Moving to America (for real!)

boredatwork82

So I always wanted to move to America. Like Mr Hoppy. Last week out of the blue I got a call offering me a job in the mid west. Good deal. Job is good , they are going to sort visa, help me get relocated etc.

My question is: what kind of stuff have people who have moved encountered. Was it difficult to get apartment /car without credit? How difficult to open a bank account?

Did you keep paying car insurance and health insurance in Ireland? As you could be penalised for not paying them if or when you come back. Or do you just roll the dice and commit everything to the move.

I have travelled around a lot. But this will be a first time making a permanent move.
Any advice from anyone who has done it or something similar?
I am single , no ties, no mortgage etc.
Find myself been priced out of Ireland and have a unique opportunity and I have always wanted to live in the US. So I am going to grab it with both hands.

Fr Tod Umptious

Hi OP
What sort of job and what sort of visa are they getting you ?

Where in the Midwest is it ?

Once you get sorted with the visa and get over there get your Social Security Number asap, this will help you open a bank account.

I'd ask the company to help you get an apartment. Some rentals, espically from agencies, will look for credit history, private renters and "house shares" would be more flexible.

If the place you are going to has a big Irish community, like Chicago for example a good idea might be to find other Irish people, some may be renting or know of places to rent, word of mouth is a great source in an immigrant community.

Getting a car and insurance should be simple enough but make sure you get a letter from you insurance company (not an agency) in Ireland to verify your clean driving record, this will help with insurance costs.

Most of all go for it, the USA is a great place if you are young and single.

Don't listen to naysayers here going on about health care costs and the lack of social welfare etc.
A good company will cover health care and I doubt you have any plans to become unemployed anything soon.

boredatwork82

Thanks Fr. Tod. It's a management job in Oklahoma. I don't really want to say anymore just yet. I want to keep it on the down low until it's definite.

I think the visa will be a H1B. The company are sorting all that out.

It looks like a great place to live with so much activities that I am interested in to do. Exercise related.

I am browsing Zillow and apartment list and Craigslist to get an idea of apartments. There seems to be a good selection. But like anywhere I assume each area will have its own + & - .

dennyk

For insurance, if you'll have auto insurance in the US, some Irish insurers will accept that history for your no-claims discount; I know that Liberty does this. For health insurance, the LCR loading won't apply as long as you take out health insurance in Ireland within nine months of your return. (Of course, these policies could always change at any time, so YMMV...)

él statutorio

Opening a bank account is easy, Establishing credit is the hardest thing to do and takes the most time. Ask the bank if they can help you with this, sometimes they may be able to give you a credit card with a low limit.

For example, it took me a while to get a credit card (as I had no credit history) and when I did, it was with a $500 limit. It took a few months of using that card and clearing it in full before I was in the system and they upped the limit and then I got offers from all the other CC companies.

You'll need a credit history for some phone plans, I went with t-mobile, no credit check and a SIM only plan, threw the SIM into my Irish phone and away I went.

I stopped paying my car insurance back home as soon as I sold the car. My health insurance didn't cover me overseas so I knocked that on the head too. I did buy a 1 year travel insurance package for about EUR100 so I'd have something until the insurance in the new US job kicked in. More for piece of mind than anything else.

You will need a car most likely. Some insurance companies will cover you for up to 12 months on your Irish license (Geico did for me), that'll buy you a bit of time to get a local drivers license. You'll need to do the driving test. It's scarily simple. Other costs to be aware of when buying a car. Registration, think of it like motor tax, you pay it annually and get a sticker for your license plate.


In terms of accommodation, try and get your job to either find you a place or put you up somewhere for a few weeks. That'll allow you to get settled and find out where you want to live etc.
Gaffs come unfurnished so be prepared to eat up the cost of furnishing a place. Craigslist and Local Facebook selling/swapping pages are your friend here. You can kit a place out pretty cheaply if you're ok with 2nd hand furniture (some people insist on new stuff).

That's all I can think of for now but I'm happy to answer any other questions you might have.

circular flexing

boredatwork82 wrote: »

Thanks Fr. Tod. It's a management job in Oklahoma. I don't really want to say anymore just yet. I want to keep it on the down low until it's definite.

I think the visa will be a H1B. The company are sorting all that out.

It looks like a great place to live with so much activities that I am interested in to do. Exercise related.

I am browsing Zillow and apartment list and Craigslist to get an idea of apartments. There seems to be a good selection. But like anywhere I assume each area will have its own + & - .

The H1B is a lottery (unless it's a cap exempt position at a University). Lottery happens once a year in April for visas and they are valid from October of that year. Currently H1B is massively oversubscribed with a 1 in 5 chance in the lottery I believe.

dennyk

boredatwork82 wrote: »

I am browsing Zillow and apartment list and Craigslist to get an idea of apartments. There seems to be a good selection. But like anywhere I assume each area will have its own + & - .

Just to let you know, Zillow and Craigslist will mostly only list places being put up for rent by the owner, but most apartments in the US are purpose-built corporate-owned developments, and they generally won't show up on those sites. (And I don't know what the **** ApartmentList is about, but it is the most godawful interface for an apartment searching website that I've ever seen; seems to be trying really hard to be hip by ripping off Tinder or something...) You're better off checking rent.com for apartments as well; they'll have all the corporate complexes with their list prices and it's easy to browse by map and filter results and such.

Third_Echelon

I did it in 2015 to California and it has been a great experience so far! The beginning setup period can be a bit of a pain, but once yet get past the first couple of months it's grand.

First thing first -> Get an appointment to get your social security number. Queues in there for walking in on the day can be an all day affair, so make an appointment.

Bank account opening is easy enough. I previously had a social security number from being on my J-1 many years previously. I found Bank of America the easiest to deal with. Account was opened on the day and they give you a temporary debit card right away.

In terms of not having a credit history, that can be a pain at the beginning, but I used my 'offer letter' from my employer to show the salary that I would be making and this was fine for both apartment company and car dealer (I leased a car). Getting setup with your cable, cell phone etc. will start to get your credit history going. Bank of America give you a credit card straight away too. That's a good way of getting your credit rating moving. Buy everything on your credit card and pay it off monthly. When you see the credit card companies sending you applications in the post you know that you're rating is on the up. FICO and Experian apps (others out there too) are good for tracking your credit rating. Be careful when you go into the big shops like Macys, GAP etc. They will ask you to sign up for their store card or credit card. If you say yes this credit attempt will go against your credit check. You will get denied as you don't have enough history and this will go against you. Be careful also with cable companies if you finish a contract with them, make sure you return the cable box properly. People have got dinged over that and went against their credit.

I got car insurance on my Irish driving license with Progressive. I did my US test a few weeks after arriving and got it on first attempt. Very easy compared to the Irish test. There is a theory test and then a 15 to 20 minute drive around the block. You'd have to be the worst driver in the world to fail it

As soon as I got the proof that I passed my test, i updated my details with the car insurance company and my premium dropped quite a bit. It will still be high for a while, but will drop as time goes on. They usually do 6 month premiums.

With regards to keeping insurance (Car + Health) ticking over in Ireland, I just cancelled both. I know it's going to be a bit of a pain coming back, but was messy keeping that.

I don't know much about Oklahoma, but all the apartment hunting websites mentioned so far are good. Zillow, Trulia, Apartments.com, Rent.com i look at mostly when moving