relocating to Raleigh/Durham area (Cary, Chapel Hill: environment, lawyer, real estate)

[astrovoyager]

Hello,

I have just joined this forum and would like to get any helpful info, advice etc. I am English and live in Ashford, Kent, UK. I am looking to emigrate to the Raleigh/Durham area with my wife and sons and visited Laurinburg last October where we have some family. We all fell in love with NC and visited Raleigh and Cary, albeit briefly. We feel that area would be the best to relocate to in terms of getting a job and housing. I currently work in food hygeine enforcement for local government and am also qualified in medical microbiology having also worked in hospital labs. My wife is an agency nurse. How easy do you think it would be to get such jobs? We found out that in order to get a green card we would need to have at least one job confirmed before being allowed to emigrate by the US authorities.

Also, we would probably rent to start with. What sort of prices are average basic 3/4 bed homes going for rental and which is a good area to start looking.

What about general family health insurance, what would be an average cost?

Are there any other British people on this forum who have done similar to what we're looking into?

Any help and advice would be gratefully received.

Nigel.

[MrsSteel]

My #1 piece of advice: find an immigration lawyer. Getting a work visa (and the eventual greencard) is more complicated than simply finding a job. The US government has restrictions on the number of work visas it permits per year based upon industry. If you want to do this right, you'll want someone with experience to work on your behalf.

Good luck!

[ljd1010]

Once your immigration status/green card has been settled, I think you will find many job opportunities in your field. Duke University Medical Center and UNC (University of NC, Chapel Hill) are located right here in the Triangle area. The is also the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency as well as a multitude of research facilities in RTP. Research abounds in all of these institutions so I'm certain your microbiology degree will be highly desirable. As for your wife, there are many positions for RNs here as well. I would recommend she contact the North Carolina Board of Nursing (NCBON) and find out about licensure here in the states. I believe she will need to take the NCLEX licensing exam as a foreign trained nurse.

I'll defer your rental questions to the real estates experts - there are several on this forum including Mrs. Steele. She gave excellent advice when recommending you contact an immigration attorney.

Health insurance - as you know, we do not have socialized medicine here and it is expensive. Most employers here offer full time employees health insurance, with the employee paying only a portion. There is opportunity to purchase a family plan to cover your spouse and children. Duke's offers great benefits and their health plans are excellent. So is their retirement package.

[astrovoyager]

Thank you for your replies. From what I,ve found out, but I may be wrong, I thoiught a green card/work visa would only be granted if a job was secured. In other words, I would need to find a job before completing the immigration forms. Is this correct?

Thanks for any help

[J_Lurk]

Originally Posted by MrsSteel

My #1 piece of advice: find an immigration lawyer. Getting a work visa (and the eventual greencard) is more complicated than simply finding a job. The US government has restrictions on the number of work visas it permits per year based upon industry. If you want to do this right, you'll want someone with experience to work on your behalf.

Good luck!

I'm going to second Mrs. Steel's advice. A Green Card and a work visa are not always the same thing. There are multiple categories of work visas. A Green Card is permanent residency and enables you to work anywhere, but unless you are actually a citizen of a country that is eligible for the Green Card lottery (Ireland is, but the UK is not), you probably need to come in on a work visa with a job before applying for a green card. But I'm not an expert. Again, a good immigration lawyer could advise you.