Immigrate to US help

shullen

Very useful site. Thanks!

paulinespens

www.visajourney.com is another site. Its mainly marriage based visas but also covers work visas too but there is alot of info there about life in the US and the process.

I have been in the US for 3 years. Its very different out there but I do have a good life here in the US.

Neilbond007 sums life up here perfecly.

One thing I do love is that fact you get your driving licence from the court house here on the same day and no messing and waiting from the DVLA.

neilbond007

shullen wrote: »

You have a great house! The problem is the area we are thinking about moving to is the most expensive place in the whole state. So we have to pay a lot more for equivalent. House taxes are much higher than UK as well.

Drinking wouldn't be much of an issue for us. We have young kids and no baby sitter. So not much chance of going out anyway.

How long did it take for you to sort out the green card?

The other question is, do you know of any equivalent Martin Lewis in US? :money:

Thanks (about the house). I fell in love with it when I saw it. You might well be moving to a more expensive area but new house sales are struggling. Builders are falling over themselves to offer incentives.

I don't have a green card (yet).
I'm over here on a 3 year L1 Visa. Will be applying for the 2 year extension shortly. Then on to the green card.

And no, I don't know of any moneysaver US equivalent. Why do you think I hang round here like a bad smell?
Saying that there are a million coupon sites out there (restaurant.com, entertainment.com to name 2) . And most US people seem completely oblivious to them!

mrsg26

we applied to emigrate to USA in July 2009..shortly after we were married. My M-I-L lives in Texas and is now an american citizen so she was able to sponsor us....however as my husband is now a married man over the age of 25 we are now considered to be 3rd priority therefore it will be some time before we finally get approval to go over. We received a letter from the US embassy earlier this yr to say that we could go on and apply for our visas however because there is such a huge number of applicants compared to the number of visa allocations then it will probably be at least another 8 yr wait!!!!!!!!! So for us as much as it is our dream to live in the USA the reality is it is unlikely that we will ever get to move there so i guess we just have to make sure we make the most of our holidays there!!

shullen

neilbond007 wrote: »

Thanks (about the house). I fell in love with it when I saw it. You might well be moving to a more expensive area but new house sales are struggling. Builders are falling over themselves to offer incentives.

I don't have a green card (yet).
I'm over here on a 3 year L1 Visa. Will be applying for the 2 year extension shortly. Then on to the green card.

And no, I don't know of any moneysaver US equivalent. Why do you think I hang round here like a bad smell?
Saying that there are a million coupon sites out there (restaurant.com, entertainment.com to name 2) . And most US people seem completely oblivious to them!

I thought once you arrived in US with L1, you can ask your employer to get the GC for you?

shullen

mrsg26 wrote: »

we applied to emigrate to USA in July 2009..shortly after we were married. My M-I-L lives in Texas and is now an american citizen so she was able to sponsor us....however as my husband is now a married man over the age of 25 we are now considered to be 3rd priority therefore it will be some time before we finally get approval to go over. We received a letter from the US embassy earlier this yr to say that we could go on and apply for our visas however because there is such a huge number of applicants compared to the number of visa allocations then it will probably be at least another 8 yr wait!!!!!!!!! So for us as much as it is our dream to live in the USA the reality is it is unlikely that we will ever get to move there so i guess we just have to make sure we make the most of our holidays there!!

8 years waiting! I don't want to do that!:eek:

shullen

paulinespens wrote: »

I have been in the US for 3 years. Its very different out there but I do have a good life here in the US.

Neilbond007 sums life up here perfecly.

One thing I do love is that fact you get your driving licence from the court house here on the same day and no messing and waiting from the DVLA.

Thanks for the site. Do you have to go through US driving test etc again and build up no claim bonus for insurance from scratch? I heard car insurance is high in US. Is it true?

neilbond007

shullen wrote: »

I thought once you arrived in US with L1, you can ask your employer to get the GC for you?

Yes, my employer is paying all my legal bills. The logical step though is L1, L1 extension, green card.

shullen wrote: »

Thanks for the site. Do you have to go through US driving test etc again and build up no claim bonus for insurance from scratch? I heard car insurance is high in US. Is it true?

Yes, you have to re-take test. You have to do it within 1 year of getting here. I've been here 18 months and not got round to it though! I'll go this week (as I've said the last 12 months)
Insurance is high. I paid about $800 for 6 months insurance initially. That's come down a little to around $650.

paulinespens

shullen wrote: »

Thanks for the site. Do you have to go through US driving test etc again and build up no claim bonus for insurance from scratch? I heard car insurance is high in US. Is it true?

Yeah you have to go through the driving test again the USA. I still have a learners permit ( I never had a licence in England)

To get my learners permit in Kentucky I had to do a written test as well as get my eyes tested. The written test is down with the state police at the court house. It was on a double sides piece of A4 paper. I had passed and then was given a form to take to the driving licence office. I paid $18 and got my licence there and then.

I will be taking my test hopefully sometime next year.

As for car insurance there is no such thing as a no claims discount. Car insurance is based on your credit score. They look at how many people with the same credit score have had a crash and made a claim.

We drive a 2007 Chevorlet Cobalt LT its a 2.2 litre v8 engine. As we have a carpayment we have to have the care fully insured.

For my wife and I we pay $134 a month for full coverage. With a $500 excess.

If we had just liability it would be about $50-$60 a month Im guessing.

shullen

paulinespens wrote: »

For my wife and I we pay $134 a month for full coverage. With a $500 excess.

If we had just liability it would be about $50-$60 a month Im guessing.

Ouch, that is high! Especially if we'll have two cars!