Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Moved to the USA - My 10 week update
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
Three storys about health insurance.
A lady i work with owes $40k to a hospital,She is paying it back at $25 a month.
I also work with a girl who used to work in the accounts department of a large hospital.As long as you make some type of payment weather that is small or large,legally they can not touch you and this will hold up in court.
An English guy i work with his mother was dying of cancer here and the bill from the hospital was $70k. Once they found out they had no insurance they dropped that figure to $20k they settled at $14k.
Health-related expenses are the #1 reason for why people file for bankruptcy in the US. Even if you have good insurance, a serious illness can be financially ruinous, especially if you are the sole breadwinner. If that is the case, it may be worth looking into supplementary insurance like AFLAC, which will pay your wages if you are out of work due to illness (social security disability payments are often insufficient)..danindudlin wrote: »Food
As someone who was used to just eating in restaurants I always thought food here was super cheap – I still think that most restaurants are cheaper than back home but supermarket food is WAY more expensive. Quality meat, fruit and veg are much more expensive. I’m kinda fussy about the quality of my food so I avoid most frozen food but all that stuff seems very cheap but the quality looks to be something awful. Frozen pizzas will be dirt cheap, a good fillet steak will be $14.
If you’re bothered to shop around you will get good value. Most of the main supermarkets here are the same price (Shaws and Stop&Shop). I’ve heard Market Basket is much cheaper. I’ve made a few trips to the ALDI near the Wellington T stop and it think it’s great value.
If you want some very good value, I would sign up for CostCo. If you’ve never come across it, it’s essentially like shopping in a cash & carry. Only members can shop there (I’ve made this mistake) and an annual membership costs $55. Everything is sold in bulk but the chicken and burgers there are very good – each is about $20 for giant packs.
Ah, Dan, the trick in Boston is to shop at MARKETBASKET! If there isn't one nearby, it is worth getting a Zipcar to visit one - everything is so much cheaper, especially meat, dairy, and produce - even the organic produce is reasonable. Just be prepared to get your cart rammed by a few grumpy grandmas.
Also, in the summertime there are a lot of farmers markets, so you should be able to get some deals on seasonal produce.0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Here's a summary of my experience here so far. We moved to the Midwest 10 weeks ago.
Visas
The main reason we moved to the US was because my boyfriend has a Green Card. He was selected in the GC Lottery in 2011. We came out on a holiday in 2012 to activate the GC and then moved here in June 2013. The reason we're in the Midwest is I got a job here. I'm in a research position in a University, and they sponsored me for a J-1 Visa. My boyfriend got a job here soon after we arrived.
Social Security
We both did the J-1 Work and Travel programme back in the day, so we had Social Security numbers from then. We couldn't find our original cards, so we applied for replacements in the local SS Office. His came within 2 weeks. I was told mine would be delayed until the University activated my Visa, but it never arrived. I contacted the SS Office and it looks like it got lost in the post (but the receipt of my application for replacement card made it here fine!). I need to go back to the office in person to apply for another replacement. I'm in no rush to do that as I have the number anyway, and their opening hours are awkward. I'll still try to get it sorted in the next few months.
Bank Accounts
We went with Chase. We called into the local branch in the first week after we arrived. We had our Visa/Green Card info, passports, Irish Driving Licences and a copy of our lease. We were given temporary ATM cards, and our real debit cards arrived in the post about a week later. We don't have a credit yet (and haven't missed it really), but the bank said they would work with us to build our credit rating once we have settled in and have a few paychecks come into our accounts.
Car
We had a rental for the first few days after we arrived and then we got another rental as it was difficult to view potential cars without actually having a car! We bought a used car on Craigslist for $4800 and we've had it serviced, replaced brake pads and a couple other things since. We got insurance with Geico. I think it was about $500 for the year for both of us.
Driving Licence
We went to the Secretary of State in the first week or so after moving here. We were given the theory test to do on the spot - we weren't expecting this and took a lot of guesses. A lot of the questions were State-specific. We passed anyway (phew!) and were given a 30-day learners permit (which was just a sheet of paper). In the meantime we bought our car, and Geico required our licence numbers ASAP. Here, the SOS (or DMV) don't do the testing - there are a few local driving schools that do all the testing. We paid $50 each for the test. We had to reverse into a parking space, parallel park and then drive around the city (residential mostly and some highway) for about 30 mins. We went back to the SOS to get our licence (which was another piece of paper), and then the real one came in the mail about 2 weeks later.
Accommodation
Once we knew we were moving here, we took a trip here in April to try to sort out accommodation. We were planning to bring our cats with us, so we knew that arriving and staying in a motel for a week with them wouldn't be ideal. When we were here in April, we quickly realised that, as this is a University town, leases mainly run August-August and that, arriving in June, our options were limited. We managed to organise a sublease and a follow-on lease with the same management company. We're moving out of our sublease and into our main apartment this week. We have a nice 2 bed apartment in a quiet part of town (away from the undergrad party area in the center of town), but still walking distance to downtown and to work. We have heat and water included for $1300 per month, and there's a pet fee for the cats ($40/month). Not cheap, but we didn't have a lot of options available to us as we wanted everything sorted before moving here. Assuming we stay here for another year, we'll probably look for a house or part-house with lower rent. Our sublease is furnished, but our main lease is not, so we've spent the last 10 weeks on Craigslist picking up bits and pieces of furniture. We also got to know the person currently renting the apartment we're moving to, and bought some furniture from her. We got a lot of our plates and stuff in charity shops, and some random household things like frying pans, clothes airers, electric kettle in Aldi.
Electricity
We have only 2 months' experience with electricity. Averaged about $40 per month, with the AC on quite a bit in July!
Phones
Phone plans are expensive here! At the start, we had Prepay T-Mobile (unlimited data, texts and 100 mins) for $30 per month, but the T-Mobile service is pretty patchy here. I had no signal at work, and even Skype/Viber was patchy with a pretty good connection at home. We've since moved to AirVoice, who run off AT&T. We get unlimited talk and text and 500MB of data for $40 per month.
Internet/Cable
In the beginning, we tethered our phones and made good use of the unlimited T-Mobile data! But we have since signed up with Comcast. $30 per month for pretty fast, reliable broadband. We haven't signed up for cable (though we discovered we can access a few local channels for free!). We might reconsider this when the winter moves in, or we might get Netflix.
Healthcare
We both work in the University and get heavily subsidised healthcare. The amount you pay depends on your wages, but I pay $33 per month, and it seems a lot is covered. $20 co-pay to see GP, hospital stays are covered, etc. I haven't had to use it yet thankfully. There were several options, and this particular plan is for Uni employees only, so it seemed like a good value plan.
Food
We have found food is expensive. There is an Aldi here, and we get a lot of our basics (cereal, coffee, milk, rice, etc) there. The fruit and veg don't seem to be a good as home, same goes for their meat. We usually get meat, veg, yoghurt, cheeses etc in Trader Joe's. We bring lunch to work everyday. Our weekly shopping bill is probably around $100 for the two of us (it goes up and down), plus we eat out once or twice a week. In general, eating out seems to be good value, but it's not quite as cheap as we were expecting it to be.
Weather
The weather here seems pretty nuts. We had a seriously hot and humid spell in July, but the humidity has calmed a bit. A lot of random rain and thunderstorms. We're averaging 25-28C daily and we expect the cold winter to kick in around October/November.
Vacation Time
The University has a generous vacation policy. We were expecting to be scrounging together enough days to get home at Christmas, but instead we have 22 vacation days per year (National Holidays like July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving are extra "freebies") and we also have seasonal days over Christmas (Christmas Day - New Year's Day are off). Yay!
Pet Travel
I thought I'd put some info about this here as we really struggled to find out much about this when we were planning our move. We looked into flying with United, Aer Lingus and American Airlines as they offered routes here via either Newark or Chicago. We called United Customer Care numerous times, only to be quoted their webpage info about Pet Cargo (at best) or be simply told no (at worst). Aer Lingus have a pet policy, but, even if your pet is booked on the flight, they cannot guarantee travel on the day. Urgent shipments such as dry ice will take precedence over your booked cat. American Airlines seemed to have a more defined pet policy/list of procedures, even though it wasn't entirely clear where our cats would travel (in the hold or in-cabin) for both flights.
We booked our flights at fairly short notice (as soon as my passport came back from the Embassy, and we travelled the following weekend). Once we had booked our flights online, we called AA customer service and booked one cat under each flight confirmation number. We followed the regulations on the AA website re the allowed size of cat carrier. We went with the size for checked pet even though we didn't know if they would be checked for the second flight - the cat needs to be able to stand up and turn around. We also followed their requirements re vaccinations. As our first arrival point in the US was Chicago, we checked with the Illinois Dept of Agriculture, and they had no further requirements. As we knew we would be moving, we had already had the cats health checked and rabies vaccinated by our vet and then had a health cert issued by the vet within 10 days of travel (AA required this). We then just arrived at the airport 3 hours before our flight and joined the most massive, slow-moving queue. An airline rep spotted us in the queue and had started the paperwork needed for the cats. We also had to pay the pet fee at the AA info/ticket desk ($175 per checked pet). There was also a temperature restriction - the cats can't travel if the temperature at your destination is 85F or greater (29C). Luckily there was a dip in temperatures that weekend in Chicago. If we had travelled one week either side of that date, the cats would not have been allowed on the plane.
The cat carriers were secured with cable ties (provided by the airline), the carriers each got a bag tag (like a checked bag) and we had to fill out paperwork about when they last ate, what time they should receive water/food (we asked for this on arrival in Chicago, before the connecting flight), and then off they went up the excess baggage belt.
We did wonder at that point if we would ever see them alive again. We were told that they would go straight through to our connecting flight (and travel in the hold in that flight too), but as our flight from Dublin was delayed, the connection time in Chicago was too short and they didn't make it to the next flight. When we arrived here, no one knew where the cats (and my bags!) were, only that they weren't on our flight. There was another flight due in 2 hours later, so we sat by the baggage carousels waiting for them. Once the next flight arrived, my bags arrived and then the two cats were carried out from the excess baggage area! The whole thing was pretty stressful (for us and them!), but it was fine in the end. If anyone ever wants to pm me for more info, please do. 0 -
-
Advertisement
-
iusedtoknow wrote: »Get an apple tv. It runs netflix, hulu and itunes all rolled in. It connects to your wifi network. Comcast have unlimited data DL so you'll never need cable. We have cable so we can watch european sports, which for us is worth it.
I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!iusedtoknow wrote: »For us this was one of the major stresses. We were lucky that my company were paying for and organising everything to move our cat over. She was picked up the morning that the movers came. She was in a kennel for 1 night, shipped to Frankfurt and overnighted there and flew direct to San Francisco. She arrived one day after we did. We were worried about her the whole time.
She arrived slightly hungry, but was none the worse for it. She settled in pretty quickly. They are pretty adaptable.
We had looked at shipping the cats with a pet shipping/cargo company (with a route similar to what you've mentioned), but it seemed so expensive. We got quotes of 850 - 1000 euro for the two cats. So even with buying the crates ourselves (about 40 euro each) and the AA pet fee, it was so much cheaper to bring them on our flights (though, if it was the only option, we would have paid for the pet cargo company!). The worst thing was the uncertainty with the airline - what if the weather in Chicago just changed last minute and it was too hot to fly? We had some friends on standby in case the cats couldn't travel, but we really didn't want that to happen! One of our cats developed a nervous nose-licking habit, and his poor little nose was so pink when they finally arrived. They spent the first evening & night under the sofa, but they were eating fine the next day and were back to themselves in a couple of days. 0 -
-
-
-
-
Hey everyone,
My husband and I moved to the US just under four weeks ago, and this thread was a great resource for me, so I thought I'd pay it forward.
Background/rationale for moving:- I always wanted international experience, I've worked at my company for over seven years and knew it was possible, so it was great to pursue this. I actively pursued a relocation opportunity for more than two years. It was always part of the plan, and it's great that it has materialised for us.
My package was a lump sum + visa processing fees etc. What this means; we had to organise flights, shipping, temporary accommodation etc. ourselves. We downsized, we took eight suitcases (brought 6 with us on Aerlingus - not allowed over three each) and paid a company called sendmybag.com -> cheapest rates!
Visas
It's an internal transfer from Dublin -> New York. Work uses a third party company to collect & collate information. It took a lot longer than we expected, all of the documentation required. We received our supporting documents the day before the visa appointment, we were exasperated.
Flights
We booked one way and flexible tickets since it's the summer the tickets were more than we envisioned.
Social Security
My husband did J1, so they found him on the system. Although he's waiting for his EAD - which now takes even longer than usual (up to 6 months).
We got there early, 8 am and were #1 on the queue
the only downside is, I should have used work/mates address for them to post my SSN to. Because we were staying at a hotel, I had to go back to pick my card.
Car/Driving license - no need yet. Not getting a car but we'd probably rent cars, so it'd be good to sort something out.
Accommodation
Airbnb is somewhat illegal in NY, we were not 100%, and we didn't want to risk it. So we decided to stay in a hotel, for ten days and hope to find a place then - too ambitious!
Apartments typically go on the 1st/15th of the month; there's usually more available for the 1st of the month than the later. We targeted to move on the 1st. We viewed over 23 apartments in 2/3 days, we decided on one in Manhattan, East Village. Technically more expensive than we wanted to pay, but it was cheaper as we didn't pay the realtor's fees and didn't require Insurent (US guarantor company, great for people with no credit. Usually one month rent, not refundable).
The process of renting was somewhat new, needing verified/certified checks, and we had to go to the bank to arrange this.
It could have been easier with an online payment/payment at the leasing office.
We're delighted we found a place, navigating a new city in the NY summer heat was an experience that I don't want to relish.
Our apartment came with an offer: electricity, cable & internet = free. The only additional fees we have to pay is Air conditioners so happy days.
Bank
We went with Bank of America, and we booked an appointment online, which was a good idea. We spent nearly 2 hours there, opening bank accounts and setting up a credit card - I got a secured card, Mark got a credit card (due to J1).
With BOFA, they enable Pay, i.e. you can use a Digital card to withdraw money from your bank account and also enable Pays - a great idea (however we couldn't download the app).
Phones
We had good Android phones and weren't looking to buy new ones. We got T-Mobile plans then realised that we weren't receiving calls, turns out our phones were not compatible with the US network - yes, crazy! We also tried Verizon and AT&T sim cards and nada. So we both bought new phones (unnecessary expense). We both have the Google phones so may move to Google Fi, nearly unlimited data/calls (have to look into it again).
Also, you can't download American apps when your Google Play store is Ireland, you can only change your country once a year, and it takes Google up to 72 hours to change your country. (Husband has to wait one year to change again, which is frustrating) As he's limited in applications that he can download due to his Play country selection. And it's also crap that you can only change it once a year.
Healthcare
The mind boggles! Took me a few tries to understand the policies available, my company uses a tool called Alex to help you decide on which policy is best for you. For now, we're on the basic/entry level. We can opt to other plans later in the year, November.
Weather
July is hot as f***. Dublin summer vs. NY summer = huge difference! It's been really hot and humid and we're adjusting.
Furniture
We rented in Dublin, so we didn't have too much then with the different plugs, etc. we didn't bring much. So we had to buy, we're still buying.
Ikea - overwhelmed and packed! Irish cards got declined a few times, that wasn't fun. We went to Ikea 3 times, once/twice our orders were cancelled after the trxns were processed. Sigh.
We bought a bed and sofa from Bob's furniture - the best quality for the price we found. The couch was cheaper than what we wanted from Ikea.
Bought a mattress online - Tuff & needle. The first thing we got delivered, and we slept on the floor.
We bought kitchen stuff from Ikea, Target etc. Some were delayed, our first night we ate pasta with our hands as we had plates but no cutlery!
Other things
Wine & alcohol is cheaper than Dublin in the shops.
We found Costco overwhelming, dunno if it's needed if it's just for two people. Bought the wrong rice, wrong coffee and now they're just sitting there, and we don't know what to do with them.
Pasteurised milk and unpasteurized milk, go figure...
Ground mince = minced meat
Grocery: farmers markets, Trader Joes - can't do a full shop here, dunno why. Wholefoods - went in for the first time on Thursday, love the fact that they have a butcher and fishmonger - new fav.
Food is inexpensive, or you can find good food at great prices.
Uber/Lyft regularly is the norm, get used to it.
It's hard to keep in touch. Everyone's gone to bed when you head home from work
It's been the small things that make NY home, for example cooking our first meal, buying lamps in the apartment or making a roast chicken. Maybe finally having a bed frame, that whole mattress on the floor was tough.
I'll add to this over the next couple of weeks.0 -
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
Advertisement