uk2sba

First time poster so please be gentle.

L1 & L2 Visa approved today at US Embassy in London so we're off to Santa Barbara, CA in Jan. I have temporary corporate accommodation until end of Jan and will book an extended stay hotel for Feb to give us time to find somewhere suitable to rent long term.

My questions are

Can I open a bank account without a permanent address?

Can I get an SSN without a permanent address?

Can I take my CA driving test and get a license without a permanent address?

If I buy a used car cash, will I be able to get insurance before I have a CA license or a permanent address?

I'm sure I'm not the first to have these questions but any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

N1cky

Yes to all these, you have a permanent address, all be it a temporary one.

We did all these things while living in temporary corporate accomodation with no problems.

Santa Barbara is a lovely place, I'm slightly jealous of you. Enjoy!

Weeze

We opened a bank account and got SSN without a perm address. We used the work address. Can't help with the driving test bit as I am in Texas and these things differ state to state. We got car insurance before we had a perm address and before our TX license.

If you want to look for specifics for CA you can try the search function at the left hand side of the screen.

MarkCowan

Use your works address as your permanent address and good for mailing.
You will get your SSN and Drivers License no problem with this address.

I am not sure on the buying a car issue.

Your not working for Yardi are you?

uk2sba

Thanks for the replies, you've put my mind at rest :-)

Nope, not working for Yardi.

md95065

Yes, but make sure that your work address is an actual street address and not a PO Box number.

I got caught by this when I first moved to California.

I gave my work address (which happened to use a PO Box number) when I took my driving test and wondered why my license never showed up in the mail. It turned out that, while the CA DMV was quite happy to accept that as my address they would not mail a driver's license to an address that was just a PO Box number ...

Phoodilicious

Ditto the above, we moved to USA last February and we did everything using my company's street address to begin with, the only exception being the SSN cards which we used the extended stay hotel address for. We bought a car, insured it, took driving test etc without any problems. We are in Orange County, CA. although originally were in Fort Worth, TX for the first year. Good luck.

BritishGuy36

Don't they do that thing at the post offices in CA where you can have a 'real' address associated with your P.O. Box?

At my PO, I can have the service activated, and then my 'real' address becomes:

50 central ave, # <fakehousenumber>, townname, zip

Where 50 central ave would be the address of the post office. So it just looks like an apartment address.

https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=mtcsa

Hotscot

Yup Santa Barbara is very nice but quite expensive if you're thinking of buying...do you mind mentioning, even generally, what you'll be doing?

penguinsix

Insuring a car with no US credit history on a temporary address might be tricky, or at least very very expensive. You might considering a 30-day rental from someone like Hertz or Avis until you get a bit more settled. Even with a permanent address you will find insurance quite expensive.

uk2sba

Im transferring with work but i guess thats obvious due to the visa thing :-). I've been to SB many times and I love it but appreciate it will be expensive to rent or buy. Good career move, good climate, ocean, mountains........ Got to be worth it.

Bayleaf_01

Only thing I would add would be to start building a credit history. So try and get a credit card - probably secured with your own money in a separate account with your bank. Spend on it and pay it off every month.
If you would consider leasing a car, those payments will count as well. There is no such thing as a cheap second hand car in the US!
International Autosource are a company that leases cars to expats with no US credit history. We found them through the Travelguard policy (AIG) - which is supposed to help you find your feet with financial matters. Lots of threads about them. Presonally, not a massive fan, but did the job for insurance and the link to International Autosource.

We made the move to Michigan 6 months ago by the same L1/L2 route and love it.

Good Luck

Markoncarp

Car

Personally, if you can, get a lease car. I didnt, and in hindsight, I think that, if I decide to leave after my L1 runs out, I'll be stuck with a car which I need to sell. At least with a lease, you can say that at the end of 3 years you hand it back.

Credit

I went through the global transfer process with Amex. Best thing I did. Im building a credit history and have access to $10k of credit that helps with expenses etc.

My wife, after 4 months, finally got approved for a JCP store card - which we did a little celebratory dance at! Get used to being asked if you want a store card everywhere you go, also get used to telling them that you've jsut moved here and you cant get credit

SSN

there is loads of stuff on here about your SSN, you really do need one to get a lot of things done. Search and read up. Be prepared to go to the Social office more than once.

Chocolate

Its utter pants in the US

Utter Pants

That means something completely different over here.

CA-NY

Another piece of advice which we found useful - have a letter, either print outs or PDF that you can email to people on company letterhead signed by the most senior person in your company (Chief Exec. or CEO) confirming your employment status , position and salary when you're in the USA. We needed that to open bank account, rent our apartment and get our car leased. We had one signed by the USA CEO and could produce it whenever needed.