My update- J1 in California
 

Hello everybody,

I've arrived in California and been here 1 whole day! Nice weather, found a decent place to live 15 minutes walk from work so quite successful I think!

A couple of pointers for people:

-First thing I did was going to a local phone shop and opening a BOOST mobile account. You buy the phone then and there and open an account with them. You also just go back and pay in cash if you wanted every month ($50 a month unlimited texts, calls, internet). This is good as if you have to leave the country straight away then your not in a long term contract.

-With this phone account opened (make sure they put the address your staying at your invoice) I was able to open a bank account with CHASE.
All they needed was my passport with my visa stamp and a bill with my address on. I'll receive the debit card in 7 days.

So that's it so far, this just goes to show it's possible to do stuff before your SSN arrives.

Hope that's helpful for some peeps!

James

Re: My update- J1 in California
 

Im a US citizen and still waiting for my SSN. Only been a week and a bit though and haven't heard anything saying its been rejected which seems hopeful.

Where in California are you? Im flying out late April for my new Job, going to be living in the LA south bay area.

Re: My update- J1 in California
 

As, indeed, are you - only even more so ...