# Moving to America? Have Questions? I'll try to help!



## TheStegg (Jan 12, 2011)

I'll soon be an expat in Dubai, and my wife and I have found the Dubai forum incredibly helpful, so I thought I'd try to "pay it forward" by helping out in this forum.

If you're preparing to move to the USA and have general questions, I'll try to help. Ask me here. 

I can't answer anything related to visas, immigration, immigration law, etc. I probably can't find you a job or find someone to sponsor you. 

However, I'll try to answer general questions about life in America: eating, shopping, technology/internet, where to get a decent cup of tea, weird "American-isims", and just general day to day life.


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## Kate2011 (Mar 20, 2011)

Hi,

I will be moving to the US in the coming months. and I need your help please to find out what is the best city (preferably with big population) to move to in regards to weather, safety, rent prices, cost of living, health care and finding work. thanks.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

You can't come to the US to find work.

You need a work visa before you arrive in the US and this will be applied for, and sponsored by your prospective employer - not you.

...... unless you are coming on any other visa ?


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## Kate2011 (Mar 20, 2011)

Hi thanks for your reply. I am looking forward to have an answer to my query. I need to know what are the cities that could be best to live in since someone has offered to help. cheers.


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## kimo (Feb 12, 2011)

Kate2011 said:


> Hi,
> 
> I will be moving to the US in the coming months. and I need your help please to find out what is the best city (preferably with big population) to move to in regards to weather, safety, rent prices, cost of living, health care and finding work. thanks.


Your questions are all over the board, so hard to give precise answers, and it doesn't appear you have an occupation that would allow you to get a visas, otherwise I am sure you would have mentioned it. 
so this is more for the general public, who may be thinking of coming to the U.S.. If you want nice weather year round, then the farther south you go the better, Places like L.A, and Miami, have good weather all year round, unlike New York, Detroit, Boston etc that have cold ,snowy winters. Rent, and for the most part crime in big cities will always be higher than smaller ones, but quite often its the nieghbourhood, not necassarily the city. cost of living is relavant to how you live, ie, do you eat alot of fresh fruit and veggies, then it will probably cost less in California or Florida than in New York or Michigan. Will you be using public transport or you own car? Finding work will depend on the type of job, ie: not many openings for a surf instructor in Minnesota, but probably a few in Honolulu.


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## Kate2011 (Mar 20, 2011)

kimo said:


> Your questions are all over the board, so hard to give precise answers, and it doesn't appear you have an occupation that would allow you to get a visas, otherwise I am sure you would have mentioned it.
> so this is more for the general public, who may be thinking of coming to the U.S.. If you want nice weather year round, then the farther south you go the better, Places like L.A, and Miami, have good weather all year round, unlike New York, Detroit, Boston etc that have cold ,snowy winters. Rent, and for the most part crime in big cities will always be higher than smaller ones, but quite often its the nieghbourhood, not necassarily the city. cost of living is relavant to how you live, ie, do you eat alot of fresh fruit and veggies, then it will probably cost less in California or Florida than in New York or Michigan. Will you be using public transport or you own car? Finding work will depend on the type of job, ie: not many openings for a surf instructor in Minnesota, but probably a few in Honolulu.


Thank you this is so useful. The immigration part and the right to start work is not my query. I will be using public transport. I have experience with working for Oil & Gas companies as an Engineer hence I wish to relocate to a big city where companies are. No kids.


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## kimo (Feb 12, 2011)

Kate2011 said:


> Thank you this is so useful. The immigration part and the right to start work is not my query. I will be using public transport. I have experience with working for Oil & Gas companies as an Engineer hence I wish to relocate to a big city where companies are. No kids.


Okay, but is it the big city you want or a job as an engineer, or both, because small cities have oil and gas engineers as well, and usually a lower cost of living, especially as far as housing goes, and usually lower crime. If you get a company to sponsor you for a visa, won't you have to move to where the job is?


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

While YOU are not asking about immigration and the right to work, WE are; its a waste of people's time and effort to give you information about places, costs etc if you are never going to get out here. 

The fact that you are asking about places *in general *to live in, implies to us that you have no specific immigration plan in place and therefore no applicable visa. People who are truly coming to the USA have a specific place in mind due to the conditions of their work visa, the conditions of their family supported visa, their investment visa etc etc.

Please confirm that you are eligible for a visa to enable you to get here, then you might get some specific information.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

The problem here is that you can't move to the US and then look for a job - unless you've "won" in the diversity lottery. Normally you find a job and move to wherever the sponsored job takes you.

Assuming you have a diversity lottery visa, for oil and gas you'd probably want to head south - Texas, Louisiana - or way north to Alaska. But there are a whole range of tiny, out-of-the-way towns right up to major cities in those choices. If you're looking at public transit options, a few of the really big cities in the US have usable public transport (NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc.) but nothing like what you find in Europe (and even some European systems are becoming less usable these days).

In some ways it's actually easier to go the "find a job first and go where that takes you" route. It at least gets you to the States, and after you've lived there a while you'll have a much better idea of options and where you might like to live and work.
Cheers,
Bev


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## kimo (Feb 12, 2011)

Crawford said:


> While YOU are not asking about immigration and the right to work, WE are; its a waste of people's time and effort to give you information about places, costs etc if you are never going to get out here.
> 
> The fact that you are asking about places *in general *to live in, implies to us that you have no specific immigration plan in place and therefore no applicable visa. People who are truly coming to the USA have a specific place in mind due to the conditions of their work visa, the conditions of their family supported visa, their investment visa etc etc.
> 
> Please confirm that you are eligible for a visa to enable you to get here, then you might get some specific information.


Well put, I trust YOU at least read my recent post, "At least show us you are serious".


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## marcoe (Jan 20, 2012)

*visas*



TheStegg said:


> I'll soon be an expat in Dubai, and my wife and I have found the Dubai forum incredibly helpful, so I thought I'd try to "pay it forward" by helping out in this forum.
> 
> If you're preparing to move to the USA and have general questions, I'll try to help. Ask me here.
> 
> ...


ive applied for a fiancees visa and ive been told it can take 6 months by someone and 12 by someone else any ideas?


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