Ecto17

Hi,
I been reading this thread for a couple of months but this is my first post. Thank you all as your posts and comments have been so helpful.

We are hoping to move to NJ over the summer on an L1A visa via my husbands work. The visa is in and we are awaiting a response at the moment.

With visited in January to see if we wanted the move and took the opportunity to visit some towns which we have shortlisted for settling in. We had the briefest look at cars, visited a school, look at grocery prices, went to Verizon to look into phones and obviously checked out the odd bar!

My husband is now going out later this month and for a week next month and l wondered what you guys would recommend he looks at whilst there, as seems a good opportunity ahead of the potential move?

Additionally has anyone any experience of working around travel dates and potentially surrendering your passports to the embassy (if of course our petition gets that far). We are on a speedy application and a response to the petition is due next week but understand that the speedy but only relates to the first bit of the process. Do you agree a date for the embassy appointment or just assigned one?

Finally anyone know roughly how long the visa process usually is from this point or is it just too varied?

Thanks again for your help.

jellybean_17

No advice on the visa part sorry, but for the trips over I would recommend having a better look into the areas you may possibly move to. Things like the commute to work from certain areas, what schools are linked to the areas, rent and purchase prices for property (if you like where you rent can you buy there too). Whether you would actually enjoy living in that area on closer inspection, before you're tied to a 12 month rental or mortgage. Those are the things I wish we hadn't rushed so much, we were lucky with our choices but could easily have got it very wrong too.

petitefrancaise

Might I suggest you split up your post?

Ask the visa questions in the immigration part of this forum and plenty of people will answer you.

As for general US advice, tell us a bit more about yourselves and we can give more specific advice. We are all spread out across the USA, some of us have young children, others have older ones. Some of us work, others don't.....

Welcome to BE. It was a lifesaver for me !

ian-mstm

These two statements are contradictory. If you're waiting on a response to the petition, then the visa isn't "in" because you haven't actually applied for the visa yet.


The process does vary but, barring any issues, you can expect an L-1A to process in about 4-6 weeks... after the visa application has been submitted of course!

Ian

Ecto17

Thanks for the welcome.

We are hoping to move to NJ, we have a young son. It is on a temporary basis, probably 3 years but we are viewing it as a great life opportunity. It is also a good work move. I won't be working.

I was really looking for advise on what you all wish you could have gone and researched in person ahead of the big move?
We obviously did some lightweight research on some things, cars, phones etc but spent most of our trip in Jan looking at places to live and we are happy with our decision on which towns to focus the house search on when we arrive. We have picked towns that are within a good commute, have a sense of community and have excellent schools, so when the time comes, we will be happy with any of the 3 towns we liked.

I have asked hubby to look into cars in more detail as really didn't get a chance to look at them properly and obviously there are different models etc from here and l think we will get one straight away with IAS and possibly one direct from Ford etc when we are arrive as they seem cheaper then IAS but we need at least one when on arrival.

But what else would you recommend researching in person if you had your time again?

Thanks, for your time and help everyone.

petitefrancaise

You seem to have most of it covered.

I'm sure you've read on BE about us all advising people to ask their companies to include green card application in the contract? If they will, it really does open up the option of staying in the USA long term but doesn't tie you into staying if you don't want to - although they may ask you to stay for 2/3 years after the green card ot justify the expense on their part.

So, bearing that in mind, I would choose an elementary/middle school for your son that feeds into an excellent high school. You really won't want to have to move in order to get a good school. A bit of future proofing if you like.

The one thing that I now wish I'd looked into more is the LOCAL availability of sports facilities. We live in a lovely area but I have to drive 13 miles for my sport and my son's ( in peak traffic for him). Not sure what I could have done about that though. If you run or bike it's nice to have easy access without having to load up the car. If you like going to a gym, make sure there is a good one within easy reach.

Ditto for grocery stores. I'm 3 miles from my nearest one and the mileage adds up.

If I were compiling my dream list, then I'd also have asked for nice wine bar within cycling distance!!

Ecto17

Thank you, we hadn't thought about future proofing so will ask my husband to speak to his company about the possibility of a green card. With regards to schools we really had only thought about elementary schools and will double check the middle and high schools, we seem to be lucky however as NJ seems to have fantastic schools so hopefully find a house with all good schools assigned to it.
We visited the YMCA in one of the towns and had been advised that these were good places to join but one of the towns we are looking at l don't think has one so l will look into local gyms.
I like your last comment!!! 🍸
Whereabouts are you and how long have you been in the US now?
Thank you for your help.

Britexmom

You do sound like you have done a lot of research already, it's so much easier now with practically everything being available online to check out.

When we came to Texas in 1998 from Germany we were reliant on dial up internet that we only plugged in during the cheap rate at night.....we only had flights and a hotel booked. Arrived in San Antonio with 3 children, 6 suitcases, a pushchair, a travel cot and a car seat.
That was a tough few weeks.

Ahead of time I wish we had known the schedule and routes for public transport as our car was being shipped and it arrived a month after us, and car rental got expensive rather quickly.

Just come with the knowledge that the first month or so will be tiring, somewhat chaotic and you might wonder if you made a mistake. Once you get settled into a permanent home and your own items arrive you will feel so much better.
Our first month once we found our rental home was spent sleeping on air mattresses, we had a cheap plastic set of garden table and four chairs in the living room and a rented tv. It was a bit of an adventure for the boys but it was terrible for me.

Good luck with your move and I hope it all goes smoothly without too much delay.

Adnams

Check out your States Dept of Educations website. For the state we're in their website lists and compares all public (state) schools so I can see which schools achieve the best results. Please don't forget that kids start full time proper school here a full year later than the UK so you'll want to research preschools too.
We are in a first class school district and have been disappointed by the unchallenging curriculum in American schools so you may also want to look at private options.

jellybean_17

Making sure your child has all the required vaccinations for school before you go and a GP record of them is helpful. It just ticks off one more hoop in the process when you are busy trying to set up life. If your little one has had chicken pox get it GP documented, not sure how NJ is but in FL unless its documented it didn't happen! Might not seem like a big issue but if you child is one for dramatics when it comes to shots time, its something else you don't have to go through

I agree with getting a car set up, we didn't do this and have spent a small fortune on rentals.

Other than that good luck and enjoy!

Ecto17

Thank you everyone, very useful information.