Mareth

Hubby and I are moving to Houston in about 6-8 wks from Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire. He'll be working in Humble. Can anyone help with ideas of where best to live. We have no kids to worry about.
Thanks in advance for any replies

ChocolateBabz

Hi Mareth,

Welcome to BE!

We live in Pearland, south of Houston, we moved from Stonehaven just over three years ago. Have you been on city-data.com? If you check out their Houston forum you should find information on different areas. I would have thought Kingwood, Spring or Humble itself would have been a good place to start. You can look at properties on har.com. My best advice is to stay close to where hubby works as commuting in Houston is awful. Imagine Oldemldrum to Aberdeen, in the snow, at rush hour but every day

Mareth

Thanx Chocolatebabz. Did the commute 2Aberdeen last winter in snow...not good. Have looked at The Woodlands. Will check out Humble. Is that an area where other expats live? Did u find it easy to meet up with other people?

ChocolateBabz

The Woodlands is lovely and you would be on the right side of town for that commute although expect the area to be very busy at rush hour. Not sure how long woodlands - humble commute would be but might not be too bad.

The Woodlands is quite self-contained, they have a huge mall and plenty of places to eat, you wouldn't have to go too far to find anything you were looking for. There should be a fair amount of expats up there. In my experience the largest expat community is in Katy but that commute would not be fun for your hubby.

I'll be brutally honest, I haven't made a large circle of friends but then I can't say I have made that much of an effort. There are expat groups in Houston, plenty of activities if you have an interest, oh yeah and church if it's your thing. If you had kids, and could stand it, there are plenty of volunteer options through school. I am a stay at home mum who's 12 year old son goes to school all day but I am happy pottering about doing my own thing until our greencards go through and I have no excuse not to go back to work .

Weeze

Hello. We did Aberdeen to Katy last year. Chocolatebabz has already given you the lowdown on HAR and the like. Welcome!

GetYourBritsOut

Hi Mareth, I'm in the Woodlands, been here for 4 years. If you need any specific info ask away.

On a side note, one of my best friends moved back to Oldmeldrum last year - can you bring her back with you please??

Mareth

Thanks all.
We've looked at all areas suggested but think we prefer The Woodlands. We just have to wait until we get over there though and take a look. Hoping to be there in next 6-8 wks. My husband has been to Houston many times but I've not so all new for me.
Don't think I'll do the church thing, not my cup of tea, no kids so no volunteering either. Did the expat group thing when we lived in Mumbai...also not my thing...so guess I will probably look for some work.

Brat1

Hi and welcome. What kind of visa is your OH coming over on?? I hope that the move and everything else goes smoothly for you and you'll find more than enough advice on here, so good luck!!

Mareth

I'm not sure what type of visa his company are applying for. I guess that will have an effect on whether I can work or not. I think he will be on a business visa initially.
Contract being prepared and we should have all details by end of this week.
Found lots of info from site and some members already. It's been a great help.

paulpur

yes the type of visa your hubby is on determines if you can work or not...eg , an L-visa means that you will get a derivative L visa and be able to work as long as his L visa is valid, however , if he is getting an H1B visa , it means that you will get an H4 derivative visa dn be unable to work at all...

might also be worthwhile getting your hubby to check out this wiki page http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Compan...on_Packages_US
might help him if he has to negotiate a relocation package and give him a few ideas of where to start or what to ask for

Mareth

Thanks Paulpur for advice. This is our second time abroad and we made so many mistakes last time that oh been very through.
Will check out site you mentioned.

Mareth

We will be classed as resident aliens and reading various sites I guess that is a H1B visa, am I correct?
For me to work does that mean I need someone to sponser me?

Weeze

Hi again. When it comes to visas it's best not to guess. http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Pulask...ork_in_the_USA
This is this link to the visa guide on BE. It contains lots of useful information. There are bonuses and drawbacks to each of the visa types.
We had a fairly easy process, inter company move, L visas, sorted quickly as the company has lots of experience in the whole visa process. We were lucky!
Good luck to you!

Bob

That basically means any johnny foreigner on a visa, in a nutshell, so no idea.

L1 is a company transfer, H1 isn't. Ask the employer what they plan on getting and negotiate the package around that and any long term goals you might want.

Mareth

Chocolatebabz you mentioned getting your green card. What do you need to do to get that?
Also been checking up on getting driving licence. Am I correct that we will both have to sit exam and driving test? Do we need to get an International driving licence?