Living in America 2015

[rootypig]

New thread. In honour of:

1. allegedly Irish bangers discovered I saw in Trader Joe's today, which made me think of you lot and especially you Want2b, you pork fanatic - I will report back; and

2. taxes bloody argh! do I have to do this? NOW??? My green card was granted in August last year and I didn't earn a bloody penny. What am I supposed to put on a tax return

How else is everyone's American odyssey going?

yours chaotically, as ever,

rooty

I just stocked up on the irish sausages yesterday! Some nice sausages and mash and sausage casserole on our horizon now (I'll probably keep buying them until they disappear from TJ's in a couple of weeks!).

We just had them for breakfast with friends, in a hash with potato and green peppers. They were nice! passable. Sort of halfway between what I think of as Irish sausage - Richmond - what we actually eat in Ireland (pretty gross!) and a proper pork banger. The taste was good.

Listen to me, I think I'm Paul Hollywood

Thanks rooty!

I'm also a cpa. Autocorrect switches it to cow! Tax return needs to be filled in. If you didn't earn anything and are married I would file with your DH (as married filing joint) so your household tax is lower. If you want to file as single check out the income limits because I don't think you have to pay to file if your income is below $40k/year. Def file married if you are.

Btw DH is so proud that the sausages are passable.

Want2b do we have your DH to thank for the sausages?! good work. I am going to get a few packs and squirrel them in the freezer.

Thanks for the tax info. You have to pay to file?!! Insanity.

He supplied the meat. I did some of the taste tests. DH cooked up five different sausages and asked me which one. First five didn't make the cut.

You don't have to pay to file as you can always mail your return in. To file electronically there is a charge. I use turbotax to file but do everything myself first as we have an s corp, foreign, rental plus regular income. Turbo tax is good for walking you through steps but they are terrible with nanny tax and foreign income when it's one of multiple income streams.

We have complicated taxes and it takes me about 4-5 hours to do our year end return. If your not sure start doing them right now and call the irs for help or pm me.

I cannot believe a MNer taste tested my sausages! Good work, both of you. They went down very well with my (French and American) guests.

Oh thanks for the advice re turbo tax - (STBX)DH uses it but it sounds like it may not be suitable for me.

Want2 tell your DH thanks from me! I love having better sausages at this time of year (especially with the looooong winter this year!).

Rooty stbx? Are you going through a divorce in LA with a little one? Is your STBX American? How stressful for you (though ultimately for the best I imagine). What does it mean in terms of custody/plans to move back to the UK? Sorry for the questions! Feel free to ignore them (especially as I'm such a lurker that you don't know who I am!). But if you want to chat a bit then do (I like the anonymity of MN for this reason - a good outlet).

oh no rooty. Sorry to hear your mid divorce. I can't image how hard that must be. If you need help with your taxes pm me. I can walk you through the paper forms or ask my contacts at work how the free filing works.

Good news on the food front is the other item DH has been working on is a bacon chop. The flavor hasn't been right on the last four trials so I told DH to keep working on it. Think Canadian bacon but half an inch thick. The price point is an issue so looking at alternatives to organic. Trying for all natural but production in Denmark is too small.

I will also share that proper bacon is due to hit the shelves of Costco. It will be labelled as 25% leaner bacon. Expect it to arrive in stores in May or June. I've tasted it here and it's darn good. Flip I would share but I ate it all!

Want2b I am so tickled by the thought of you and your DH at home, working away like a pair of meaty Willy Wonkas. Your efforts are so appreciated!

Thank you for the offer of help with forms. We have just separated and I am still SAHP so will file this year as married if it's easier that way.

Thanks Flip. DH is American and we will be staying here for the foreseeable. DD is only two so hands on coparenting is really important to us both. And I have US residency rights but he doesn't have UK, and he's in grad school. So lots of practical reasons. I'm ok with it. Just need to get a fabulously well paid job so that I can fly home twice a year!

Ooh. 'Proper' sausages. There's a Trader Joe's 30mins from us. Hmmm.

Rooty sorry to hear about the divorce. It must be stressful - I'm a sahp (I also work freelance around the 3 kids) and it's hard. Combined with the adjustment to living in America (I'm also married to an American and we're here forever, though getting back to ireland regularly is vital for my mental health!). Hope you find a great job! Plus your way with words (porky wonka!) had me laughing.

Want2 I love these insider glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes food wise! I must say I really like TJ's. I've never been to costco (yet). I've heard the meat & fish is decent (and I like that they pay their workers well!) so I expect I'll start going there at some point. Myself and an Irish friend do runs to the Butcher's Block in queens for proper irish bacon/sausages/black & white pudding and taytos!

Alpaca this winter has been long and cold here in NJ. But I feel we're over the hump and I can feel that spring will be here soon (though March has come in like a lion with yet more snow/freezing rain due this week). Hope Michigan warms up soon!

Freckly sausages are worth the trip but will disappear soon. TJs is great, especially if you're in a state that sells booze in supermarkets (one of my least favourite things about NJ is the stupid liquor licensing laws!).

Hi everyone.

I seem to keep losing the American threads although there are people here I recognize.

I'm also in freezing Michigan and just bloody ecstatic that it is now in the 30s this week. We haven't seen freezing for so long that I may faint from the heat and excitement. I told DD we could even think about going for ice cream after school soon if it stays warm. She gave me look.

Those of you wondering about taxes, I'm pretty certain that the answer is YES you do have to file as you will have to declare any and all UK bank accounts, mortgage payments etc. so even if you don't earn you need to fill it all in. They are exhausting and take forever, far more work than the UK ones. Sorry to break that to you.

I am quite settled here now I think, so don't often wander on here as I am just getting on with everyday life, and don't really think about if I'm Living in America iykwim. I don't mean to be anti social, I just get caught up in RL

God I buy all my cheap booze from TJs. Their $7 gin is totally passable.

What are the NJ licensing laws?

kickass how long have you been out here?

Actually last year you only had to declare foreign accounts with balances greater than something like $100k during the year. I'm not sure what the rule is for this year but we keep most of our cash here in the us with small amounts in the UK and Denmark.

It's really awesome that DH and the team allow me to taste and give feedback. I am a very picky person and I notice the smallest things. I get annoyed when packaging won't open easily and when instructions are not clear.

Nj hasn't had a bad winter but I am still ready to move on. We are now in hoboken and I realized I have not got good enough winter clothes. Poor dd was freezing a couple of times as she wears dresses with cotton tights. I just don't have the time to argue with her.

I've been here six years and really like it in spite of the weather. I teach in a small private school and DD also goes to it. She's on the spectrum and this school is so much better for her than large public schools. We could never afford that in the UK.

We did luck out. We're in a left wing liberal university city but housing is cheapish so we get a very nice lifestyle. Also there are direct flights to Heathrow so I don't feel too cut off from home.

I'm not living in America - yet! - but a possible three year stay is on the horizon (DH in line for an overseas posting). My major concern is my mum, who lives very close to us at home and is VERY involved with our 3 DC. I honestly don't think we can go if there is no way for her to be with us for long periods of time - she is like a third parent to them.

Does anyone have any experience of this? I was thinking she could do three months on / three months off for the duration of our time in the US under the waiver programme. But I have read that border control don't like repeated visits like this and I cannot even imagine how horrendous it would be if she got denied entry.

Obviously there would be no question of her working in the US, she owns a house in the UK etc.

Any experiences or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

(My second concern is the cheese :))

Hi y'all! We've just moved across to the US so adjusting to life out here (we're all Brits with no experience if life in the states at all...).

Am v v pleased to hear about the meat products And I also love the cheap wine in Trader Joe's

Does anyone have any info on how long work authorisation takes to come through? I got my social security number through in days

Thanks!

cheese - she could possibly visit for 3 months each year, but probably not repeatedly in one year, as the concern would be that effectively you're using her as a nanny and not employing a good American citizen.

Your kids will get 3 months for the summer, though (except for a few areas that have continuous schooling) so you could go to visit her for a long period in the summer, then she come over in the winter, which would give you the same time together, but obviously mean you're away from DH.

I have NO idea about work visas - I was on the crappy spousal to H1B so had almost no rights, then we got green cards directly from that. Generally waiting times are really unpredictable, and can rely on how many other people filed paperwork that same month etc.

Thanks kiss, I'm on an L2 and have been told I don't need further authorisation to work but lots of employers will want to see my EAD so I basically do need to have one

cheese if the USA system is the same as the UK, repeated entry as a visitor will land your mum in trouble, as she would be practically living here for half the year.

Sorry, I'm clueless about visas. But definitely be careful about using the visa waiver as it would cause big problems if she was stopped. If it's a work opportunity then check with the immigration lawyer included as part of the package. I will also say the time difference can be hard. Eg no late evening chats with my mum (and we have 'only' five hour difference here). But whatsapp and skype and FaceTime are great.

Kickass I'm similar about living here, as in I'm here rather than an expat. So 'living overseas' isn't that relevant (plus I was technically living overseas in London too, being Irish!). I still keep in touch with friends and family in Europe - I listen to a lot of R4 podcasts (as well as RTE ones) and read a lot of the guardian. And watch bbc iplayer. We watch TV via our laptop, so I kind of ignore US tv!

All of you with booze in your TJs...I am so jealous! $7 gin would make my life very much better . There is one in a town a bit of a drive away...I should just head down there sometime and stock up!

Cheese - good news is that the U.S. now has far better cheeses than they used to have. We are just over the water from NYC and can get pretty much any cheese we want.

With regards to your mum DH's boss got a visa for his parents. This was 25 years ago but DH has told me work arranged it all. I would see about her visa being thrown into the expat deal as it won't cost the employer that much more.