Moving from UK to Irvine California with teens

[Jooode01]

Husbands job opp near Newport Beach Cali. My concern is our kids transition and their education. Husbands company will support the move but I need advice on where to find info for high school/ college for 18 and 16year olds. Is private school recommended for my younger boy? My eldest will want to be starting college/ uni. Is 16 years old a bad time for him to be changing to a completely different education system? Thank you for any advice 🙏

How long are you coming for? On what visa? If you’re on L-2 visas then your children will age out at 21 (assuming the company is not sponsoring your GCs before then) and will have to leave the country unless they can transition to another visa in their own right. They may affect their choice of college education. However, if you are out of the UK for more than a certain amount of time then you get shafted with overseas rates for tuition at UK universities. For these reasons, most people coming on company transfer visas find it better to leave an 18-year-okd behind unless they company will sponsor your GC applications before the 18-year-old turns 21.

Will you be able to work also? Again, depends on your visa category. That may heavily influence where you can afford to live, which will influence your school. Note that for public school (which is what we call state school) your address determines which school you can attend. Private school is different - if you can pay, you can go to whichever school you choose. If it’s only going to be a short-term stay then an international private school would get better do that the younger one can fall back into school in the UK when you return. Obviously houses that are in the school district with the best schools are more expensive than those in school districts that don’t fare as well. Our school district is one of the worst performing in the state but we don’t have children so that’s no concern to us. Consequently our house cost half what a similar house in a good SD would have cost.

When you do get here, please don’t call it “Cali”. It annoys the locals :)

I moved to Orange County when I was 16 (from a different country that's not the UK) and went to university in Irvine.

I will say I really struggled with high school. I started halfway through 11th grade - it's quite an upheaval moving at that age and losing all your friends. I would consider your kids personalities - I'm quiet and introverted so it shouldn't have been a shock to my parents I didn't make friends easily. Academically I did OK- I was at a slight disadvantage suddenly studying different subjects (some of my previous ones were not offered at my new school) but honestly the system wasn't that different from the one I'd come from. I took the SAT and ACT, the exams you take to apply to universities, and decided to stay local and go to UC Irvine.

I loved university though. It did feel like a fresh start and like I was no longer on the back foot all the time. UC Irvine is a great school. I spent most of my time on campus so didn't get to know Irvine itself that well, but it seemed like a clean, sterile upmarket city?

@BritWifeInUSA thank you for your reply- some very good points which will help steer the conversation/ negotiations with the company in question in no uncertain terms. We lived in USA for a few years before kids but this is a whole new ball game and one I won’t take lightly - if we decide to go for it, it will be because I’m sure it’s a positive move for the cherubs Thank you for your thoughts

@RogersVideo thank you for your own personal experience🙏. Yes it is a major consideration and my 16 year old is the one I’d be most tentative about, arriving midway through their school career. A lot to think about, but that’s the best way to ensure it’s the correct decision for all I think, thanks again, you’ve helped a great deal