Moving from London to New York- HELP PLEASE

[Newjobformoremoney]

Hi all,
In a bit of a whirlwind week it seems highly likely that we are relocating to New York for 6 months. Its all a bit overwhelming.
We have a dog that we'd take with us, has anyone done that and can recommend a service? Schooling? How do we manage that? We have a 5 year old and ideally I would cut my hours to PT (visa depending).
Apartment would be sorted by the company I think, but they have a few so does anyone recommend a good family friendly area?
What else should I be thinking about? What should I be thinking about? Any advice? Any good links?
They'd like us to move in January.... which feels very soon!
Any words of wisdom?

I can't help with a lot of it, but NY is very cold in January. You will need realyl good winter wear.

Close relatives of mine attended the British International school (BISNY) for a year and were very happy there. If you’re not staying more than 6 months then it would make a lot of sense to stick with the British system especially as American kids start a year later so she’ll likely go into Kindergarten in the US system so will be repeating reception. Then I’d look to live within a reasonable commute of the school and work. That will be very expensive but if you’re not paying then it’s fine!

Re the dog, we used Pet Air to book our cat on a BA flight to the states and I couldn’t fault them. Alternatively I know some precious dog owners that have used the boat (Queen Mary 2 I think) so DDog doesn’t have to go air cargo and can enjoy a luxury cruise!

amotherplace on instagram moved to NYC for 3 months with her kids earlier this year for her husbands job, she might have a highlight on it

I`d say you will have to educate your 5 year old privately - not sure how you would go about only registering him for 6 months.

I guess have addressed the big thing - health insurance and relocation package?

We moved to the USA with our dog and that was fairly straightforward. From memory I think they need a rabies vaccination. We used a pet courier company who also sorted out all the paperwork.

If you are traveling on L1/2 visas I understand that L2 visas now include automatic permission to work without needing to apply for a separate work authorization.

There is an overseas living section on here which I found useful when moving.

Is there a way you can just not work? If I was only going for 6 months I'd try and make the most of it!

If you need to apply for work authorization it is unlikely to be processed within the six months.

Thanks @FlounderingFruitcake our daughter isn't sololy in the English system (sorry I should have mentioned that in the OP), but I am not sure we can get her a space for 6 months somewhere and she doesn't legally need to be at school so I was thinking a morning thing only? Or a NYC state school for the experience? I might totally be romanticising state school there, I have no idea!
I will contact Pet Air now thanks, I think he would prefer a quick flight rather than a boat...
Thanks for all your help!

Expecting your dc to absorb a totally different school and school system and friends just for six months seems like a huge additional stress to give them.

@idonotmind They have confirmed we'll all be covered with health care, they are planning on doing much of the relocation for us so we're not expecting a lot (as we're doing furnished apartment etc) but only the salary and bonus package has been firmed up, the rest is going to HR for the visa stuff and then you move onto the relocation team it seems.

We used a company called Airsupply for the pet shipping, they handled everything including being the agent on arrival. It's quite easy to get them into the country but you'll want to make sure they have the paperwork to get back to the UK because if you DON'T do that, you're looking at lengthy quarantine for your dog (which is avoidable if you keep all of the jabs & paperwork current.)

Schooling is handled by the town you'll reside in but ultimately you'll probably end up with your DC repeating reception, which is a bit of a pain. We went private to ease the transition a bit. If you're in NYC properly then it will be through the NY Department of Education but you might be living outside of the city, so schooling options might vary.

As far as where to live, it depends on what the company's package looks like and where your DH will need to be for work.

@frozengoose me getting a working visa is the issue. I am actually the main bread winner and a C-Suite so taking 6 months out of my career seems like a huge ask. Its going to be the sticking point in all of this I think.

There's such a mad frenzy for good C-suite professionals in NYC though, you could probably get a role and dictate terms to your advantage if you have a work authorised visa.

If you want mornings she could do pre K at a daycare or pre school but she’d be the eldest and like nurseries, good ones tend to have long wait lists! I know the British school has a fairly transient student body, my relatives had no issue with availability and didn’t even stay a full academic year themselves. Can’t speak about public schools at all, that’s likely to be very localised.

If it’s an L visa (L1-A for you, L2 for dependents) then they’re usually pretty quick.

Good luck :)

Dog needs a rabies vaccine, think there's a 21 day wit after the vaccine to enter the country. Day 1 is the day after the vaccine

I hear everyone about education. She is currently in a bilingual education following a dual system, but looking at a similar school in the us its coming out at 50k per year. We have decided to keep on paying our UK private school fees to keep her place and I am not sure if we can afford both. I suppose this is also a question for his company on if they can cover it.
But as we're keeping on saying, its only 6 months. Maybe its not worth it? The issue is we would struggle to keep the other language alive as we're terrible at OPOL! I suppose we'll just need to get better

@gwenneh ironically his company have offered to find me a job as we work in the same industry but ideally I would stay with the company I am in as I'm on a rather aggressive LTIP and only have 2 years to go! It would feel like a lot of hard work down the drain (but needs must I suppose!)

Six months is a very short time and I would DEFINITELY caution you to make sure your dog has all of the clearances to get back into the UK before you go. We nearly missed a critical window on that one and it would have been old style quarantine at a facility, at our expense, if we hadn't been able to get things sorted.

I believe the six month "quarantine-at-home" rules still apply for pets but you have to keep all of the UK requirements up, which isn't easy to do in the US sometimes!

@FlounderingFruitcake thanks I will look into the school and see. And you're right about nurseries.
We would be staying in Manhattan as that's where most of the apartments are apparently.

Well if your company will let you reduce hours for six months so you can enjoy the experience that's a terrific plan. The salaries in NYC are generally much more generous, we've found, and we've made this move a few times in the last 20 years with a corresponding pay bump every time. So depending on what they offer your DH, you might be able to do it!

What visas are you traveling on?
This is what will decide if working will be practical on your timescales.

You could always look at schools related to that other language? It’s NY so very international and if it’s something like French or Spanish it should be relatively easy. How you pay for it is the sticking point though!

Can you take a 6m career break from your company and still work elsewhere? It's tough to make friends in 6m so lots of family time. It's so much more tiring and full on that you expect. But a great memory for me. Glad I did it. Try to stay domiciled in the UK for tax purposes since it's so much easier.

Just for 6 months? I'd stay in the UK with child and let DH go abroad. And visit him lots, especially if you can get a short sabbatical from your work (e.g. a couple of months)

but I would definitely NOT give up my job for a 6 month stint abroad.

Given what you've said, is it really worth going just for 6 months?