Moving to NYC advise please

jjbrien

My wife who is American and myself an irishman we both currerntly live here in Ireland. We are in the final stages of getting a green card for myself and then will head off in a few months to New York. I was wondering if people here can give me some general advise. My wife knows nothing about renting places etc as she lived at home and doesn't have much family over there.

Apartments:
I know where to look but do the leases generally always start at the start of a month or are they like Ireland you can get a place anytime of the month? When we lived in Canada most places rented from the first of the month.

Jobs:
It will probably be August before we are done with the Embassy here. We think that maybe January would be the best month to go find a job there. I am an IT systems administrator by trade. Do companies hire all the time like if we went in Novemeber would we have a chance or are we better of waiting till Christmas is over?

Money:

How much is the minimum to bring? We aint big spenders probably wont go out drinking etc till we get an income.

lil_lisa

I would suggest having a read through this thread. A lot of fellow boardsies have given some great insight and information about their move to the US. Should be a lot of helpful things in there for you.

jjbrien

lil_lisa wrote: »

I would suggest having a read through this thread. A lot of fellow boardsies have given some great insight and information about their move to the US. Should be a lot of helpful things in there for you.

I have read it but it doesnt address my specific quesitons

pgmcpq

jjbrien wrote: »

My wife who is American and myself an irishman we both currerntly live here in Ireland. We are in the final stages of getting a green card for myself and then will head off in a few months to New York. I was wondering if people here can give me some general advise. My wife knows nothing about renting places etc as she lived at home and doesn't have much family over there.

Apartments:
I know where to look but do the leases generally always start at the start of a month or are they like Ireland you can get a place anytime of the month? When we lived in Canada most places rented from the first of the month.

Jobs:
It will probably be August before we are done with the Embassy here. We think that maybe January would be the best month to go find a job there. I am an IT systems administrator by trade. Do companies hire all the time like if we went in Novemeber would we have a chance or are we better of waiting till Christmas is over?

Money:

How much is the minimum to bring? We aint big spenders probably wont go out drinking etc till we get an income.

Apartments: Yes. first of the month is the usual - cannot recall any exceptions. See money below.

Jobs: Large corporations do tend to look at headcount from the start of the year. But most places hire when the need arises. Summer is probably not a great time but after that the difference is pretty marginal. It's a long time ago for me but when I moved I got some interviews set up in advance and did a few telephone interviews before I came.

Money: Cannot really comment on total sum of money but remember that you will need the first month rent plus a month (or two) as a security deposit. Also - apartments come unfirnished - often with a refridgerator annoyingly - so remember you will need to budget for this. Also without a credit rating tied to a SSN it can be a problem as "no credit=bad credit" is the rule.

Finally January - keep a close eye on the weather - can be ok ... but can be nasty.

iusedtoknow

jjbrien wrote: »

My wife who is American and myself an irishman we both currerntly live here in Ireland. We are in the final stages of getting a green card for myself and then will head off in a few months to New York. I was wondering if people here can give me some general advise. My wife knows nothing about renting places etc as she lived at home and doesn't have much family over there.

Apartments:
I know where to look but do the leases generally always start at the start of a month or are they like Ireland you can get a place anytime of the month? When we lived in Canada most places rented from the first of the month.

Jobs:
It will probably be August before we are done with the Embassy here. We think that maybe January would be the best month to go find a job there. I am an IT systems administrator by trade. Do companies hire all the time like if we went in Novemeber would we have a chance or are we better of waiting till Christmas is over?

Money:

How much is the minimum to bring? We aint big spenders probably wont go out drinking etc till we get an income.

Apartments: We rented from the 17th of a month, and it was pro-rated to the day. We were lucky that we didn't have an agent to pay, so only had to pay 1 month deposit+pet deposit+pro-rated rent (still worked out at over 4000 but ho hum). The rental market in NY is pretty cut throat, you'll need to have a "packet" ready to give to landlords - your wife's credit report and they usually will need proof of income or at least proof of financial stability (savings etc) as well as references. Before you start the full on search, you will need to have a bank account AND a cheque book ready. Sounds stupid but a lot of landlords still operate off cheques rather than direct debit/deposit.

Jobs: It really is hard to say, as you won't be able to start the search until you have the green-card in your possession. NY has pretty strong job market at the moment but until you are on the ground, it is hard to say. Can you go over before the move to start the search?

Money: We moved over with my company assistance but by the time we had finished with deposits (not only for apartments but also for cable, mobiles, electricity) as well as car deposits/insurance etc we were down nearly 6000. We were lucky that my income started straight from the moment we touched down, but even so we had the best part of $15000 with us to ensure we were right. I would probably double that if I didn't have a job.

Palmy

I have to agree with the last poster. We moved here and I worked out we spent close to $40k setting up.
Deposits for rent, power, secured Credit cards etc, Car, Insurance and complete furniture etc for an apartment. Plus I didn't work for my first 4 months.

jjbrien

Geeze i wonder how all the J1 students seem to get on if its going to cost 40k :eek: Neither of us will have jobs and she is going to be starting at NY City University. As for credit she doesnt even have a US bank account. But does have the all important SSN

My plan is to start applying for jobs from Ireland the moment I have that greencard in my hand.

rusheen

jjbrien wrote: »

Geeze i wonder how all the J1 students seem to get on if its going to cost 40k :eek: Neither of us will have jobs and she is going to be starting at NY City University. As for credit she doesnt even have a US bank account. But does have the all important SSN

My plan is to start applying for jobs from Ireland the moment I have that greencard in my hand.

J1 students are there for a summer experience . Usually get by week to week , live in hostels , work in bars or temp jobs just to get by until they will be going back .
Abit of different situation!

What type of work will you be looking for?

iusedtoknow

jjbrien wrote: »

Geeze i wonder how all the J1 students seem to get on if its going to cost 40k :eek: Neither of us will have jobs and she is going to be starting at NY City University. As for credit she doesnt even have a US bank account. But does have the all important SSN

My plan is to start applying for jobs from Ireland the moment I have that greencard in my hand.

If you have a look at all the j1 threads...you'll see how they cope.

Here in SF, they tend to live in frat houses over in Berkeley for the summer with 3 or 4 to a room...20+ in the house

$40,000 is a pretty good number to aim for - costs here (and especially in the cities) are through the roof. You should probably head over to city-data.com They have city specific forums which would give you a clearer idea of what to expect.

If i was in your situation, i would come over here for 2 or three weeks, activate your GC, get your SSN (takes 10 days before you can apply, then a few weeks for it to be sent) and hit the ground running looking for work. Find a job, fly back to Ireland, quit your own job and move - have your wife follow you out as soon as everything is set up.

Moving here with my company's assistance was stressful, i would hate to think what it would be like by myself.

InTheTrees

If you're a Network admin (IT systems) I dont think you need to worry too much about finding a job, there should be plenty.

That's a field that's constantly under staffed. You could even start looking from Ireland. I bet some companies would talk to you in anticipation of you coming over. Worth a try right?

Look on Craigslist or Monster.com. Or even better look into some companies you'd like to work for and send them resumes.

$40k sounds about right.

InTheTrees

Remember rental apartments are unfurnished.

They'll have a fridge and stove but that's it.

jjbrien

iusedtoknow wrote: »

If you have a look at all the j1 threads...you'll see how they cope.

Here in SF, they tend to live in frat houses over in Berkeley for the summer with 3 or 4 to a room...20+ in the house

$40,000 is a pretty good number to aim for - costs here (and especially in the cities) are through the roof. You should probably head over to city-data.com They have city specific forums which would give you a clearer idea of what to expect.

If i was in your situation, i would come over here for 2 or three weeks, activate your GC, get your SSN (takes 10 days before you can apply, then a few weeks for it to be sent) and hit the ground running looking for work. Find a job, fly back to Ireland, quit your own job and move - have your wife follow you out as soon as everything is set up.

Moving here with my company's assistance was stressful, i would hate to think what it would be like by myself.

Thanks for the advise. We might maybe for thanksgiving go over and visit her family and activate the greencard then and get my SSN sorted.

InTheTrees wrote: »

If you're a Network admin (IT systems) I dont think you need to worry too much about finding a job, there should be plenty.

That's a field that's constantly under staffed. You could even start looking from Ireland. I bet some companies would talk to you in anticipation of you coming over. Worth a try right?

Look on Craigslist or Monster.com. Or even better look into some companies you'd like to work for and send them resumes.

$40k sounds about right.

InTheTrees wrote: »

Remember rental apartments are unfurnished.

They'll have a fridge and stove but that's it.

Well i was planning just maybe on getting furniture off craiglist to start with and then when we hit the ground running get more stuff as we go along. IKEA might be an option to start with. But thanks for all the advise

ProudDUB

Apts, yes most landlords or property companies prefer to take rent at the start of the month. This makes it easier on them from a book keeping & rent collection point of view. However, no will will refuse you if you want to move in in the middle of a month. They'll just pro rate the rent for the partial month that you are living there, and then start taking your regular rental check at the beginning of every month. Agree with who ever mentioned Americans reliance on old fashioned checks.

All of the utility companies - gas, electricity, phone, cable TV, broadband etc etc will do a credit check on you before they will sign you up for service. They won't refuse you service if you have bad/no credit history. But they will charge a hefty deposit, and quite often the first month of service in advance. Five mins on Google should throw up what these companies are in the NY area. Their websites won't reveal up front how badly new customers with bad credit gets screwed, so try and do a live online chat with a rep, so you can get an idea of what you'll be out of pocket up front. Try and go with a bundled package for phone/cable/broadband all with the same company to cut down on the amt of up front deposits you will have to pay.

Re job hunting. Don't let Christmas put you off going over there in Nov/Dec. The US does not shut down for 2 weeks over Xmas the way that it does here. Consider getting a part time job in a store or restaurant/bar while you job hunt for real. They'll be much easier to get in the run up to Xmas & your lack of experience shouldn't be a factor in finding work. May be handy having a few bob coming in, while you wait to find work in your chosen field.

InTheTrees

Before the financial meltdown the rule used to be one month of job hunting for every $10k of salary you're looking for. In my experience though Network admins are snapped up pretty quickly.

Do GC's need to be "activated"? I thought that was a J1 thing? When I got mine 15(!) years ago it just arrived in the mail and that was it.

InTheTrees

Also if you havent already, linkedin is important. You can post a resume there too which means you dont have to find some other place to host it.

www.linkedin.com

zweton

Out of curiosity, i work as a network admin here in ireland. Would it be very hard to get a job from here? It would be my only way to get over to new york as i dont think i could get a visa. Would they take applicants from ireland seriously?

Ponster

zweton wrote: »

Would they take applicants from ireland seriously?

I think that if you aren't already working for a US multinational company then you would have to be a leader in your field in order for a US company to sponsor your move to the US.

zweton

ya just as I taught

Calgary22

whats involved in getting sponsored is it an easy process or does it take a long time for all paper work to come through.? thanks. is it just a matter of finding a company willing to sponsor?

Ponster

Calgary22 wrote: »

Is it just a matter of finding a company willing to sponsor?

Pretty much so but you make it sound easy

There are 2 basic types of visa. H1B where you find the job from Ireland and the company agrees to sponsor you (I believe that you need a degree) or the L1 where you're already working for an American company in Ireland and they just want to transfer you.

InTheTrees

Calgary22 wrote: »

whats involved in getting sponsored is it an easy process or does it take a long time for all paper work to come through.? thanks. is it just a matter of finding a company willing to sponsor?

It takes a large amount of bureaucracy, paperwork and money for an American company to bring in a worker from another country. It happens a lot though I believe. As a rule I'd say if the company you apply to is large enough to have a legal department then there may be a chance. I think they have to prove to the authorities that they cant find anyone with comparable skills in the US, and that's not easy or cheap to do.

NYC2013

Sorry to hijack this thread but can anyone who works in construction in New York pm me the names of any Irish building contractors they know over here. I moved over here last week and am looking for work as a Estimator at the moment. Thanks

Calgary22

are you legal to work in nyc?:p if soo you should have no problems finding work at all it seems to be picking up:D

NYC2013

Yeah I have a green card. I have two interviews lined up all right but would like to work for an Irish company if I can as I don't know anyone over here and reckon it would be a good place to start.

rockonollie

November/December may be better for job hunting......most retail businesses hire seasonal workers November-January to cover the holidays, that means that if you're job hunting in January, the job market is flooded with newly unemployed workers.

Even though it's not the same people as would be getting IT jobs, they still overwhelm companies with applications and good applicants get lost in the mess.

jjbrien

Thanks for all the advise guys

Caliden

I moved over to Boston in 2011 on a 12 month visa (different situation to yours) but what I can say is that once Thanksgiving was over there was very little activity in the city with regards job hiring/accommodation and I got lucky when it came to finding someplace to live and it wasn't until mid January that I started to get traction with regards employment.
I'm a web developer by the way, if that helps.

I'm not saying NYC will be the same as it's a busier city but it could be quieter than normal.