AndrewB7

unfortunately utilities are not paid and it’s not negotiable however that and food is essentially the only expenses we will have so should still be in a good position to save. My wife intends to work once we get settled also and save the majority of what she will earn for the 2 and a bit years she will be working.

how long have you been over and how did you find transitioning?

and yes - it’s a very large company tho fairly new in the us market so really investing in bringing experience over

Jerseygirl

We averaged around $1K per mth on utilities on a 5/6 bed house with pool. We left NJ in Dec 2013.

Pulaski

Food and household consumables (toiletries, cleaning supplies, paper products) is going to cost at least $250 or more per person per month, Given current inflation I would say that $300 is more likely, so budget on $1,200/mth for a family of four.
If your wife is planning on working, you are going to find the cost of day care and afterschool programs, er, interesting! We were paying $1,000/mth for our daughter ten years ago, in NC, which is a fairly low cost area, so in NJ I would expect that you're looking at $2,000-$2,500 a month per child (and more for an under-two year old), and I wouldn't be surprised if a decent (clean and safe) daycare might cost even more than that. ..... After school programs are not cheap either, though some schools sometimes operate their own "extended day" programs, which might be attractive (I don't know if such things exist in NJ schools). In short, there may be little or no net financial benefit to your wife working because of the cost of day care for your children.

scaly back

Honestly, the transition is easy (caveat, I have no experience with getting children in school, though what I have picked up here it shouldn't be an issue) I can only speak of NOVA here, my only hard transition was the driving, just outside the beltway people tend to be very self absorbed in a car, so defensive driving would be good. I have a client in NJ, around Eatontown, Middletown region, it always amazes me the speed they drive on the Garden State parkway after VA, you will probably feel quite at home, 80 in the slow lane :-)

AndrewB7

I think I’m terms of utilities and groceries there isn’t a massive difference to the UK - obviously a larger expense but not drastically bigger than what we would currently pay.

we have a $1,550 a month allowance per child for kindergarten 😉 had done a quick search and thought that would be sufficient however when we start to look at where we would be happy to leave them it may end up we will have to supplement that.

AndrewB7

thanks jersey girl! This is probably a bit more than I had expected - we pay approx $550 in the UK currently and was thinking around $800 but looks like my estimation was off slightly! Suppose each house is different tho so this will be quite a variable cost.

we will be housed initially for the first 3 months when we first move in Hackensack whilst we search for our permanent housing situation.

scaly back

Sorry, never fully answered your question, was sent over in 2012 on an E1, got the company to agree to sponsor a GC a few years later, and now have had it for a few years ( I was lucky, got it just before covid shut everything down) Word of advice, if you want to, get the company to agree and expedite it, it still takes for ever but gives you options.

I'm guessing if you are on that sort of expat deal they will be willing to do it.

scaly back

Oh, one other thing, based on what you have said, I'm guessing they will pay for a relocation package, i.e shipping your home goods to the US, just make sure that works if they want to send you back. I recently moved house and that is really expensive. Plus a set amount of return flight's to the UK on an annual basis, My company puts that in as a part of my salary (before I became hire at will :-)) So if I didn't use the benefit, I was paid out.

AndrewB7

yes - we have a relocation bonus which hasn’t been confirmed yet but we can ship 4 pallets of goods with us. In my contract, if We are returned to the UK or If they need me to relocate within the us then the same benefit is given again along with 4 days additional paid leave for the time.

we have 3 flights per year up to $4,000 per person as part of the agreement plus rental cars when at home covered.

thanks for all of your information! Very informative and sounds like a similar package to yourself.

my wife is unsure about the move but happy to go for the 3 years so once we get settled we will need to talk about whether to peruse GC - there’s been a number of other colleague made this move previously and most have stayed out and gained their permanent residency however there’s no real rush as in real terms it would mean a pay cut moving onto a local US employment contract

Jerseygirl

Many large companies use Fragomen. My husband’s company used Fragomen and they were excellent. During our GC application my FIL was seriously ill in ICU. We needed permission to leave the US whilst our GC applications were in progress. We queued all day outside the USCIS offices in Newark (in early Feb 🥶) to be turned away. Fragomen arranged for someone to queue during the following night, we received the relevant documents and we flew to the UK that evening.

scaly back

I honestly have no knowledge of your circumstances, but it sound to me you have one of those rare ex-pat packages (In fact my company no longer offers them) If you can I would grab it with both hands, amazing what you save not paying a mortgage or rent :-) Good luck!

scaly back

Jerseygirl Yes, they did me too, they were very good, I even had a lawyer ring me up prior to my last interview to go through all the documents I had to check, felt about 6 years old :-)

hannahjane86

Hi- we moved to NJ last year with 3 young children and it was quite a challenge navigating everything - please feel free to message me if you have specific questions about NJ but main points I can think of:

1. your children can’t start school/ day care in NJ unless they have all USA vaccinations and there are discrepancies between UK and US child vaccines. Getting a doctors appointment can take weeks so try to register with one before you come here and book an appointment for when you first arrive ( there were also shortages of the vaccines when we arrived and they had to order them which took weeks so my eldest was delayed in starting school.

2. Your driving license will need to be a USA one and you need to complete a knowledge test- the NJ DMV gets so busy you have to book in advance which can take weeks if not months. We got an international permit from a Uk post office before we came - it gives you 12 months on your UK license and cost £6- well worth it in case you have delays at DMV. It’s a multiple choice test- read the manual they give you and you will be fine.

3. in Northern NJ house rentals are being outbid the same as sales- you may struggle with finding something unless it’s a corporate let, you also need an address to enrol your kids within the school district.

4. we managed with 1 car to begin with and now have 2. If your working from home some days you can manage it temporarily but you need a car to get around- public transport is rubbish here but there’s always Uber. Insurance is also tricky on a UK license but progressive and liberty helped us - you pay extra as it’s not a USA license but the premium drops once you been here a while and once you have your usa license.

5. Opening a bank account can be tricky especially without your social security number/ USA residential address- we used hsbc who were very good and offered an international scheme via my husbands work.

6. you will need your social security number quickly- you will struggle to buy a car/ formalise rent etc without it so you may want to hire a car when you get here until you have your ssn and then you can go buy a car. These are v costly in nj post covid but prices starting to settle down a bit.

7. School districts are critical here. NJ has good schools but look for blue ribbon standard and rent in one of these school districts ( unless you paying private but that is very costly )

8. get a good moving company. Your firm may use one on your behalf, if you have a choice we had a terrible ( I mean terrible- lost our container for 4 months and so much arrived damaged and they refused to pay out the insurance) experience with pickfords so I wouldn’t recommend them.

whereabouts in NJ will you be?

hope this helps aside from everyone else’s answers about health insurance etc…

Pulaski

This not correct, and is at best, misleading advice. A visitor to the US has upto 12 months on their non-US licence, irrepsective of whether they pay for a IDP, which is only a translation of their UK licence, so not especially relevant in the US anyway.

Once you establish residence in a state, evidenced by actions such as buying/ renting a home, starting employment/ a business, putting your children in school, etc. (individually, none of these are necessarily conclusive, but they are all taken as indications) then you fall under the state rules for drivers licensing requirements for residents of the state you are resident in, not the federal rules for visitors to the US.
There is no requirement in the US for a new customer to have to provide an SSN to open a non-interest bearing account, such as a checking (currrent) acccount, unfortunately not all bank employees understand this as obviously most new customers do have an SSN. Many people have reported on BE over the years that they had little trouble opening an account as a new immigrant without an SSN, including at the largest national bank chains. If a branch employee tells you that you "need" an SSN then tell them (use these words) "the USA PATRIOT Act only specifies a 'government-issued ID number' and my passport number satisfies that requirement", and if that doesn't persuade them, ask to speak to a supervisor. .... If you still get rebuffed, it probably isn't worth fighting, so try another bank.

FWIW HSBC seems to be "on its back foot" in the US these days and have sold off most of its US branch network and seems to be focussed primarily on high net worth customers.

hannahjane86

I’m just giving my very recent experiences that were explained by both the nj dmv/ nj town police departments/ professional expat services that served me well in relation to driving.

you don’t technically need your ssn- but it’s incredibly difficult in nj if you don’t have one to do anything, so it’s a priority to get one. Trying to convince a bank member of staff takes more time than actually obtaining the ssn. If a bank has an international program they tend to be well versed with the process ( in my opinion ).

fyi- hsbc has closed a minimum amount of branches in NJ but still has a good footprint in NJ/NY (we have 3 branches within 45 mins) as well as their online service and premier manager on phone if you qualify. I’m not advising the op to open a hsbc account- just in our experience they have been very good.

what might be policy is very different to local state experiences and I found it very useful people giving their practical experiences on a state level above anything else.

im not giving advice- im explaining what worked well for me, what helped me and what difficulties we encountered. If the op wants further info ( not advice) im happy to help given I’ve just gone through exactly what he is about to go through in the same state….. not sure how that can be deemed as dangerous but I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.