RN moving to Houston with family (Galveston, Conroe: attorney, home, established neighborhood)

[canadianmomof3]

Thanks EasyBay.....great info. We are definately ready to embrace the US and the no winter and the cheaper cost of living!!! We are currently in Saskatchewan but are originally from Ontario. The cost of living here has gone through the roof since you left all those years ago!! I can also say that our healthcare system is going to S*** as well since you left. All that you said is true and more.
I can't wait for our new adventure. My husband will continue to run his small business from home and will get a green card right at the border (he is 50% Native and the Jay Treaty allows him to live and work in the US right away) and I will get my TN visa once I find a job or he will just sponser me and the kids for our green cards.
I do understand about the credit issues. We will be bringing our car and household belongings with us and will just rent a house for awhile until we get some credit under our belts. Why do I need to bring car and home insurance records to gain insurance there? Sounds strange!
Thanks again for the info!
Laura

[tora.v]

Hi me again (easybay)- different computer, different user name.

The one thing you will notice is that Americans LOVE Canadians. You will be well received, and don't mind getting teased about your accent - you do have one - haha! I picture the word house spelled hawse - and say around rather than about - Canadians DO say aboot or aboat - you will hear it after you been in the Texan accent for awhile. Funny stuff!

I am an immigrant who firmly believes that if life in the "old country" was so great...then why are you here? So, we all are wanna-be Americans, and life is good.

As for the insurance - any insurance company - even in Canada, only wants to insure people who are "safe". If you have multiple speeding tickets/accidents and you try and get insurance - IF you get --it you will pay big bucks for it. Without proof of insurance, you will appear uninsurable like there was a reason no one insured you. Insurance premiums are based on credit scores too, so you'll need someone to insure you that will understand your situation.

Also, for renting, they will run a credit check. You should have 3 years of proof of mortgage payments or previous renting, 3 years of bank statements, to prove you can pay rent. YOu have to make a case for yourself....to rental agents/lenders. Otherwise they will want a guarantor on everything you do.

You can get started now with a bank account - I don't think you can get a credit card with out a SS number. Call a bank across the border in Montana and tell them your intentions - something national like Bank of America, and see if they will open an account for you or credit cards for you. I live in Texas and my BOA account was opened in Virginia. I still use it, and I've never been asked to change my location, so you can use it in TX.

If I think of anything else - I will post again.

[tora.v]

Here is a good website to look at rental properties (properties for lease). I don't recommend the realtor, but it's a great website.

Houston Real Estate - Real Estate Agent in Houston TX

I put in my zip - 77479 - Sugar Land and it came up with 16 pages of house for lease - all in top school districts, and a great commute to Memorial Hermann on 59 or taking 90 into the medical district - 35-45 minutes during rush hour - 25 in non peak times. Sugar Land Methodist just recently doubled it's size and Memorial just built something big further south in the Rosenberg/Richmond area. You might like it out there if you are from Saskatchewan - a smaller town type atmosphere.

[canadianmomof3]

Thank you so much Easybay or Tora V (whichever you are when you read this!!) You have given me a lot of info and I am grateful. It is a bit scary to enter a world where I have no credit after I have spent years building a great history up here. I hope it will not hinder us from getting the things we need when the time comes, like a house or new car.
What brought you to the US, if you don't mind me asking? Do you ever miss the winter? Is the humidity hard to get use to?
Thanks

[tora.v]

It sounds like it's alot but really it's not - it's a lot of little stuff. Just start a "moving file" and start compiling your info. And make sure you don't pack it!

The one thing we found out when applying for a mortgage (we were referred to our mortgage lender by a General in the Canadian Army who was living in DC.....connections go a longgggggggg way here), was that credit cards don't do much to establish credit. But bank loans do. Once you arrive and have your SS - which you will need to work, and you'll get after Visas or Green Cards.....go to a local bank and get a loan for a couple thousand dollars, even if the interest rate is ridiculous, and pay it off in 6 months. We heard that this is the best way to establish credit...but consult with a bank to be sure. I do know that our credit cards didn't establish our credit for the mortgage. We did have 10% down for our house (we moved in 2001 when the Canadian dollar was at .60 to one US dollar. Our equity took a terrible beating - you are in a much better situation with the Canadian dollar forecast to out do the American dollar within the next couple of weeks! Cash and a stable work history will help out, along with all your records from Canada and what you establish here in the US.

Oh, and when you register your kids in a school - you have to rent or own in that school district - no crossing districts here. You will be asked for a lease, utilities in your name for proof of residency AND bring your kids report cards, immunization records, and they will need a physical (especially if they play sports) to be registered.

My husbands job brought us here, and I didn't have a green card until 2005. He was on an H1B consultancy visa, and it took us about a year to compile our case for our green card, and since it was after 9/11 it took us 4 years to get them. You are in a much better situation.

I do not miss Canada. When Texans complain about the heat - I tell them my bones are still thawing from living in Canada, and that I lived in the reverse. 9 months of cold, 3 months of warm. Here we get 9 months of hot, 3 months of cool. As for the humidity....I LOVE IT. I remember in Alberta in the winter slabbing on vaseline on my wet skin in the shower, and ITCHY, ITCHY, ITCHY. My hands cracking, and finger bleeding in the winter. Ugh, and plugging in the car for an hour, starting it and letting it run for 1/2 an hour - brushing it off before driving every morning. Nope I do not miss winter. I love living in shorts and flipflops. The one thing I had never experienced until living in Texas was a blown out tire. I've had 2 so far - I assume it's because of the heat.

I certainly do not want to discourage you in any way from your decision....I hope any advice I've given is to give you the heads up and to help. We had a few friends that had emigrated before us and were able to give us much needed advice - tidbits that you need to know. They were much appreciated, and I hope that they are helpful to you too!

Have you been here yet? You might want to take a trip down and tour some of the hospitals - Methodist downtown sounds pretty nice - they have a piano player in the front lobby!

[canadianmomof3]

Wow a piano player!!! Definately would never see that in Canada. All you see is beds stacked up in the hallway and the nurses expected to care for all of them!! It really is bad here.
You have not hindered our decision in the least bit. We are ready and willing to jumps through hoops to start a new adventure for our family. The winter really is slowly killing me!!!! Your statement about living in shorts and flipflops is my goal!!! And 9 months of hot and 3 of cool sounds way better than what we get here. So sick of it.
Do you have any idea how long a wait it is for a green card when you are sponsered by your family member? My husband will get his right at the border if all his paper work is in order but how long will it be for me and the kids if he sponsers us? A couple months, a couple years?
We don't have any friends or family living in the US so your info has been extremely helpful and I really thank you for befriending me!!! Some of the info I found on the internet but some was news to me.
Thanks Laura

[tora.v]

I am not that informed on the various in's and out's of green cards and sponsorship since we were guided completely through the process by a lawyer. He told us what to do, where to go, etc, which we did and had minimum hassles. The best place to find do it yourself answers is this forum:

ImmigrationPortal Forums

There is a guy named jackolantern that answers ALL the questions - VERY informed. I am reading up about our citizenship through all the experiences on there. It's much tougher to be a member - you have to email them direct and ask for permission and I have a tough time getting my password to work. They are really, really helpful. Be sure to ask about the border crossing on there for your husband too. It all sounds really easy....until you have to actually do it.

I can't remember what the issue was but we had a problem with our car - they let us through but my husband had to go to an immigration port (Dulles Airport in Virginia) to do paperwork on it. I can't remember exactly what it was - maybe needing a title on it? Be sure to research how to import a car into the US - because it was another one of those hiccups for us.

Yeah - back to the hospitals. Since the hospitals are for profit, they are run like a business and are competing for patients. It will be a much different experience than what you have in Canada. Best of luck to you - hope your house sells quickly!

[tora.v]

I thought of one more thing....you can't bring a lease down here, so if your vehicles are leased, you will have to sell it rather than import it.

[ErikU19]

The hosipital my fiancee is working at is offering 10K sign on bonus...not sure on openings but if your interested PM me. This is in Northwest Houston

[Blabbysays]

The Medical Center (biggest and best hospitals)---
Methodist, St. Luke's Episcopal, M. D. Anderson, Christus St. Joseph's, Woman's, Texas Children's, Memorial Hermann, Ben Taub, LBJ, Park Plaza, Shriner's, Texas Heart Institute
Growing areas with growing hospitals---
Sugar Land, The Woodlands, Katy, Cypress, Tomball
Most hospitals from The Medical Center have built/are building branches in these areas.
Large hospitals in NW, NE, SE and SW ---
Memorial Hermann
Top two heart hospitals in metro Houston---
Texas Heart Institute in St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital - ranked #5 in the nation
The Methodist Hospital - ranked #19 in the nation
Newest up and coming hospital---
North Cypress Medical Center