Moving back to the USA and clueless!

Well, I have been in the UK for eight years. DH (who is British)and I now have 3 year old twins, a mortgage, car, great jobs, but I just miss the states too much. And, I suffer from S.A.D as well as fibroymalgia so desperate for SUN!!!!!

Plan to apply in the new year after our month long trip back to the states to see my family.  Unsure at the moment which form DH will need as he over stayed a tourist visa about 13 years ago. He has 'served' his 10 year ban and now has a 5 year tourist visa to travel as much as he likes. I hope to goodness there will not be an issue for him when we try and get him over to the states with me and our children. 

Trying not to stress about finding jobs and choosing where to live. At the moment it is up in the air. Ideally, I would like to move to the south where my family are.  But it will depend on work... 

Did most of you apply for work after you moved back to the states? Or, did you apply before? Did you travel to the states for interviews?

Travelling with belongings....  I'm curious of the cost of shipping containers. I'm afraid to research it though!  Expensive? We were thinking a small container...

Cats! We have two. I think I read there is no quarantine? Is it expensive to ship pets to the US?

So sorry for the questions. Trying to get my head around it all!  But, I am so excited to be moving back!

Moving back with a family in tow can be overwhelming, but if you take it one step at  a time, you will be fine. 

I can't give any advice on your husband's visa situation, as my DH didn't have any old  bans and was straightforward.  Two years ago it did take about 6-7 months for the whole thing to be done and dusted.

Shipping containers - We used Robinsons and had a very good experience.  Some very slight damage to a bed frame, which was reimbursed by insurance and was enough to buy a new one.  We spoke to three companies and all three were happy to come out and give us quotes.  There were no sneaky up charges from Robinsons.  We didn't bring a lot of furniture back with us, so we had a shared container and it was probably less than a one bedroom flat worth of stuff.  We had one bed/mattress, one crib, one changing table and then just boxes of household items.  I think it was about £2000-2500. 

My husband had an intra-company transfer lined up, but we were getting the spouse visa.  If you don't have a job lined up, you will need to have 3rd party sponsorship or roughly $80,000 in savings.  It's all detailed in the application, I  don't want to give out of date information off the top of my head   I don't think your financial sponsor, needs to live close to you or anything like that, so if you were to use your parents in the south and then move up north, I don't think that would be a problem.

No advice on the cat situation.

Good luck and you should check out diveintoamerica.com.  It's very similar to this forum.  Not quite as active, but there are always a a bunch of people willing to help.

Cats! We have two. I think I read there is no quarantine? Is it expensive to ship pets to the US?

I'm using a pet relocation company to get my two kitties to the UK next month.  I can't really comment on the quarantine bit, as I am doing this backwards to you and am completely clueless to the US requirements.  It's costing me around $3500 to use the relocation service, if that's any indication.    That covers pretty much everything except vet appointment fees, and I think the costs of the health certificates ($70 a pop at my vet).

Thanks for your reply. I am shocked. Obviously, I have not looked into this but had no idea it would costs thousands!   

Something else to think about is the cost of replacing items that you do not take back to the States.  For example a car (or two) and most electrical items. 

We just moved back to the US with a toddler and a cat.  I got the cat declared my "emotional support animal" and she flew in the cabin with us at no cost.   But we had looked at flying her as checked baggage (she is very elderly and terminally ill) and getting her to the US was nothing like the charges to get her into the UK.  It depended on the airline, but some were as low as $250 and none were over $1000.  Bringing her and her brother to the UK 4 years ago was about $2500 on Virgin. 

We just moved back to the US with a toddler and a cat.  I got the cat declared my "emotional support animal" and she flew in the cabin with us at no cost.   But we had looked at flying her as checked baggage (she is very elderly and terminally ill) and getting her to the US was nothing like the charges to get her into the UK.  It depended on the airline, but some were as low as $250 and none were over $1000.  Bringing her and her brother to the UK 4 years ago was about $2500 on Virgin. 

really would love to know about the emotional support animal.......how to go about doing that.......also when did you move back.......as there have been some recent changes with the airlines......i am considering flying out of france in order for my doggie to fly in cabin.

We moved back in late June 2012.  Flew on American.  I needed a letter from a doctor or therapist saying that I needed to travel with my cat to reduce my tremendous anxiety.  Luckily, I had someone who was okay writing such a letter when, really, my anxiety stemmed from putting a very sick animal in the hold, but she felt comfortable knowing just how extreme my anxiety was about the whole ordeal. I felt a little guilty because it isn't exactly the spirit of the regulation, but I really would have been a complete basket case.  

I think the emotional support animal thing only applies to American airlines (not just American Airlines, but US Air, United, etc.) and int'l carriers do not have to honor it.  

There was some confusion at Heathrow, but that's because the AA desk staff there is pretty awful, but once we got past them, security was a breeze and the crew didn't care.  She stayed in her carrier under the seat for the whole flight and I reached down to pet her from time to time.  

She is a tiny, fragile little thing and on her very last legs and we knew the flight might be too stressful for her and if it was, I wanted her with us and not alone and scared.  Luckily, she made it and we treasure every moment with her.  There aren't many left.  

i was going to register my bella as a service dog but would have to have a therapist write a confirmation letter stating the same.....at this point i think it would be easier for me to just fly out of france.......i really dont want to have to put her in cargo......thanks for the info

Please think about those of us who are severely allergic to pets before considering flying your cat in the the cabin!

I don't fly internationally and expect to come across animal fur in the cabin air, in fact I didn't know it was allowed until now, but will pack allergy meds and inhaler in my hand luggage from now on.

Please think about those of us who are severely allergic to pets before considering flying your cat in the the cabin!

I don't fly internationally and expect to come across animal fur in the cabin air, in fact I didn't know it was allowed until now, but will pack allergy meds and inhaler in my hand luggage from now on.

its not something i think you have to worry about........as 99.8% of the time they will have to be in cargo.......plus if you were sitting next to someone that had an animal companion with them im sure they would be happy to move you to another location on the plane

To the OP: we have recently made the transatlantic move twice in one year US-UK-US (without pets or kids). The things you should think about before moving to the US are:

1) Getting green card for spouse could take up to a year. It took us 9 months w no restrictions, though again that was over 5 years ago. I would expect a minimum of 6 months. Check http://london.usembassy.gov for details of where to start.

2) You should definitely get your UK naturalisation. I am kicking myself for not having done so before moving back. We were so concerned with getting his GC we just didn't even research it until it was too late.

3) Will you sell or rent out your house - and will you require the proceeds to move / help with the financial sponsorship requirements? Could this affect your desired timeline?

4) The job market sucks. Both in the UK and in the US. I would definitely recommend getting a job first, if either of you can. If not, when you are back in January visiting family, maybe you can do some hard core research then. Meet with recruiters or contacts in your industries. My spouse gets hired from Skype interviews, so when his project came to an end abruptly in London, within 2 weeks he was already offered and accepted a contract back in Los Angeles. On the flip side, I just started a 3 week freelance job - my longest gig since we moved to the UK a year ago. I suppose what I am saying is that if it were me and my spouse, I would not move anywhere without having a secure job for one of us first.

5) Shipping companies. We used a US broker - Southern Winds. We shipped 200 cubic feet (shared container - 1br flat of stuff) from London to Los Angeles and it cost us USD$2600 or thereabouts including packing, removal and insurance ($10k worth). We ended up using that insurance so don't skimp on it! Shipping took 10 weeks for us. Short term accommodation is a potentially expensive bank account buster, the average furnished apartment here being about $3600/mo. We ended up renting a room from a friend for much cheaper.

6) Health care costs. Need I say more

I'm not saying don't go for it -- if this is what you both want for your family, then definitely pursue your dream! And it's good that you are researching this from all angles. If you have any questions, maybe hitting britishexpats.com can help further. DH used this when we moved back the first time. Best of luck!

It is much faster right now.  I've heard that people have been getting their confirmation letters, the one after you submit your intent to apply in about 2-4 weeks.