Yorkieabroad

Should be about due some time off for good behaviour

scrubbedexpat097

True

kimilseung

So it does work out for some then.

scrubbedexpat097

I guess it does but it was tough and the "holiday" feel didn't last very long when reality hit!


But we are happy and content with where we are now, so yeah it can work.

ballac

Should I keep thanking you for keeping the comments/advice going?

If hubby gets a reasonable offer he will go first for a couple of months to arrange accommodation/schools before bringing the whole family over. Although at that time of the year we feel we don't have that much time if we want the kids to start school with everybody else...
but this is a detail as the job is not secured anyway. As one of you said and after reading all your comments, it seems that we should only accept a really good offer.

About commute: home based job with headquarters in Bradford, PA (amongst the bears, we were told)
Pittsburgh was suggested as it is (relatively!) close with an international airport... Buffalo and Erie were on the list as well, no comment... Unless you tell me they could be better places to bring up kids...?

Yorkieabroad

[QUOTE=Sugarmooma;10082824]I guess it does but it was tough and the "holiday" feel didn't last very long when reality hit!

QUOTE]

Its funny, even after 8 years in Singapore, working like a dog for most of it (14 hour days were the norm), I still used to feel like I was on holiday - don't know if it was the weather, the "obviously" different culture, the proximity to the beach and "jungle", or the condos tricked out like 5 star resorts....whatever it was, that holiday feeling just kept bouncing back....

scrubbedexpat097

[QUOTE=Yorkieabroad;10083270] Actually now we have the stability, the time and are not so finacially strapped we can discover more of Texs which has kind of brought back the "holiday" feel to it a bit. It's certainly taken a long time along a bumpy road

Yorkieabroad

[QUOTE=Sugarmooma;10083358

a long time along a bumpy road[/QUOTE]

That describes just about any journey round here

cindyabs

[QUOTE=Sugarmooma;10083358] Because you have the FRONTIER ATTITUDE (my definiton, NOT the other one mentioned).

Yorkieabroad

Err, did I say that? Must have forgotten me meds this morning!

Homeiswheretheheartis

One thing I would also consider in the job offer, is what happens if they terminate the job after a period of time (get rid of you).

I don't fully understand the terms and conditions of employment here, but I am aware they employees don't have the same protection as we do in the UK.

The reason I mentioned it, is just in the last two months a local English friend who moved their family over and originally had a fab relocation package was let go(company taken over). This was only after 1 1/2 years with something like a month to get back to the UK. The company did pay for relocation back to the UK but nothing else.

Just be aware that the employment laws are not the same here in the US.

Redwing

I have been here 34 years, and I enjoy it here, and I expect to die here. I used to go to Pittsburg quite often in the 80s, and I was there at the beginning of the month, and there has been a big transformatiion during that time for the better, particularly downtown. There are some nice areas to live in the northern suburbs, but then there are some of the older areas where I would not be too keen on. Having lived in 10 different states, I think I can say that every city has its good and bad areas, you have to find the better ones, so moving doesn't seem to bother me. Before coming to the USA, I was in Spain, and I loved it there and the people, but I eventually moved on.

Before I retired, I got 4 weeks vacation, plus holidays. The holidays I took depended at which plant I was working. One plant had a 4 day weekend for Memorial and Labor Days. Another plant had Moon Day, which celebrated the landing on the moon. I happened to be working over here, just outside Pittsburgh when that happened. If I needed personal time off, such as a visit to the dentist, then I just took it, after letting people know where I would be. As other have said to the OP, it is your decision, but if you don't like moving, then don't do it. Would I do it all over again? Most certainly. Sure there are cultural differences, but I try not to let them bother me, don't cause any bother, and do my own thing.

scrubbedexpat097

The quotes got screwed up......who did it?????

Bob

Yup. Right to fire, with no severance and no notice, is usually the way it works. Some states are better than others, but most aren't.

So it's a case of making it as expensive for them to get rid of you as possible, by having all this relocating stuff written into the contract to make you slightly less appealing to can than the person sitting next to you.

If you're here on a H1B and you find someone quick willing to sponsor you, they can transfer the H1B over, but you don't get any extra time on the visa. If you're L1, you're SOL and technically have 10 days to leave the country, but you can always change of status to B2 to give you a little breathing room to sell up shop.

Yorkieabroad

We fell foul of poor employee protection twice in Singapore - my wife got fired each time she got pregnant. Totally legal in Singapore. First time she got another job within the 30 day grace period. 2nd time, just over a year later, we just said bollox to this, decided enough was enough and we didn't want that sort of uncertainty/pressure so we came to the US.