Advice on moving to the USA
 

Hello everyone,

At the beginning of August I will be starting a PhD in biology at Arizona State University (Tempe campus). I already have my F1 student visa all sorted and I'm trying to get everything else sorted - accommodation, flights, paperwork etc. I was hoping that anyone who has been through this process before could give me some advice or pointers. In particular, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me about the less obvious things that need doing before I leave.

At the moment I'm trying to secure accommodation, but before I can do this I need to have a credit check. However, to have this check I'm told I need a social security number. As far as I'm aware I don't have one of these and someone at the university has told me that I can't get one from them unless I'm there in person. Does anyone know what I can do? Is there anything I can use instead of a SS number?

Thank you for all of your help! I really appreciate your time.

Best wishes,

Scott Davies

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Getting a SS number will not accomplish much since the credit report will come up empty. If you already know what apartment you want to rent or are using an agent to find an apartment, contact them to see if a UK credit report will be acceptable. If it is, get the UK credit report and send it to them.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

That's exactly what I thought but the woman I'm dealing with has never dealt with a non-american trying to rent an apartment so she doesn't really know what to do. And, neither do I! :-/
I'm in the process of asking about a British credit report...

Thank you so much for your advice - I appreciate it.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

In the US, the law requires that all Americans are able to get a free credit report once a year. There are 3 companies that report credit and each of the reports can be accessed by the person of a Social Security number using the following link.

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/c...x.jsp?move=yes

Does the UK have a similar system?

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

There are definitely companies in the UK who can give you a credit report - I think you have to pay for them, as opposed to having a right to one each year - but I don't know if the rental company I'm dealing with will accept a british one. It sounds as though a credit report in the UK is the equivalent to one in the US, and vice versa, so they should accept it, but I'll just have to wait and see...

Again, thanks for your help!

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Find someone else to rent from. Someone who's rented to an overseas student before. You don't have a credit history in the US, and I'm pretty sure that your UK history won't help you out here. Be aware that this credit report requirement is entirely down to the individual letting agent - she doesn't have to see a credit report - she just doesn't know how to (or want to) provide an alternative to you. Many of us here have rented apartments or houses without a social security number and/or credit history - you just have to find someone willing to work with you to resolve these issues, rather than some mindless little desk jockey who demands things you can't provide.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

I thought it might be like that... I've seen some adverts offering places with no/little credit rating, which made me wonder whether it was mandatory for all rentals or just a detail which some companies prefer. But because I wasn't sure and the offer was so good I thought I would try to find a way around this problem.

I think I'll just have to contact them.

Thank you so much for your help!

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Just to clarify, the law allows you to get a free credit report once each year from *each* of the 3 companies (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax)... which means you can get a credit report - at no cost - every 4 months if you space the reports out correctly! :) My wife and I have been doing just that for a few years now.

Ian

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

i dont know if holders of an F1 can even get an ssn card (no idea) BUT you wont be able to get one for 2-3 weeks after arrival even if you are eligible. You will have zero us credit rating anyhow so it wont help. Explain to the lady that point (ie the credit report will be totally blank as you have not lived in the us and accrued any kind of rating) and see if she will budge and take into account something else/ (maybe written references from existing uk landlord or larger deposit than usual or something). Otherwise you will have to look elsewhere. The international office at the uni may be able to point you in the direction of landlords who have rented to foreigners before with similar issues.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

You'll have to work around the fact you're a non-person. Ignore the silly woman. Use the classifieds @ http://phoenix.craigslist.org/ and http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/classifieds/ to find your accommodation. Start of August is a difficult time to arrive -- you'll find many of the digs near the campus have already gone, and as an added bonus you'll be right in the middle of monsoon season when the weather is particularly horrible.

Apart from that my only other advice is to avoid living with or speaking to communications majors -- they all suffer from severe mental ailments.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Your school will have an office of International Students or something to that effect. They'll more than likely have some information on renting apartments in the area, along with some very strong recommendations on which places to avoid / what landlords are crooks. Some schools even send out people to review the apartments they offer to International students to ensure they meet basic health and safety requirements. I'd start there.

Nearly anything you find on the Internet is going to be a 'formal' apartment building with a management company that runs the renting process / controls the maintenance staff, etc. That's really not where you should be looking--it's too formal and requires all the credit and stuff.

You want to find smaller owner/landlords who will go on a lease and a handshake and not bother with credit reports, etc. I assure you there are probably tons around a university town, unfortunately, you'll have to be there to meet them. Craigslist.org might have a listing for there (not sure)

Check with the school and see if they can give you some pointers.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Read the wiki...it'll answer a lot of questions regarding credit etc...but you don't need a SSn to get a credit card, though as an F1, you'll be allowed to work 20 hours so presuming you'll be allowed to get a SSN.

Uni should be able to help with accomodation for flat shares and the like.

Craigslist, facebook and local papers would be the best places to get a gaff and to get stuff.

Bring copies of all your immigration stuff, birth certificates and vaccination records, never know when they'll come in handy.

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

I agree. I work in the international education office at a university and we work with international visiting scholars to help them find off-campus housing, since the only on-campus housing we have is for students. There are a couple of tenured faculty members who have privately rented out a room in their homes, or even a separate property altogether, to our visiting scholars -- it has nothing to do with our office but we have put them in contact.

~ Jenney

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Thank you for all of your help, everyone.

And thanks for the great links; they look very useful!
I'll get in touch with the international student office too.

Thanks again :)

Re: Advice on moving to the USA
 

Unless they've changed the system, he will be given an SS# that corresponds to his status.
He will be able to use it to secure on-campus employment (which is all he can work).

Again, hopefully, they haven't changed the rules.
Its been a while.

Oh, also he doesn't have to take the required ESL class (English as a second language).