Originally Posted by lizzyq

If she is academically advanced I would be even more inclined to have her sit her GCSEs before the move. If you move her 5 months before the exams essentially you are throwing away the work that she has already done without any proof of how well she has performed on those courses. Also should she want to return to the UK for university (my elder son did that and was treated as a home student as we were on a non-immigrant visa, with an expiry date, at that point) having GCSEs can also help. On an H visa she will be treated as an international student by a US university which will probably be eye-wateringly expensive.

Yes it is difficult splitting the family, I know, I was the one "left behind" to deal with all the loose ends of packing up our UK business, home etc, but it is temporary and, in my opinion, the benefits outweigh the temporary losses.

Originally Posted by USIOMUS

Hi! I just though I would share a few thoughts with you - we moved our kids when they were 5 and 10. The 5 year old made an almost seamless adjustment (although now she would prefer to move back) but the 10 year old struggled for years with the change. That was 9 years ago, and he's settled at university now, but it was harder than we'd anticipated.

Having said that, if you are thinking of this as a permanent move, I would suggest getting your daughter into a US school as soon as possible. If she moves at 16, she would still be expected to move into a US high school and their curriculum can be very structured and demanding.

We are in the Buffalo suburbs, so I know quite a lot about Buffalo schools. New York is different from most other states in that it requires Regents Exams for graduation. To earn a Regents diploma students take around 5 exams, but that is the minimum. Most colleges would expect an Advanced Regents Diploma which requires 9. You can also earn extra "honors" by taking additional exams in maths and/or science. To give you an example of how this works, my daughter (14, almost 15 and going into her second year at high school) took her first two regents exams in 8th grade (still in middle school). This allowed her to enter high school with 2 high school credits in hand and 2 exams already off her list of 9+. Some of the courses are spread out over two years (social studies and a language for example) with one big exam at the end, while others are single year courses. In addition to these requirements, there are a lot of ways that students can earn university credits while still in high school. They take AP classes (with a big exam at the end - the score on the exam determines whether they get credit or not and varies by college or university). At my daughter's school, you can start taking AP classes in your second year of high school. Additionally, my daughter is interested in engineering. She took part in a "project lead the way" class last year (her first year of high school) and her score on the exam at the end allowed her to earn 3 university credits in introductory engineering. She also takes part in a special math program that is unique to Buffalo. (If you daughter is interested in math, I can give you more information, but she'd have to LOVE math to want to take part.)

All of these types of classes help to build up impressive CVs for students before they start applying to colleges and universities. My daughter's school also has a community service requirement that takes up extra time and students need extra curricular activities if they want to compete for spots at top schools.

If you daughter wanted to go back to the UK to study, keep in mind that there is a three-year residency requirement (the 3-years before she starts). There may be ways around that if you have family there, I don't know. I just know we don't have a way around it, so our kids aren't going back, even if they want to!

Having said ALL of that (sorry, I'm never brief), kids move in and out of schools all the time and I'm sure a school here would work with you on assessing your daughter and working out exactly what she needs to do to meet graduation requirements. I've no idea if they would expect her to take all of the regents exams or if she could use her GCSEs (if she gets them) to test out of some them. I will say the schools try to be helpful, but don't really understand the UK exam system. At 16, even with GCSEs I think she would struggle to find a college or university place - she'd need SATs or ACTs and I suggest those would be easier with a few years of US schooling behind her.

I don't think I've helped at all, but here's one solid piece of advice: The Northtowns get a LOT less snow that the Southtowns. I don't know where your husband will be working, but if possible, settle in the Northtowns and sit back and laugh as the Southtowns get hammered and you get half an inch! (When we were hit with Snow-vember, less than a mile south of us they got 6 feet of snow in like 12 hours. We got a dusting!)

And good luck!

Originally Posted by jjmb

I would definitely want PF's advice on this topic as she has a lot of experience on this topic, all be it Texas based. Personally, having brought a daughter over at 15, I would think twice about it as its a very difficult age but it depends on the personality of the child as well. Our 15 year old was a typical teenager who found it difficult to fit in at first but as soon she found her crowd, she was fine. Unfortunately we did not have the good advice of this forum ( this was 17 yrs ago) and getting her previous school work evaluated was difficult to say the least.
We had 3 kids, 11,13 and 15, only the 13 yr old has not done well and to be honest, he would have struggle wherever he was. They were average kids (unlike PF's kids) although I suspect the eldest would have done better if we had stayed in Scotland. The USA system is totally different from the UK and she might be in for a little culture shock.
As I said, wait for PF to get back from her European travels. There is another poster here that also gives really good recent advice to newcomers with teenagers but I can't recall their nickname.
One question, why do you want to come to the USA with all that is going on at the moment? We are rapidly approaching retirement (5 yrs) and seriously considering moving back to the UK, despite all the Brexit stuff. I thought I had settled down here but then last November happened. I am still in shock!

Originally Posted by Boiler

Permanent move so unless she is staying behind bite the bullet now.

Presumably this is for a non profit no need to go though the lottery.

Originally Posted by Minilove1

Been through the lottery. .....

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl

Minilove does your husband actually have a visa or are you hoping to be successful in the lottery?

Originally Posted by Boiler

If it is a done deal and effectively a one way trip then time to move on.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

If I understand post #36 correctly, he applied in April (which certainly is when the applocation window is open) and recently found out that he was successful .... which seems a little late to me, as I thought most people were notified in May.

Originally Posted by Pulaski

I heard it is nice. ..... Also that sometimes it snows there!

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl

That's why I am

Originally Posted by Pulaski

So was this the first year he entered the lottery, or was the delay in processing the visa that you alluded to earlier, because he failed to get a visa in prior lotteries?