fatbrit

Sure there is. Straight to an EB2 (or EB1) rather than via an NIV. And with an optional NIW, you don't even need the employer to sponsor.

Nutmegger

Then I thank you for the correction. As it is not mentioned often, I presume it is not an easy route?

Anian

No more than the UK though really.

Woah! That's not quite right. If you live near Everett then you can get a house and support a family for less than $75k. You won't have massive amounts left over, but you also won't be the poorest in the street. Which brings me to the house - since most non-mansion houses in the UK are probably 1400 sq ft or less, you'd easily make do with anything bigger than that for a while. 2000 sq ft feels huge even in comparison to four bedroom houses in the UK.

I managed to pass the WA test despite it being 6+ years since I had my lessons (and I never even took the UK test, so I hadn't driven in all that time). You will definitely need a car. Buses are few and far between, taxis are expensive and uncommon outside of biggish cities

AddyLaddy

Yes I was commenting more on where we live in particular. We have struggled financially since arriving due to the high costs of living. I would guess Everett is cheaper, but I do meet lots of Boeing employees around here. Not sure about the quality of the schools in either Everett or Renton though.
We are a single income family too, due to visa restrictions, so that is a big difference compared to many of our US neighbours.

We have 4 kids, so a big house is important to us. Our US rental SFH at 2500 sq ft was too small (rooms were big, but not enough of them, with large bathrooms and huge closets). Yard was tiny at barely 10ft deep, so overall it was worse than our house back in the UK, but costing us ~$1000 per month more in rent. Wife was not happy!

Annual flights back to the UK set us back ~$9000, so add that to the cost of being an Expat. Then add in the thousands we spend on dentistry and medical co-pays, and it doesn't seem like such a big salary after all!

Also, remember you are lucky if you get 12 days vacation per year (plus Bank Holidays). This year I have to take 5 days from my allowance to cover the enforced Christmas shutdown too.

fatbrit

It's easy if you fit, impossible if you don't.

AmerLisa

Don't know what Boeing gives their engineers, but I would imagine it isn't horrible for PTO days. My husband has worked at two companies since living here and both gave him about 25 days of PTO. Thankfully he's in a position where he can work from home if he needs to, so doesn't have to use a PTO day for medical/dental visits.

Darra

How are your kids enjoying living in the area?

Would you recommend moving to this area from the UK?

Anian

The Seattle area offers easy drivable access (unless you are driving through one of the larger cities at rush hour) to pretty much everything, from skiing and hiking in the mountains, to beaches and watersports, plus museums and entertainment.

It's an expensive part of of the USA, but one of the better parts IMO. I would recommend it, but I don't want too many people moving here and crowding it up some more.

Nutmegger

Have you visited Seattle? If not, I would certainly suggest you do so before considering a blind move. The thing to keep in mind is that, despite the common language, this is a move to a country just as foreign as France or Turkey.

kimilseung

Puget Sound is posher more expensive, up north; less so further south, so if you want a nice middle class neighbourhood try for the north campus. Edmonds is a nice little town right on Boeings door step. Things can be clustered, you will find nice neighbourhoods within less nice areas and vice versa.

For schools you will need to research the school district for where you plan to live, that may be Snohomish or Shoreline or several others.

I live in Seattle, so can only speak for Seattle, which you are probably not going to be living in. Public transport is fairly good in Seattle.

shorrock

I work in IT and not for boeing so can't comment

Renton and Everett have a bit of a bad reputation in the area. Not a super bad one but still a little bit of a gray mark agenst them. If you are looking at these areas then rent first and see how it goes.

This is the US of A. The car is king. Public transport isn't that good and I would strongly recommend you get a car ASAP, esp if you have kids.

If you are from the Northwest of England it's pretty much the same weather wise. People are friendly. It's ok. Grass is never greaner on the other side. It's just a different shade.

AddyLaddy

My kids seem happy enough. They are aged 5 through 17, so we've experienced all the school levels.

School in the US is different and starts later; my youngest even now only gets part time kindergarten until he's 6.
High School is very different and even the 'best' public HS in the area sounds very indisciplined to me (no uniforms, chewing gum using/listing to ipods and phones during class). Kids have to be very self motivated, as the teachers don't seem to care too much.

The kids enjoy the new environment though and we've been skiing each winter, plus have travelled all over the place looking at the mountains, volcanoes and the many islands (+ Orca whales!). It's a truly beautiful place.
Seattle is a great city, probably one of the nicest in the US. The PNW has museums, art galleries, theatres, symphony, aquariums and zoos. Lots of stuff for kids.

The people are on the most part pretty friendly and polite. It's hard to get to know them, especially when you're 'only a renter'. But we've just bought a house, and so feel more settled and our neighbours at least talk to us now.
My wife is a home-maker and has made friends through local Moms groups.

We love the scenery and the space. Our new home is part of planned community with two pools, tennis courts, a lake, trails and a supermarket nearby. Quite unusual for the US I think, but a wonderful clean and safe place to raise children.

For Seattle specific info I also suggest you use the City Data forums;

http://www.city-data.com/forum/seattle-area/


But it is not the UK. Your extended family are 5000 miles away and 8 hours ahead. Health care and dentistry are ridiculously expensive (even with insurance). TV is rubbish and/or expensive, and cell phone contracts are pricey too.
Also, my son will have to pay pretty high tuition fees at college here (Harvard/Yale/Stanford == $60K per year I'm told) and he won't qualify as a UK resident for British universities either. So we're going to have to solve that one somehow ... ~$1m to educate all my kids!


It's a big decision to move out here, and with school aged kids, it's not something you can easily undo or reverse.

AlexInBC

My family are actually going to stay with some friends in Seattle (driving down from Canada tomorrow to stay for a few days) and the husband is an engineer for Boeing. He and his wife previously lived/worked in the UK for about 10 years. They also have school age children. I will see if he can be persuaded to come on here and answer your queries

AddyLaddy

We were offered full K (via a lottery), but for $350 per month. Compare that to the UK where he would have been accepted into school when he was 4 years old. For 'free'.

The elementary schools do look very well funded here, and my daughter has enjoyed 1st and 2nd grade so far. Summer holidays are very long (mid June until beginning of Sept), just like they used to be in the UK!

AmerLisa

That's kindergarten for you.... We got lucky, I took our daughter to the school district that I worked in and she went to kindergarten full day with no fee. Of course it's now tuition based for full days there.

Issaquah has a pretty good school district (from what I read) but they should, its pretty pricey to live there. Congratulations for waiting to buy and renting first. So wish we would have done that and weren't stuck where we are now.....