Hi all and top of the day to you all
this is my first post so please be gentle.

As you can probably guess i am from Ireland and the good lady wife is contemplating a move state side.
I have booked flights to new york for just after christmas and new year and we hope to be staying in manhatten. more of a holiday at the moment than a full blown recce. all hints,tips and advice from seasoned expats really appreciated.



Regards

Before you post and run off for the night, please add more details about what you want.
Do you have a means to move over, immigration wise? (what visa)

Flying here is the easiest thing (even a caveman can do it?); what exactly sort of tips etc are you after?

a) On what basis is she planning to enter the country and stay legally? You can't just move, you need a visa of one sort or another, unless you are a US Citizen already.

b) Well it will be a holiday, end of story, if you turn up saying you want to move there you will be in a cell waiting for the next flight home.

As Meauxna states, we need more info.

Hi and Welcome,

As others have said, the first real question is a visa. I'm sorry so many of us are hitting you up on this point right away, but we get a post a day (nearly) from folks wanting to move the US with absolutely no possible way to get past the visa issue, so it saves us from having to go into all the details of a move only to have someone say 'oh, by the way, I can't get a visa'.

If you have that sorted, I think my first bit of advice is that NY is NY, and unlike pretty much any other place in the country. It's very expensive to live there and probably not where you'll be settling. You might want to take a look at realtor.com just to get an idea of how expensive it can be in a place like Manhattan.

Anyway, let us know about your visa.

And if you're not sure which visa you guys would qualify for, here is a list of all the available ones: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulask...ork_in_the_USA

Let us know which route you plan to use, and we can be more specific in helping you with your questions.

Rene

Not necessarily if they are flying from Ireland. US Immigration is located at some Irish airports...therefore you go through US Immigration before you leave Ireland.

I just read it as trip advice for a holiday in NY. Shows what I know.

at the moment it really it really is only holiday advice as we hope to see if it really is the place for us. my wife idea really. america is such a large country i don't think that we could gain ample experience from a few days in new york. but this is the area i know she would like to settle as it is close for flying home to see the folk from the green island.

i appreciate all input given so far and would like to thank all who have contributed.


regards

To be brutally honest, as everybody else has said, there is no point in even going to see if it 'really is the place' for you if you can't get a visa - and visas for the US are notoriously difficult to get unless one of you is a US citizen or has very specialist skills. Best to post your visa plans as well as holiday plans and then everyone can help you more.

Good luck.

Since you're both Irish (I assume born there), I would enter the DV Lottery ASAP... it's potentially your only hope based on the minimal info provided so far.

And enter every year and completely forget about it till you get lucky, but it's slim hopes...

Since you have booked your holiday, when you are in New York take a train ride up to Woodlawn Heights in the Bronx and stop into the many Irish pubs and coffee shops and speak first hand with your fellow countrymen who are here, many illegally. Ask them their opinion on what it is like to live and work in the US, both with and without the proper visa. If you don't want to go to Woodlawn Heights in the Bronx, you can go to Riverdale in the Bronx. Same thing.

I know of so many lovely Irishmen and women who have returned home to Ireland because after so many years in the US illegally waiting for some type of amnesty, they have given up. I also know of many who are residents because of the diversity lottery who have made a go of it here and play host to the many friends and family in Ireland who visit the NYC area annually.

Its a great city to visit but one visit is not enough to make a choice.

PS if you need a place to stay that is relatively inexpensive, there is a guest apartment over a fine Irish pub on the border of Bronx/Yonkers only a 25 minute train ride from Manhattan. Look up the name of McKenna's Pub on McLean Avenue, Yonkers. Two bedrooms, kitchen, living room and above the pub.