dgandhi

Hi there

I joined here as my husband and I are planning a move to the USA (hopefully San Francisco). I am a citizen (though I have never lived in the US) and I am about to file a petition to get my husband a visa.

We both love the US (my husband lived this for a few years whilst he went to university and I have spent time there throughout my life), but we have no set plans about what we will do once we get there!

I want to ask the forum about being able to teach in california (elementary level, public or private). I did my degree at Cambridge (this is now an MA) and I did my PGCE there also. I completed a Montessori diploma and I have 5+ years of teaching experience since qualifying. I have just reached threshold, and my pay is somewhere just below £40K.

I want to ask the forum what I need to do exactly, and what diffucltises I might face. Will I be able to teach in california without doing a million exams.

If I get details of the courses I have done, and get these evaluated, will they be deemed as equivalent and will I be able to get looking for work more speedily.

We are looking to move for a better quality of life rather than to make a lot of money, so I don't necessarily expect I will make as much in SF, but does anyone have any idea of what my experience will be worth? Will I be starting from scratch experience wise, or will my experience be recognized (and paid for accordingly).

Lastly any advice on making a start out in California would be appreciated. My husband wants to do something totally different work wise (he was an accountant till he was laid off, and he has degrees in Political science). We have our savings to live off for a while, but have no idea whether we should be looking to buy inthe first year out there, how we will get health insurance, etc, etc.

Thanks!

penguinsix

Hi

First things first, you better have a load of savings if you want to live in San Francisco.

The Bay Area is one of the most expensive areas in the country to live, and finding some decent housing could gobble up all but the healthiest of savings plans in a matter of months.

I would take a look at http://www.realtor.com/ to get an idea of housing prices in various parts of the USA. See if you can find a few neighborhoods / cities that you like around San Francisco and check out the housing stock and prices you can expect to pay. Try say Petaluma (an hour north of SFO) to get an idea, or Palo Alto (an hour South, and very expensive). You can also check some other cities like San Rafael or Mountain View or Freemont to get a general picture of what sort of things are out there. Locals will be online in a few hours (it's still early in California) to give you more specific advice about some cities.

California is in a financial freefall right now and teaching jobs have been hit very, very hard. As the state is shedding people and tax revenues, teachers have been laid off in many districts and competition is fierce for the few jobs that remain. Finding a job is going to prove very difficult.

http://www.calitics.com/diary/11153/...fornia-schools

Quite honestly, California is one of the last places I would be moving to if I was looking for a teaching job, sorry to say.

As for some of the particulars, we have a primer on health insurance here:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Health_Insurance

You will probably be on your own purchasing an individual plan (ehealthinsurance.com) for the first few months until one of you gets a job and is eligible for the group plan, which hopefully should be a bit cheaper.

What exactly does your husband want to do?

dgandhi

Hi, thank you for that, I am looking forward to doing more research.

We really like California which is why we are looking there. We are hoping to move with access to our life savings (approx $230-250K depending on what happens to exchange rate in the next year).

It'd be great to get more info on how likeley I am to be qualified to work in CA. I have an idea of the process, but don't know how they value UK quals. I realise that getting a job will be a whole different challenge.

My husband has done various jobs over the last few years (recruitment consultant for 6 months, trained and worked as a inpatriate tax consultant for just over a year, and as his department was cut down in size, he is working in retail management at the moment (he manages several gas stations). He will have to do some research to see who would hire someone at entry level if he wanted to do something different.

btw ehealth insurance is excellent. But it raises so many more questions!

penguinsix

I'll let the others who have gone through the degree conversion process speak more on that. I really don't think recognition of your qualifications is going to be the thing that holds you back.

I wanted to mention one other site:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/california/

This is a relocation message board for different parts of the US. Post a message in there describing what type of city you are looking for and you'll get a lot of feedback from the locals as to what to expect and what is a bit of fiction. Really good for finding out which side of a town is the "wrong side of the tracks".

Sally Redux

I have a PGCE but I didn't pursue trying to teach here, however from what I was told you just have to get certified, or can work in a Community College or private school without doing so. The state schools are under the cosh financially as has been mentioned. Whether you could achieve the equivalent of 40,000 GBP I would think doubtful.

dgandhi

thanks for that.

I also wanted to know about teaching prospects in other cities along the west coast. I assume CA is not the only place with a budget problem it's trying to address. We had also thought of WA (Seattle, Bellevue).

Thanks!

ian-mstm

This isn't directly related to your aspirations of teaching, but how do you intend to demonstrate domicile or intent to domicile in the US if you've never lived in the US? Have you been filing US tax returns each year?

Ian

dgandhi

This is a problem.

Neither of us have been filing US Tac rerturns, but plan to file for the last 3 years asap.

My husband was a US resident, and went to college there. He had to leave the US dude to family problems in England. He never earned enough to have a filing requirment till 2007. He also has been out of the US for over a year, and is deemed to have abandoned his green card, which is why I'll be petitioning for him, now that the family issues have been sorted.

So we will file the US tax returns, and the fact that we have been preparing this whole time to move to the US.

Don't know if we want to retain an immigration lawter at this point, as they're very expensive in London.

It's always been our intention to move back, which is why my husband always kept his US bank account open, and has been paying off his student loan. Not sure how the USCIS will view this.

cityhog

Why move to the US if you have a job and make £40K per yr in the UK? In this economy? Move to California? San Francisco? Are you kidding me?

dgandhi

erm, well £40K doesn't go that far in London. To earn that much I work in an area where the house prices are fairly high. We rented in swiss cottage and were paying around £1100 pcm for a tiny studio, no parking spot. Now we commute around 2 hours each way.

Also London weather gets us seriously down - and I guess we just dont really like living here.

My husbands lived in the US for around 6 years, and weather, natural beauty and how far our money will go is a huge consideration. SF is just one city, but it isn't neccesary to live/ work in SF. I've spent my summer holidays with family in the US since I was 10, and to be honest we're just huge fans of the states.

Had it not been for some family issues, we would have been there a longtime ago.

Jerseygirl

As Sally said you will need to be licensed to teach in state schools in the US. As for private schools it depends on the school's policy. What subject/s are you qualified to teach...I hope it's not Geography?

Edit: You need to follow up with what Ian posted. Please post any questions about this and all questions regarding the actual immigration process in the US Marriage Based Visa forum.

Cape Blue

My one-bed in SF is at $2,200, plus a further $250 for parking.

Craigslist is useful for pretty much anything - http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/

There's a big difference between living here at college and living here employed, suggest you read some of the Moving Back to the UK forum on here to get some balance.

dgandhi

Hi, yes Craigslist is great for the bay area.

Our studio was 225 square feet in size, with shared shower in the hall way with 11 other studios! Not great, but that's why it was so cheap.

The smallest one-bed we could find was £1985 pcm, and it wasn't even that much larger, just had a lofted area with a bed in it.

Will keep researching as you suggest, and make a balanced choice. thanks

Jerseygirl

Here is the link to the Moving Back To The UK forum that Cape Blue suggested you take a look at. It mostly gives the views of expats who have moved back to the UK or are moving back...their reasons for doing so and their opinion of the UK once they have returned. It makes interesting reading.

ian-mstm

I wouldn't be so quick to make that assumption. Time outside the US, by itself, is not sufficient for a finding of abandonment of status.


This is good - it supports the position that he always intended to return, and it demonstrates that his time outside the US was temporary (albeit extended).


See about an immigration attorney in the US - they're likely less expensive. I think you should... you may be putting yourself through a lot of unnecessary hassle!

Ian