Mochali

Hi my family are possibly moving to California on my husbands business visa, which is currently being looked into. I would like to know how long the process takes?

Also we would be looking at buying a home there and wondered how difficult it is to get a mortgage. We are incredibly credit worthy and have an Amex card at the moment. Is there anything else we can do?

Noorah101

What visa is your husband getting? That would give us an idea of how long the process takes. There are several different types of "business" visas.

Rene

md95065

The "process" can take anything from weeks to years depending on what kind of visa your husband either has or is trying to get.

(or it could take "forever" if for some reason you don't get the visa)

Regardless of the visa situation, if neither you or your husband has previously lived in the US and established a credit history there, you need to prepare yourself for the fact that the day you finally arrive in the US, you will have no credit history (which, by the way, is even worse than having a bad credit history - if you have a bad credit history lenders know how much extra to charge you - if you have no credit history they just won't deal with you).

Don't imagine that having a great credit history in the UK will help - it won't - if the major US credit reporting agencies don't know about you then you might as well be from Mars - you just don't exist credit-wise.

You should check out (sorry, "read") Fatbrit's Guide to Credit and Finance for more information on what you will be up against and some helpful strategies for dealing with it.

Bob

to add to the above, having an AmEx card helps, can transfer it and get a start to credit history in the US...

But not having a history won't stop you from getting a mortgage, won't get a good rate till you've got one though.

MsElui

we are having a hell of a job getting a mortgage at the moment. Every time we think we are there - they bank asks for some new thing for us to provide. When we provide it they go away and huddle and then produce the next request. My husbands boss who went through the process 6 months ago for probably 3 times the amount we asked for had no issues - so we think it is just a generally tightening up due to the econimic climate.

They have asked for proof the 5% deposit has been paid to the builders, evidence that we have spare funds equal to 6 months mortgage payments sitting in a bank account somewhere (seperate to the deposit) 'just in case' (and said funds must have been in the account for 2 months), and the latest is proof that we have sold our uk house (which we havnt as we have rented it out). We have been through a seperate international credit check already which was fine. We also have to pay 14 months house insurance as part of closing into escrow as well as a years land tax in advance.

Mochali

Thanks for the replies. My OH is in Dubai at the mo, so will ask him on his return

We will rent our home out here as we brought it before the madness started!

So having a good amount of money to go with is a must?

Hana

Mochali

L1 and I'll get an L2