seanjoe

Hi Owen,

many thanks, can you atleast give me your figures for Texas (is it HOuston/Dallas?) for the utilities and child care? and car insurance. Of course, you don't need to specify income, but just the expense figures for YOU would be a good start.

I did not understand your first statement: ...that's a relatively rare situation on here, especially for UK residents.,,,,what is a rare situation?

Hi Owen,

No idea yet. My DV interview is next week, so fingers crossed, it goes well, and then I have to apply for a job.

I saw on some parts of the forum that it is advisable to apply only after you get the visa?

Hence, why I am looking at any place where I can get a good job.

yeah, i know its going to vary, but it would be informative. I am in Milton Keynes.

There you go, that's a start.

If anyone else can contribute with their city/state in the US, that would be a good start. I know we can't have 50 different sub-fora, let's do it on one.

People - please help/contribute.

Hi All,

Not sure if this has been posted, but I wanted to start a topic on how life compares when moving from the UK to the US. I have lived here for almost 10 years now, and am on the brink (hopefully) of moving to the USA. I wanted feedback from people on issues such as bills; council tax comparisons, tax, take home pay, disposable income, holiday pay, sick pay, insurance, etc.

Just a topic which can remove all the surprises that we may be hit with when we move to the US.

Also to include topics relating to kids, their education, etc.

I'll make a start:

Childcare at the moment: around £900 (2 year old)

Council tax: £1200/year

Electric/Gas: £75/month

Water: £40/month

Take home % income: (contracting) 80

Car insurance: £300/yr

Credit cards: easy to get (how can we use these in the UK to get a US credit card)

Hope others can feed in

Thanks

Hi Nick,

Apologies you lost the plot.

We had our first medical at Knightsbridge on the 10th Dec, when the nurse there told us what we need and that we could get it done outside. So we (as of today) have got all the vaccinations done, and Knightsbridge agreed that we just need to send it via email. Today, my son was also due his final vaccinations, but since yesterday, he got a high fever, hence, he could not do his vacc. Now, he has to get well fully before getting his shots, which only leaves next week Mon and Tue.

After this date, Knightsbridge is closed till the 2nd Jan. So if he does not get better by next week, we can only give everything to them on Jan 2, then it should get to the embassy before our interview date on the 7th. But just in case, I wanted to ask the embassy (to be sure) whether it would be ok if we attended the interview in the event that the medicals were not ready.

Does that make sense?

Anyways, I finally found a contact form on the US embassy for IV and have sent them an email.

Have you called the doctors and asked them?

With hindsight being a good teacher, I guess scenarios like this are why it may be better to let the panel doctors handle everything even if the cost is higher.

You will need to check if you are allowed to keep your appointment without the medicals, too. Some consulates /embassies will let you do the interview and send the medical results later, but others do not allow applicants in without medicals. I am not sure of what London's approach is, I suspect you'll be ok as I think it is the busier IV units that may be stricter, but do check in advance.

Thanks Susie.

Tried calling endlessly to about six numbers to contact the appointments line for London - I can never get to talk to anyone.

Does anyone know how to change the appointment time or talk to someone to check if a medical can be given 1-2 days after the interview? Any London applicants???

Update:

So I had all the vaccinations done by gp, etc and the last set of vacc. for wife and child were for tomorrow, the 18th dec. i was then going to take all the results tomorrow itself to knightsbridge doctors so that they could send it off before the holidays. now my dilemma is that my child is sick so i can only take him next week or latest the 2nd jan (as the doctors are closed from 24th to 1st Jan).

My interview is on the 7th jan. worst case scenario, all medicals would be complete by jan 2nd. so in this case, would the medicals result reach the embassy before the 7th?

Any UK/London based applicants know or anyone else have any idea???

Just to advise that I had my medical and a few points: They allowed us to do all the tests and asked for the police clearance to be faxed through. We also had the option to get the other tests done separately and fax it through - and believe me, have a chat with your gp first to see if you can some of these done on the nhs/your doctor as its a lot cheaper. the only one you may struggle with is the 4th DTaP for a child (he is under 3) and the US want this done at an accelerated rate as compared to the UK - would you believe it...NOT ONE single doctor (private or NHS) would do this; so back to the Knightsbridge to get this done.

However, they were very friendly.

Thanks Nick,

You have been a great help; thanks to all the others and what a great forum this is!!!

yes, it was 3, and when i made the appt by tel. she told me 4. then she said the website is wrong for the vaccinations as per the posts above.

so i told her, please can you send me an email of confirmation and requirements. so she has sent that now. and said 4 photos; though it states it can be either UK or US style photos, as long as the 4 are identical - need to offload some excess UK photos in stock.

one more thing Nick: there was a query on for the interview: Evidence of support (Affidavit of support), which is about not being a public charge to the US, Does this mean we need to write up a statement or does it mean show bank statements?

Thanks Nick,

Yes, I will just keep the appt. and then fax through the police clearance when I get it (I mean to Knightsbridge doctors).

they have said it will be fine.

So fingers crossed.

Now need to start making all the copies of the school certificates, bla bla bla.

Not sure if that link to the medical is that accurate.

It says for 18-64 year olds that influenza vaccine is needed, but the pdf chart states that that age group does NOT need it.

The police certs have not arrived; guess it might be prudent to ask the medical clinic if I can still come and just send the police cert when it arrives?

Has anyone tried this before.

I don't want to change the date on the embassy date as this would be difficult to reschedule. From what I can gather here, the staff at the embassy seem to be quite friendly?

Hi all,

First of all, this is a great forum and amazing yet again what google searches come up with.

I could use some help and I know there are elements of my query on the posts.

I have got an interview at the US embassy in London on 7th Jan, and I have scheduled my medical for 12th Dec. (next week). I applied for the police clearance as soon as I got the interview email; however, I'm pretty sure that my police clearance for UK will only arrive after the 12th, probably the following week. I already have a previous NZ and Indian police clearance, but 2 questions here: I think we don't need a Indian one as something about reciprocity by country? I'm a NZ national. Second question: the NZ record is valid indefinitely? as long as we don't go to return there permanently? Are these statements correct?

Finally, if I don't have the UK police clearance cert in time for the medical, would they agree to have it sent via email or shown once it has been received or do you think its better to reschedule the medical. My only issue is that the time gap between 12th dec ad 7th Jan (taking into account holidays) is not much.

ANy help on any/all of the above would be highly appreciated.

With regards to vaccinations; my child has his red book and he does not have the hepatitis B vaccine; is this mandatory for kids; he is now just under 3 years.

As far as my wife's record is concerned, she was in India and there is no chance of getting those records; any help from any Indian nationals?

Thanks

sean