London to Florida, two adults, two kids, two dogs. (buy, tax)

[Ratbag]

Just one thing to look into is the wait time for sibling sponsorship;...I believe it's in the IR3 category with roughly an 8 year wait... As soon as your eldest child reaches 21, he's on his own as far as visas go and may not be included as he will have 'aged out'.

For some really good advice check out British Expat Discussion Forum and do a search in the US immigration forum... Most people have been through the process one way or another...marriage, family, work etc so will have some pointers for you.

I'm originally from Surrey and have been here just over 2 years now on a student visa- far from ideal but the only option I had!

[London Girl]

Originally Posted by malamute lover

Yes we are planning on getting married this Christmas. From what I have read, it may take me 3 years to achieve my move, so I have time to learn all I need. My partner did have his own Green card, but it expired in 01, and he never renewed, shame, as if he had would have been so simple. such is life !

If your partner's sister hasn't submitted her petition for him yet you're looking at around 8-10 years.

[cfIfan]

I just wanted to repost this link as i do feel it is important that people looking to engage a realtor know how to check they are state licensed and completely understand why cmj needed to remove the link. It is illegal for anyone to sell a home and earn a commission without being a licensed realtor. You can ask for their full name and company or better still ask for their license number and check it with their details. It is free to search for them and protects buyers or sellers from unscrupulous people.

https://www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp

[London Girl]

Originally Posted by cfIfan

I just wanted to repost this link as i do feel it is important that people looking to engage a realtor know how to check they are state licensed and completely understand why cmj needed to remove the link. It is illegal for anyone to sell a home and earn a commission without being a licensed realtor. You can ask for their full name and company or better still ask for their license number and check it with their details. It is free to search for them and protects buyers or sellers from unscrupulous people.

https://www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp

Add to that, an experienced immigration attorney for those seeking to move to the US under E2 visas.

As you said earlier, far too many sharks out there selling dreams to naive people.

[ameebamee]

Two of our dogs were up for adoption because their previous owners moved to England and didn't want to or couldn't wait the 6 months to bring them over (I honestly don't know much about it, but I think it has to do with shots or whatever), so I would advise looking into how long you have to wait, if at all, before you could bring your dogs over.

[annerk]

There is no quarantine period for vaccinated dogs coming from the UK into the mainland US or Canada.

[totsuka]

Orlando does not have very good public transportation so don't move too far out. The major roads are toll roads except for I-4. The UCF area seems nice, Winter Park too, but expensive...Baldwin Park has alot of
condo's and townhomes for sale..new ones...2000sq 3/2/2 for about 260k....

[tonihowe]

You said you were self employed for 10 years. Do you have your own business or just a sole worker? It's just if you have the money to start up your own business and can offer work to people there is some kind of business visa. It could be faster depending on your circumstances.
I too am self employed, but some how even in a recession managed to expand my business 8 fold and took on staff to cope with the major increase in business. I have a friend in immigration in florida who told me to switch my visa app to the business one. You have to be willing to put all of your business earning (quite alot of money) into starting up in US and preferably offer the oppurtunity of given work to people. Any country suffering from recession would be keen enough to get money into the country and someone who can offer employment. Also check if the areas of work you or your partner do are in high demand or considered expert. There's a visa for that too. It's the option my dad and brother were given should they decide to make the move. (Bro's a maths & physics genius, literally, and dad does some rare kinda work thats hard to find people that do it and they need people to do it in some parts of America and in Australia, so happy our for them!)

As for the dogs. You need the pet passport. You have to get the dogs chipped and rabies vaccination and test. Their blood has to be checked again 6 months later before the papers are issued. Check airlines for requirement and costs. I pretty certain Virgin fly pets. One of the US airlines does to (think US airways). You have to pay for them too.
(I have a cat, so had to look into it. Same rules for cats, dogs and for some reason ferrets!)

Best of luck with it.

[Dualnationality]

[quote=malamute lover;8223158]Hi, Im new, and have been reading the threads on here about moving over the pond and living my FL dream.

Hi it seems like you have had a lot of replies already so i hope i can help. I was an american citizen but i married an english man 14 years ago and had to give up my american citizenship when i took british citizen i didn't have to become british but i choosed to at the time. i was not born in the us so i could not hold citizenship for both us and uk as this will mean triple citizenship. anyway i was given a green card so i became a us resident alien. and because i had the children i brought them over to see my family twice a year so my green card wasn't expired.
how does this all apply to you. i asked my mother to sponsor my husband and 2 children as i left the us since i was 19 i never filed taxes in the us and i was not over here working i could not sponsor him myself so my mother had to sponsor me inorder to sponsor my family all this started in april 1998. they got their visas in feb 2007 so i hope this gives u an idea how long it can take. you can check this out on the us embassy website in london as they have dates for each category. you do come under family and its brother and sister sponsoring. once your son reaches 21 he will not beable to come with you as that is the cut off age. and you will need to be married before she files your papers. she can file an adenment but all of that take more time. if you have money then try to see if you can have a business visa as you already have a business depending on what you do. remember all business have to be licence and insured.
i think i should get a job doing this don't you think. joking aside. we bought our house in oct 04 the price is set we closed (complete in uk) in aug 05 this was the time when houses prices was going crazy. now its crash and my $400,000, 6 bedroom 4000 sq feet house with pool in a gated golf community is selling for around $250,000. i live about 19 miles from disney and 10 miles from orlando international. the closer you go to disney the higher the price of houses.
the property tax for my house and becasue we both have social and green card we get a discount (homestead) is $6000 per year. but that is not all i pay $132 per week for health insurance for a family of 4. this includes gp visit and hospital stay but i am the few lucky ones that does not have huge deductable but remember insurance company including car insurance only covers 80% of the bill you have to pay the rest.
now i pay $3000 per year for insuring 2 cars. as we don't have driving history. as for grocery its is what you would pay in pound except its in dollars now let me explain. if your weeks grocery is 75 pound. it will cost you around 125 dollars. its like its value some how works with the exchange rates. however clothes and electronics is the same camera is 80 pounds then its $80.
getting a high paid job here is not that easy but there are jobs depending on what you want to do and how much you want to earn the average wage is around $7.00.
any i hope all this helps. please excuse the spelling mistake and the grammer. good luck with everything it will not be as easy as it sound but it is not all bad. and the sunshine will be good compare to the english weather

[tonihowe]

Bit more info for you.
Virgin offer the best pet travel. (we too are planning a move to Florida with a pet cat). They actually have a section on bringing pets on the website. As you are in london it will work in your favour as it is a participating city in Virgin pet travel and you can get a direct flight to orlando.
They go in the hold but are watched by staff. Virgin have a pet club (similar to flying club), your pets actually earn airmiles for you! They also recieve some kind of goodie bag like the people passengers get with some treats in!
You may have to make a few extra arrangements than us due to the size and weight of your pet.
As for cost, I believe your pets are charged like over size baggage (like people with instruments and sports equipment), so the more they way the more they cost. So our cat is about 100 to fly. Your 2 dogs would be considerably more. Could be nearly as much as flying a person. (like £350-400 each)
Other costs would be whatever your vet charges for chipping and vacination and 2 blood tests.
Due to the length of the flight you would be highly recommended to sedate your dogs to make the journey easier for them. So however much your vet charges for this.

In regard to business visa. If your business is a registered (limited) company and successful. I'd go for business visa if I was you.
I don't know if this applies to you but this is the fastest option for me, and it should apply to anyone running a succesful limited company.
I am opening the same kind of company in the US but keeping my business here still open (i.e the US is like a sector/sister to my current business). As my partner is registered as a director for the company (even though he doesn't actually do anything for the company, but I had to have 2 directors to be limited) he too is entitled to the same visa as me. (So if you go for this option register your partner as a company director).
My most senior member of staff if taking over the main running of the company and I am increasing her wages. But turn over and profit will remain the same, if not increase as she plans to continue expanding the business. I still will remain the director of the company which entitles me to profits after wages and tax (accountant has worked out at the equivalant to approx $20-25k a year), this would be on top of what my business is making in US.
My application for visa in this case is based on how much my current company is making and worth (over $100k per year) and I need to have enough money to pay for registration, insurance and initial costs of starting up in US. I will be taking on staff after a year or so out there, so that works in my favour.
I believe that by keeping my business here open, in immigrations eyes it means I can put more money into my US business and have a regular cash flow to invest in my US business or something like that.
This was the quickest way to visa, have a friend in immigration who reckons 1-2 years.
Family visa is minumum 4. If you get a working visa, your spouse is entitled to a visa, but this does not entitle them to work. So if your wife/husband to be wants to work, they will have to be sponsored also or apply for their own work visa.
I'm gradually moving my whole family over lol! Hubby to be coming over on business visa with me as director, then I'm sponsoring my parents over later on. My bro gets over on exceptionally talents visa when he finishes school.
We all also qualify for visa lottery so in for that too.
Ever considered that one? Got an Irish father or mother by any chance?