britnyank

Hi! I'm not officially a British Expat as yet. I married an American two years ago over here in England - he is currently waiting for a permanent residence visa here but has become so disillusioned with his job (Primary School teacher) which, although we thought would transfer quite well from US to UK, is proving a nightmare! We had always planned to retire to US, thinking to wait until my two young teenage daughters were 'off our hands' so to speak. Recently, they are both more than keen to move to US with us and it seems to be the best thing all round (why wait to start a life in retirement over there when we can be living it already, right?!). We're working on maybe moving over to Arizona (husband's family connections) next summer. But the whole idea of moving hearth and home is totally overwhelming me right now. Where do you start? What do you take? What do you leave? What if you're a complete and utter pack-rat like me with horded boxes of 'stuff' in the loft? I have heaps of questions to ask but am loathe to write them all down here straight off for fear of driving you all away! Any advice/ideas/suggestions for streamlining my eventual move would be greatly appreciated. I will probably be plaguing you all for the next year or so with various inane queries.......

ladylisa

Dont worry about that, weve all been there. I would start with going through all your stuff and seeing what you really dont need. Sell any items though the free ads or car boot sales. Remember though you dont have to throw out everything you can easily get a container for all your things and once you have paid for a container you might as well fill it up. Just remember though it is a good excuse for a clear out.

Bob

Welcome to the site

Well best bet would be to flog as much as possible, especially with exchange rate being what it is, be handy to get an account going with money in it and re-buy stuff....there's a few threads about containers already floating around here, and in the moving back to uk sections.
And depending on where your planning on moving to, look into which banks are in the area's, especially one's that are linked to UK banks or have branches out there like Barclays and HSBC....just somin' to consider, and better to do when you've got the time and don't need to hurry it

Philgr

Just think of it as an exciting adventure

Before you do anything that can't be reversed check into your visa situation for you and your children. I presume you will DCF (Direct Consular Filing) so it should be pretty easy and won't take too long (compared to other types of visa) but, if can't get the visa for some reason everything else is a waste of time. The visa boards on this forum are a good place to start.

Once you have the visa - or at least understand the process enough to be confident you can get one - then you'll be able to work out a realistic timetable to sort the rest of the stuff out.

One thing that helps - get a moving company to quote for moving early on - then you can figure out what it is costing you to keep and move all that stuff - it makes throwing it out much easier.

Good luck - it really is an exciting adventure.

Chandler

If you think you have tons of stuff (including the loft!) then your in trouble because I'll bet ten dollar to a pound that you have more possessions than you imagine. :scared:

Forget selling stuff, I sent more to the charity shop than I brought or sold. That said, it's a great excuse to be ruthless and start again. Think of it as a chance to purchase new shoes, my wife did and that seemed to help

Above everything the visa, and it's type, is by far the most important thing, after that it may be stressful during the 'moment' but its well worth the experience in my humble opinion. If you move 100 miles it's stressful, if you move 1000 it's stressful, if you move 2500 its stressful.... you get the idea. Whenever one moves it is daunting, but you have so much to gain by making the leap into another culture that you will have no regrets.

Tackle one obstacle at a time, use this forum, and best of luck.

Sarah

I would get an international drivers license, tons of passport photos (Hard to get over here and expensive) and loads of PG Tips, and put all you rstuff on Ebay, don't even bring anything electrical over its not worth it and you can get the same thing over here for cheaper. The credit score thing might be a pain in the ass but apart from that converting your pay over from pounds to dollars has gotta be cause for celebration!

Bob

good electrical stuff is worth bringing over, most of it will work with just a plug adaptor....but tv's and stuff, sell 'em...
and the driving permit, only worth it if you don't have one of the new photo id drivers license....but most places you'll have to get a local license within 30-60 days, a few states it is 12 month though...

fatbrit

Get rid of any investments in stocks, shares or premium bonds before you come – they’ll cause you grief when you’re a US resident. Life assurances are fine to leave in the UK.

If you’re got a house, sell it before you come.

Simplify and consolidate if possible any UK retirement funds you have. You can’t move them to the US.

Choose one UK bank account, one Visa or Mastercard debit card on the UK account, one Visa or Mastercard credit card. Check web access is working. Close the rest. Consider using a bank with US connections. (In AZ, UK HSBC has some sort of tie up with US Wells Fargo.)

Appoint a close, trustable relative or close friend with a power of attorney. Also, you should use their address for everything. Move your driving license and bank account addresses there now so you’re sure they’re working.

If you haven’t already got one, get an Amex card – the Blue one’s easy to get and costs nothing. This will be transferred to a US one when you move.

Get a new photo license if you haven’t already got one.

Renew passport before you start the process if only a couple of years left to run.

Get copies of your UK credit reports, extra copies of your UK birth and marriage certificates.

Suffolk Bumpkin

Yup - first thing - get rid of ALL THE CLUTTER!!!!!!

My wife and I have emgrated 3 times now across the pond - over a period of about 5 years - and each time we go with just what we can carry, and about 200 quid budget to post stuff over.

You have to 're-inflate' your household when you arrive - but it works. Get rid of the shite - it'll seem less daunting. And it'll feel like having a good dump.......

ScousePete

Don't forget to turn off the gas before you move

britnyank

Hi. Thanks for all your comments! Definitely given me something to think about!
Heaps of questions though.
Is it worth bringing electrical stuff over? Husband has a hi-fi system he is loathe to part with!
And what about videos? I’m not bothered so much about films etc, it’s the baby videos! Will they play over there? Would it be possible to bring maybe a TV/video combi specifically for playing them?
I won’t bother bringing PC’s over but will the kids’ games etc work okay on US computers?
I hadn’t planned on bringing much in the way of furniture – although I do have an oak dresser and bookcase I should like to keep. How feasible is it to ship these over?
How safe is shipping fragile items – glassware, china etc?
Someone mentioned getting rid of premium bonds – I do have a few of these, in both my name and the children’s. In what way are these a problem? Is it the same for ISA’s?
How early should we set in motion visa applications? We are working towards moving over next summer after the eldest has completed her GCSEs, so hopefully July or August.

Bob

Depending on your visa, can take ages to get, so might be worth looking at time lines now.

As for electrics, decent sound system, can bring it, might probably have to get a decent transformer for it, goods ones are a tad pricey, but worth it.

TV's, don't bother, you can buy a vhs player here that'll play pal videos, $300 odd bucks, there's a thread somewhere here about them, can't remember the exact title.
Games will be fine if there PC games.
DVD's aren't a problem either, can get hackable dvd players for $30.

Bringing decent furniture could be worth it, a few grand for door to door container shipping as a rough gist, but have a quick look through the forum for links to places that people have used.

Elvira

AFAIK you have to be a UK resident to keep premium bonds.

Whatever you do, do NOT close your UK bank account (impossible to open one if you're no longer a resident). I would also open a second UK bank account and link it with a UK address of a relative - never know when you might need it.

I don't think there is any need to sell things like ISAs and unit trusts. Maximise your ISA contributions before you leave as you can't add to them later. (You can continue to add to unit and investment trusts though if they are non-ISA.)

Getting rid of stuff: can be cathartic. Let's face it, we all have too much stuff. Get rid of life's clutter but keep stuff that means something to you and yours. We kept our house and the attic is full of stuff which didn't seem worth taking but which I couldn't get myself to chuck out. If you don't keep your house, maybe a kind relative will let you store a couple of boxes?

Furniture: only worth taking if it's antique or has sentimental value. Clothes: cheap as dirt here - only take stuff that's in excellent condition. Books: keep those which you are particularly attached to and anything that might be hard to find in libraries (plus any 1st editions .

Movers: get 3 quotes from removal companies that are members of the International Association of Removers (or some such name). We used Cadogan Tate; their quote was more than the others but they as near as matched it and they have an excellent reputation; we were very happy with them. Paid about GBP 3500 for 2 containers (I think...); now wish we had taken less!! [Get a quote from CT first - found them much more knowledgeable and helpful than the rest; the guy who came round gave me lost of advice - spent nearly 1.5 hours at our house; not just answered questions but volunteered lots of useful info about internaitonal moves!]

What age are your daughters? School system is very different here. Start familiarising yourself with how US high school works. Depending on where you move to and how (un-)familiar they are with the UK system, you may have to fight to get 'credit' for GCSEs etc.

That's all I can think of - phew!

TheWilliamsons

We sold most of our stuff on ebay and to relatives. Then loads of runs to the local council tip. Yet still we filled 131 boxes but that was more due to the packers using loads of wrapping freash air. Its been hard getting rid of things but all worth it clean start. To go with the new adventure