clairemary

Hi
is anyone from the UK living in West Hartford CT? we have moved here just 3 weeks ago and could do with some general advice on best places to shop, eat, doctors, dentists, driving, you name it!

THANKS!

Nutek

Hi there...

I moved here from the UK in 1995. Living about 5 miles from you.

;-)

tonrob

We're about half an hour north from you - near the border. Moved here with my employer 7 years ago. There are other Brits from my work who live in West Hartford, but I don't think they frequent BE. I won't be much help on dentists, doctors and the like that are local to you I'm afraid. Happy to help with anything else if I can though!

clairemary

thanks!
must find out about the drivers licence situation, is it 30 days, 60 days or 6 months?

I need to ring and find out!

are you settled and happy here? we have moved for work purposes also on a 3 year contract to start with. When you first came did you open up credit card accounts to accrue credit? we have been advised to do this and pay ourselves monthly to show our income and establish a credit rating!

I cant lease a car, have to pay cash, did you find this too?
thanks!

Bob

Welcome to BE and good luck with it all

There are quite a few threads on CT about driving, so if you can't find the info on the state DMV site you'll probably find it posted on BE.

Either way, get the license as soon as possible. You don't exist until you have it and get some credit history going too.

The wiki up top, it's a good starting point on things to look out for in building up your credit as well as things like the medical side.

Though for doctors and dentists, you're best off looking on insurance company site to see who they cover and then seeing which of those are taking on new patients and then asking people you work/live with for opinions on them.

Also city-data.com is another site worth checking out for your particular town as there is usually quite a lot of info on most locations.

Nutek

Not sure on how long you have to get the driving licence sorted out, but the test itself was SO easy compared to a UK one. Both the "written" part (multiple choice) and the driving part. I think i was actually driving for MAYBE 10 mins, tops. Pretty much around the block.

What bank did you use in the UK? Maybe they have link with a US one. Bank of America is linked with Barclays for instance. Not sure if that might help you with getting some credit established or not. I was lucky as my wife was already here and established so I didnt have that worry. Using a credit card (and paying it promptly) is definately worthwhile to get your credit rating up.

Happy here? Yes, very much so. Some things are (still) strange and its easy sometimes to forget that you are in another country, just in time to get caught out by something silly.

As i say, we are only a few miles from you. I am actually off to the UK on wednesday this week (vacation), but will be back around the 20th.

Feel free to ask if we can help with anything.

tonrob

Yes - we feel very settled and happy here. After being here about a year we got the company to apply for Green Cards for us, and I just finally naturalized as a US citizen last month.

To begin with we opened a bank account with a local bank that had just a couple of dozen branches. They were recommended by work as a bank that was small and flexible and able to work with and understand expats. We got a mortgage with them after just a couple of months, but bear in mind this was back in 2005.

The one thing they didn't do was secured credit cards, so we got Bank of America ones which the bank unsecured after 6 months. After about a year we started to get offers for credit through the mail, opened a couple of store cards and then started applying for (and being approved for) normal credit cards through other banks around 6 months after that.

We were able to purchase a new car with cash - we did look at leasing but it seemed like a waste of money at the time.

WEBlue

Good luck on the ringing DMV! (It's not always easy to get through.)

We searched through the online info on this subject & finally decided it's got to be 30 days. But we had to infer this, as--annoyingly--it's *never* clearly spelled out. . . .

This link confused us, as it says 1 year for foreign visitors, but doesn't state a deadline for 'new foreign residents':
http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view.asp?a=805&q=244774

This link has a helpful paragraph for 'New Residents' but again NO deadline:
http://www.dmv.com/ct/connecticut/drivers-license

Finally we found this link, the ONLY one we could find . . .which says 30 days:
http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view.asp?a=806&q=406352

Nutek

Looks like you can stretch that to a year *IF* you have an international permit to go with your foreign licence. (I had one of these purchased from AA in England before I came over as it only cost a few pounds).

http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view.asp?a=805&q=244774

Without the extra permit, it does look as though you have 30 days, similar to an out-of-state license.

WEBlue

The way the husband & I read it was that only "visitors" had 1 year with the international permit. (I quoted the same link.) The question is what defines "visitor" and makes him/her different from a "new resident" to the state, in which case the deadline's 30 days.

The difference *may* depend on the visa . . . perhaps? If Clairemary can get through to a real person at the CT DMV office who can answer the question, that may clarify things. The hub & I just went with the 30 days to be safe. We had to hustle, but we made it in the end.

Nutek

You are right I think.

Why they cant make this stuff clearer is beyond me.

WEBlue

It's extremely annoying! Other US states seem to be able to spell out in plain English how long foreign licence-holders have to switch. I've lived in TX & CO--both state 90 days clearly in their info for new residents with foreign DLs.

Nutmegger

This is the relevant part, which I think WEBlue already posted:

http://www.ct.gov/dmv/cwp/view.asp?a...=|52448|#52449

Once you become a resident of the state, you have 30 days in which to get a CT license. You are no longer a visitor and the international license does not apply.

Nutek

Back from my UK vacation (wooo!)

Did you find all the stuff you were looking for? How are you settling in?

King Gimp

Hi - Your UK license is valid for 1 year. As verified by a nice CT policeman who pulled me over after I'd been living here 9 months. You will need to go and get a permit from the DMV before you can buy/register a car.

The CT driving test is very very very easy and take 10 minutes. The 'written' test is also very easy 'multiple guess' type

The grueling bit is 8 hours of mandatory brain sucking boredom in a classroom.