That's really helpful, thank you. We would be looking to sell out UK home and buy in the Us after about 2 years, once we get the GC and have a feel for whether want to stay. So those points about the impact on tax is really interesting.

I agree that the example of $100k probably wasn't very helpful and as a result I've abandoned trying to work it out and instead we are just focussing on net figures when drafting the exec summary on how much extra we need to make it work. It's hard as we don't want to miss anything out but at the same time we don't want to appear petty or seem like we're taking advantage.

Looking to move to the South Bay and am budgeting $4500 a month for rent (tiny 3 bed). They will put us up in corporate housing for 1 month and car rental for 1 month. Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) the difference between our current mortgage and our projected rent is quite significant (despite our house being 2.5 x larger than what we'll be looking at in Ca), hence why we now need to draft a response to justify how much extra we need. Yikes.

If you eventually plan to sell your home in the UK, there is a $500K exclusion on capital gains for married filing jointly ($250K for single) if the home was your primary residence for 2 of the past 5 years. Therefore if you decide to sell and buy in the US, make sure you sell within 3 years after you started renting to get that exclusion otherwise the you will have to pay capital gains tax when the home is sold.

Also the process of buying a home in the US is different than the UK. The following link starting at post #12 should give you an idea of the process.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=789973

Thanks - so helpful! I've added that to my "Future Notes" doc that I've been compiling based on lots of great advice on this forum!

I suspect you have already decided on the area you would like to live but depending on where your husband will be working, there are certain parts of Fremont that are very nice. The city (including the canyons and east hillsides) is physically about the size of San Jose with less than about 1/4th the population so there is plenty of open space. I lived there for about 18 years before moving about 5 years ago. For me it was about a 20 minute drive to where I worked in San Jose and 30 minutes to Sunnyvale so it was convenient.

There are two areas of Fremont that are very nice, the Mission San Jose district and the North Warms Springs district with very good area schools (all ranked 10 out of 10) even though the schools are in the Fremont school district which is overall average. Much of the area is hilly, is within walking distance to the east hills, and the homes and yards are larger, and less expensive than the other side of the bay. The pictures at the bottom were taken from my townhouse living room deck and on a clear day, I could see San Francisco (second picture is San Francisco and Oakland on the horizon but not visible on the day of the picture due to the clouds/fog). The Mission San Jose district includes a village with one of the original missions and churches built by the Spanish in the early 19th century. The North Warm Springs District was originally owned by Stanford and made the decision to place Stanford University on the other side of the bay instead of in Warm Springs. In the area there are some very large houses up to 15,000 sf. Since much of the area is hilly, it gets a nice afternoon breeze and is within 3-4 miles from the bay so gets cooled by the summer overnight fog. The is also another district called Niles which is where the Charlie Chaplin movies were made as well as the silent westerns before everything moved to Hollywood.

The area that I am referring to is where the dark blue symbols (schools ranking 10 in the district) on the following map on Mission Blvd and Paseo Padre Parkway.

http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/...2%2C12%2C1%2C2

As far as the medical plans go, when you compare the numbers you gave, the PPO is really charging you significantly more for the ability to have free choice in which doctors you can see. Since, for most conditions, there will be multiple in-network choices for who to see, and Kaiser is big enough to give you in-network coverage in most of the country, I'd call the PPO plan a poor value.

Typically you can change the plan you're on at one specific time every year, so you're likely not locking yourself into the original selection for more than one year.

Sorry - really dumb question - if i went for the Choice Plus Network PPO - would the max i spend in a year be my deductibles ($800) + out of pocket expenses ($3000) + UHC PPO & VSP Vision @ $325 per month (so $3900?) plus Atena PPO Dental @ $39 per month (so $468)? (Totalling $8168)?

Sorry, I'm guessing that the clue is in the title "Monthly Employee Cost" but am just double checking that I do pay that on top of the deductibles and out of pockets!!! Thanks

You pay the first $400 per person up to $800, then you pay your copays or percentages, depending on the service, and when that costs you more than $1500 for an individual or $3000 (including deductibles) for the family in the year then you are covered 100% for the individual/family. So, $3000 per year is max, but through normal health stuff for most families you probably won't reach that.

So your max is $3000 in health care costs plus ($329+39)x12 premiums. $7416.

That looks right as long as you stay within the network but if you go out of network, the deductible and maximum out of pocket expenses can be totally separate from the in network deductible and maximum out of pocket expenses. As an example, you could pay the deductible and reach the maximum out of pocket expenses for in network care and then go out of network to be treated and your deductible could start from $0 and your maximum out of pocket expenses could be for out of network care could be the maximum amount in addition to what you paid for in network care. Also remember that some services such as doctors visits do not have a deductible so on your first visit to the doctor, you will pay 20% of his charges. I don't think you have the details of the full plan since co-pays for lab work and other services should be indicated.

Vision care is not included in those deductibles and does not have the maximum out of pocket expense. Normally vision care allows for eye tests once a year and glasses or contacts every two years. Normally the plan may pay a maximum amount for glasses and if you want something that is more than that, you pay the difference. Just about everything else to do with the eye is covered under your medical policy.

Also most plans do not include prescription drug benefits in the deductible and maximum out of pocket expenses.

Contact your HR department concerning the fine details of the plan.

Thanks Michael, i guess without knowing what hospitals are included "in network" (not that i know anything about the hospitals/specialists in the area to determine whether they are good or not) I don't know whether it's worth paying the extra to go out of network. Decisions decisions

For the PPO plans that I had, it seemed that just about all hospitals and doctors were in network. If a PPO pay reimbursements that are similar as other PPOs, almost all doctors and hospitals sign up. I suspect the few doctors that don't are possibly well know specialists that demand more for their services than most specialists in that field. As an example, I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and I found a specialist on the internet in the area that was considered one of the top 5 specialists in the US in that field and when I called to make an appointment, they said they didn't accept insurance. I decided to make an appointment and bill my PPO but the doctor was less helpful than the other doctors that I had seen (including my FP and Stanford Hospital doctors who were in network).

It gets more complicated than that. Quite often, a lot of the services within the hospital are essentially sub contracting companies that are separate so for example:

See your PCP/GP and you get a blood test, that vial of blood might be stored in a blood company at the hospital till they are ready to do the test, the test could be processed by another company and then another doctor will read the results who will tell your doctor who may call you to give you the results or have you come in again for them at another co-pay, or not. Any one in that chain may or may not be in your network and would cost extra.

There's just no way for you to know that ahead of time though.

Speaking from experience.

You've just got to roll with it.

Sigh. Thank you - I think you're right. I can either obsess about it and try to pre-empt every scenario or, you're right, and I can just roll with it. I choose the latter. Am sure I'll find something else to obsess about instead! Thanks everyone! Really grateful for all your help.

BTW, got our visas approved today so at least that's one thing I can check off my check list!