Now i know where you get these really obscure conspiracy theories from, the divvy yankys
Those who moved to the US - yay/nay?
- Thread starter squerble
- Start date
Now i know where you get these really obscure conspiracy theories from, the divvy yankys
Went to a LAN out there with a clan I played regularly with - for some of them the 3-4 days were the first vacation days they had taken in around a decade and most had taken maybe a dozen days max in that time - the fact I had 28+ a year and took them was a topic of debate.
My current employer gives 15 days of vacation for people with 0 to 5 years service, 20 days of vacation to people with 5 to 10 years service, and 25 days of vacation to people with over 10 years of service. In addition to this, everyone gets 10 "company designated holidays" (i.e. public holidays) and 1 "employee designated holiday" (i.e. you get one day per year to use on any day of the year). This technically means that I have 26 days holiday, versus 33 that I would have had in the UK. However, after 10 years service, I would have 36 days holiday, versus 33 in the UK. The company offers unpaid leave to anyone who wants it. One of my colleagues has been with the company over 10 years and has accrued over 350 hours of vacation time. When he leaves the company, the company will turn it into cash and pay him an extra two months worth of salary, which will be like receiving a $20,000 cash bonus.
Some people that I know in California just don't care for big holidays. They think nothing of doing a big trip over a long weekend (flying to Utah or Canada for skiing or snowboarding, for example). Also, due to the weather in California being nice all the time, people can really make the most of the weekends, by going to the beach, surfing, going out for hikes, bike rides, camping in the desert, etc. I think that the constant nice weather here has a big effect on reducing the feeling of "needing" to go on a holiday, especially when compared to the times when the weather in the UK is particularly dreary and all people might feel like doing is dreaming or planning to go on holiday for some sun.
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Have I ever lived in the USA? No
But having the experience of living in two countries outside of the UK (Dubai and India), my belief is, what is there to lose? The UK is a great country, but for me the lifestyle was limiting.
My children were young enough to make the move, everything will be a great learning experience, and as someone else said, if it all goes t*ts up, get yourself on a plane back to the UK.
Life is too short to have any regrets
But having the experience of living in two countries outside of the UK (Dubai and India), my belief is, what is there to lose? The UK is a great country, but for me the lifestyle was limiting.
My children were young enough to make the move, everything will be a great learning experience, and as someone else said, if it all goes t*ts up, get yourself on a plane back to the UK.
Life is too short to have any regrets
The thing that puts me off going back is the health care costs. My family paid 2k per month on health insurance with a $200 premium. Turns out that premium is calculated per invoice (and you get billed for every tiny thing like being discharged from hospital) , so when my sister had to have her appendix out it cost $20k in premiums. That is ridiculous if you ask me.
I have a work collegium that just never takes vacation because he gets getting back to the office and having to catch up. We have a vacation cap at 150% of your annual allowance! above this you just loose the time. He has sat at that cap for several years now so he just throws all his vacation allowance in the bin, not getting a single dime back.
Always wanted to live in the U.S. My family moved back here 10 months before I "arrived", however it does seem near impossible.. Currently training as a civil engineer, but will be going more into the management side.. Still no use.. My plan!! Nice American girl!
Although I don't work in the US, I work for a company based there and I get to visit every quarter or so. Having been placed there in a business environment rather than on holiday I think the lack of holidays along with geographical location would put me off working there forever. I wouldn't mind a stint out there to try it though so we'll see (US west coast).
I previously lived in Germany for 5 years, but I think the UK (and London especially) will always prove too much of a draw for me to up sticks for good. I appreciate London is a very Marmite city though.
I previously lived in Germany for 5 years, but I think the UK (and London especially) will always prove too much of a draw for me to up sticks for good. I appreciate London is a very Marmite city though.
Soldato
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Me move to US? No way!
Life in USA put me off after heard from my cousin Angela back in 2000 when her family with 1 daughter and 2 cats from Ellesmere Port moved to Warwick, Rhode Island after Angela's husband Jim gained visa, they stayed in motel for a month as they waited for their lovely 3 bedroom house I been visited sold then they had money bought $150,000 large house with 3 bedrooms, 1 garage, swimming pool and a large shed in garden all made by woods.
After first night in house family found house very cold so they switched on heating powered by oil to keep temp up at 20C but they kept done same thing every nights then a month later they paid $400 after taxed for heating oil which was too much so they had to wear jumpers every night to lower heating oil bill to $350. Not very impressed they paid far too much for heating while my house heating bill was only £50 every month, that $77 so my house not had walls insulated but if walls had been insulated then my heating bill would cost me £25 every month. She said house was very warm during summer daytimes but very cold at nights and had to switched on heating oil all days through Sept to May.
Foods and drinks in USA are tasted horrible but she found cakes very lovely taste and chocolates made in USA tasted like vomits, she had no choices but to ordered her favorites UK chocolates imported to USA. The costs of medications at Walwart was shocked very expensive compared to here in UK, same thing went with medicare costs.
After her son James born her hospital charged her $5000 then when James was 4 he was found drowned at house swimming pool he had no sighting of life for 1 hour, thankfully he had a shock of life at hospital and came back to life and stayed at hospital for a week then they charged Angela $100,000 for James life-threatened injury. The massive bill gave Angela a shock of life then she started to ate alots gained lots of weight but she had a heart attack at 38, hospital charged her $10,000 for treated heart attack then she realised she had enough with medicare appalled massive health bills and decided went to gym with son James to helped her to lose weight. Years later her daughter Nicola secreted stole mum's money and sold items from house to prawn stores to fund her drugs until mum found out the truth few months later to learned Nicola wasted $40,000 on drugs with her girlfriend. It was get worse when she gone off drugs then mum put Nicola in psychiatric hospital for 2 months to treated for schizophrenia, when Nicola was discharged psychiatric hospital charged Angela $10,000.
Wow it gone on and on Angela and Nicola regretted moved to USA, it not great life in the USA. Her family would be much better off stayed in Ellesmere Port then they would not paid hundreds of thousands in private health while they get it free from NHS.
My family and my sister family long time ago had been thought about visited Angela on holiday after Dad retired but it never happened after the whole thing Angela said put everybody off think about going to USA on holiday or move to USA.
Life in USA put me off after heard from my cousin Angela back in 2000 when her family with 1 daughter and 2 cats from Ellesmere Port moved to Warwick, Rhode Island after Angela's husband Jim gained visa, they stayed in motel for a month as they waited for their lovely 3 bedroom house I been visited sold then they had money bought $150,000 large house with 3 bedrooms, 1 garage, swimming pool and a large shed in garden all made by woods.
After first night in house family found house very cold so they switched on heating powered by oil to keep temp up at 20C but they kept done same thing every nights then a month later they paid $400 after taxed for heating oil which was too much so they had to wear jumpers every night to lower heating oil bill to $350. Not very impressed they paid far too much for heating while my house heating bill was only £50 every month, that $77 so my house not had walls insulated but if walls had been insulated then my heating bill would cost me £25 every month. She said house was very warm during summer daytimes but very cold at nights and had to switched on heating oil all days through Sept to May.
Foods and drinks in USA are tasted horrible but she found cakes very lovely taste and chocolates made in USA tasted like vomits, she had no choices but to ordered her favorites UK chocolates imported to USA. The costs of medications at Walwart was shocked very expensive compared to here in UK, same thing went with medicare costs.
After her son James born her hospital charged her $5000 then when James was 4 he was found drowned at house swimming pool he had no sighting of life for 1 hour, thankfully he had a shock of life at hospital and came back to life and stayed at hospital for a week then they charged Angela $100,000 for James life-threatened injury. The massive bill gave Angela a shock of life then she started to ate alots gained lots of weight but she had a heart attack at 38, hospital charged her $10,000 for treated heart attack then she realised she had enough with medicare appalled massive health bills and decided went to gym with son James to helped her to lose weight. Years later her daughter Nicola secreted stole mum's money and sold items from house to prawn stores to fund her drugs until mum found out the truth few months later to learned Nicola wasted $40,000 on drugs with her girlfriend. It was get worse when she gone off drugs then mum put Nicola in psychiatric hospital for 2 months to treated for schizophrenia, when Nicola was discharged psychiatric hospital charged Angela $10,000.
Wow it gone on and on Angela and Nicola regretted moved to USA, it not great life in the USA. Her family would be much better off stayed in Ellesmere Port then they would not paid hundreds of thousands in private health while they get it free from NHS.
My family and my sister family long time ago had been thought about visited Angela on holiday after Dad retired but it never happened after the whole thing Angela said put everybody off think about going to USA on holiday or move to USA.
while that is very sad part everyone else in this thread has been pretty clear that you need to have medical insurance over there
seems to me that there is fantastic quality of life in some areas providing you're at least a middle class professional - if you have long term health issues though or are unemployed for a long period or something goes wrong and you've not taken out the appropriate insurance then the basic safety net is very very basic
I have been to Texas and wouldn't mind living there.
Or perhaps Montana and marry a round American woman and breed rabbit's - She will cook for me - Then I will get a Pickup truck or a Recreation vehicle and travel from state to state - "do they let you do that" No Papers? Or even Arizona - Can you have two wives?
Sounds a nice place to live.
Dave
Or perhaps Montana and marry a round American woman and breed rabbit's - She will cook for me - Then I will get a Pickup truck or a Recreation vehicle and travel from state to state - "do they let you do that" No Papers? Or even Arizona - Can you have two wives?
Sounds a nice place to live.
Dave
I live in central NY state, the weather only sucks in winter, odd how it never storms here (IMO). I am from Extreme So IL there they get awesome storms, sorry anyway yes, driving an hour to get to a real store, did that in IL also... Realy, besides winter, the storms are nothing to worry about, get a generator & you will be good... BTW, when they say severe storm on the news here I LotI (laugh on the inside)...
Moved to "SoCal" a few weeks ago on a 3 year work contract and 5 year work visa.
So far loving... bit early to tell
Living the American dream, I got a large (2200 sq feet) 3 bedroom detached Californian home in the Suburbs of Los Angeles. Out in the Valleys of Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks. I have got two cars on lease, Ford Explorer and got a Ford Fusion Hybrid today. I drive 35miles each way to work to Santa Monica and back. This route gives me about 10 -15mins on the freeway and the rest is through Malibu Canyon and then Pacific Coast Highway up to the second exit of the I10. Approx 50mins - 1hr to get to work and is an awesome drive.
Already got good experience of the healthcare here, I have a family HMO - $40 per visit and then everything else is included in that visit. If I have an out patient procedure it costs $150 and if you have to stay over night it is a flat rate of $500, doesnt matter how long your stay.
Emergency appointments (hit by a car etc..) are free if admitted - this is to stop using ER to game the system. There is a annual cap of about $1500, so I never pay more than that in one year no matter what happens.
For those planning on moving here my one main tip is apply for your social the second you land. It takes weeks to arrive and you simply do no exist without a social security number. There are very few things you can do without one, bizarrely you can rent a house but you cannot lease a car, you cannot get paid but you can get a bank account.
You cannot get a credit card but you can get a pre-paid sim card - get AT&T or T-Mobile as they are GSM and work in unlocked UK phones.
My internet connection is Verison Fios so I get fibre to the door and can get speeds up to 500Mbps... up AND down. I elected for 75/75 since I actually don't have to obtain my US TV shows over the internet any more yay for Fios that lets me record up to 6 HD TV shows at the same time.
I am happy to answer any questions as it is all still very fresh.
So far loving... bit early to tell
Living the American dream, I got a large (2200 sq feet) 3 bedroom detached Californian home in the Suburbs of Los Angeles. Out in the Valleys of Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks. I have got two cars on lease, Ford Explorer and got a Ford Fusion Hybrid today. I drive 35miles each way to work to Santa Monica and back. This route gives me about 10 -15mins on the freeway and the rest is through Malibu Canyon and then Pacific Coast Highway up to the second exit of the I10. Approx 50mins - 1hr to get to work and is an awesome drive.
Already got good experience of the healthcare here, I have a family HMO - $40 per visit and then everything else is included in that visit. If I have an out patient procedure it costs $150 and if you have to stay over night it is a flat rate of $500, doesnt matter how long your stay.
Emergency appointments (hit by a car etc..) are free if admitted - this is to stop using ER to game the system. There is a annual cap of about $1500, so I never pay more than that in one year no matter what happens.
For those planning on moving here my one main tip is apply for your social the second you land. It takes weeks to arrive and you simply do no exist without a social security number. There are very few things you can do without one, bizarrely you can rent a house but you cannot lease a car, you cannot get paid but you can get a bank account.
You cannot get a credit card but you can get a pre-paid sim card - get AT&T or T-Mobile as they are GSM and work in unlocked UK phones.
My internet connection is Verison Fios so I get fibre to the door and can get speeds up to 500Mbps... up AND down. I elected for 75/75 since I actually don't have to obtain my US TV shows over the internet any more
yay for Fios that lets me record up to 6 HD TV shows at the same time.I am happy to answer any questions as it is all still very fresh.
We have the US west coast on our list for a future move....the main thing that puts me off is the working culture. I'd be interested to hear what it's really like (particularly in software/game dev).
The best thing about Germany is the culture of work/life balance, they got it right here.
The best thing about Germany is the culture of work/life balance, they got it right here.
Jbod, i hope you wouldn't mind answering a few questions for me? How did you find the car leasing process, did you arrange it pre arrival via one of the various companies that offer the service for expats or did you lease once you landed? I've also heard the insurance can be a bit steep due to having no driver history over there?
Moved to "SoCal" a few weeks ago on a 3 year work contract and 5 year work visa.
So far loving... bit early to tell
Living the American dream, I got a large (2200 sq feet) 3 bedroom detached Californian home in the Suburbs of Los Angeles. Out in the Valleys of Westlake Village/Thousand Oaks. I have got two cars on lease, Ford Explorer and got a Ford Fusion Hybrid today. I drive 35miles each way to work to Santa Monica and back. This route gives me about 10 -15mins on the freeway and the rest is through Malibu Canyon and then Pacific Coast Highway up to the second exit of the I10. Approx 50mins - 1hr to get to work and is an awesome drive.
Already got good experience of the healthcare here, I have a family HMO - $40 per visit and then everything else is included in that visit. If I have an out patient procedure it costs $150 and if you have to stay over night it is a flat rate of $500, doesnt matter how long your stay.
Emergency appointments (hit by a car etc..) are free if admitted - this is to stop using ER to game the system. There is a annual cap of about $1500, so I never pay more than that in one year no matter what happens.
For those planning on moving here my one main tip is apply for your social the second you land. It takes weeks to arrive and you simply do no exist without a social security number. There are very few things you can do without one, bizarrely you can rent a house but you cannot lease a car, you cannot get paid but you can get a bank account.
You cannot get a credit card but you can get a pre-paid sim card - get AT&T or T-Mobile as they are GSM and work in unlocked UK phones.
My internet connection is Verison Fios so I get fibre to the door and can get speeds up to 500Mbps... up AND down. I elected for 75/75 since I actually don't have to obtain my US TV shows over the internet any more
I am happy to answer any questions as it is all still very fresh.
I work for an American software company with offices in various US cities. They recently established a UK presence (which was how I got hired as they were recruiting in my area).
I do a lot of joint work with US developers and they do find the number of holiday days we get pretty incredible. They definitely do have more of a commitment to the "mission" too. I rarely work beyond my core hours but they are often in late for no real reason and still emailing people at night time for stuff that could just wait till morning.
I've been over there a few times now and think it's pretty cool but don't think I could live there. There is just an artifice about the place. Hard to explain. A bit of a void of culture and quite uniform really. I really missed the proper historic and traditional pubs and general night life vibe of the UK (minus the chavs and binge drinking). That's just me though. I like National Heritage sites etc.
There is too much UK bashing going on in this thread. Think it's easy to forget how great of a place the UK is to live as well really. I certainly cherish it. There are problems, for sure, but most are down to the tiny size of this isle. Land is at a premium here.
I think in terms of work/life balance things are about right here though, certainly in my line of work. I am very happy with my salary and although have private medical insurance still believe strongly in the merits of having the NHS. We also have BUPA etc which is comparable to the US system anyway. We can also take out insurance for all manner of things here too. The difference is, it's not as important to do it. JSA is low because the assumption is that you won't be fired for no reason. In the US, you can get let go pretty easily. I've seen that happen and it's a wake up call.
US is amazing though for sure. Just not a clear cut case of US being a better place to live than UK I would suggest. Simply isn't that straight forward. All depends on circumstances and priorities though that is for sure.
American girls though.... amazing
I do a lot of joint work with US developers and they do find the number of holiday days we get pretty incredible. They definitely do have more of a commitment to the "mission" too. I rarely work beyond my core hours but they are often in late for no real reason and still emailing people at night time for stuff that could just wait till morning.
I've been over there a few times now and think it's pretty cool but don't think I could live there. There is just an artifice about the place. Hard to explain. A bit of a void of culture and quite uniform really. I really missed the proper historic and traditional pubs and general night life vibe of the UK (minus the chavs and binge drinking). That's just me though. I like National Heritage sites etc.
There is too much UK bashing going on in this thread. Think it's easy to forget how great of a place the UK is to live as well really. I certainly cherish it. There are problems, for sure, but most are down to the tiny size of this isle. Land is at a premium here.
I think in terms of work/life balance things are about right here though, certainly in my line of work. I am very happy with my salary and although have private medical insurance still believe strongly in the merits of having the NHS. We also have BUPA etc which is comparable to the US system anyway. We can also take out insurance for all manner of things here too. The difference is, it's not as important to do it. JSA is low because the assumption is that you won't be fired for no reason. In the US, you can get let go pretty easily. I've seen that happen and it's a wake up call.
US is amazing though for sure. Just not a clear cut case of US being a better place to live than UK I would suggest. Simply isn't that straight forward. All depends on circumstances and priorities though that is for sure.
American girls though.... amazing
I didn't personally lease a car as I did some maths and realized that buying outright with 0% finance was a better deal for me. I came over on an L1 type visa and am earning over six figures so I was pretty-much guaranteed 0% APR with Chase Auto loans and their professional business foreign resident program. Several other car manufacturers have similar programs like Audi, Toyota, Lexus and VW.
You'll definitely want to get a state driver's license. It acts as a national ID (you'll probably get asked for ID in most bars, even if you look like you're in your 30s+), and foreign driver's licenses are typically not accepted as ID, just passports. You can fly internally within the USA with just a driver's license (like the UK). As a foreign driver in California, you have to take a written test, an eye test and a practical driving test (aka a "behind-the-wheel" test). They were all easy to pass and nothing compared to the UK.
As for car insurance, yes, it is pretty expensive. The cheapest that I found with the required (California) minimum liability protections and payout amounts is from Progressive and it costs me just over $200 per month (to insure a $32,000 car). This is with eight years of foreign driving experience. I imagine that my car insurance price will go down next year.
One of the biggest differences for me was the US banking system and general money culture here. Parts of the US banking system seem so behind the times. For example, you cannot just freely send money from your bank account to anyone else's bank account at any other bank in the country. Cheapest way is to write a check.
A few banks, like Chase, do have ways to send small amounts of money to other Chase account holders though. Lack of two-factor auth with some bank's online systems is also particularly concerning. Landlords still want to be paid with checks (as they're free to cash), and the concept of wiring someone money to pay for stuff is totally foreign to most people I meet. Thankfully, a lot of employers seem to have finally caught onto giro credit (known as 'direct deposit' in the US), meaning you can get your salary paid directly into a bank account (or multiple, if you'd like) and not have to have physical checks sent to your home address.
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