Bob

You can get a one way ticket, but like you said, the airline has to pay to ship you back if you get booted, which is why they tend to be so silly, or they just chose not to offer it.

Bob

Still true that for most states it's just a sales pitch.

Up in Maine, having a license with the driving history of more than 6 years would put you having a clean history, which is one up from no history.

In Mass they'll treat having more than 6 years if your over 25 as someone with a clean history and not as a 16 year, which is one step up, but it's not that much of a saving.

Roadster280

I put my house and car insurance with the same agent (for Allstate). His end of the bargain was to ensure I got credit for my UK driving history, proved by the counterpart, which has endorsements (or lack of) on it. I pay considerably less than would otherwise have been the case.

I needed my SSN (within a couple of weeks on arrival on L-1A) to get paid here. Depends on your payroll people as to how pernickety they are.

Good luck.

meauxna

Have wifey read my post here, and the related thread: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showp...50&postcount=2

Goodacre

This is very, very helpful and, what's more, it is very good news. Thank you.

Mskills

Well sorting out the bank account was a doddle, we were lucky enough to be met by the branch manager who had clearly done this more than once, Houston being pretty popular for ex-pats of course; it was an absolute pleasure to work with him.

I used the branch of Wells Fargo just outside my office-to-be. Even got a special account - it even includes a savings account - as my company is a preferred customer! Got chequebooks immediately, cards will be held by the bank until we get back over there.


Sorting out the rental property was a bit harder. What I ended up doing was writing a cheque from my new account. As it happens I had to wait until I returned to the UK and wire-transferred funds into my brand-new, very-empty US account. That will take a couple of days to sort out, hopefully no issues.

What I possibly should have done was drawn a banker's draft against my credit card.

What I definitely should have done was confirm the Wells Fargo "Swiftbank" number - my UK bank needed that info to arrange the wire transfer.



Thanks for the confirmations.


Well it seems like it probably will make not one jot of difference, but hey, worth a shot.


Well the one-way ticket WAS definitely cheaper, in fact it still is, about 300GBPpp cheaper. That's according to continental.com anyway.

I am having a hell of a time booking it though, I even went to the ticket desk at Houston and they struggled to see it.

I'll try my travel agent, see if they can sort out what is possible and what is not, but I don't have a real problem booking a round-trip ticket if necessary.

franc11s

Buy a return ticket and save the hassle. If you are buying a flexible ticket then the 2nd half is refundable so there you go, a round-about way to one-way.

If you enter with a valid VISA (not vwp) you can come with a one-way ticket but the airlines are planks of wood and since they often have to fund your return if your visa is shite then don't take the chance. There is no immigration law that says you can't enter on a one-way-ticket - it's BCIS's way of helping them determine intent to stay. What makes me laugh is that any one on a Visa Waiver, intending to overstay illegally would invest in a return ticket - so it's all a joke to inconvenience the people doing it legally.

Like it makes me laugh that they check my boarding pass at US security checkpoints upto 3 times now (in LA). How much of a JOKE is that. Do they think a terrorist will "forget" to print a boarding pass or when he does, he'll be stupid enough to print it with a name that doesn't match his fake Drivers license.....

And what's with me not being able to take an obviosuly near-empty rolled-up tube of toothpaste. Morons.

big_fish

My family & I came in on one-way tickets (LGW-IAH) on Continental last month. No problems booking or travelling, although there were done via work's travel company.

Be prepared for about an hour at immigration as they go through your paperwork, take copies etc (I'm on a L1a). Not what you need at the end of a long flight especially with a young family. I've been back to the UK since though and re-entry to the US was no problem.

I know you've had other responses on the SSN but for what it's worth I applied on June 21st and my card arrived last week. It's a waste of a few hours at the SS office but that's it. My company used a temporary no. to start payroll deductions/benefits etc in the interim.

Best of luck.

dukeynorton

Er I got a one way ticket - no problem at all! So what's your beef?

Bob

I didn't say you couldn't get them, I just said they tend to either not offer it, or make it more expensive to do so for the reasons already stated.

Elvira

hey - be nice to our Bob ............. or else!!!

.

Jerseygirl

I'll second that...

Ray

Curtains .....

Elvira

Drapes...