Moving to US very soon - any good advice?

[MatildasAunt]

We will be moving to the US very soon (next month) and the only family member who seems to be organised is the cat! Does anyone have any tips on what I desperately need to do, what would be good to do and what I can ignore! Also what clothes do I need to pack ie to take with us, not in the container for the East Coast in May. Any insights appreciated, thanks.

Where are you moving to?

Do you have a place to live? Do you have kids, if so what will you do with them over the summer? I assume that if you're moving in May they are probably not school age, but if they are you might want to organize some camps? Kids on the east coast generally do camp most of the summer.

In May the weather will probably be pretty warm, maybe with some cooler mornings and evenings, and it might get extremely hot before you get your shipped stuff delivered, so you will want spring/summer clothes.

In terms of your move, have you got forms to fill in for insurance of goods in transit? Are you organizing/paying for yourself, or are you being relocated by work? If someone is relocating you they should be being helpful about move arrangements. If you're paying for yourself give some thought to whether it might be cheaper to get rid of things and replace them when you get there, rather than paying to ship them.

Tell us more about your move, and I will probably come up with some more tips...

Oh, will you need a car when you get there? (You will, unless you are moving to NYC). Can you organize that in advance, maybe a month's rental while you look for one to buy? Usually renting from an airport is much more expensive than from anywhere else.

Bank accounts can be difficult for foreign nationals. You might want to look into that before you arrive, HSBC are good for portability so maybe talk to them before you go.

Are you the main visa holder or are you the +1? If you're the spouse, this limits some of the things you can do.
Definitely consider opening a HSBC Premier account beforehand. Remember you have no credit history so this helps.

We arrived in May and I had the kids home right through until September. If I could do that again, I would have researched day camps locally. There are a vast array of camps available and they are very varied in price. This is also a great way for the kids to make friends before starting school. Do you have a Relocator? They will have all that info for you.

For kids, pack shorts, Tshirts and hoodies. It can be anything from an English style cool spring day to hot and sticky in late spring (I'm presuming you mean Tri-State when you say East Coast). In the next 5 days alone we're getting differences in temps ranging from 10-24°C. And remember, you can always go shopping when you get here!

I think one of the best things you could do is find the Local moms FB page and join that and introduce yourself. Ours is a wealth of local knowledge and I really wish they had existed 8 years ago!!

Feel free to PM me with any specific questions. It's a weird time. Exciting but scary. Good luck!

I moved here with DH and my 2 kids about half a year ago. The biggest shocks to my system were the cold weather, and the fact that America is really a foreign culture. So much is different here. Where are you moving to?
Feel free to pm me!

Many thanks for your replies and suggestions, I'd really appreciate some insight into summer camps (have some relocation help - and the school one is being really helpful) especially as one of my children has special needs and out of school care always makes me worried. This is the first time I've ever posted so apologies if I'm a bit slow!

Can you tell us where you will be moving to, and then we may be able to help more with suggestions? How old are your kids?

You will probably find there are a lot of day camp choices out there. Pretty much every organization that has anything to do with children will run one. Typically there are general camps that kids might do for a 3 or 4 week session, which might be run by schools, community centers, the YMCA, etc. They might be a good way for your kids to make friends in the local area. If you are planning on private school, the school probably has a camp as well, and I would think that the YMCA might be a good choice to consider for children with special needs.

Or there are also more specialist camps - sports, art, lego robotics, minecraft programming... if your children have particular interests.

Mommypoppins.com can be a good source of camp suggestions if they cover your area.

Get an American Express card tomorrow if you don't already have one, and use it for everything between now and when you leave, and pay your bill when it arrives. Along with the HSBC account, this will be essential in order for you to establish a credit history in the US. Without a credit history you will not be able to rent an apartment, get a car, get cellphones or set up utility accounts without putting down massive cash deposits.

May will be quite late to arrive and hope to get your children into summer camps. Many Park District summer things fill up or are filled by lottery early in the spring. Same goes for YMCA, etc. If you know in general where you will be living, start searching now online.

If your children are school age then you need to start researching schools in the city you are heading to long before you arrive and certainly before you start looking for somewhere to live. You need to find a good public school first and then find a place to live within that School District; if there are multiple schools in the District, then one in that specific school's catchment area. If one of your children has SNs then you are probably better off by far going to the public schools as there are statutory requirements to provide appropriate education for all children in the public school system; private schools generally do not cater well for children with SNs ime. School District boundaries are rigidly enforced in the US. You can't live in one District and send a child to school in another. You may have some leeway with a child with SNs but that chance is slim.

I am assuming you have all your health insurance sorted out and have details already of your insurance plan. You need to start investigating doctors who your insurance will pay for, or doctors in your PPO or HMO depending on what sort of insurance you have. Children in the US are usually seen by a pediatrician for routine care but you might like to sign the whole family up for a family practitioner (the equivalent of a GP). However, you may find that your child with SN might benefit from the specific expertise of a pediatrician.

Good advice on this thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/living_overseas/2051882-Considering-US-move-head-spinning

Get your current car insurer to write a letter stating how many years of no claims you have. May not help but I found some US insurer treated me as having no driving experience rather than 10 years and the premiums reflected that.

Getting your social security number is a priority as the world (used to) revolve around it. Without one you're not a real person.

To build US credit history fast try getting a store card (I missed which state you're moving to but Target would be a useful one) which you pay off immediately.

Barter with phone companies - it's the done thing (in CA anyway). And every state is essentially a different country.

Oh yes, in addition to didi's suggestion, you might need a driving history record from the DVLA, which it's useful to get before you move. We didn't need this in New York but when we moved to Massachusetts our insurance went down by about 70% when we gave the driving record to the insurance company.

Make sure you get your doctor's records, especially for your children, to take with you. Kids in the US are usually not allowed to attend either school or summer camp without proof of immunisations. If you do sign up for camp in advance you might be able to get your UK doctor to fill in the health forms before you go. If your kids have had chicken pox try to get that noted on their medical records as well, otherwise they will have to have the vaccination.

Still not clear where you are moving to or what age your children are but if they are school age then you need to find out about vaccines ASAP. I know ours needed some additional vaccines done including one (hepB I think?) which is a course of injections with a significant wait time between them. In our experience none of the schools our kids have attended have been flexible about vaccinations. Not having all the ones required might mean they miss school until it's done so worth getting your Dr in UK to do as much as they can now. Also gives you breathing room to find a Dr you like over here. While you're there get a copy of everyone's medical records printed to take with you. As someone mentioned, if they have had chickenpox try to have a note of it on the records.
You will have to get a new drivers license. Each state is different but generally you can drive around on the. British license for a very limited amount of time. Check online for the DMV in your state. You will probably have to sit the full driving test and the theory exam :-(
American schools are rated out of 10. Real Estate websites such as Zillow are a good way to explore the area and will show you the catchment areas for the school and it's rating.