Moving out of London

How much in savings do people reckon you'd need to move to the States? Hypothetically, of course. If I was to walk straight into a job, that is. £5k at a minimum?

I believe from observing others make the move, the hardest part is not having any kind of credit rating, which apparently you need in order to get simple things such as water, electricity and a cell phone.

Very good point. Time to do some Googling!

When you get here, you can apply for a secured rate credit card.
You give them a deposit, you get a card.
Within a few
Years your credit is fine.
In the meantime
We're a people who understand needing to be a bit under the wire, you can always find a sublet.
Let me know if I can help.

The credit card is a trick I could have done with knowing about.
As for utilities, a deposit worked as did people saying they would guarantee you. Credit union for small interest loans to further build up a line.

Also : people are nice and helpful.

Where are you?

I have amazing credit in the uk.
I was shocked to move to the US and realize that my credit didn't exist here

When I moved to Canada years ago, the thing that I learnt was it wasn't having a poor or bad credit rating but that I simply didn't exist on any credit rating systems. This was what was stopping me from being able to sort phone, utilities and even a functional bank account.

The piece of advice that I got was to go into a department store and get a store card. Buy something with that card and in the first month just pay the minimum balance so that you actually incur interest. After that, it's fine to pay of the remainder of the balance plus the interest. In many places you can make those payments with cash in store. It was the act of incurring and paying interest off that was supposed to get me onto the credit rating systems rather than just being given a line of credit by whichever financial organisation worked in conjunction with the department store.

The short version is that after the best part of a year with a deposit only account and having to pay for everything in cash, I was suddenly eligible for a chip and pin card and phone companies etc switched from umming and ahhing about not being able to offer a service to being very "helpful" in trying to sell me whatever they could.
So if you move quite quickly you can go from being a non-entity to being able to access basic services unhindered. The only caveat here is that interest on store cards can clock in at anywhere up to 40% APR so don't go buck wild. But if you buy a piece of clothing or some other household essential, you then get to buy your basic credit rating for less than $5. If you shop around then you could get an introductory offer that counter-acts that.

Don't forget that a lot of US banks charge for basic account services. It's really annoying for British people because we're used to our free system. Some places, such as supermarkets, will offer free or mostly free bank accounts as part of a consumer loyalty programme. You get free service, they get to track your shopping habits and subject you to targeted marketing.

Thanks everyone. This is all hyperbole. I am a citizen and just seeing what I'd need to do to escape London. Nowhere else in the UK really appeals to me... Portland however...!

I'd move to the States in a heartbeat, if visas were easier to get.

Find the right job and your boss will do the visa work for you.

Friend of mine works for Intel in the aforementioned Portland, they got him a green card. I did an internship for Xerox in Palo Alto a long time ago and they were similar: if they hire you, they arrange a visa for you.

I was in Nashville. I'm still in London.but I keep thinking I'd like to move back.

Why?
(Just curious)

Smaller American citities seem to be big enough to have something going for them. Outside of London, smaller UK cities/towns are limited by their town centers and you can tap that out in a year or so.
For example, I like Bournemouth, but outside of the coast, it was just a clone of every town center I've ever visited.

@Levitz I'm an ex-journalist turned PR. Don't think there are many people sponsoring visas for folk like me, sadly.

@hoefla To live in NYC. I adore that city.

I lived in SanFran (12 months), NYC (2 months) and KS/MO (12 months). Company sponsored my H1B visa.

Loved my time there but I moved back 4 months after 9/11 as many of the nice people I'd met and worked with turned into racist twats. (I appreciate that many Americans are not racist twats.)

Had a corporate Amex card so didn't have to worry about credit myself. I could use the card for personal stuff as I had to settle the bill myself anyway and claim expenses for any work related stuff. Also had my apartment(s) provided by the company, which certainly helped.

Picked the wrong bank and had problems with them for ages (took 2 months to even get a temporary ATM card) so I'd generally just visit a branch and take out chunks of cash to use.

Love living in London, no plans on moving away, would miss too many things about it. Maybe things will be different in 12 years when daughter supposedly leaves home.

I've lived in Los Angeles for nearly 4 years. Credit (or lack thereof) was very annoying for the first six months or so. If you can prove salary (verifiable offering letter, previous etc) most landlords will work with you. It's an amazing country and most people are incredibly warm and helpful. Tax and healthcare are unbelievably Byzantine though, I still screw up both on occasion. Fortunately the administrators, understanding how absurdist the complexities are, tend to be more tolerant before cracking the whip.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37385265

I moved to USA in April. Many credit firms have "international business worker" type schemes.
eg I leased a VW with zero credit rating using my visa and proof of earnings, and HSBC gave me a US account and credit card, as they knew me on UK side.

I have left the metropoliz. Day two in Kentfordsire. Still unpacking and have no fridge the natives seem friendly.

please keep this going

Bloody hell, Kent's got a lot less arid and depressing since I last visited.

Is there life in Kent?