shazzzam!

I've just found this site and I'm a bit dazed by the incredible amount of information and opinion on it. It's made me realise that my intended move to Florida may be a lot more tricky than I'd imagined, so I thought I'd ask for all/any advice.

Here's the deal. In 2000 I sold my tiny flat in London and bought a much bigger one in Paris that's now worth a lot more than I paid for it. This June I went to Miami for the first time and fell in love with the place. With the exchange rate as it stands I reckon that even after I've paid off the mortgage, taxes, fees, loans and debts [loved the credit card thread] etc, I should be able to buy a place outright in Miami. I hope to sell up and buy a place by August.

However, I now realise it might not be quite so easy to get a visa, a driving licence, or even a bank account. My 'plan' [ha!] is to buy the place outright and pay cash - I hope to have around $200K. I thought this would make me look flash and rich [I'm neither] and get me a bank account no problem. But I notice that I need a driving licence to get Homestead Allowance on my property taxes, and it looks like I can't get a licence without a SSN. Is that right? I work as a freelance, self-employed journalist for European and UK trade publications, so I'm not even sure what kind of visa I should apply for.

Any suggestions on strategy - regarding credit, banking, visa or driving licence - would be very welcome. Apart from 'Stay at home you berk', obviously.

MrsLondon

Unlikely you'll get a visa for more than 6 months unless you marry an American, get an emplyer to sponsor you for a work visa, or get rich quick.
However, the driving licence thing intruiged me. Are the Americans obsessed with driving licences? My hubby is American, has never driven or had a licence. What are you supposed to do if you simply don't want to learn to drive?

FlyergirlUK

You get a State ID card, buy a bike and learn the bus timetable!! LOL

NC Penguin

To MrsLondon:

If one is flying internally (within the US), state drivers licenses are routinely shown as the form of state issued picture ID.

Also, increasingly often, shoppers are asked to produce ID when making purchases with a credit or debit card. The usual form of ID that appears out of the purse or wallet is the state drivers license.

I think it is *very* unusual to find an American who doesn't have a driving license, even if they don't regularly drive. Not being able to drive severely limits one's mobility within the US.




NC Penguin

Ray

1. Bank Account will be no problem
2. Visa.. the best you can do is a B-2 giving you 180 days a year.. but they are getting really tough on issuing those..a visa waiver will give you 90 days.
3. Homestead exception are for residents ..you won't get that.
4. Driving licence you can get but it will only be valid fot the time on your I-94
5. You cannot get a SSN
6. Hope you speak Spanish

supernav

i don't know about miami, but in LA $200k will get you a garage. The house comes extra.

-= nav =-

shazzzam!

That's only one reason why I'm moving to Miami and not LA. There are lots of others but I won't bore you with them. Property is much cheaper in Florida than California.

shazzzam!

Thanks for your time.
1. Any suggestions for a good bank?
2. I'll look into the B-2 though clearly I'll need a green card at some point.
3. If I own a property in Miami and it's my principal residence then surely for tax purposes I'm the resident. It says on the Miami-Dade government site that all you need to show in Florida is a licence and vehicle registration in your name and address to qualify for Homstead exception.
4. My licence will only be valid for the time on the I-94? You mean I can only drive on one road? Anyway, I thought it was the I-95 that goes to Miami.
5. Why not? Not ever?
6. Claro que si hombre, hablo espanol como todo el mundo. Y muchas gracias.

JeanDupont

Shazzam - I'm not sure if I understand you right but I get the impression you intend to work while living in Miami, but as a freelance for european companies.
What makes you think you are going to get any sort of long-term visa? You will be living as an illegal alien, and the way things are going right now you may well get picked up and deported.

If you don't get a longterm visa then you are going to have to leave every 90 days (or at best 180 days) and then attempt to re-enter.
If you don't leave when your allotted time is up then will be overstaying - and this will get you banned for 3 years, or 10 years from entering US.

What will happen to your apartment and possessions in US then? You will not be able to enter US - they will just send you back.

If you try to re-enter multiple times on a 90 day visa-waiver you will get questioned by immigration - what are you going to say? If you tell them the truth they will say you need a visa and not allow you entry. If you lie to them they will probably not believe you.

Once denied entry you have to get a visa and cannot again attempt to enter on a visa-waiver.

INS do not mess about. They may not be efficient later on in the process but at port of entry they have no problem in saying the easiet thing ."NO".

You are going to have to consider marrying a US citizen if you want to stay in US. It could be the easiest (or only) way.

What is your age, gender and nationality? There may be other ways for you if you give more information.

shazzzam!

Hi Jean

Yes, I'm starting to realise this might not be as easy as I'd thought. Friends of mine moved to LA in the late 80s with blithe disdain for formalities and procedure.

I had no intention of lying to the INS [DHS?] but assumed that if I was buying property - in cash, with my money I could show the provenance of - then I'd be able to move to Florida and regularise my situation once there. Clearly 9/11 has changed everything.

As for your questions, I'm a 47-year old British male currently resident in Paris, where I've lived for the last three and half years. Yes, I hope to work for UK/Euro publications at first, and then for US magazines eventually. That was the idea.

So, you think it's time to give up the bachelor life? Maybe I should just get myself a US immigration lawyer? Can't I get leave to stay while they work on my case? I was thinking it might be possible to get an immigrant visa E-B2, since it says on one of those visa websites that as "a worker with exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business, you may apply to waive the requirement that youhave a job offer if such a waiver would be in the national interest."

Can I convince the IN that it's in the national interest to let a tax-paying freelance journalist live and work in the US?

Any other ideas?

sibsie

I hate to say it but that's highly unlikely unless you are a big name, internationally recognised journo.

You may have probs with the B2 as well. One of the B2 requirments is proving long term ties to the UK. They normally prefer that in terms of home ownership and employment. A B2 is not as easy to obtain as people think.

Entering under the VWP isn't a given either. If you have property there, no ties to your country of origin and they think you're going to stay you could well get turned away at POE and Miami is one of the tougher ones.

When you're opening a bank account shop around for one that doesn't require a SSN or proof of legal status in the US. There aren't that many of them around and you'll have to know the Patriot Act in order to convince them otherwise.

The SSN isn't a legal requirement but many banks have now made it a strict internal policy.

doctor scrumpy

Should try Manassas Va, the school intake for next year is over 50% Latin Americans.

shazzzam!

But I'm not Latin American, I'm British. Am I missing something here?

Pulaski

More unusual than even you may realize, Sarah. Some (most? all ???) states will issue, for a small fee, to non-driver's an ID, processed through the DMV system, because the drivers licence is so widely expected as evidence of your ID.

dunroving

A non-driver's license then? What a wacky idea! Does it say "the bearer of this license can't drive for sh*t"?