TheKingOfHearts

I grew up "holidaying" in Florida, probably for close to the 15 years OP referenced as my family had multiple rental properties, which I had the privilege of staying in during our yearly holiday/maintenance trip.

I recall fondly circa 2004 and 2008 when 1 GBP got you roughly 2 USD thinking how "cheap" the US was (and in some circumstances, with those rates, it was) and how much I loved the "culture".

It was only after I started working for a large US conglomerate back in 2012/13 that I really started to understand the culture and only after I'd lived here a year or so (and dated various American women.. but that's a different story for a different day) that I truly was able to understand what it is like to live in the US from a cultural, financial and general economic perspective.

OP appears to be another one of those folks that enjoy their yearly week at Disney and believe that to be their true calling. In fairness we haven't had a post from someone wanting to move to Florida for about 2 weeks, so we are overdue..

markonline1

I regularly holidays in California for 10 odd years before ending up here, and I agree that it is completely different living here than visiting here. The mindset is just so completely different, even in somewhere fairly liberal like California. I’m lucky in that I married an American. If I had come over here without some insider help to get me through those first few years, I think I would have really struggled. No idea about the business visa, but for what it’s worth, I remember watching a documentary back home before I left about Brits on that visa who were being told that their businesses weren’t successful enough and their visa was not getting renewed. They basically had to leave. It looked pretty darn brutal to be honest.

civilservant

That's about the size of it. Hence being called 'the visa from hell'

Zander10

Hi Doug,
I moved to Florida in 2000 on an E2 visa. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

jammiie

I moved to Florida three years ago, but I was lucky enough to do so on an L1 visa with a stable, well paid job and health insurance package. I know other Brits here that moved on the E2 visa and I would avoid it like the plague. Many I have met have to break their backs every day in the heat doing landscaping work, usually competing against undocumented workers, and having to use their profits to keep the minimum amount of US workers employed for the visa to be valid. There was one guy I met on the 'Brits in Florida' Facebook group that did exactly this, bought his wife and two young children with him and was gone again within a year because "the lifestyle wasn't what [he] expected".

No doubt there are success stories but you're taking a huge risk which isn't proportionate to the potential reward.

LegalEagleTX

We moved to The Woodlands, TX from the UK this February. Culturally we have had no issues and between the UK and the U.S. there are more similarities than differences. But many things are more expensive than in the UK. We live in a 4,500 square foot house and our electricity bill for last month was $600 (not including gas and water). There is only one energy provider in The Woodlands, which doesn't help. Air conditioning is pretty much on 24/7 at this time of year. We are in our 40s, 9 years no claims in the UK, and yet pay $220 per month car insurance since the insurers will generally treat you as a new driver when you arrive. In terms of housing though it is pretty amazing. For $1m you can get circa 5,000 square foot with a pool, 5 beds and each has its own ensuite and walk in wardrobe. Just be prepared for the $23,000 per year in property taxes, $400 per month in home insurance, $200 a month for a cleaner, $50 a month for pool supplies, $40 per week on Chik-fil-a, $50 per cellphone, cable, internet, water bills, gas bills, groceries yadda yadda. Quality of life for us is better and the schools are amazing, but we are paying for it.

robtuck

I'll offer a counter view on the way of life/culture discussion (no experience on the E2 Visa so can;t offer any advice on that).

We moved nearly 4 years ago, to Georgia. I'd visited for 10 days to check out the location of our offices (L1A) and identify potential locations to live within 40 or so miles. Given the offices were in a small town with <5k people, it wasn't really for me. My wife moved here having never been to Georgia, let alone the area we were going to be living. As it turned out, we ended up moving into a different City to the one I scouted out anyway!

Are some things expensive - yes, basically any thing that needs insurance!
Are the local drivers a bit rubbish - yes, but driving for an experienced driver is a bliss with big, straight, roads.
I hate the cold and love the heat - so weather was a big plus (as much as people will rant about humidity, there are plenty of us who despise the thermometer reaching 0)
Are the Americans a bit, well, American - yes. I can easily see this as being the biggest reason for people packing up and returning. It's the single biggest thing you can't really research online or find out by being on holiday. It's the toughest bit about being here to be honest, but it's a big old Country and you can find bits that get much closer to something I'm more comfortable with. By the same token, I'm not that culturally close to Parisians, My choice of being near a major City means I retain a lot of what I would otherwise miss, and my visits further South are few and far between.

Essentially, it's different, but why wouldn't it be? You surely wouldn't move here to have the same as you can get where you came from?

For me, coming from Swindon, I was "Opportunity Locked" as I call it. I couldn't move to another Town or City for 80 miles in any direction as the cost of housing outweighed any benefit in career, and, offence probably meant, I had no interest in moving North to wetter climes and worse career prospects (for me). Moving here has been fun, testing, eye opening, good for my career, great for our family, and above all, something utterly different.

Choose for the right reasons, you'll make it work, BUT, do the research.

Oh, and little rays of sunshine occur - like getting my first Car Insurance quote for < $170 per month for two cars. I once paid that for an entire year in the UK :-)

civilservant

This was where moving for marriage helped, that was the first amount I ever paid after moving here for 2 cars full coverage - I guess the wife having been a driver for 10+ years helped out there

My experience is a little different to robtuck, despite us living only about an hour apart. Up here in NE GA (up the I-85 corridor) it turns from the conurbation that is Atlanta into rural as rural can be. I much prefer the rural living, where an acre of land and a new construction house didn't cost me $400k.

I also don't like the heat the way he does!

The point is that very small geographic distances can garner massive differences in day to day living.

robtuck

Indeed - the housing prices South of Atlanta make for very nice reading - a 5 bed detached here costs what a 3 bed end terrace would fetch in my home town. I am barely 5 miles from the rural life, I refer to it as a cultural cliff. That is the point though - even in Florida, much derided as it is, there are big variations in the "way of life" depending on where you choose to plant roots.

Derrygal

Looks like the original poster has left this conversation. Maybe having second thoughts regarding moving to the US??

scrubbedexpat097

Are you seeking help for the Chik-fil-a addiction?

LegalEagleTX

LoL. Family of 5, once a week $40. But the spicy fillet sandwich is soooo good!

civilservant

I don't eat at Chik-fil-a on principal. I'm a Zaxbys man.

All you people on the west coast have never even heard of Zaxbys

Irish_Girl

Thanks for the recommendation, I had never heard of Zaxbys. We're moving to Athens, ga and my wife will be working at UGA. They have a Chick-fil-a on campus but we really don't want to give them our custom out of principle and Zaxbys looks a good alternative.

civilservant

You'll only be about 30 minutes South down the road from me along US-441. There are a few of us around in the immediate area here (at least 3 regular posters) plus at least 1 that actually lives in Athens.

Zaxbys is the best thing in the known world