Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Hi All,

I'm writing for some advice, My wife (American) and I (British) are considering relocating to the US. She's around 16 months from qualifying for British citizenship, so we're talking about getting her citizenship, then looking to relocate. Our current plan is to start looking at jobs for her around the time she get's her citizenship, then hopefully secure something ASAP once she's legally a dual-national. Around the time she gets her citizenship I will apply for my green card, and once that comes start applying for jobs myself hopefully get something starting at a similar time.
I guess what I'm asking is this a crazy plan, or does it seem feasible to others? I've read a few forum posts and most seem to be about work visas so I'd be curious if anyone has any experience going this route. At the moment my biggest concerns are around sorting housing & cars, but from what I've read neither of these are in-surmountable. We're looking at Michigan as there's plenty of job opportunities for both of us and we could be looking at a minimum of $200k between us annually.

As a follow-up does anyone have any experience of moving to Michigan? It really looks like the vibe we want (lots of outdoors, lakes etc) and seems affordable give our potential take home. I've read about the weather, but I think this is ok for us, my wife grew up in New York and I grew up in a rural part of Northern England (not the same but constant rain, and every few years our village got snowed in and cut off from society..) I should add we also have a one year old, who will be turning 3 around the time my wife get's her British citizenship.

For context, at the moment my wife is struggling to get a job beyond basic admin in the university sector, despite having a PhD. Many of her friends that she studied her Master's with have been able to move back to the US and easily get lecturer jobs despite not even having a PhD. We've lived in the UK together for over 7 years, however a lot of the reasons we chose to stay here for seem to be losing merit specifically, healthcare, annual leave and gun-crime. The NHS is in tatters, and many companies in my industry seem to offer competitive leave (15 to 20 days) I've had about 3 sick days in my life in the UK and would hardly consider SSP worth much these days, so the extra personal days will balance out the missed holiday as beyond maybe a 10 day holiday the rest tend to be used for DIY or long weekends. The gun-crime remains an issue, but I'm pragmatic and understand that it's situational (don't go to/live bad areas, having a gun in the house increases the chances of accidents etc)

Sorry for the long post, but I'm hoping for some solid advice on this, we're both feeling demoralised about our lives in the UK and the more we research this move the more it feels like a light at the end of the tunnel.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Does not sound crazy at all.
Wife will petition you on an I-130 and this will take about 12 months to process, so you are looking at around 2.5 years before arriving in the US if not intending to apply before she gets her Brit citizenship.
Plenty of time to get things sorted. If you think you have good opportunities in the Michigan area then go for it =- no point in comparing the US and UK; they are like chalk and cheese.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Seems largely a question of timing.
It reads as though you want to apply for your GC (via IR1/CR1) from the UK - when do you want to make the move?. If sooner, why wait for your wife to get her UK citizenship? You generally have a 6-month window after approval to move to the US (caveats apply) and it's around 1-2 year processing time. So you may want to apply sooner.

You are unlikely to get the timing to work perfectly so you both have jobs lined up when you move. More realistic is to save 6-months' expenses (incl. healthcare!), move over here and then try to get jobs. If one or both of you manage to get a job in advance, that's great. Do you have family you could stay with for a little while so you can find somewhere to live and keep expenses low while you're looking?
You don't mention what you do, but another option is to get a transfer visa. If you work >1 year for a company in the UK, then take an internal transfer to the US, you may be eligible to do so under L-1 which can be faster and also mean you have a job and health coverage from day 1. Then adjust status to get your GC when you're here.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Totally agree with all of this. The US immigrant visa process is taking nearer 2 years than 1 year at the moment, and I don't think the shut down will be helping that, so I'd get that underway now personally.

And yes to a good chunk of money to bring over to tide you over until at least one of you finds a job (finding one before you move may not be realistic, depending on the jobs you do), the US is far more expensive than the UK IME, so save more than you think you'll need!

Best of luck.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Thank you all for your replies. I think the sticking point is that while we see jobs, it doesn't guarantee my wife will get one and it'll will be a big shame of we go through all this hassle and she's back in the same boat.
I'm less worried about myself as I work in the automotive sector and have quite a diverse background. Unfortunately inter-company transfer isn't an option as I work in a small consultancy at the moment who's only international presence is in Prague.

With all said and done I'm increasingly thinking of applying about a year before the wife's citizenship, obviously there's a lead time for that too but it's only a couple of months.

I know quite a few people who've been recruited by US companies in the industry but it's usually West Coast start ups (Tesla, Lucid, Rivian etc) but I've seen loads of jobs very similar to my experience so I hope I'll be OK.

On the family route, my in-laws live in NC and sister in law lives in CT, so I don't think it help much beyond giving us a chance to establish credit and find somewhere to live.

The most challenging but about moving is we'll struggle to save close to enough given how out of control cost of living is. At the moment we're only really putting aside £200 a month. We're planning to push this to £350 but that's only going to go so far, hence we'd rather have at least one job before moving.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

How recently did they find these jobs? Everything I am reading shows academic jobs dwindling, especially as regards full-time positions and tenure. The orange one is sure to be worsening the situation.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Exactly why we want to move, the advice she was given was to find any job at a university and then at least you're on the inside and can apply first for any jobs that open up. Instead they're doing mass redundancies, fortunately her job is safe for now, but it's not exactly a warm fuzzy feeling. It doesn't help her degree is in English literature, she's looked at jobs in publishing etc but they're all in London and pay less than she's on now, so it's hardly worth it to live on trains commuting.

And yes it was a few years ago that these others got the jobs, but for example in Michigan there's 2 jobs she could be a good fit for right now and both her degrees are from internationally prestigious universities in the field so she'd have a decent chance.

At the end of the day I think she'd be open to more than just a lecturer role, even a high school teacher makes more than double in the US than the UK. The UK as a whole is struggling and it only seems to be getting worse.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Cost of living would be more than double though.

I know you probably don't want to be apart, but maybe it's something to consider when she gets to the point of applying for jobs? She'll find it much easier than you I'd imagine, so perhaps when you're at the end stage of your visa app she could fly over and job hunt in person, with the hope of getting something and then you joining her in a few weeks.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

I'm not sure what you've seen that leads you to believe cost of living is double in the US, but for our mortgage payment over there we have to could own a house twice the size, fuel is less than half the cost, energy is cheaper, and tax is comparable if not less. Having just spent a few weeks on holiday in the US the only thing that seemed obviously more expensive was food. I known things like TV, Internet, phones etc are all a lot more but that's relative.

I've done loads of research on the financials created a few budgets and me earning a middle of the road salary alone puts us in a better position than we are here.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

I'm in the US. Moved here two years ago, we're in a pricey area but most things are triple what we paid in the UK. We moved on an expat assignment, and our cost of living adjustment (done by an independent company) was just under £4000 a month. Bear in mind our house, car, kids schooling, etc, were all paid for, so that's how much extra they expected everything else (groceries, vet bills, transport, mobile phones etc) to cost us each month compared to where we lived in the UK. Which was probably about right.

You'll have one advantage over us as your wife will have a US credit score, driving history, etc which will help. For example our monthly car cost was $1900 for a fairly standard SUV, most of that was insurance as we were treated as brand new drivers, despite having driven for decades in the UK. Income tax is lower, but property tax and other taxes are much higher, so it evens out for us. Add in healthcare and it's far more.

I think you'll be fine on $200k if it's just the two of you with no kids, but all I was saying is that salaries are higher because the COL is higher.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Can I ask where you moved to as you mentioned it was an expensive area? I only ask as for example I could triple my salary alone in California, we just decided that the time zone difference and travel costs for family to visit would outweigh the benefit.

At the end of the day, our situation in the UK isn't going to drastically change in the mid term. We're currently paying almost my wife's entire salary to live in a small 3 bed ex council house. We do have a son and childcare costs are spiralling here, for some reason the extra government support drove massive price rises so now it's going to cost more than our mortgage for nursery. According to the IFS we're in the top 11% of earners in the UK yet only have £200 to £300 left each month to save.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

An island or the USA - USA every time...
Go for it, good luck and enjoy...

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

Boston. I'd imagine that a lot of places in California might also have triple the cost of living compared to the UK, so again the increase in salary wouldn't actually be as much as somebody from the UK might think.

My kids were teens when we moved so I never needed to worry about childcare costs, but I know people on the forum say childcare is usually way more in the US. It might be worth searching the forum for info on that. Also, you mention having done budgets, it might be worth sharing what you think your monthly outgoings will be, then people can tell you if it's realistic or not, and add in anything you've maybe not thought of.

Best of luck.

Re: Contemplating a Move to the US
 

I could triple my salary alone in California, we just decided that the time zone difference and travel costs for family to visit would outweigh the benefit.

What...? you want to move to the US but time zone difference and travel costs for family to visit put you off....... ?

You need to be more enthusiastic/determined to move ......