potential move to USA, because can't afford to live UK

[AdoraBell]

Is DH fucking deluded, or will be able to live on $50,000 per year? Two adults and either 2 teens or put them in boarding school here coz, ya know, that's free

disclaimer -I might be contemplating strangling the idiot overreacting slightly.

Oh and we don't have health insurance as we just can't afford it. Our would be around $1000 a month as we're self employed and that would have a $10,000 excess/deductible. We're usually just above the threshold for Mainecare (free healthcare) though as it doesn't take our massive mortgage, property taxes and debts in to account.

Maybe gently suggest to him exploring the visa routes begote doing much more research on whether $50k is feasible....?

Just indulge him because with no visa it's never going to happen.

Do the green card lottery thing? I don't know what it is as I have a USA passport but we have some British friends who went on a lottery won thing!

Learn how to hit the ground when you hear gunfire. That's an essential skill sadly.

I might add something useful when I stop laughing.
DF lived and worked in CA. Let's just say he's back in the UK now.

How would you go about even renting an apartment in that setting? I have a US passport, could relocate in a heartbeat if I wanted (my folks would love that) but with 2 dependents and no insurance on $50K? Not a chance in hell.

Loopyloppy a fellow Mainer! Are you North or South?

That's interesting Possum

I'll point him in the direction of visas and wait for his head to implode

Oh, sorry, forget the USA green card lottery, it doesn't apply to U.K. citizens.

I have relatives in the US and can tell you getting visas is EXTREMELY difficult, time consuming and costly even when you have everything in place and a full moving package from your employer.

One relative had to come back to the UK for 3 years cos someone at their office didn't file the correct piece of paper within time limits. It didn't matter that it wasnt their fault- they were told to leave and couldn't reapply for 3 years. They had to rent their house out in the US and rent themselves in the UK. They couldn't get enough to cover their mortgage so they had to pay the deficit themselves.

They were fortunate that their employer is international and could transfer to the UK office and that they earned a sufficient salary to cover the costs;

$50,000 a year isn't going to cover it.

It also costs quite a lot to up sticks and move. We spent a fortune in the last few months in the UK, and first 6 months in new country. And that was fortunately rembursed in general by DHs company.
Can you afford to move in the first place?

PastysPrincess Wow that would be my personal nightmare.

We wouldn't move back to the UK even in situation we would try Canada or Mexico first!

I'd love to live in Maine or Massachusetts, but I imagine somewhere lovely would cost a bomb.

RedSandYellowSand

Your right, I think all flights visas and moving fees plus all the extras cost us £5k. We paid for that ourselves and didn't have jobs lined up over here when we moved.

Not everywhere in MA costs a lot once you get outside metro Boston. But the cost of living generally is very here there- it's also known as Taxachusetts...

Kursk how in hell did flights, Visas and moving costs to the USA only cost $5000?

Adora it might be worth asking your DH to consider how living costs have increased in the UK since the 1970s, and have a little think about whether it's possible they might have gone up in the USA too?

We flew Icelandic. Dogs flew with Pet Air UK. We sold everything so just shipped the important stuff

You would f have much of a life on that. DH earns a lot more and after paying astronomical insurances, property taxes, 401k savings and our contribution towards medical insurance, we don't have anything left for champagne swilling. Lucky he's working abroad st the moment with OT to prop us up. Not sure what we'll do when that ends, hopefully I'll have a job again by then.

It isn't as cheap as you think when it all adds up. Travel out is also expensive from our city as it's a busInes hub, no such thing as deals to get home to visit family.

We didnt go to the US, but we burnt through significantly more than 5k. Maybe 5k each (2 adults, 2 kids).

Visas are unlikely with Trump harrumphing about American jobs for American workers nearly every day. You need a skill that isn't readily available in the US to get one.

Private school will probably run about $15,000 - $20,000 per pupil per year.

Our employer provided health insurance runs about $16,000 a year. It is a good plan with low deductibles.

What are you going to do when you retire? Will you qualify for social security and Medicare (healthcare).

My husband earnt about £50000 a year when we lived in NY. We had health insurance, a rent controlled apartment in williamsburg (gold dust!), 2 cats and I worked in a few restaurants so we could get quite a few of of our meals from there each week. We did quite well for ourselves. This was 10 years ago though and speaking to friends the average rent in that neighbourhood has gone up by about $3500 a month as it's extra fancy now.

Where did he come up with the $50k number, and does he have any idea what his income would be after tax? I know to a certain extent that could depend on where you live, but he needs to do a general estimate of tax that will be owed to get a true picture of how much you'd have to live on.

If he's self employed, presumably he would have to build up a client base unless he knows people who would hire him on a project / consulting basis? But that could be very tenuous - I'd think someone self-employed might not have a stable income.

Do you have significant savings that could be used to cover big up front and 'one-time' expenses,? Thinking furniture, household items (bedding, kitchen utensils /cookware), car purchase, etc. Those things alone could run to tens of thousands of dollars.

If he hasn't looked into visas etc then he's living in Cloud cuckoo land. Encourage him to look into it properly, how much health insurance costs for starters. He'll soon be put off.

If he's self employed and projecting a 50k salary immediately, I'm assuming he's got a business that he can do anywhere in the world and won't actually be trying to set up a brand new company in the US. So he's thinking he can just stay on a visitors visa and pop over to Mexico or Canada to somehow magically renew it?