Hi everyone,

Basically My husband (USC) and I (UKC) are currently living together in the UK and are planning to move to the US in September if everything goes well with our visa application. I just wanted to hear other people's experiences of how they managed to secure somewhere to live in the US whilst living in the UK. Neither of us have a job secured in the US. I just don't really know where to start. I have looked at some places but its looks like you would need some kind of income to be able to secure them. If someone could point me in the right direction that would be great!

Thank you!
Annie

If you expect to rent an apartment without income you had better have significant resources, to show the ability to pay rent for an extended period.

We stayed in a hotel for a few days while we looked for a short-term, furnished rental apartment. We stayed in the short-term rental for a couple of months while we looked around for something more permanent.

Unless you already know the area, I would advise against renting an apartment from the UK. It's better to have a look around yourself first.

Did you have employment already secured or were you able to get the short term let without it?

Most major cities have corporate or serviced apartments you can rent short term while looking for something longer. You can also use airbnb to secure short term rentals. Absent US credit history, job, address, drivers license or ID you may encounter some difficuly.

We secured a long term rental while living in the UK. We came to the US on a two week reccie...saw the apartment...saw the manager of said apartments and we agreed on a move in date. We didn't even leave a deposit at the time as we didn't have a US bank account. My husband did have a job in the US with a multinational company...that could have made a difference.

We did similar, did the recce February Presidents week 2003 massive snow storm in NY 3ft of snow airports closed just after we arrived. Looked at about 20-30 places finally found one we liked. OH company paid the bond and secured the house for us. He moved over in May, I followed with the kids in July when school had finished in the UK.

Not sure we would have been able to do it without the companies assistance as most of the rentals went within a week of getting listed.

AS others have suggested try looking into short term furnished apartment rentals also try looking at hotels that have suites. Marriott suites can be good if you have a marriott rewards card and book for a month, contact the hotel directly and speak with the manager. We did this the second time we moved as the house wasn't ready.

Hotel or other short term for a couple weeks is best bet.

How decent the OH's credit history will make a difference, or expect to put down a much larger deposit, especially without a job.

I've done it both ways...with and without employment. Short-term furnished rentals are easy to secure even if you don't have employment. They are used to people renting short-term for various reasons e.g. travel, relocation, escaping house renovations, etc. Besides, if you have trouble securing short-term rentals without employment, you'll have even more trouble with long-term rentals.

He is USC, does he have family in the US you can stay with for a while?

Could he come over before you and stay with family/friend, find employment and then be in a position to rent somewhere for you both?

We just got a 1 year lease while looking for a house, on an apartment.
They wanted a compleat background check, last 2 pay stubs, $180 was for the background checks, they also call current employer to confirm even with last 2 pay stubs, that you are employed, verbally.......$500 deposit to pay day of move in and 1st months rent, cat deposit $400
Oh yes and called past 2 residence/landlords folk to confirm rent was paid on time.
Had to earn a combined imcome of more than $28,500 a year.

I live here already but this will give you an idea of what you might be up against

We did this in 2009, contacted about a dozen apartment complexes in the area till we found one that would do it. They ran a credit check on me (the USC) and I had good credit. We got a month-to-month lease, our request because we didn't know how long it would take to buy a house. They wanted a copy of DH's visa when we arrived; other than that nothing special. We did not have jobs lined up but had sufficient savings to offer first and last month's rent, which they did not make us do - I think we just paid first month's rent and fees.

We used http://www.oakwood.com/ to rent an apartment for the first month and then looked for something more perm when we got here. It did cost a bit but made the first month quite comfortable whilst we settled in and I could walk to work. Obviously I didn't walk to work but I could have. :-)