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Hi there, I'm very new to this so I'm not sure what to expect but I was hoping someone could help. Myself and my partner were hoping to relocate to North Carolina from the UK (my partner's American!) and we were wondering where the best place to go would be.. We are both in the catering industry (he's a chef and I'm the assistant manager of a hotel) and we'd be looking to raise a family!
What neighbourhoods or areas would be best suited, what's the pay like and how easy is it to find a job?
Any feedback would be much appreciated as there's only so much research I can do from Bath, UK!!
Hhhmmm...Depends on what you're looking for in a place...If you're looking to start your restaurant, etc, Durham is a very easy place to do so and indeed a very foodie type of place and people generally have higher standards than usual for their local restaurants...
Raleigh has more of an upscale feel and thus property and startup business will need more money to get settled. Raleigh is the city though so there are more people, more traffic, more money, etc etc.
CHapel Hill is more of a college town with a New England type vibe. Nice rural lands around Chapel Hill but the town itself has a main st where most of the happenings are. Property is more expensive there as well...
Then you have Hillsborough which is very small and has a cute little downtown area itself with good dining options and mostly rural.
Pay in the area is pretty comparable to New England in some trades but so much in others. So I guess it depends. I am in the Clinical Research world so it's comparable to New England wages. Can't say for other areas as I am unaware of pay rates in certain fields in other parts of the country. Comparing pay rates to other parts of the country is tough to do because it all depends on the career. I know construction pay rates in New England are better than down here for sure...City jobs like teachers may also be less than other parts of the country. I know they're less than New England as well.
As far your industry, I have no clue...But the great thing about the area is that there are TONS of opportunities to start your own business...Especially in the food industry as it is a unique culture we have with the abundant amount of farms close by and the access to the crops year round due to the weather. it's tough to guide you to any specific place without knowing what kind of atmosphere you'd like and are comfortable with...The three major parts of the Triangle (Durham, Raleigh, CH) are VERY different from each other so each attracts a certain type of people...
Hi there, I'm very new to this so I'm not sure what to expect but I was hoping someone could help. Myself and my partner were hoping to relocate to North Carolina from the UK (my partner's American!) and we were wondering where the best place to go would be.. We are both in the catering industry (he's a chef and I'm the assistant manager of a hotel) and we'd be looking to raise a family!
What neighbourhoods or areas would be best suited, what's the pay like and how easy is it to find a job?
Any feedback would be much appreciated as there's only so much research I can do from Bath, UK!!
Can't really offer too much immediate help here, as we relocated from the UK with my job already in place. We're a young English couple too - been here about 3 years now. Wanted to offer any help for other bits and pieces - feel free to send me a direct message if I can help
I know this sounds drastic but the 1st thing you need to do is to get married. Even then it will take over a year to get a resident visa and cost almost $2000 in fee's for the mulitple forms and medical, even if you do it yourself. If you use an Immigration Attorney the cost will be closer to $8000. Without that you will only be allowed to stay in the USA for a max of 90 days under the visa waiver program. Frequent visits using the visa waiver will result in deportation after you have entered 4 or 5 times using 90 day visits under Visa waiver. Also, you will not be able to work without a visa. I would recommend you start researching the rules before you make any firm plans otherwise a lot of effort will be wasted.
Hi there, I'm very new to this so I'm not sure what to expect but I was hoping someone could help. Myself and my partner were hoping to relocate to North Carolina from the UK (my partner's American!) and we were wondering where the best place to go would be.. We are both in the catering industry (he's a chef and I'm the assistant manager of a hotel) and we'd be looking to raise a family!
What neighbourhoods or areas would be best suited, what's the pay like and how easy is it to find a job?
Any feedback would be much appreciated as there's only so much research I can do from Bath, UK!!
[quote=claireandrob;17821444] We are both in the catering industry (he's a chef and I'm the assistant manager of a hotel) quote]
I looked up some basic pay info for Raleigh (I work for a hotel company). I'm sure there is a lot more info on our company intranet, but since I don't work in Pay & Benefitst this is what I was able to find...
Raleigh's "Cost of Labor" is classified as a "2" within our company. The scale is 1-4, low being 1 and high being 4. NYC, DC, SFO are 4, so the pay would start higher there (pretty obvious, I know).
I did not find anything open for Assistant Mgr (to give you the best comparison) but I found two Manager jobs (one Housekeeping and one Event) at a Raleigh hotel and the pay range was $33,000-$56,000, based on experience and senority (I would assume). A Restaurant Mgr job was posted at $38,000-$66,000.
Hopefully, if you are planning to move to the USA, you have already investigated Visas and have everything in place or soon to be in place. If not, I'm not sure the members of this forum can help you. The best advise was to contact an attorney.
If your Visa is not an issue: when you say catering, do you mean solely catering or you're planning to open a restaurant to anchor/support your catering business?
If you are planning to open a restaurant, Durham around Duke University or Raleigh around NCSU are good places or RTP (Research Triangle Park). If you are planning to cater solely, you may want to be in a very affluent location such as North Raleigh or a place of high work density such as downtown Raleigh.
I'm sending you a PM as well.
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Sample hotel pay info
this is what I was able to find... 
