch in a new country, and am pretty happy with what has been achieved so far in terms of securing some work, getting bank accounts, and sorting out a decent education for my son at the Y, and also for his charter school which he starts in August.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

You're getting there buddy, one day at a time.

Immigrant success stories sometimes take a while. Ours is still ongoing, and that's after 25 years of ups and downs;)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Welcome to Rochester!

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Thanks StephieFaith! :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

After almost three years, ours is too. Sometimes the downs seem to outnumber the ups...but usually that balance reverses itself in time. Hang in there!

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

If you get food stamps, doesn't your sponsor have to pay the money back for those? I thought you aren't able to claim means tested benefits for a certain amount of time??

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

The NYC mayor ordered refunds to sponsors of immigrants that used city services since the federal government doesn't go after sponsors.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

I made sure that it was just my wife and son who were applying for them - they count me as part of the household but as a non-claimant so they reduce the value of the stamps accordingly.

We haven't received the actual EBT card yet though -still waiting on that.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Thanks WEBlue :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

That makes sense. I wasn't knocking you, just wondered.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Heh no worries :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Re: Building Credit

I've looked into it now and apparently there is no such thing as having a joint credit score, joint accounts appear in both spouses files, but they still have separate FICO scores. Bad behaviour on joint accounts appear in both spouses files but debts owned solely only appear in that persons credit file.

I am aware that when applying for things like mortgages then the worst credit history is taken into account as spouses usually apply for these things together, but for the purposes of building a credit score, it is moot.

So with that in mind I have been added as an authorized Cardholder on missus's Capital One credit card. She has past poor credit with regards to some student loans from years back, but as that is all in her name, it won't affect my credit file. The plan is to build my credit history from being an authorized user and then after 6-9 months or so apply for a credit card of my own. The card limit is only $300, so we won't be using more than $30-$40 of it at any one time and will of course pay it off every month.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Why not just get a secured card in your own name? I know that money is tight - but Capital One gave me a Secured Card with a $49 deposit. Also, your credit will get better MUCH faster having accounts in your own name versus being a named person on someone elses.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Hi Civil,

I tried a few weeks ago but they rejected me at the point of application - I am going try again in a week or two time (after 30 days has passed) and hoping that this time I will have more luck :o

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

To be fair, this also happened to me. I think it was on like the 3rd time of applying that I finally got an OK. Creditkarma was showing me as a 'thin file' until I got that first card and it reported after a month.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

As long as the card with the authorized user doesn't have any hits, it will increase his credit score and history faster than a new credit card since once he is an authorized user, all the history of that card will become his history.

In fact before 2007, credit repair businesses used that technique to repair client's credit history very quickly by putting thousands of clients as authorized users on the same credit card (but didn't give them a card) with an outstanding credit history. Credit card companies stopped that from occurring by only allowing a certain number of authorized users per credit card but it still works for family and friends.

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Thanks Sugarmooma and everyone for your support and advice - it gets a bit stressful at times, so I appreciate having a community to fall back on, even if it is 'virtual' in nature :)

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Driving:

So I have passed the written test (2 minutes in and out) and sat through the 5 hour pre-licensing spiel. I have a test booked for the 23rd July. It is 20 minutes in duration (it used to be 5 minutes apparently!)

I haven't driven for about a year and a half, so I am hoping to get some practise beforehand (maybe ask my brother-in-law for use of his car and/or get a practise lesson in near the route). It seems to be coming along smoothly though ...

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

:fingerscrossed: I am sure you will do great, and once you have the license in your hand you will can confidence immediately;)


I didn't drive when we lived in the UK so came here at age 34 without any experience and had to learn as soon as we arrived. It still amazes me what we can do when we need to!

Saying out loud that I have been driving for the last 25 years still seems strange though..:lol:

Re: Made it to Rochester: Experiences of a new immigrant
 

Welcome to the land of the free and the home of the brave. Embrace the new and stay away from the "all you can eat" buffets and you'll be fine.