_jon_

Interested to know what relocation packages were offered to those of you moving UK to USA.

Wife is reluctant to make direct enquiries at this stage with her company as she doesn't want to shoot herself in the foot with the UK management.

Having just spoken with an estate agent the chances of us selling our house in the next 6 months are slim unless we want to let it go for a packet of chewing gum and a copy of Viz.

Did you get accommodation expenses?
Vehicle expenses?

I appreciate that each package will be different but comparisons would be helpful.

Jerseygirl

Welcome to BE.

There's been quite a few threads on this subject. Try the search function at the top of the page. Go to advanced search. In the box at the top left put in 'relocation' (or similar)...choose 'search thread titles'. Then go to the large box at the bottom right of the page...choose USA forum...then search.

MsElui

we got cash sums to cover incidental expenses like

fact finding trip if we wanted one (flights and hotels)
hotels when we first arrived
car hire when we first arrived
white goods we would need to purchase
compensation for losing potential equity in cars etc for quick sale
getting driving licences
etc (how we spent the cash sum was up to us).

the company paid for stuff directly as well as:
visa fees etc for all the family
the actual flight to go there (business class),
an air freight container for urgent goods (6ft square)
a 40 ft sea freight container for the rest of our stuff
relocation training ( )
relocation consultant (giving us personalised info about the local area and taking us to ssn offices etc)
a us tax accountant to do our first and last tax year of the assignment and a UK tax consutant to do the same (man is it complicated if you switch mid year and then move to another tax district in the us as well).


The salary my husband was offered was not double in dollars , it was something like 1.5 times in dollars. This put him in an equivalent position in the 'local' pay bracket. He has retained his original salary on record so if he should return he would get the old uk salary back plus annual increases etc. He gets UK holiday, paternity, redundancy terms etc - and currently still pays UK National Insurance (not US social security) although he does pay all the other many income taxes here (think we had to do 4 seperate tax returns the first time - main federal one, the town he works in, the town he lives in, and the state tax). The ssn thing can stay like that for 5 years OR until he gets a green card and switches to local terms and conditions. He gets health/dental insurance for the whole family (which he does have to contribute a couple of hundred dollars for a month).
He is also allowed to send a portion of his salary to his English account for free (ie he gets bulk of salary here but can chose to put $xx send to England each month).

anything more specific - just ask.

_jon_

I did a search and found some good posts.

I just needed some ball park numbers to do the sums.

The estate agent talk shook us up a bit, I expected a difficult market but I was essentially told that the only people selling are those that HAVE to and they are being reamed over the price.
A local story was an acrimonious divorce where the market value of £430K was considered reasonable, they had to accept an offer of £305K to get the sale to settle the divorce.

If that situation were to apply to us, our house cost us £220K four years ago, I was hoping for at least that price to give us £50K to take with us. Who knows with this market, it may not sell for any price for months or years.

skydivingisfun

I know just what you are syaing, we have just had our house valued for the move and 3 estate agent have told us it is worh £30K less than about 18 months ago:curse:

_jon_

I don't know what our house was worth at the peak of the market to get an idea of where it sits now.

4 years ago it was well worth £220K, prices then rose to a peak some 2 years after that. I could guesstimate its peak value at £270K.
Our mortgage is £170K, so I would like to think I'd get the 220 that it was worth 4 years ago.

We asked about renting and was told rental would be £995 per month, our mortgage would be £800 on interest only so even that doesn't appear viable.

I don't fancy the idea of selling to cover the mortgage and having to start from scratch.......

Pennywell

We had all the usual stuff such as 'reccy week'. flights, shipment, car allowance, visas and incidentals. With hindsight, think of a number and double it, then negotiate. The 'incidentals' are huge, such as small electrical items, money up front for rent, cars buy/lease, car insurance, co-pays to register with a Dr, etc. One of you will not be allowed to work initially, so make sure the company agrees to pay for the EAD for the 'trailing spouse'.

In terms of your home, could you rent it out? On the plus side it gives you an income that will perhaps cover your mortgage and keeps your credit rating with the UK. You need to be able to rent 10/12 months to make it viable as you don't want your old home sitting empty. We were told because of the size of ours in the area that we were living in could only guarantee 6/12.

I know it can go against the grain to ask for what seems an awful lot of $$$s but if the company wants your wife's expertise, get them to put their money where their mouth is.

Pennywell

Oops, sorry didn't read your post. My reasoning is that"owt's better than nowt" so if you can just cover your mortgage, good. If however, not being able to sell your house is a deal breaker then perhaps it is not the right time to move.

Bob

Aye, welcome to the forums

Anyway, hard for anyone to say, it'll all depend on your career field, level of seniority, how easy you are to replace etc.

Things to look for should include -

Tax prep first and last year in the country
Repatriation costs if your bumped, or want to return to the UK
Hotel stay and car rental for a few weeks till you find a place
Emergency flights home in event of family death etc
UK holiday allowance
Cost of shipping goods
Cash to cover replacing white goods - fridge, washing machine, tele etc as well as deposits on utilities on account of no US credit history
Help with getting US credit, credit union membership
In writing that they will go for and pay for greencard application straight away
Pay for EAD for spouse

OiOi

I got a good package too when i came over,company ended up paying about $15k but then i found out i had to pay tax on that as if it was $15k income. Worth a mention?

MsElui

we got a fair bit more than 15k (but then we are a family - not sure if you were too?) and the 'benefits' were protected. Essentially it meant that when we sorted the tax out this year - my husbands employer had to pay a portion of the tax due as it was protected so we got the full value of the benefit.

OiOi

Apparently I was young single and stupid at the time. i didnt expect to be taxed and maybe could have gotten the taxes protected if i had asked as they pretty much gave me everything else i asked for.

Overall it looks like your family got a great deal. May i ask what profession you husband is in and in what year did you got this deal?

christmasoompa

I think it's fairly unusual to get taxed on relocation expenses, certainly all of the companies we've talked to would have covered it for us and given us a tax free lump sum as well.

The only additional things we'd be getting that I can think of off the top of my head which aren't on Ms Elui's list are return flights for the 4 of us back to the UK each year.

Good luck to the OP with negotiations.

pejpm1

I got 2 weeks out here in January in a very good hotel incl flights for me and my girlfriend to make sure I liked it.

When I moved they paid for the visa fees, flights and then 2 more weeks in a hotel when we arrived. They also helped me get a bank account setup ahead of the move. They also converted by salary at x2 which I suppose was a bit of a pay rise (plus the cost of living in NYC is way cheaper than London). Everything else I had to pay for...this was partly because I'm not on a secondment (i.e. no time limit, I'm a US employee now) and the move was prompted by me asking. They didnt really have to move me over, but at the time it was convenient for both of us. I've spoken to others who got moving expenses, help with tax etc etc

big_fish

It's a good point that a lot depends on whether you asked for the move or the company suggested it.

We moved last year at our request. Company paid for:

- 2 recce trips beforehand (one with spouse, all flights, hotel, rental car, meals etc)
- One way flights when we moved
- 2 weeks car rental when we first arrived
- Generous (>$10k) cash allowance to cover shipping & other moving costs
- All visa & associated costs (trip to the embassy, photos etc)

If the company requests the move or you're only here for a couple of years then you might be able to get more.....I'm now trying to get them to fork out for my green card