When you move abroad it shouldn’t come as a shock that things will be different to home. However I spent so many months researching and looking into things that I thought I’d pretty much worked out what would be different. So I was surprised there were a few things that caught me off guard. Continue reading →

We were incredibly fortunate that James’ company offered to fly us to Maryland ahead of our move in order to scout out the area, and find somewhere to live. Although it was somewhat hectic as we flew out a month before our move date, amidst the chaos of packing and selling our home, but I’m so glad we did. Continue reading →

James and I have been together for 7 years this year, and we’ve moved a bit in that time. We met in Cornwall, moved to Gloucester, and then to Horsham, before purchasing a house in Crawley that was our home for the last 4 years. But we both knew we wanted to move again eventually. We weren’t sure where or when; although we both agreed we didn’t want to move Emma during any important test periods at school (SATS or GCSE’s).

We discussed moving back to Cornwall, somewhere between Crawley and Cornwall, Canada, and James had always dreamed of moving to America; so we discussed that too. And whilst part of us really wanted to move closer to family, there was this aching desire to do something crazy. To move somewhere completely new, to experience things we’ve never experienced before, and to give the girls new/better opportunities.

Eventually we came up with a pro/con list for each place, and rated them from most to least achievable. After much debate we agreed that America boasted a lot of pro’s, but it would be the trickiest when it came to acquiring visas. But nothing worth having comes easy, right? We decided we’d give moving to America a go, and if after a year we’d made no headway, we’d reconsider our plans. 

Coincidentally the company James works for has a US presence as well as a UK one. James started scrolling through his company’s job listings for suitable roles, and did some research into internal relocation, and how possible it was. It was here we ran into our first hurdle; James’ role didn’t exist in the American side of the business. Because of this we were quite sure that our plans would never materialise.

Nonetheless James applied to every job listing that matched his skill set. I have to take my hat off to him here, because he applied to a lot, and this was something I couldn’t help him with. Months passed, endless applications were sent and we had nothing to show for it. We were close to throwing in the towel when James heard back about a position in California. 

Now I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right, we don’t live in California. Unfortunately after a couple of interviews it was decided that it would be too tricky to justify a visa application, since you have to show specialised experience in the application. And whilst James had the skill set, he didn’t have the exact experience. 

And so there we were, back to square one. Surprisingly James wasn’t as defeated as I expected him to be; although the news came only a few hours before his work’s Christmas party, and there’s nothing quite like free alcohol to take your mind off of bad news.

But in all seriousness, I think that whilst unsuccessful, this experience showed us that hiring managers would at least consider a transfer. So James kept applying to jobs, we researched more (I spent most days on britishexpats.com) and began discussing our back up options. But mostly we enjoyed the life we had and carried on with other life plans.

Days passed, James spoke with a couple of managers here and there, he even flew to California to interview with a different company. Eventually in April I got a message from James to say he had an interview at lunch. He worked from home on Fridays, and the kids and I were at soft play with friends, so we discussed nothing more than that. I didn’t even know what role it was related to. To be honest, he’d had a few preliminary interviews so I didn’t get my hopes up. Little did we know this was it; the start of our adventure.

When I got home, James and I spoke in length about the role, he filled me in on how the interview went, and how all seemed positive. We did some research into the location, and had a look into house prices and the cost of living just incase. We spent the weekend discussing, and daydreaming about the role but trying not to get too excited. 

Many interviews, conversations with HR, and emails later we finally got confirmation that they wanted to offer James the role, and discussions would be initiated with a relocation agency. All of this took over a month, a long, and painful month of being in limbo. Of not wanting to get hopes up but at the same time not wanting to waste any time with regards to planning, and preparing for the potential move.

Every conversation in that period was heavily dominated by the word ‘if’.

We waited until discussions with a relocation agency had commenced before telling the girls, our family and our friends about the potential move, but made it very clear that it was dependent on our visas being approved. I’ll go into the details of visas on another post, because there’s too much to go into here. But what I will say is that visa applications take a couple of months from start to finish, which was about the timescale in which James’ company wanted us to move. So once we got all of the paperwork for our visas we had to take a leap of faith and sell our house, pack it up, and get ready to move, without any certainty that the move would happen. Which is probably one of the craziest things I’ve ever done. However, it was so worth it and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. 

If you’re thinking about trying to move to America (or any country really), my advice would be:

• Expect it to take a long time. James started applying to American roles around March 2018, and whilst he had interviews throughout the year, it was over a year from his first application to receiving a job offer.
• Explore all of your options: whilst applying for internal roles, James also applied and interviewed with other companies. Although I’m pleased we ended up moving through his company as H1B visas are another level of complicated.
• Don’t put other life plans on hold, I have this advice to thank for moving abroad whilst 6 months pregnant. But seriously, the year of applications was frustrating and it really dragged. I can’t imagine how it would have felt if we’d held off on living our lives.

Follow me on Instagram at Lizzie__Davies.

It’s been five months since we moved to the US, say what?! I’m not sure where the time has gone, but if it could slow down for a minute that’d be great!  Continue reading →