Moving to Southern California

[emfrancine2]

Hello,
My husband, 17 yr old, 14 yr old, 5 yr old and I are looking to re-locate to Southern California with my husbands job.
We were looking at Santa Monica, Malibu, Torrance area which are pretty expensive. So I have found Irvine? As far as I can see The Orange County and Ventura County have good schools and are cheaper.
Does anyone have any advice please??
Thank you

Be careful OP. LA is bloody expensive now. The list price is the starting point not the end point and it really adds up so add an extra 20% to most service things for a better estimate.
Drive time is the factor to look at rather than distance.
Most areas outside of LA are strong Republican areas and much more conservative that the sunshine would imply!

Agree with skippingabeat, telecommuting - even long distance and sometimes international - is common in certain US industries. BUT -

emfrancine2: I am really thinking as my husband is not office based we could actually live anywhere in the U.S...

Check this carefully (if you haven't already) - there's a big difference between being able to work/live/telecommute from anywhere in California vs being able to work/live/telecommute from anywhere in the USA. While there are some employers who can and will let employees work from anywhere, it's also very common to be restricted to one state or a group of states for the "official" residence/work address.

Generally has to do with the strength/variation of regulations and law among the states in the US federal system. For example - the employer is required to offer health insurance and may not be able to do so in all states. The Human Resources department may not be equipped to follow changes in employment law and worker's rights in all states (there's a huge range). The laws about home offices - and how to claim related expenses on taxes - vary from state to state.

It's not impossible that they would add a state where they do not currently have an employee - but the question does need to be asked.

We’re in LA, have never been to Florida but hurricane season doesn’t fill me with joy (although I guess we have earthquakes). It’s expensive here But liberal and a good quality of life and they adore the Brits (there are a LOT of us here) And the weather is generally good - even when it’s bad it’s not really bad, maybe a day or two of rain at a time before a break again, hot in the summer but never that hot or for too long, “chilly” to me now means putting another layer on (although bloody air con everywhere means you have to take a jumper to sit indoors)

The cons that spring to mind are mainly that it’s really fucking far from everywhere, especially home, and that your kids are quite old for such a huge move, can the 17yr old at least finish his education at home? I’m looking at moving back but honestly 12yrs is the cut off for me as the systems really are very different

That's not unusual at all. I have many colleagues who work from home in other states, join our meetings on webex, visit clients who are all over the US, and visit the office a couple of days per month

Yes but presumably they're not having to apply for a visa to come and live in the US in the first place. The issue will be proving to USCIS that if you can be based literally anywhere in the US, then presumably you could be based in the UK (and travel to the US when necessary on an ESTA) therefore you don't actually need a visa in the first place.

However, the OP seems to be avoiding the visa question so who knows.

@Skippingabeat I work for a similar set-up. I’m on the west coast but we have people scattered all over the country. But we didn’t have to have the company present a case to immigration for our visa petitions. We are already here.

I can understand the company needing to bring on someone from overseas for a specialist skill that is not available locally but I find it hard to believe that they cannot find anyone in entire 50 states who can do this job and that the only option is to bring in someone from overseas.

OP has posted the identical text on another forum where the answers have been similar and where answering the visa question had also been mysteriously dodged. I’m thinking this is yet another “been offered a job in America” case where neither the applicant nor the employer has any clue about the visa process and what is required. Without a path to a visa, the job offer isn’t even worth the paper it’s written on. I just hope the OP hasn’t put the family home up for sale and ordered Pickfords to come and take all their stuff.

I've worked for a global company (based in the US) where people have been working in different time zones/joining conference calls etc.

I've never heard of recruiting someone who isn't a US citizen to do a job in "the USA" with no regard for timezones/places etc. The man could stay in the UK and do the job if there were no requirements to be anywhere in particular.

@Maduixa raises a very valid point too. Employment laws vary from state to state. What if a telecommuter is based in a state that has a more favorable approach (on the employee’s side) to paid time off, maternity leave, family leave, etc than the state where the office is located? What if the company is in an “at will” state but the employee is not?

Schools are organised by school district, not by county. You need to find good a elementary, middle (the youngest will be moving to middle school eventually) and high school district. Think of a Venn diagram with three ovals - your location would have to be in the common part.

Elementary and middle schools can sometimes be part of the same District but sometimes they are separate, and high schools are very often separate from elementary/middle school Districts.

After you find schools that tick your boxes then you double check the catchment (District) boundaries and start looking for somewhere to live within those boundaries.

You may well find yourselves stuck in CA or neighbouring states thanks to the concerns raised by PPs.

We live in Ventura County with kids, and love it. Message me if you’d like to ask me any questions!