Moving to California Bay Area

[DoctorBambino]

My husband works for an American tech firm and has recently returned from a trip to head office. We are considering relocating over there as he currently ends up working a full UK day and then has lots of meetings all evening because of the time difference. We previously spent 4 months in Pleasanton and loved it there.

I understand that the traffic is awful so the furthest out we would consider is Fremont but even that looks like we would rather avoid! The prices for everything are INSANE but should be affordable. We will rent at first as buying without a green card seems risky...

Has anyone else done this? How did it go? I have so many questions!! I wouldn't work initially as we have a 2 year old, but I'm hoping that in the future my qualifications will allow me to work as a school psychologist as that is a similar role.

Would love to hear about life in the area, particularly with a toddler and to hear anyone's experience of the move!

Hello!
I can't give you any advice on moving there, but I saw that you had not been getting any answers, so I thought I would write something, at least.
I have a friend who moved from Europe to the Bay Area for a job, and she has lived there for more than 40 years now. She loves it! She started out in central San Francisco, and lives in Sonoma now.
I have visited several times, and it is beautiful, but you already know that!
And expensive, but you already know that too.
I hope someone here can give you some more advice about moving to the Bay Area/moving to the U.S.A.
Good luck!

Hi. I moved from the UK to the Bay Area 6 years ago. Will you have a working visa? Is the office in Pleasanton? We rented in San Carlos for a year and then bought in Hayward. It's definitely expensive to live here, but there are a lot of opportunities and things for families to do. Maybe it's because of increased exposure to social media, but I'm much more aware of/anxious about crime, shootings, and car crashes. Try to choose a city with a great school district, like Fremont and Pleasanton. Castro Valley is also a good area with good schools. My husband has early morning meetings with his colleagues in the UK and then works mostly full days, but gets unlimited leave and works a hybrid schedule. I'm self-employed after a career break, but now we have green cards sponsored by my husband's company.

I also recommend joining local Facebook groups like The Mamahood - SF Bay Area or Fremont Mommies for helpful advice

Hi there, I lived in the Bay Area ( Palo Alto) for 5 years and had both my kids out there, who are now adults, so a very long time ago, but we loved it and still have friends over there. Which part of the Bay Area is the office? Palo Alto is beautiful and has Stanford University. Meno Park and Mountain View were also nice but am very out of date now. I have friends living in Half Moon Bay on the coast also, and in Fremont. It was great having small children there as weather was great and plenty of activities for them. We rented the whole time we were there as thought we would only be there 3 years. Big mistake. We could have been pretty well off now had we bought then. My info is all from a very long time ago though, so not so helpful, but I am sure you will have a fantastic time if you do go. I absolutely loved those 5 years spent there.

@user1471524301 the office is in Santa Clara so thinking Fremont is the furthest manageable commute. Thank you so much for the recommendations of Facebook groups that's really handy.

@rhubarblover Palo Alto and mountain view looks fantastic but even more expensive!! Great to hear you enjoyed it there with kids. Going back to rent is feeling awful so I think we will be keen to buy asap if we like it!

@SkaneTos thank you for taking the time to reply

I can't quite get my head around how a whole school district can be good or bad, so used to our system which looks at individual schools.