MaxUK

Hi everyone,

So I'm hoping to move to Charlotte, NC, this year with my American wife and 11 month old son. We are well into the process of getting me a green card (just the medical and interview to go). However, now we need to work out the major steps in actually moving there and would appreciate any advice, links to other relevant threads, etc.

1. My wife, Mindy, is heading to Charlotte in April. Her maternity leave is coming to an end and we assume it'll be easier to find a job while living there. She'll be living with her mum at first but will need to buy a car straight away... Any ideas?

2. I'm reluctant to leave my job until either my wife or I secure a job in Charlotte first. As such I'm planning to continue working in the UK but hoping I'll be able to move to Charlotte in the summer, at which point we'll hopefully be able to rent while we consider when/where to buy... Is this how others approach this type of dilemma in terms of income?

3. We own a house in Brighton and are planning to sell. What we've paid off already (£375k) might be enough to buy in Charlotte mortgage-free or at least with a very small mortgage, as long as we don't lose too much in exchange rates and taxes. It's not the best time to sell maybe but we assume this is the only way we'd be able to afford to buy in Charlotte in the short-term?

4. We will pay an early repayment fee if we sell before Sept. 21st and we're struggling to work out how we'll be taxed on this sale? [Bear in mind my wife is American although resident in the UK for the past 7 yrs. We've also been renting the place in Brighton for the past year while we've been living and working in London]. Does anyone know any good UK/USA tax advisors?

A lot of big questions so any advice much appreciated... If there are any professional services that can provide a single point of contact for all these types of queries then we'd love to hear about them!

James

tom169

Hi, Max. I moved over to Charlotte back in November and whilst I'm new here I hope I can answer some questions. There are some more members of the forum who live in NC and so this place is a great resource - it has certainly helped me.

Just to avoid confusion, you'll be in the process of getting an immigrant visa. Once you enter the USA you'll be a permanent resident and can receive a green card. I'm assuming your wife has passed US citizenship to your 11 month son? If not then she has petitioned for a visa for him too?

1. Used cars are disproportionately more expensive here than the UK. It seems cars retain value much better than in the UK. With that said some good used cars can be found at Carmax and there are plenty of dealerships about for brand new cars. Some folk have used International Autosource if they had a job lined up.

2. You may struggle to secure a job in Charlotte whilst not residing there. Many of the recruiters and hiring managers I spoke to wanted to go for coffee meetings etc.

You mention that you own an expensive home so I assume you both hold professional jobs (apart from your wife is on maternity leave)?

There is a decent job market here and so if you have the skills then it shouldn't take you too long. I'm not sure what industries you're both in, but it could require re-certification.

We are currently renting, but as I start my job next week we are trying to close on a house sale, so this is indeed the approach we took.

3. £375k minus fees etc will be enough to buy a house in Charlotte. Houses here span from $50k to $millions. It really depends where you want to slot in on the house spectrum - quality of life, security, etc. Just watch out for capital gains taxes and other taxes that could bite you as you become a US tax resident when you enter the US on your immigrant visa.

Our budget for a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home is $250k and so far we are finding them.

One thing to note, the Charlotte market moves QUICK. We visited a house yesterday, the first day it was listed, which had 12 more showings lined up after us. You need to be ready to fall in love with a house on first sight and pull the trigger on an offer in this fast moving market. This might be a bit slower if you're going for more expensive ($500k+) houses.

4. Sorry, I don't.

MaxUK

Hi Tom,

Yep sorry , I've nearly finished the application for an immigrant visa. The little one has a U.S. passport already so I think we'll be sorted in terms of the right to live and work there.

1. My wife did visit a Carmax on a trip there already so it's good to know she went to the right place. What about getting a second-hand car through Ads rather than a dealership?

2. Yeah I think it's dawning on me how much of a process this will be. I guess I need to Americanise my CV into a Resume? I work for Pearson (education industry) so I'm hoping that it being an American company will help. Does anyone have any experience of applying for jobs from the UK and have advice about what to say, how to approach employers, etc.?

3/4. Looks like taxes is the biggest unknown at the moment. Think I need to find a UK-based UK/USA tax advisor if anyone has any suggestions?

Thanks for your help!

tom169

As a US citizen he's set for life.

There are certainly deals out there. There are quite a few Facebook groups for Charlotte that advertise. I just preferred to get the car from a dealership so I had a point of contact.

You'll definitely need to "Americanise" your CV into a resume. For most companies the resumes will be scanned automatically and many discarded so this is paramount. For me this involved making my work experience into bullet points that were snappy and to the point. Dates etc should be in the US format too (M/D/Y).

As I assume Pearson is a multinational are there any possibilities of being transferred to a US office?

Cami123

I can only sort of answer question 2 in your last post: I found that finding a job (in medicine/academia though!) was surprisingly easy.
We had saved up and braced ourselves for me coming over on a spousal visa (a J2, which is not the best spousal visa either) and then waiting for a work permit and then finding a job which could take up to 6 months, but I contacted a couple of people in a hospital in my field and they were extremely helpful. I didn't change my CV but I know people here suggest you do and again academia may be differently.

So while it can be a very long process (I have read on here of people looking for a very long time) it can also go much faster than you think. Once I had my offer everyone was very keen to help us get everything organised as quickly as possible - it may be where we are, but overall I found the HR here a lot more efficient than in the UK where often reference and police check can take ages.

MaxUK

I think this is something to sort asap before I apply to any more jobs. I'm assuming there are other threads covering this so will have a look (yeah the US dates are a right pain! ). Pearson UK seems to be surprisingly separate from Pearson USA so I haven't had any luck yet. Thanks for the advice!

MaxUK

An optimistic post, thank you! I have a few contacts to try so hopefully I'll get lucky soon...

tom169

Yes definitely sort your resume before applying for more. You don't want to use up an application with a resume almost guaranteed to fail.

rbackhouse

If you buy private it's worth finding a garage that will do a PPI(Pre-Purchase Inspection) on it. There should be plenty out there that will do it for a small fee. Actually i would do that as well if buying from a used car dealership (too many scummy ones out there) too unless it is a CPO car.