I'd really like to know what you would do in our shoes......
Oct 23rd 2003, 11:17 am
#1
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I'd really like to know what you would do in our shoes......
Remember when you had just found out you were ACTUALLY going to immigrate and it ceased being 'just talk'? Remember when the visa (green card), was finally sorted and reality was sinking in and you started to realise just what you had to do before you could get on that plane??
Well that's where we are right now and we have one main decision to make... ... if you had this choice... what would you do?
Spend the next few months Tee-ing up your desired job (in our case through channels that already exist), fly out and do some interviews... secure an offer and agree a start date, fly home, sell up and go OR Fly out there, rent a place, live off savings and look for a job then (but not any old job - it would still be specific to the desired industry)?
Well that's where we are right now and we have one main decision to make... ... if you had this choice... what would you do?
Spend the next few months Tee-ing up your desired job (in our case through channels that already exist), fly out and do some interviews... secure an offer and agree a start date, fly home, sell up and go OR Fly out there, rent a place, live off savings and look for a job then (but not any old job - it would still be specific to the desired industry)?
Oct 23rd 2003, 3:49 pm
#2
Through the square window
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,723
We did the move out here/live off the savings/look for a job.
Didn't work.
The work situ, as you may have read on these forums, is very bad at the moment.
(The monkey of a Pres is concentration too much abroad and not at home, this will only be sorted out next year)
If you can line up a job first then DO.
- When you are sitting there at the airport, waiting to get on the 'plane.... then it will really hit you.
Webbie.
Didn't work.
The work situ, as you may have read on these forums, is very bad at the moment.
(The monkey of a Pres is concentration too much abroad and not at home, this will only be sorted out next year)
If you can line up a job first then DO.
- When you are sitting there at the airport, waiting to get on the 'plane.... then it will really hit you.
Webbie.
Oct 23rd 2003, 11:22 pm
#3
Just Joined
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 25
I'd say if you realistically think you can get a job by flying in for interviews then do it that way. Its probably cheaper and less stressful
But unless you're particuarly lucky/well connected/highly skilled you'll probably find it much easier being on the ground. It's just much easier to deal with employment agents, do quick "next day" type interviews and generally show that you're serious about being in the US
good luck whichever route you chose
But unless you're particuarly lucky/well connected/highly skilled you'll probably find it much easier being on the ground. It's just much easier to deal with employment agents, do quick "next day" type interviews and generally show that you're serious about being in the US
good luck whichever route you chose
Oct 23rd 2003, 11:52 pm
#4
Professional Mover
Joined: Apr 2003
Location: Derry, NH Via Salem, NH via Ma, NC, ex Manchester, UK.
Posts: 670
If you have contacts use them. Employment agencies in this area are worse than useless. I've applied for hundreds of jobs and been short-listed for only two..... Waiting to hear from one and on the THIRD interview with the other on Monday! Not sure how but with this company I've gone from production manager (my experience in England) to being interviewed for a HR role!!!! 
Oct 24th 2003, 12:33 am
#5
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You need to get a job lined up first, which in your case sounds like you have to come out here for interviews etc. Good luck, I hope it's all you dreamed of and more...
Oct 24th 2003, 1:37 am
#6
Through the square window
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,723
Originally posted by RoB1833
If you have contacts use them. Employment agencies in this area are worse than useless.
If you have contacts use them. Employment agencies in this area are worse than useless.
Webbie.
Oct 24th 2003, 3:24 am
#7
British/Irish(ish) Duncs
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: Cambridge MA, via Mississippi and Belfast Northern Ireland.
Posts: 700
Re: I'd really like to know what you would do in our shoes......
Originally posted by whatever
Remember when you had just found out you were ACTUALLY going to immigrate and it ceased being 'just talk'? Remember when the visa (green card), was finally sorted and reality was sinking in and you started to realise just what you had to do before you could get on that plane??
Well that's where we are right now and we have one main decision to make... ... if you had this choice... what would you do?
Spend the next few months Tee-ing up your desired job (in our case through channels that already exist), fly out and do some interviews... secure an offer and agree a start date, fly home, sell up and go OR Fly out there, rent a place, live off savings and look for a job then (but not any old job - it would still be specific to the desired industry)?
Remember when you had just found out you were ACTUALLY going to immigrate and it ceased being 'just talk'? Remember when the visa (green card), was finally sorted and reality was sinking in and you started to realise just what you had to do before you could get on that plane??
Well that's where we are right now and we have one main decision to make... ... if you had this choice... what would you do?
Spend the next few months Tee-ing up your desired job (in our case through channels that already exist), fly out and do some interviews... secure an offer and agree a start date, fly home, sell up and go OR Fly out there, rent a place, live off savings and look for a job then (but not any old job - it would still be specific to the desired industry)?
Its a tough choice because it has problems either way. Unless you have family to live with in Boston i would be wary. The job market is tough and the rent in Boston is high. You will be losing around $1200-1500 in rent alone so savings will be eaten quickly unless they are pretty deep.
Have you actually activated your visa yet? You say green card but do you mean your CR-1 visa? If you have yet to actually enter and be processed for proper CR-1 status at the Point of entry then once you enter you will need to apply for a social security number which will take up to six weeks. During this time you cant do anything, no local bank account, no driving licence and unlikely to get a job. Note in Massachusetts you cant drive on a foreign(UK) licence once you become a resident (as distinct from being a visitor when you could drive for up to a year) which you do as soon as you rent somewhere and move in but with no Social number you will not be issued a new MA licence, so a total catch 22. We wanted to do exactly that but once we looked at it it was going to cost a bomb so we opted to move to Mississippi and live with my wifes parents while we got my paperwork sorted out then once we get jobs we will move. Obviously you know your situation better than anyone but i would say plan for the worst and go from there. We allowed 6 months to sell our house in the UK and it is still not sold yet and i have already knocked thousands off the original price. So whatever you plan remember it most likely will go wrong.
The difficulty of the move shouldnt be underestimated either it was really emotional for me and i had a tough time at the airport being seen off by my mother and immediate family. It really does hit you once you are at the airport and you relaise its not just a holiday you are leaving britain and as much as you want to be with your loved one and try out the adventure of the USA it is an emotional moment. I still have tough days here even after a few weeks of settling in, mainly when i have to ask my wife to pay for things for me because i have no bloody bank account in the USA!
sorry to be so negative but hope it adds to you deliberations,
regards,
Duncan
Oct 24th 2003, 9:17 am
#8
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 22,105
I might add, concerning the bank account anyway, that I already had an exsisting account in the States. When we were over for a visit a couple of years ago I changed my name on the account and added my husband's name. We were allowed to do that, even though he didn't have a SSN. We both have debit cards to this account now. Its obviously not a joint account, but he does have his own debit card, which is good since it will be half or more of his money in the account. 
I'm soooooooo very glad we are going to have a decent chunk of savings to take with us, I didn't realize we would be waiting over there to get necessary things like SSN and such. Yikes! :scared:
I'm soooooooo very glad we are going to have a decent chunk of savings to take with us, I didn't realize we would be waiting over there to get necessary things like SSN and such. Yikes! :scared:
Oct 24th 2003, 10:56 am
#9
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[i] I've gone from production manager (my experience in England) to being interviewed for a HR role!!!!
LMAO!!!!!!!!
Oct 24th 2003, 11:54 am
#10
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Re: I'd really like to know what you would do in our shoes......
Originally posted by Duncs
Good news on your visas.
Its a tough choice because it has problems either way. Unless you have family to live with in Boston i would be wary. The job market is tough and the rent in Boston is high. You will be losing around $1200-1500 in rent alone so savings will be eaten quickly unless they are pretty deep.
Have you actually activated your visa yet? You say green card but do you mean your CR-1 visa? If you have yet to actually enter and be processed for proper CR-1 status at the Point of entry then once you enter you will need to apply for a social security number which will take up to six weeks. During this time you cant do anything, no local bank account, no driving licence and unlikely to get a job. Note in Massachusetts you cant drive on a foreign(UK) licence once you become a resident (as distinct from being a visitor when you could drive for up to a year) which you do as soon as you rent somewhere and move in but with no Social number you will not be issued a new MA licence, so a total catch 22. We wanted to do exactly that but once we looked at it it was going to cost a bomb so we opted to move to Mississippi and live with my wifes parents while we got my paperwork sorted out then once we get jobs we will move. Obviously you know your situation better than anyone but i would say plan for the worst and go from there. We allowed 6 months to sell our house in the UK and it is still not sold yet and i have already knocked thousands off the original price. So whatever you plan remember it most likely will go wrong.
The difficulty of the move shouldnt be underestimated either it was really emotional for me and i had a tough time at the airport being seen off by my mother and immediate family. It really does hit you once you are at the airport and you relaise its not just a holiday you are leaving britain and as much as you want to be with your loved one and try out the adventure of the USA it is an emotional moment. I still have tough days here even after a few weeks of settling in, mainly when i have to ask my wife to pay for things for me because i have no bloody bank account in the USA!
sorry to be so negative but hope it adds to you deliberations,
regards,
Duncan
Good news on your visas.
Its a tough choice because it has problems either way. Unless you have family to live with in Boston i would be wary. The job market is tough and the rent in Boston is high. You will be losing around $1200-1500 in rent alone so savings will be eaten quickly unless they are pretty deep.
Have you actually activated your visa yet? You say green card but do you mean your CR-1 visa? If you have yet to actually enter and be processed for proper CR-1 status at the Point of entry then once you enter you will need to apply for a social security number which will take up to six weeks. During this time you cant do anything, no local bank account, no driving licence and unlikely to get a job. Note in Massachusetts you cant drive on a foreign(UK) licence once you become a resident (as distinct from being a visitor when you could drive for up to a year) which you do as soon as you rent somewhere and move in but with no Social number you will not be issued a new MA licence, so a total catch 22. We wanted to do exactly that but once we looked at it it was going to cost a bomb so we opted to move to Mississippi and live with my wifes parents while we got my paperwork sorted out then once we get jobs we will move. Obviously you know your situation better than anyone but i would say plan for the worst and go from there. We allowed 6 months to sell our house in the UK and it is still not sold yet and i have already knocked thousands off the original price. So whatever you plan remember it most likely will go wrong.
The difficulty of the move shouldnt be underestimated either it was really emotional for me and i had a tough time at the airport being seen off by my mother and immediate family. It really does hit you once you are at the airport and you relaise its not just a holiday you are leaving britain and as much as you want to be with your loved one and try out the adventure of the USA it is an emotional moment. I still have tough days here even after a few weeks of settling in, mainly when i have to ask my wife to pay for things for me because i have no bloody bank account in the USA!
sorry to be so negative but hope it adds to you deliberations,
regards,
Duncan
Oct 24th 2003, 11:55 am
#11
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Re: I'd really like to know what you would do in our shoes......
Originally posted by whatever
Ooooops! This is for Duncs....
I sent you a PM coz' my reply to your post was SOOOOOO long !
Oct 24th 2003, 1:34 pm
#12
Not living a 9 to 5 life
Joined: Jun 2002
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 11,061
Re: I'd really like to know what you would do in our shoes......
Originally posted by whatever
Remember when you had just found out you were ACTUALLY going to immigrate and it ceased being 'just talk'? Remember when the visa (green card), was finally sorted and reality was sinking in and you started to realise just what you had to do before you could get on that plane??
Well that's where we are right now and we have one main decision to make... ... if you had this choice... what would you do?
Spend the next few months Tee-ing up your desired job (in our case through channels that already exist), fly out and do some interviews... secure an offer and agree a start date, fly home, sell up and go OR Fly out there, rent a place, live off savings and look for a job then (but not any old job - it would still be specific to the desired industry)?
Remember when you had just found out you were ACTUALLY going to immigrate and it ceased being 'just talk'? Remember when the visa (green card), was finally sorted and reality was sinking in and you started to realise just what you had to do before you could get on that plane??
Well that's where we are right now and we have one main decision to make... ... if you had this choice... what would you do?
Spend the next few months Tee-ing up your desired job (in our case through channels that already exist), fly out and do some interviews... secure an offer and agree a start date, fly home, sell up and go OR Fly out there, rent a place, live off savings and look for a job then (but not any old job - it would still be specific to the desired industry)?
However, when we started the spousal visa process we did not know exactly how long it would take to get the visa, though we did make an educated guess having read DCFs in London from BritishExpats.
So, on the date I received my visa, a little over a week after 9/11, we did not know where in the US we were going to move to.
Both of us agreed that we would not move to the US when neither of us had a job. My husband had a job waiting for him in Pittsburgh but neither of us wanted to live there nor did we want to move to Cleveland where his parents live.
In the end we had to take a trip in early 2002 to activate my visa despite my husband not having finalized a job.
We finally moved to the US two months after I activated my visa when my husband received a job offer after applying for an internal job and having a telephone interivew with his manager-to-be.
As has been mentioned so many times in this particular forum, the job market continues to remain poor in much of the US and as we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas, fewer and fewer employers will be hiring (the exception is temporary Christmas related jobs).
NC Penguin
