LJSassy

We are here in Texas with teenage sons, so have looked into University resident requirements - below is a direct quote i found on University of Houston website - but will apply to all Texas colleges. Husband has L-1a, we have L2 visa.

-Senate Bill 1528 grants residency for tuition purposes to noncitizens, nonpermanent residents, and visa holders. If a student attends a Texas high school for 36 months prior to graduation or resides in Texas for 36 months prior to the receipt of a GED, the student will qualify for resident tuition. If you believe you are eligible for Senate Bill 1528, you must submit a signed and notarized affidavit and an official high school transcript/GED certificate with date and scores.

With regards to working, your son cannot do that on a L2. We are going through the Green Card process and should have our EAD work authorization cards in 90 days - that is the only way my son will be able to work this summer, he cannot on the L2.

How long does your son have left in school? There are certain required classes that must be taken to graduate High School here ie. US History, a certain number of years in a science class, foreign language etc. I would have a look at this on-line in closer detail.

I should add that although your company may agree to apply for your Green Card, depending on which route they take may mean your son would still not be able to work for some time. We are getting one which is the "fast way", which is why we'll get EAD in approx 90 days.

I hope some of this info helps, good luck :-)

Owen778

This is what USCIS say about L2 visas (for both the spouse and son):
L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge | USCIS

So, probably a guarantee of a green card application at least a year before the son hits the age of 21 is a good idea. Though you'd probably want the guarantee to be well before that anyway.

Pulaski

There is no "tax on savings", but interest and dividend income is taxed. There is no equivalent to an ISA. There are "tax sheltered" accounts for retirement savings (401K), and college fees (529 plan).

Your electricity bill in Texas is going to be heavily dependent on how much you use your air conditioning, which in turn depends on the size of your house, how well it is insulated, how efficient your AC system is, and the thing you have most control over: your own tolerance to heat. For a medium sized house in Texas with an average AC system and insulation, and if you are tolerant of temperatures indoors in the low 80's °F (high 20's °C), your summer monthly electricity bills are likely to be around $200. With a larger house and low tolerance of temperatures above the low 70's °F (low 20's °C), you could easily be paying twice as much.

Owen778

You will still have co-pays and co-insurance to cover, and these can add up rapidly, even for the higher end medical plans. I imagine you have no idea what these mean. Just trust that medical insurance will still cost you money, and it will be a pain in the arse.

Defined benefit pension schemes are very rare in the US these days. Most people now have a 401k or IRA, which both work in a similar way to a UK SIPP. Contributions are tax-free up to $18000 this year, plus once you're over 50 you'll get extra on top of that.

Nutmegger

Don't know what stage your negotiations are at, but do note that at certain times of the year it may be too hot to fly a dog into Dallas. Just one more think to think about!

Pulaski

Unless you use a lot of medical services, a "high deductible plan" and a "Health Savings Account" (HSA) will likely be the lowest cost option, but you'll need to get used to tapping your HSA for medical bills. We went to this approach several years ago and Mrs P and I are each holding HSA's with five-figure balances to use for future medical expenses. ..... We wish we'd gone to the HD plan years earlier, because "regular" health insurance is like flushing money down the toilet.

markcst

I have the health plan leaflet. My employer will contribute significantly to it (more than $1200) and cover the family, and I can then top this up with add-ons and extra cover. From a quick scan and head count I'll have to deduct an extra $350 a month from salary to get to where I think is comfortable. It has a savings element too. They will explain it all to me, as I could put a hell of a lot more into it from reading the saving element.

There are two plans I can have, I've picked the one described as safer for "someone of my age" i.e. a bit more cost.

Its a UK company in mentality, and a lot of the seniors are from the UK, so they are actually quite good with the schemes and benefits they have and have negotiated with the IRS.

Pulaski

Is that what they told you?

markcst

No they didn't put it that way precisely, but our company leaflets always have that spin

markcst

OK, extra first year cost then... Well thats better than the whole 6-7 years he's planning.

LJSassy

OK, extra first year cost then... Well thats better than the whole 6-7 years he's planning.


Depending on your sons current age, and if he will be attending High School in the US, this may not be the case.

My eldest son is 16 (Dec birthday) and in 10th grade - they start school later here, he will graduate at 18 1/2. A lot of his friends in the UK will be finishing school this summer, whereas we still have 2 more years to go. This was our original comfort when we moved here knowing he would be doing 4 years in a Texas High School, therefore meeting the resident requirements.

My 2nd son has an early Sept birthday - he will turn 15 weeks after starting 9th Grade, meaning he will be nearly 19 by the time he graduates.

An extra year in school for your son would give him the opportunity to gain the required credits to graduate in the US, and also give him the 3 years needed.

OnwardandUpward

I pay @ $250 a month electricity ( 2 bed loft condo ) when it's hot and a/c is on all day. This is Houston.

Home insurance- renters insurance you can buy to cover contents. When I've rented property tax was always paid by the owner.

I just paid $960 for 6 months car insurance for my 19 year old, that was AllState.

Good luck!

petitefrancaise

In Austin I have had a headache with getting gpa credit for my daughter's work prior to moving here. Policy varies between school districts so you should ask specifically about this at the school

"What is your policy on awarding GPA (weighted and unweighted) to students coming from outside your school district?"

I didn't know to ask this and it wouldn't have made any difference anyway since our school district just doesn't award GPA credit to incoming students. However, I might have chosen a different school district had Iknown.
The Texas Education Board policy is that to be awarded credit (and/or GPA) you have to have the curriculum of all the courses taken so that the level can be assessed and credit given. So, ask for the written curricula from the current school in the UK on headed notepaper and signed.... Yes, US history is compulsory to graduate HS in Texas. As another poster mentioned, you must have a record of how many hours per week each course was studied for as that is one of the requirements for getting credit. On the school district website they will have the policy document for awarding credit, you'll probably have to search a bit for it but it will be useful for you to have it.

We only had to pay one month security deposit for the rental house but we had to have it ready to pay immediately since housing down here is scarce.

We all have t-mobile and use our own phones. You can go to the microsoft store and pick up a not bad Nokia for $50 for the kids or bring your own with you. For our t-mobile service I pay monthly in advance and it's about $140(including tax) for 4 of us. I paid a bit extra ($10) so that I can phone internationally on mine. This was cheaper than paying for it on the homephone.

Internet is fairly pricey here - ours is now about $80 and we have no cable tv add-ons just the internet service and home phone line for domestic calls.

Health co-pays and co-insurances add up quickly so make sure you pay into the flexible savings account at work. This is pre-tax money which you use to pay medical/dental bills. You can pay in up to $2500 ish pa. My advice would be to not take the high deductible HSA plan just yet until you've got used to the cost of medical treatment and pharmacy costs here. $350 a month is about what we pay and that's easy to budget for. I think I'd be worried about having to pay out $10k deductible straightaway if one of us needed hospital treatment. Last year, in my family, 2 of us had out-patient surgery, kids have ludicrously expensive acne treatments and we didn't get to $10k costs for us so the insurance was definitely worth it.

When your son passes his driving test in Texas you will have to put him on your car insurance (unless he has his own car) and it'snot cheap. My doctor told me that he bought a separate car for his son and got him 3rd party insurance on that car only as otherwise it would have been really expensive.

We had to pay about $250 each to the water and electricity companies as a security deposit. Our bills for these are about $150 pm for water and electricty varies from $200 to $475 a month (that one was our January one). We don't have an enormous home but the HVAC units aren't brand new and we're looking at replacing the older one.

Sports activities can be pricey here....

big_j

As you have discovered, these forums have a wealth of excellent information. Here are some other things you may want to think about either now or in the future:
- Inform the UK that you now live abroad
- Apply to make catch-up Class 2 National Insurance contributions
- Look into FBAR and F8938 reporting
- Be prepared to report UK earnings (interest, etc.) on your US taxes
- When you get a car, get a TollTag

petitefrancaise

oh yes! If you don't have the tag in your car then they will post you the bill and it costs quite a bit extra each time. The tag is free, you just have a $20 credit to pay and then top it up when that is used up.

And don't forget that if you're buying even a secondhand car through a private buyer then you will have to pay sales tax at the time of ownership change. 6.5% meant an extra $900 for us which we hadn't budgeted for.