Lwall06

Hi!
Firstly i want to say that i have been looking at this site for over a month now, and some of the threads have been invaluable information! Very impressed!

So, my husband has been approached for a position starting around April next year. It is a very good opportunity for his career and a good start to improving our way of life.
The ins and outs are to be discussed still, but the company has a good reputation of dealing very good relocation packages.

Our heads have been swimming with lots of ideas, and i have made lists that are coming out of my ears!
The only requirement for this new role is that he has to be close enough to an airport so he can travel and see customers. (All US based)
We have 2 children (7 & 5) and a dog! So i would like it to be a nice community feel, with good schools!
He has been told of Portland Oregon, and Texas is a good place to live with children.
There is a big factor to consider in all of this, is that there will be a fifth member of the family just before the start of the summer next year.
I have read some horror stories online saying, some hospitals won't accept international patients, and that sometimes immigration won't let pregnant women is unless they can prove they can pay their bills.
We are covered by private insurance, and once we have the offer we will be going through our policy to look at the finer details.

The idea is that we will give it two years, if we like it we will stay and if not then we will come back. Our intention is to rent out the home we own here, as a fallback. But the aim would most likely be to stay out in the US.

I'm sorry if this message is way too long, you can obviously tell that my head is full of all these anxieties about where to go, the best thing for the family and the care received.
The other option we have is that i stay here until the summer with the children and the husband goes out in april. That would be the worst case scenario!
I realize there is no question in this thread, its more of a this is the case.. what would you suggest!
Sorry again about the length!!
lx

Pulaski

It sounds like he has been approached to be hired, as opposed to being transferred by his existing employer, right? So what visa is the new employer planning to use to get your husband into the US? If it's an H1-B, they can apply for it in April, but he won't be able to start until October 1, and that's IF the H1-B visas aren't over-subscribed, or he is successful in the lottery that is likely if they ARE over subscribed.

Rose tea

Hospitals don't like to admit people who can't pay. If you have insurance, you will be a paying patient just like any other. Your status as a foreigner is irrelevant.

You're not immigrating alone as a pregnant woman; you'd be going out there on some kind of dependent visa. The fact your husband will have a work visa of some description in hand takes care of the issue of having enough money to pay your bills. I'm much more concerned about the stress you'll be feeling as a woman about to give birth in a foreign country without any of your regular doctors or medical personnel to take care of you: do you think that's something you'd be ok with?

Also, Texas and Oregon are worlds apart. You have to love the heat if you want to be in most parts of Texas, and your kids would have to be okay with it too. Oregon is going to be easier for you if you like temperate weather. Bigger cities have better public transport (can you drive?) and somewhere like Portland or Austin will be more walkable than somewhere rural. Some of Texas's other large cities are not particularly walkable, and the humidity is killer. Depends what you like I suppose.

Scouse Express

Are you sure you've been looking at this one?????

Welcome!


Jim.

civilservant

Agree with this. I would suggest that if your primary assumption is faulty, you need to do more research.

Lwall06

The research into the visas will be done once we have a confirmation of the role. The role is within the same company but for a different division.
And yes i do drive.

Thanks for all your help so far. At the moment we are sitting around and waiting for the next step, but i've been trying to be as organised as poss, so that i know how to go about things when the time comes.

civilservant

Since they are very limited circumstances in which you are eligible for a work visa, and he does not currently work for the company, then it'll be an H1B.

As Pulaski has already pointed out, there are no guarantees with this visa that you will be moving at all next year - I wold suggest you hold off on anything else until you are sure of the visa position, since without it its all moot.

md95065

Did you read her last post? It is the same company so an L1 visa will likely be possible.

civilservant

She edited it after I posted my comment, it didn't say that when I replied.

Pulaski

OK, sounds good. That'll likely mean an L-1A, or L-1B, which are available more or less on demand for internal transfers within the same corporate group.

kins

Hmm when are you due to give birth? I do think that's a lot of pressure on you. I emigrated with three small children and that was pretty stressful - I can only imagine how much more stressful it would be while heavily pregnant.

Any chance you can put it off till a few months after the baby has arrived?

md95065

There are lots of things that the OP needs to consider with respect to where her next child will be born.

First and foremost, what is going to be least stressful for her and her family.

Closely followed by knowing what will and will not be covered by insurance and how much it might cost in out of pocket expenses if she decides to give birth in the US.

... and pretty low on the list, but still worth thinking about, the fact that if she does give birth in the US then her child will be a dual US / UK citizen - which means that the child will have the right to live and work in the US but will also be required to fulfill the responsibilities of being a US citizen - most notably filing US tax returns for the rest of their life for any year in which their worldwide income exceeds the then current IRS threshold for filing ...

petitefrancaise

Hi,
we've just moved to Austin, Tx with the kids and animals. So far, so good! Visa is the same as yours with similar circumstances. Healthcare here is fab, you'll presumably have good insurance which will cover your bills, although you should check with HR about your be nefits package to find out exactly what you will need to contribute personally. I've moved whilst pregnant before, it's stressful so make sure you get a lot of help from your relocation agent. Feel free to pm me.
Good luck!

TimFountain

Having lived in Austin for 8 years and now Portland for 3 and travelling domestically every week for work, my only piece of advice would be to choose a location that has a major hub airport (think ORD, DFW, SEA, SFO, LAX, ATL, etc.). I have to take two flights to get most places and Austin was exactly the same (mainly to DFW on AA in AUS and SFO on UA in PDX).

We have 2 kids, 10 and 8 and IMHO Portland beats Austin hands down in terms of things to do with the kids. I love the weather (yes, I know but I like the rain and the summers are the best in the USA), the scenery is magnificant (rivers, mountains, beaches). Downsides are the possibility of earthquakes, traffic which can be a bear at times and certain parts of Portland being pretty undesirable. Houses in Portland are pretty expensive - the sq.ft sized house was 30% more and the lot 1/3 the size of our Austin house that we sold in 2010. Also consider places such as Vancouver, WA as property is cheaper, property tax is cheaper and you can still shop in OR to avoid sales tax (except on vehicles). Vancouver is just across the Columbia river from PDX airport, so super easy to get to (traffic not withstanding).

Austin on the other hand, and in my opinion, is hot, humid, lacking in things to do (unless you like music, bars or mediocre college football) and is in the middle of nowhere. TX is huge and really, 40 miles in any direction from Austin is a barren wasteland. Houses in Austin are cheaper than most places, tend to be big and are not well built (actually you could say that for most of the US). The Austin weather ensures you will have eye watering utility bills. Oh and the property tax will make you cry! Other downsides are the variability of the weather, we had 2 new roofs in 8 years due to hail and Austin is the Allergy capital of the US. I had epic allergies that lasted most of the year and in the end the only permanent solution was to move!

I'd spend some time on the citydata forums to get a better idea.

- Tim

Pulaski

OK, name a city, or town anywhere in the US, or perhaps the world, where that isn't true!