JulieTho

Hi,
I am currently in the process of a potential move to our company offices in Michigan and am at the stage where they’ve done a phone interview and I’m flying out on Sunday to have a look around and meet the team etc. Monday / Tuesday will be spent at the offices getting tours, meeting the team, lunches, meetings with director etc and then an evening meal. During this time I will also be working to give me a chance to see the office dynamics and see how they all interact. Mainly though I’ll be researching things like pensions, share options, heath cover, work I’d be doing, my job role etc.
I then have Wed / Thurs free to have a look around the area. I was thinking of trying to arrange to see some property to get an idea of how much rental property costs and associated utilities, and how deposits etc work. I was also planning on doing the same with car, and checking out prices of things we’d need to buy when we moved (mainly electrical stuff vacuum, washing machine, tv etc as we’d ship bulk of our furniture). I was also thinking of popping to a supermarket to get an idea of cost of basic things and also some other shops to get an idea of true costs. Finally I’d look to get an idea of the job market out there for when my husband got his work permit (I’d be going over on an L1 visa and him an L2). I’ll obviously be having a good look around the area to see what it has to offer
So apologies for waffling but I just wondered if anybody had any other advice to offer as to what I should do when I’m there and if I’m missing anything.
My husband is not coming with me on this trip but as far as I’m aware we would get a pre acceptance trip where he would come out with me before I signed on the dotted line (assuming they offer me the job that is!!) so that would obviously give us more opportunity to have a look around but I really want to have as productive a visit as possible.
Thanks for bearing with my essay!!
Julie

lisa67

I went over to Michigan for a similar trip several years ago. Take your thermal underwear
I had children so was more interested in schooling. You would get a good idea about rental costs if you looked on Craigs list or asked some questions on city-data.com
Where abouts will you be located?

JulieTho

Hi,
i'm going to Kalamazoo and last I heard it was -17 Deg C so thermals are definitely on my packing list!!
No kids so no worries re schooling etc. Just basically checking I've not missed anything obvious.

NatashaB

Whereabouts in MI will you be going? Supposedly it should start warming up next week so you may miss the cold weather Be careful when you're driving, the roads are full of potholes due to the recent bad weather and we've blown out 2 tyres so far.

ABC warehouse (some really great deals to be had if you haggle with them there, we seem to be forever walking out with stuff for half of retail price), sears outlets, Biglots and bestbuy are where we picked up all our electrical and household goods (they do also have freecycle and craigslist on here if you're doing things on more of a budget). Biglots do a loyalty card where if you spend $20 10 times over each counts as a qualifying purchase and you then get 20% off a purchase which we are using to buy sofas and chairs . I signed up to lots of weekly emails from stores so get a lot of 10 or 20% off coupons. We get our food shopping from mostly Kroger with a few bits from Walmart and Meijer when they have special offers. We try to get as much freezer and fresh fruit/veg from Aldi as it is massively cheaper there than any other supermarket. Our food shop is still 50% more than what it was in the UK though, even though I don't buy as much fresh stuff.

I came on an L2 visa, luckily my husband's company held a job open for me because the job market isn't great here right now. I would try and make all the contacts you can for him - does the company you will work for have an HR department who could recommend recruitment agencies or point him in the right direction?

meauxna

You should make sure you get admitted in the correct status. Be sure to tell the border agent what your activities will be on this trip and don't just say it is a holiday. If you are visiting on the VWP (no visa) you still have to be admitted for business activity if that is what you're doing.

dunroving

I've been give different advice/instructions on this by POE officers in the past, when arriving in the US for an interview.

One time, I ticked "business" and the guy got into the whole "Are you doing business while you are here? No, then check the "Pleasure" box".

Another time I left it blank and asked which one I should check and was told "Business".

Sometimes I think they just like messing with your head.

meauxna

Were you coming to visit your current company and were you "also be working to give me a chance to see the office dynamics"?

IMO it's better to inform on the conservative side.

taffie77

When we first came over to look around, my husband's company arranged for realtor to take us around a few properties, just to give us a good idea of the areas, types of properties available and budgets. He was well aware that the move wouldn't be for some time yet, but obviously willing to take the chance that we would use him when we eventually arrived. He was a nice guy actually and even bought us lunch

Most of our stuff was shipped over for us, but we did have to buy small electricals for the kitchen, and lots of lamps (as our apartment doesn't have ceiling lights!). We actually found most of what we want in Target - which you can check out online. Another site you can look at for ideas of prices is JCPenny. And maybe IKEA if there is one in the area you are headed to.

Jobs for your husband, you can probably do most of your research online here. There will probably be a few localised sites, but I use monster.com and more recently have been getting a few calls from agents (and interviews) through http://www.careerbuilder.com

JulieTho

Hey,
Thanks for all of your replies it's nice to get some advice on this as it's such a big thing.
Currently I'm stressing about driving over there but I'm sure it won't be too bad!!
Fingers crossed I get the job and we can begin our next big adventure.
On the entry thing I was planning on saying i was coming for business as I will be doing some work in the office.
Any more tips / advice is very gratefully received!!!
thanks
Julie

Prof_Yaffel

I don't think you'll be wanting to tell anyone that ! I think you're allowed to attend metings but no physical work as such.
Somebody more informed than me will probably comment shortly

lisa67

I find driving over here much easier than in the UK, but at this time of year the roads in MI are full of potholes so be careful

NatashaB

Driving is easy. Just stick a post-it to your dashboard that says 'remember, the drivers side should always be next to the center of the road'. It made it much easier for me to remember, and probably prevented me from driving into oncoming traffic at intersections

JulieTho

When I say I'll be doing business I mean i'll be checking my email and maybe a little bit of work I need to keep on top of. I suppose if I say I'm there for meetings (they haven't actually said it's an interview just more an opportunity to meet the team) then i won't run into any issues at border control.
Such a minefield all of this. As for the driving I keep telling myself to remember I need to always be in the middle of the road (except on 1 way) and I'll just let people go round me if i'm holding them up .
hopefully i'll be asking lots more questions to you helpful people if they offer me the job!!!

Sally Redux

There are no central lines on the roads around my house, that does seem to be what people do.

Prof_Yaffel

If asked I'd just say meetings/interview and a look around . Don't mention working. You're probably ok with checking emails ! Hope you don't mind me asking buy you don't work for Pfizer do you ?