christmasoompa

I don't see why, if a couple of weeks in a place is enough to decide it's not for you, then why is that opinion not valid?

I've been to a lot of places that I've thought were awful and where I've known I could never live (Orlando included as a matter of fact), I wouldn't want to try living in them and can't see how spending longer than a couple of weeks in any of them would change my mind.

petitefrancaise

actually, a load of people come on here telling us that they'd really LIKE to move to Florida based on a 2 week trip to disney. So why would the other point of view not also be valid?

Also, just like to point out that many, many,many of us here have had to make decisions on whether to move and where to move to based on at best a 3 or 4 day "look, see" visit. And sometimes, we don't get that until after we've signed the contract to move. The best we can do in these circumstances is ask other people that have moved/visited there and get as much information as we can.
In your case, people have given their opinions. Take notice of it or not, it's up to the poster and no skin off our nose.

MidAtlantic

I have family who have lived there for over 20 years so my opinion is not just based on a brief visit.

scrubbedexpat099

Not sure I would want to go there in the summer, seems the locals like to get away as well.

chris23

Not looking for a fight here but all i'm saying is that most tourists spend all their time in the areas built for tourists, so that doesn't really give them basis when advising someone what it's like to live there. If the OP asked the question what is it like to vacation there then sure. But if you don't live and work there then how can you advise? Short of that, all your doing is giving an almost baseless opinion of an area you have no knowledge of, other than being there for a couple of weeks on vacation.

Cue witch hunt.

Pulaski

But it sounds like the brother is only visiting Orlando to visit his father, so unless the brother is living elsewhere in the US he can't sponsor his brother for a green card.

Pulaski

After wading through everything else, I was about to say the same thing myself, and I have written on this before - for two people I wouldn't cross the Atlantic to live in the US for less than $50k bare minimum, and by the very fact that Mr Black is considering renting for $1,500 when household income would only be $3,500/mth tells me that he has NO IDEA about the cost of living in the US.

For starters you're looking at $250/mth/person for groceries and household consumables, and $200/mth most months for electricity thanks to the need to run AC, then $50/mth or more for water. There is effectively no public transport, so you'll need a car - either something new at $300/mth finance, or something older will cost nearly as much, say $200/mth because you'll only get financial for a couple of years and a really crappy rate. Car insurance - think $200/mth. Then there's gas - which is cheap, but you'll drive much further, so say $100/mth minimum, and car repairs on a used car say $100/mth.

So far that accounts for $1,350 out of $2,000 left after rent. .... Except I assume they were gross income figures, so there's income tax and Social Security tax to pay. ..... What about eating out? Or airline tickets home, or clothes? ..... Or the BIG ONE - health insurance - on your own you might get something as low as $400/mth/person if you're young and healthy, but it won't cover any basic costs if you need to visit the doctor, it'll be about good for piecing you back together if you get in a road accident, get shot, or a 'gator mistakes you for a meal.

As far as I can see you won't have any money left over for theme parks, so living in Orlando isn't going to do you much good and if you want somewhere flat, sunny, and hot, you might as well move to Butthole, Mississippi as at least the cost of housing will be less.

Pulaski

I have only ever driven to Orlando, so I have seen the suburbs and approaches, driven through the non-touristy bits, and taken one or two wrong turns into places I wanted to leave again as quickly as I could.

If it wasn't for the theme parks there would be nothing to distinguish Orlando from any other city on the East Coast coastal plain anywhere between Richmond, VA and Miami. It's flat, hot and humid in the summer, and about three quarters of the city has a crime problem fueled by drugs and gun violence.

carcajou

OP, if you post with attitude, you are going to get attitude in response. Coming on to a web site of expats and being dismissive of visa issues, and then insisting you had done your research but clearly had not - that is going to get a commensurate response from forumites.

Based on what you have written - I would suggest your best shot at a green card is on your next HOLIDAY to Orlando, head down to sorority row at the University of Central Florida, find a girl who thinks British accents are sexy, and at some point down the track marry her.

Also - stop touting that you have a Bachelor's Degree and single-digit years' worth of experience. Blades of grass around here and doesn't impress at all. Do you have any award-winning content you can point to? Did you go to a gold-plated journalism school?

mistijuel

As someone who lived 13 years in the Orlando area, and a few years in Orlando itself, aside from all of the visa issues and right-to work matters that you have to consider, please, please do not even think about moving to the area at $1600-1800 a month, even with a roommate at the same pay. I have a lot of friends living at minimum wage in the area working at theme parks or hotels (some even earning as much as $9/hr, which is a good pay for theme parks), it is a very, very difficult life. I was on $50/k when I moved and it was min 45 hours a week, and still living paycheck to paycheck, granted I had student loans at $300/month but there were still many, many expenditures that you won't even realise until they occur.

sherbert

@carcajou actually the OP didn't give attitude, he simply objected to the caustic 'holier' than thou' tone of posting that is the norm when anyone under the age of 30 decides they want to move to the USA.

Sure, OP may not be an award winning journalist but honestly, who is these days? Times are a-changing and it's all about getting content out as fast as possible.

I think it's incredibly arrogant - disgraceful in fact - to look down your nose at a young person's career choice and qualifications. He needs encouragement to further his experiences in order to make his dreams possible not disdain.

Long story short: no visa will enable OP to work here. OP is not aware of the actual cost of living in the US and will not be able to live on what he earns. He now knows that.

I wonder if an apprenticeship or internship with a media company (J1) might be an option for him?

And Pulaski - 100/month for repairs on a used car? On what planet? My 15 year old toyota with well over 150k on the clock has not seen a mechanic since its last smog, over 1.5 years ago. Purrs like a kitten.

petitefrancaise

Yeah, I saw that and was surprised. But IIRC Pulaski has some old ford trucks and maybe an explorer and Fords do cost more to service and maintain,e ven if you do it yourself.

I saw a comparison lately and Fords were around the middle of the maintenance costs, Toyota near the bottom. I have a Prius which now has fairly high mileage and been through some major services but the biggest bill I had was last time when a gasket had to be replaced for a minor oil leak. The part was about $20 but it took 2 hours of labour to get in there, fix it and put it back together. Total bill with the service was $230.

Nutmegger

I'm sorry, but the bottom line is that he is not a journalist at all. A journalist cannot work from the back bedroom. Someone who does so is merely commenting on, or re-writing, the news gathered by the sweat of the brow of other people.

petitefrancaise

oooh Nutmegger!

A very, very good friend of mine is a bona fide journalist who has written for the Guardian for a long time. Since moving to France, she actually does write from her back bedroom/aka the study. She has to write 2 posts a week to feed the guardianonline beast or she'll lose her job. She rarely has to venture out to write her posts, she researches, interviews and writes all from her home.

The face of modern journalism is not as glamourous as it once was.

Nutmegger

I guess I will never equate the kind of story that can be written from home and posted online as "reporting." I think of it as feature writing, not news gathering, and view the two as different beasts!