ph2020

Hi BE!

Long story short, I'm 24 and will soon be relocating (alone) from London to Seattle (still waiting for my H1 to be approved). Same job, different office and it was my request to move. 3 years of work exp come October. Job = S/ware Support Engineer. Current salary is £26.8k, US one will be $55k. Will be taking with me about £10k's worth of $ (savings) to buy a car over there and cover the house rent deposit. I'll be sharing with others thanks to Seattle prices, but I'd rather not be alone so this is a good thing. Here are my questions:

1) Is $55k enough to live and play in Seattle for a single 24 y/o?
2) What unforeseen costs should I plan for? My company will cover my flight and 2 weeks of accommodation while I search for a house.
3) How easy is it to switch Student Finance loan repayments from UK to USA?
4) Do I have to hire an accountant for tax purposes? Surely it can't be that much of a kerfuffle?
5) Is car insurance as expensive there as it is here? Here I'm paying £120 a month now.. but over there I'll be a foreigner with no credit history.
6) Is there such thing as 'car tax', 'MOT', etc? Basically what's the running cost of a standard sedan compared to the UK?

I'll add more questions as I think of them

Thanks a lot in advance!

Noorah101

Don't forget to factor in the cost of health insurance, even if your company covers you. Premium payments, co-pays, deductible, etc.

$55K sounds low to me, for Seattle.

Rene

ph2020

I might be able to get it up to $57k or something as they didn't give *me* a pay rise last month as it's apparently pointless to do it twice... but said that they'll "do something for me" when I move so I guess I can budge it up to $57k...

My company does cover health insurance but I'm not sure how much the co-pays would be in the US - do you have a rough idea on what that might be? So maybe $200 a month for health insurance?

Dominic0012

1) Yes (somewhat Seattle is high COL) if your employer has good health insurance
2) storage costs, you will want to check if your accomodation allows for storing all your stuff
3) easy you file the overseas assessment form. Keep your U.K. bank account open and transfer funds.
4) Not for the first year should be ok to file as a dual status alien depending on when you move. Lots of tax saving opportunities in the first year to be aware of. The time of year you leave is important and you could pay no U.K. tax and no U.S. tax in the year of transition if you plan things well.
5) It will be because you dont have a driving history in the U.S.
6) I dont know this depends on the state. At the national level this is no.

best of luck with the move and welcome!

ph2020

1) I think they do!
2) I won't have much stuff, literally 2 suitcases. :-)
3) Ah great, I didn't think that was possible. I was intending to keep my UK bank account open either way as I have a £250-a-month loan to pay from over there... yikes.
4) I had thought about tax saving.. but didn't think there would be any as technically I'm working the entire year. I'm worried about sorting all of this out myself though without an accountant.. perhaps if hiring an accountant is cheap, I should get one involved? It's my company who does payroll and sorts out tax stuff though so I'm not sure how that would work.
5) I thought so. Hopefully it's similar to the UK, or less.
6) Thanks :-)

Thanks a lot!

petitefrancaise

My daughter has just returned from a 3 month working stint in Seattle. She didn't need a car, her apartment was a 20 minute bus ride from work or a bike ride. Making sure you live close enough to bike/bus could save you quite a bit each month.
For a lease car (Ford Focus size) you're looking at about $400 a month then the insurance is on top of that. I didn't move from the UK, but almost everyone who has on here is astonished at the cost of car insurance.

$55k is low. Maybe look on glassdoor etc to get an idea of salaries.

ph2020

The thing is I plan to travel every other weekend. I'd like to drive to Portland, Vancouver and other nearby cities. Perhaps to commute to work I can do without a car but for everything else I'll need one. I'm planning to buy one up front as if I manage to lease one with no credit history, it's going to cost me a fortune with the interest rates.

$55k is lower than what I would have hoped for Seattle but I was the one who requested to move and so bargaining wasn't really an option. I'll push for them to budge it up as much as possible closer to the time of departure, since they told me they will do something for me at that time, in terms of pay rises.

md95065

$55k is definitely on the low side, but it should be enough to survive on.

glassdoor.com puts the national average salary for software support engineers at $70k, and $77k in the Seattle area.

My totally unscientific rule of thumb calculation for tech industry salaries is:

Salary in US $ = 2.5 x Salary in UK pounds

For you that would suggest a US salary of $67k

I would suggest that a multiplier of 2 instead of 2.5 would get you the "absolute minimum" equivalent US salary - for you that would be $53.6k, just slightly less than what they offered you.

Since you requested the move you don't have much leverage at this point but you should be planning on having discussions with your new boss along the lines of "what do I have to do in order to be earning $65k here?"

Nutmegger

If you are transferring with your current company, why aren't you going to be on an L1?

md95065

He may not meet the L1 requirements of job responsibilities and / or specialist knowledge.

ph2020

I'm actually eligible for both but my attorney decided we should give the H1 a go, and luckily I was selected in the lottery.

Noorah101

There's no standard. You'll have to ask the company benefit department for details. There are probably a few different plans you can choose from, all of which have different premiums, co pays, maybe one has a Health Savings account (HSA), different deductible amounts, etc. People here can give answers, but you'll get ballpark figures all over the place, and won't do you any good.

Rene

fbf2006

55K might or might not be low for basically an entry level type position in Seattle. I'm assuming close to entry level since the OP is 24. It totally depends on the industry. Check glassdoor to compare, but note that the years of experience also factor into the national average salary someone posted above, so even if you might have the same generic title, the salaries would vary.


Re: health insurance, ask the company for their benefits package. it'll have information as to the premiums you'll have to pay monthly.

Octang Frye

Seems low. I started on 48K 20 years ago in Atlanta when I was 22.
Seattle would be much pricier to live.

But, on the plus, you're getting an opportunity and an avenue that's not open to many people.
Grab it by the pus- Grab it by the horns.

fbf2006

Started at 48K in what field though? I mean I started at 48K at a Big 4 accounting firm in 2004 in Boston. It means nothing. The current starting salaries are somewhere around 45K - 60K depending on location.