LauraCA

Hi all, I'm new here!

My husband and I will be moving to CA soon from London on an L1 visa that his company have applied for.

Its all pretty overwhelming looking at all of the different things we'll need to know about, and I've spent a lot of time looking through this forum so thought I'd say Hi.

I'm sure I'll have a fair few questions over the coming weeks, but the first one is about UK banking stuff.

Can you keep your UK bank accounts and credit cards? We won't have any credit score in the US obviously, but will definitely need our credit cards to settle in. How does it all work?

Thanks!

DollyLlama

Hello and welcome to BE

Texas Mom

Welcome to BE.

cabritpop

I would travel by plane if I were you, That piece of paper will get awfully wet by the time you reach the Panama Canal. Welcome to the forum by the way.

cybersecretary

Hi there. Good luck with your relocation, am in a similar situation, hoping to take a visit to CA this week to have a look around, Is all very stressful, where abouts are you going to be based?

Elvira

Hiya!

(Check Fatbrit's article for all the boring finance stuff )

USBound

[QUOTE=LauraCA;4588972]Moving to CA [QUOTE]

a few questions.

1. What is the timeline?
2. Where in CA?
3. Are you planning on returning to the UK?
4. Do you have an Amex card
5. Are you planning on buying a vehicle when you first get to CA?
6. Does the company transfer involve a large scale relocation package?
7. Have you visited the area you're going to?

andy

LauraCA

Thanks for the welcome. Any help would be really handy as it is all happening pretty soon!

1. What is the timeline?
Our L1/L2 Visa interview is on April 12th, then assuming that's all fine (husband's company has a blanket L1 - but any tips?) we'll fly out mid to late May
2. Where in CA?
South of LA (north OC) is the area we're looking at
3. Are you planning on returning to the UK?
Yes. The initial transfer period is for 2 years
4. Do you have an Amex card
No
5. Are you planning on buying a vehicle when you first get to CA?
Yes - 2 probably!
6. Does the company transfer involve a large scale relocation package?
I guess that "large scale" is a pretty personal thing, but they are covering a hotel for the first month, some relocation cash and rent/car expenses for the duration of our stay.
7. Have you visited the area you're going to?
Yes. We stayed with a friend there last year

snowbunny

4. Get one. Check into the large banks to see if you can open an account with a bank who's got a sister bank in the US or is based here eg Citibank.

5. I would rent a few cars before you buy, in the different size ranges -- economy, mid-sized, and if you feel you'd like to try something larger, I would. DO NOT buy a new SUV as they depreciate very quickly & if moving back in a year or two buy a car that doesn't -- I highly recommend Honda.

USBound

we'll fly out mid to late May - its gonna be just getting warm (read extremely hot), make sure you're looking for aircon in all aspects of life

South of LA (north OC) is the area we're looking at - apologies - I don't know that area, I do know the north of LA much better (just moved from there).

The initial transfer period is for 2 years - I assume that you'll be renting, make sure your rental agreement is not in 12month periods otherwise you'll end up paying for the remainder when you leave

Do you have an Amex card - No - As snowbunny says, get one... the reason being that once you have one in the UK they'll let you transfer it to the US and you'll be establishing US credit immediately

vehicle(s) - Yes - 2 probably! - there are methods of buying vehicles before you get here that provide much better interest rates so if you're not planning on buying outright then you should look into these... someone else here (Ray?) will likely be able to provide links

and rent/car expenses for the duration of our stay. - rent and car for the WHOLE 2 years? wow thats the first time I've heard of that - damned good deal

Have you visited the area you're going to? Yes. We stayed with a friend there last year - how long was your stay? I assume your friend has provided all the salient information regarding the area and its pro's and cons so you'll likely be fine there.

penguinsix

Double check on this. It might mean the company will 'lease' you a car for the duration of your stay (i.e. a corporate car) from a car dealer, but that is not the same as you 'renting' a car at the airport from Hertz, National, etc. You'll probably end up doing both (renting for a few weeks until you can get a lease set up or something).

Ray

And definetly keep your curreny UK accounts going ...
most can now be handled over the net ..

nethead

I could be wrong but I assumed Laura meant the company will pay accommodation rent.

LauraCA

Thanks for the tips so far!

I'll definitely try and sort out an AMEX before we go, and the car information is very handy!

Just to clarify, when I talked about the relocation package, I meant that the company will be giving us money each month to rent an apartment of our choice and also additional money to cover buying or leasing a car for the duration of our stay. It seemed like a good deal to me!

Now just to get through my L2 interview...

Bob

Welcome to BE

quite a few threads on CA already worth checking through.

keep your UK bank accounts, most aren't a problem with online banking, but get that sorted before you leave, if your debit cards etc are expiring soon, it's worth getting new ones, same for cheques

and get the company to stump for your EAD so you can work