Barbelith Underground > Conversation > UK nationals working and living in the States-help

Goodness ... lots of stuff so I will probably have to post bits as they occur to me.

As a non-US resident you will have accumulated NO credit history in the US - doesn't matter how great you were at paying your bills etc. in England. This is important as they do credit checks for all kinds of stuff - like renting apartments, buying cars etc.. Without a credit history, it's really hard to get a credit card, without a credit card it's really hard to get a credit history. With renting apartments for example, you may just be able to pay an extra deposit up front to compensate for your lack of credit history, and after a couple of years of paying rent, utilities etc. you'll be fine. But I would still advise getting a credit card and using it regularly just to build up a history (no need to dive into the US debt culture though and run up huge bills - just do something like always use it at the supermarket AND PAY IT ALL OFF EVERY MONTH). To get the card you might need someone to co-sign or guarantee it for you.

Working culture .. I can't speak for teaching (I imagine you get lots of holidays), but I'm still stunned at how little holiday/vacation time people get here. So if you want to holiday with friends or a partner, it could take a lot of planning. Most companies also give you an allocation of sick days ...i.e. if you are sick too often you have 'used them up'. It's only about 5 days or so so if you get bad flu or something that lays you up for a week you could be in trouble if you ever get a migraine, food poisoining etc. that year. This is according to the letter of most employment contracts - individual bosses may be more reasonable, I don't know.

This results in most Americans making much more use of their weekends than the Brits - they will drive miles and take many "mini-vacations" each year.

Medicine/health is a biggie. No National Health. You have to pay for all your medical treatment. Most people get health insurance, which can easily be $100+ /month. This is a standard 'benefit' with employment. What this covers varies greatly. You really don't want to be without insurance if you have any way to get it - if you get in an accident, say, and require extensive treatment you can end up with absolutely crippling bills that can very easily run into the many thousands. I do have insurance but with a high deductable so I just paid myself for one month's supply of Prozac (30 x 20mg) - it cost me $78 and that was the generic ('real' Prozac would have been $109). Normally I go across the border and get my drugs from Mexico, it's immensely cheaper. Legal too, with a prescription. So if you regularly take any meds, get prescriptions for them in Britain before you leave. Bring as many meds as you can legally (not sure what the limit is - I think a 3 month supply). Again, your insurance may or may not cover this kind of thing.

A lot of other things I might mention vary according to the area of the country you are going to - did you mention where your friend was moving to?

Hope some of that was helpful. I'll post more if I think of anything.

PS: My story:
I've been here (San Diego) just over 2 years, on an H1-B visa working for my father's (US-based) consulting company. I was here for a year (Dallas/Tulsa/Salt Lake City) a year before that (a year in London intervening), and I lived in upstate NY for a year as a kid. My parents split their time between Britain (Rutland) and the US (Salt Lake City/San Francisco). I am now living in San Diego with an American boyfriend and I am hoping that we might get married one day. My sister and her husband have just got their visas for Canada and are moving to Vancouver or Victoria this summer. So my family and I have quite a lot of experience with the whole transatlantic thing.