Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Hi all,

I'm moving with my current company to NYC by myself whenever Covid permits and looking for advise / assurances on anything I need to consider. I was supposed to go last summer but hoping it will be by Sept 2021 now. I'm late 20s and have never been to NYC - moving for work but also want some life experience while the opportunity is still here. No plan on how long to stay for, I'll see how it goes and decide after first year / how ever long my visa lasts.

Everything I know so far - just looking for additional tips or correcting something I have below from any Americans or Brits who have made the move already:

• Leaving UK - As far as I can tell, I just need to notify everyone I'm leaving - bank, HMRC, NEST, family, council etc.
• Luggage - I don't have a huge amount of stuff but too much for single flight. Any recommendations on how to get stuff over there safely is greatly appreciated
• Visa - Employer is arranging but will eventually be on L1 visa (pending US gov Covid changes). I don't have an interview date or anything so all TBC. Believe company does SSN also
• Credit - Understand having a credit history in the US is imperative for just about anything. I've applied for an AMEX to use between now and leaving to build a UK credit history + will hopefully be able to open an HSBC international account before I get there for cash flow (pending Covid)
• Tax - Understand I'll be liable for federal income tax, state tax and depending on where I live, local tax. Sales tax is also on top of price. End of year, get an accountant for best rates / deductibles
• Healthcare - There's company health care (don't know too much about this but my US colleagues assured me it's not too bad)
• Location - Aiming to live alone in UES/LES or Brooklyn (open to suggestions here though). Is there anywhere I should absolutely avoid?
• Rent - This is the part I'm most worried about. Living by myself is a big deal and finding a place seems like a nightmare. Due to no credit, aiming for low end of above areas (c.$1.6k / month). My salary will be between $70k - $80k, so imagine this will be a challenge with 40x monthly amount. I will however have savings around $90k before I leave, so hoping I can pay 3 - 6 months rent in advance. I won't be able to get a guarantor in the 80x salary range as I don't know anyone there. I'll need an employment letter, bank statements, ID, references & SSN to sign a lease.
• Apartment - I'm realizing NYC doesn't do furnished apartments which is not ideal for someone with no furniture. How do I get round this? I don't want to spend my savings on futons and throw pillows. I'm planning on using lease break for my first 1 - 2 months out there to minimize initial stress and get an idea of areas
• Cash Transfers - I'm not really clear on how to get my money over there or whether it's advisable to have it all over there? I can't make sense of any savings tax
• Other - You tip 20% for everything, unless you found something other than food on your plate, then you can drop to 15%. Don't make eye contact on the subway

Basically a brain dump of everything I know but any pointers or corrections are greatly appreciated.

Best,
Alex

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Hi, welcome to BE.

Can’t help with most of your questions, but if it’s an L1 and you haven’t had an interview, there’s no way you’ll be able to get out there for Sept IMO. We were supposed to be moving in July originally (also on L1) , then it got pushed back to next spring with an interview in early 2022 (the earliest date we could get with the huge backlog). But the US embassy has just cancelled all non-immigrant visa interviews from 1st August onwards, so now I reckon we’re looking at summer 2022 at the earliest.

Whereabouts will you be working or need to commute to? If you can give people that info, forum members around NYC may be able to suggest some other areas for you to look at.

Your salary seems low for an international relocation and NYC? Might be worth searching the forum to find relevant threads with cost of living in. And do find out more info on what you’ll have to pay toward healthcare - what your US colleagues think is ‘not too bad’ you might think is the opposite if you’re used to the NHS! That could take a chunk of your salary and you’ll definitely need to factor it in.

Best of luck, hope you can get out there ASAP.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Sounds like you are well on top of things. A few things to consider:

I do agree with the poster above that your salary is VERY low for NYC. Finding an apartment of any kind on that salary regardless of credit history, etc will be a challenge.

Look at Transferwise for transferring money. It has excellent rates and is very easy to use, but you do have to set up an account and provide identification verification so do that well ahead of when you want to transfer money. To simplify your taxes (hugely) liquidate all of your savings into cash BEFORE you arrive, otherwise you will be subject to all sorts of tax reporting and draconian taxes on your foreign investments. Move your cash to a US bank as soon as you can to avoid the many reporting obligations that exist if you have sums over $10,000 in a foreign bank. Research FBAR and FATCA reporting and taxation issues to get more details. There is a lot of info on this forum, and is easy to find on the Internet.

If you want a furnished apartment look for Corporate Apartments (that is what they call furnished rentals here) but beware that renting somewhere unfurnished and buying furniture will likely work out a lot cheaper anyway.

Perhaps ask your employer to pay for a short trip to scope things out. You could do that as soon as they open up the borders and prior to getting your Visa. Also ask them to pay for a Corporate Apartment for your first 4 - 8 weeks to allow you to get settled, that would be very normal for an international relocation. In any case, I would schedule a quick trip to NYC prior to committing to this move. Some love it, but some absolutely hate it. A quick trip would let you establish how expensive that city is to live in, and whether or not you can sustain an acceptable lifestyle on your salary. Take into account the many taxes you will be subject to in addition to Federal Tax, such as State tax which I think is about 6%, City tax, about 3.5%, and Social Security about 6.5%. On a salary of $80K you might have about $55K left in your pocket after all the taxation.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Summer 2022?? Holy shit, I’ve already been waiting a year, I think I’d have to call it a day if that were the case. Is this on the US consulate site? Can’t see much other than original covid delays.

office is Long Island city. Salary hasn’t actually been agreed yet due to covid but basically an estimate my side. How much would you say is the minimum out of interest to live relatively comfortably?

from reading forums it seems $70k is doable but basically hinges on lifestyle.

thanks for the advise and sorry to hear of your delays getting over there! Rough time to be moving unfortunately

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

If the office is LIC, you would be better off looking to live in Queens -- LIC itself, Astoria, Jackson Heights, will all be more affordable than the places you initially cited.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

HSBC are exiting the retail banking market to concentrate on high net worth clients so be prepared for this not to work - they are selling most of their East coast branches and customers to Citizens Bank.

https://www.about.us.hsbc.com/news-a...retail-banking

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

In terms of US immigration a year is nothing even without CV19, people wait up to 10+ years (for family green cards).

The L1 was usually very fast, from filling to being here was less than 2 months for me with premium. I would do some pretty detailed research before moving here on the salary you quoted. I moved on multiples of that and still lived in a $1,650 a month Apt in the East village and that was more than 10 years ago.

You may be in for a shock if you have never been to NYC… my biggest cost was actually social and dating, followed by rent.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Hi - I was in your shoes 20 years ago, coming over to NYC on an L1 and not too much of an idea what I was letting myself in for. $70k is doable, but you will not be able to get anything for $1.6k in the areas you are looking at. You may get a studio apartment near Long Island City for that, but your best bet is looking for an apartment share. In my day, Craigslist was the place to look, but I'm not sure where the cool kids go now. The vast majority of apartments are unfurnished, but you can join a freecycle group or a Buy Nothing Facebook group where people give away pretty nice furniture. And there's always IKEA.

Sorry to say that what you're hearing about visa delays is absolutely the case and you possibly are looking at a 2022 move. Your company's immigration lawyer should be able to give you an idea and don't be afraid to keep asking them.

If you have a sense of adventure and can handle the pace of city life, then it is a great experience to move here when you're young. I work with plenty of junior people who are in the 55k to 70k salary range and they make it work.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Got to say, your company have dropped the ball a bit on this one if it's been planned for a year and they haven't even applied yet! Why didn't they apply the minute the ban on L1's ended at the end of March? You're now at the back of a year's worth of a queue of people who've all been waiting to apply and who have since submitted their applications.

I don't think the interview cancellations have been formally announced, but it's been mentioned on the forum by others as well so it's not just us (and the email said all non-immigrant visa appointments, it's a blanket thing). I think the backlog is just too huge, and we have to hope they get through them quicker than anticipated.

Indeed. We have teenage kids too, so timing is crucial and summer next year won't work for us as our daughter will be midway through her A Levels. I think our only option is to postpone until after she's finished now, it's just going to be too late for us thanks to Trump and Covid.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

You will burn through your savings in NYC on that salary. If you're important enough to your employer for them to go through the rigmarole of getting you a visa, then you're important enough to be paid more than that.

It's also pretty common to be given a lump sum payment for moving expenses. You'd be surprised how many indirect costs there are that will quickly mount up. Be sure to ask that the amount is "grossed up" which again is pretty common in this situation. This means that if the lump sum is $25k for argument's sake, you actually get $25k deposited into your bank account and they withhold the taxes for you on top.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Trying to establish with HR where my visa is in the process and what my salary will be. Hopefully not right at the back of the queue & >£70k. Been various complications with this move already and Covid is making them very non committal to anything.

It seems crazy to me that $70k salary + $90k savings is going to be a struggle. I’ve lived in London for 3 years on a lower £ salary and never struggled.

It’s a big company with HQ in NYC though so they should know what people need to live there. Plus do a lot of transfers.

Anyway, thanks all, really helpful comments

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Rule of thumb is take your UK salary in £ and then double the number and put a $ in front. If what they're offering you is less than that you're very likely going to be underpaid. My rent in Jersey City just outside NYC is approaching double what my rent in London was.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Plus even with good health insurance, there is still likely to be a few thousand out of pocket max per year. So all it would take is a bout of illness / accident that requires a short stay in the hospital and you’d be dipping into savings to pay a four figure bill.

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Is it really the case, that as a rule of thumb, you have to double your UK salary in £ into $, to have a picture of what salary you should be expecting in the US?

Re: Moving to US (pending Covid)
 

Yes, that's pretty accurate.