Possible move to Virginia
 

Hello
My husband works for a company in the UK that have recently made a deal with an American company. They would like my husband to relocate to Virginia to lead the project over there. This is a big thing for us as we own our house here in the UK and have a 1 year old daughter but its also a massive opportunity for my husband and us as a family. I have a few questions if anyone can help? we want to make sure we are getting the best relocation package from the company
I am trying to work out would my husbands take home pay would be but when i use state calculators they come out different (sometimes $100's difference) can anyone tell me roughly what take home pay would be on $100,000 per year?
We have a friend who has recently relocated to USA and she has advised that spouses of people who move for work are struggling to get working visa's so his pay would have to be high enough to support the whole family
Does anyone have any advice on the spouse getting a working visa?
The office will be in Washington but we are looking at living just outside of there in the centerville, manassas area, anyone have any experience of living in this area?
There are so many questions i would like to ask but i will keep it at this for now, any advice will be greatly appreciated especially if you have relocated with a young child
Georgette

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Hi, welcome to BE.

That will depend on his visa. Some don't allow the spouse to work, some do. So if you can find out what visa the company is planning on getting for him, then the good folks of the forum will be able to help you further for that.

I can't help with your other questions but I'm sure those in the Virginia area will be along to help later.

Best of luck.

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Thank you,

We will ask what kind of Visa he will be on

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Obvious one is an L1 if it is a intra-company transfer. L2 visa holders can get an EAD which allows them to work, but it will take a few months after arrival to get it.

Please let us know when you have confirmed.

You need to ensure that you investigate the cost of healthcare through the employer - what the monthly cost for a family is (likely to be hundreds of $) and the coverage limits, copays and deductibles are. This is the one thing that people sometimes overlook and it will bite you if you do.

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Thanks for your advice

My husband is more than likely going to have healthcare included in his new contract, we are hoping they will add us on as well but if not i have budgeted $1000 per month for myself and my 1 year old. Does this sound reasonable? i got the figure from getting a few online quotes from different insurance companies

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

If he doesn't have health coverage included for you and the family, I would not be accepting this position. That's a red line. They should and will offer a family coverage plan.

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Okay thank you i will add that to the list of things they must provide for us, there would still be a cost towards it though i presume? sorry this is all new to us and i'm just trying to get as much info as possible

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Oh yes there will be!

You will have a monthly premium (likely $100s) plus also co-pays and deductibles every time you use the service.

As an example, I pay just for myself (wife has her own through her employer) and I pay $145 per month as a premium, then $30 every time I see my Dr ($60 for a specialist, $400 for an ER visit) and 10% co-pay on prescriptions, depending on if they are generic or brand name. If I use the ER for anything other than a true emergency, they won't pay a dime, and if they do pay we share the cost 80/20 after I have met my $2k yearly deductible.

So I walk into an ER and it's going to cost me $2,400 minimum before I've even received any treatment.

Healthcare in the US is extremely complicated and is responsible for a large number of bankruptcies every year.

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Ouch, I'm not a person that goes to the doctors/hospital unless i really need to here in the UK anyway but that would surely put people off going! I think i will put the healthcare budget as $600 per month, if our cost is less we will put the rest of the budget into a pot for doctors visits ect. Thank you this has been very helpful

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

$100,000 in the Northern Virginia / DC area is not that much. $6,000 a month take home, with $2,000/$3,000 going toward rent. The DC area is an extremely expensive place to live, with everything from food to child care costing a bit more than the rest of the country. Of course you can get by on $100k a year--plenty do, but you might do better on a similar salary back home.

Traffic in Centerville to DC is going to be quite tiresome, but if you live closer in you'll be looking at considerably more in rent. Is he working in DC-proper? Is it on a Metro station? Right now as I'm typing (8:15am) the ride in, using the flexible toll I-66 is 75 minutes and would cost $38.50 one way (yes, they have obscene flexible tolls on that road). Other routes in take more time and have more traffic.

I would be shocked if the health care didn't include dependents (i.e. you and the kid) but if it doesn't I would really take a moment to think if you want to work for this company. Kind of a low-budget not to pay for dependents and doesn't speak well of the company.

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

We don't know what they are going to offer him but from my research for his role the average in DC was around the 100k mark, hopefully we can push for more but that's why i'm doing lots of research so we can have a counter proposal for them. i am worried about the commute for my DH, the company is currently in Tyson's but is looking for a permanent base, ( we have heard that it wont be directly in DC it will be just outside) which would help with traffic, but maybe a closer location like Alexandria would be a better choice? I have budgeted $2500 for rent including tax, i look at property's every hour of every day :lol: and i am happy with what that amount of money could get us
Childcare is not an issue for the time being as i wont be working, we will definitely now be asking for healthcare for all of us. We were also thinking about asking them to add at least 1 car into the contract (paid by us by leased through them?) is something that is normal for expats?

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

A vehicle could potentially be a taxable benefit, so that's not something I would consider since you can get it taken care of yourself. I would do through International Auto Source to secure vehicles before you arrive.

You will need 2 cars unless you intend to literally be stuck at home all day, and then what happens if something happens to the kids?

Personally I think potentially spending 40% of take home pay on rental is a bad idea. It suggests to me he needs to be getting more in the negotiation.

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

Yes i think we would definitely need 2 cars i just didn't think we would be able to get them without credit, thank you for the advice will definitely look into that, i also think his wage should be higher to accommodate for the higher rent in DC. Originally it was going to be Ohio and we were looking at 90k there so i think only a 10k increase isn't enough compared to how expensive it is. I want him to push to 120k personally to feel secure enough to not struggle with money in a country were we don't have any support from friends/family
His work hasn't actually offered any wage as of yet this is all just from my research, so they would offer way more than what we expect

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

My guess would be net take home of around $5,500, probably not less, but not much more either.

I wouldn't take a position for less than $100k in the DC area, the cost of living, especially housing, is high in that area. If you're used to living in a flat or terraced house then you'll do OK, but houses are expensive in the DC area, and $100k probably isn't enough. In any case, I would suggest that $100k is at the lowest end of what would be acceptable.

You/ your husband should look very carefully at what the going rate is for the job in that specific area, not just for Virginia, as Virginia is itself a large state with some relatively low cost areas, though a long way from DC. Some jobs pay a lot more in the US that the UK, especially technology and engineering jobs, so be sure that company is paying him fairly for the job. I myself took a job in NYC that I thought was decent money, but later realized that my colleagues with similar experience were probably being paid about 50% more than I had accepted!
I would suggest that $90k in Ohio should be $135k in the DC area.

And BTW used cars are stooopid expensive in the US - a $5k vehicle is probably only marginally road-worthy, even at $10k you're likely looking at vehicles with 80,000-100,000 miles on them, which isn't that high be US standards - it isn't uncommon for vehicles to reach 200,000 miles or more!

Re: Possible move to Virginia
 

I paid $2k for a 2003 Mazda protege that had 115k miles on it when I bought it as a cheap run around when I didn't want to drive my (now totalled) 2 ton truck.

It's got 158,000 on is still going strong. It struggles to do more than 70 of course since the horses have all run disappeared from the engine, but I digress. Of course this car lived in GA it's whole life, so has never seen any rust. Unlike the frequent snow storms that you'll get in VA.