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DV 2017 OC Selectees

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone has a good tax contact in the US? The tax deadline is fast approaching and we'll (my wife and I) need to submit our US taxes soon.

Has anyone used an accountant whilst still in Australia? Do you know roughly how much it'll cost?

Any help would be appreciated.

Ben

I've used H&R Block Expat Tax Services for the last couple of years and they've been pretty good. It costs me about USD550, but that covers Australian income I receive from a rental property, so it may be cheaper if you don't have substantial assets outside the US. Incidentally, I used them while outside the US for almost two years (with a re-entry permit), and they're very good at keeping in touch via phone and email, regardless of your location.
 
So I'm trying to figure out my Health Insurance... Any advice would be much appreciated!

According to the Affordable Care Act, all US lawful permanent residents must have health insurance, or face penalties.

I was planning on getting Incoming Immigrant Insurance, until I get a job that provides me with health insurance. However, the insurance provided by this website does "not provide benefits required by, ACA".

So, should I go to https://www.healthcare.gov/ and try sign up?

And to make matters more stressful, there's only 13 days left to enroll for health insurance! Argh
Organising healthcare has been one of the more stressful things I've needed to organise. Once you arrive, you will need to have your SSN to enroll in ACA or a private health care plan. Adding complexity some states (NY and MD for eg) won't allow you to take short term, new immigrant coverage.

In NY, they have their own method of using ACA called NY State of Health. Each state has their own method of enrolling in ACA. It's important to have your passport and SSN on hand when trying to sign up. You'll need to let them know that you are a LPR and that you are not a naturalized citizen (they kept trying to tell me I was, and I had to fix it later in the process).

Suzie is correct in saying that they are trying to remove ACA. My policy is an Essentials 4 Plan through BlueShield which explicitly states I am covered through to the 31st of December 2017. I'm sure if the new administration were to make changes to ACA they would take a while to make, and there would be some form of grandfathering/implementation that will take time.
 
Weird questions - Anyone with work connections in NYC. I am finding this job hunt extremely hard without a degree in the big city. I've been at it for about nine weeks now, and have only had three telephone interviews and am about to have my first in person. All the recruiters I have been working with seem a bit... lax to say the least. Will repost in the "Life after DV" page too.
 
I can't speak for NYC, but finding work here is a numbers game. I applied for (I would estimate) around 40 jobs. Got call backs on 3, interviewed for 3 and was offered 3. It was demoralizing but I got there in end (and was talked off the edge by @Britsimon on countless occasions).

I have a contact in the Big4 in NYC who was brilliant when I was job hunting. Happy for you to PM me and I can pass on his LinkedIn details.

Other tips (which you might already be doing but worth putting here for others);
  • a) make sure your resume is in a US format with US spelling
  • b) it's a resume here, not a CV. CVs are for academics
  • c) work your networks on LinkedIn. Have coffee with people in your industry: they can tell you what the local market is looking for and how you can best market yourself
  • d) go to networking events. The Australian accent is a genuine superpower. Use it.
  • e) recruiters in the US are the same in Australia. Some are good. Most are lazy. Find recruiters you connect with and treat the relationship like an ongoing thing, not just a relationship when you need something.
 
I can't speak for NYC, but finding work here is a numbers game. I applied for (I would estimate) around 40 jobs. Got call backs on 3, interviewed for 3 and was offered 3. It was demoralizing but I got there in end (and was talked off the edge by @Britsimon on countless occasions).

I have a contact in the Big4 in NYC who was brilliant when I was job hunting. Happy for you to PM me and I can pass on his LinkedIn details.

Other tips (which you might already be doing but worth putting here for others);
  • a) make sure your resume is in a US format with US spelling
  • b) it's a resume here, not a CV. CVs are for academics
  • c) work your networks on LinkedIn. Have coffee with people in your industry: they can tell you what the local market is looking for and how you can best market yourself
  • d) go to networking events. The Australian accent is a genuine superpower. Use it.
  • e) recruiters in the US are the same in Australia. Some are good. Most are lazy. Find recruiters you connect with and treat the relationship like an ongoing thing, not just a relationship when you need something.
Definitely will be sending you a message.

Folk waiting to move over, points a) and b) are extremely important. A resume is usually a one page, single sided document. I found it very tricky to condense my three page resume onto one page.
 
Organising healthcare has been one of the more stressful things I've needed to organise. Once you arrive, you will need to have your SSN to enroll in ACA or a private health care plan. Adding complexity some states (NY and MD for eg) won't allow you to take short term, new immigrant coverage.

In NY, they have their own method of using ACA called NY State of Health. Each state has their own method of enrolling in ACA. It's important to have your passport and SSN on hand when trying to sign up. You'll need to let them know that you are a LPR and that you are not a naturalized citizen (they kept trying to tell me I was, and I had to fix it later in the process).

Suzie is correct in saying that they are trying to remove ACA. My policy is an Essentials 4 Plan through BlueShield which explicitly states I am covered through to the 31st of December 2017. I'm sure if the new administration were to make changes to ACA they would take a while to make, and there would be some form of grandfathering/implementation that will take time.

The end date on the benefit plan is standard - because all plans are for a defined plan year. The end date means they get to reprice and renegotiate.
 
Definitely will be sending you a message.

Folk waiting to move over, points a) and b) are extremely important. A resume is usually a one page, single sided document. I found it very tricky to condense my three page resume onto one page.

The resume content depends on the job. In IT for instance you won't get any calls unless your resume lists the keywords the recruiters are looking for. On the other hand, don't overdo it because recruiters are typically that technical so they don't know the nuance behind the skills being described.

In general the job search method varies by skillset/industry. What you do to get a sales job is not what you do for a technical role as an accountant (for example).

Similarly the place you choose to locate has a lot of impact in how you job search. NYC is 8+ million people so the idea that someone here can get you "hooked up" is a longshot to say the least.

Flexibility is key. Be prepared to take a step back. If you are good, you will quickly rise above your American colleagues. Get your first job. Once you are a known commodity you will get other offers - so often getting the first job is the hardest, but be prepared to jump in and then look for ways to improve your position.
 
Weird questions - Anyone with work connections in NYC. I am finding this job hunt extremely hard without a degree in the big city. I've been at it for about nine weeks now, and have only had three telephone interviews and am about to have my first in person. All the recruiters I have been working with seem a bit... lax to say the least. Will repost in the "Life after DV" page too.

If it helps, might it also be a case of not the best time of year to be looking for work? Your nine weeks of job searching would have crossed over a few holidays, when companies aren't usually at their peak of hiring. Trying to be positive here for you :) it might not be you or your experience, it might be a shortage of opportunities.
 
Like Emily, my kids are at public school, but (also like her it seems) we chose the area to live in based on its excellent schools. We got a quick proof of residency by getting a letter from the utilities company confirming we had signed up at that address - so we didn't need to wait for the first bill to prove residency. Our schools have a big emphasis both on academics and sport, and what's interesting is that in the high school, you have to maintain a certain minimum GPA to be allowed to remain on sports teams, no matter how much of a star player you might be. I think that's fairly common across the US.

It helps if you get school reports, but also bring something showing equivalents of US grades to your home country grades if you do. Coming from a different calendar school year there will be adjustments. (We moved when our kids had just finished their school year, but the US was halfway through its school year.) A good school will have good counsellors who take the time to look at your kids individually and make recommendations on that. The younger the children are, the more likely this is to be based on age, but not entirely so. We ended up with one kid being put a half year ahead of where she had been and one half a year back (this one is the youngest kid by far in her grade, though.) As the kids get older and choose their subjects, you might find as we did that moving during the year means you don't get all your first choices, though this was only for one semester so it didn't matter in the big scheme of things.

If you move during the US school year, you do indeed run the risk that the closest school is full and that your child might be put in a different school (depending on the system, possibly permanently or possibly moving to the "right" school the following year). This is why IMO it's important to choose somewhere where all the schools in the system are good, not just some of them. And if your kids are in elementary, make sure you check out the middle and high schools too... Greatschools.org is a good resource. There is massive competition in the real estate market where we are over summer as people try to get into the school district, so this might be something to keep in mind too! We didn't have as much competition moving mid school year, though inventory was less too. Again this is not necessarily something you'll see everywhere, but what is a generality is that good school areas will have a premium in property prices.

Also, make sure you bring the vaccination worksheet for the kids that the panel doctor gave you in the medicals. This is in a format the schools understand re checking that the requirements are met.

Hope that's useful.

Hi Sussie, if you don't mind, may I ask where you live now? It sounds like a good place to be. We still have not decided where to go.
 
Hi Sussie, if you don't mind, may I ask where you live now? It sounds like a good place to be. We still have not decided where to go.

We live in the Bay Area, and love it. I'd originally wanted to go to the east coast but very happy that we ended up here, brilliant lifestyle :)
 
Hi, I have another question about the activation trip. When we arrive at the airport (POE) for the activation trip, at the immigration, an officer will take us to a room to grant us a PR visa on our passports. May I know how long this process will take? Will we have to fill out lots of form? thank you.
 
Hi, I have another question about the activation trip. When we arrive at the airport (POE) for the activation trip, at the immigration, an officer will take us to a room to grant us a PR visa on our passports. May I know how long this process will take? Will we have to fill out lots of form? thank you.
I wasn't taken to a room, just to a separate queue. I was the only one in line and to be honest, it was faster than when I used to travel as a tourist. This was at LAX, so other POE may be different.
 
Hi, I have another question about the activation trip. When we arrive at the airport (POE) for the activation trip, at the immigration, an officer will take us to a room to grant us a PR visa on our passports. May I know how long this process will take? Will we have to fill out lots of form? thank you.

It's not a PR "visa", its to process you for your green card. It's entirely dependent on the airport and time of day you land, and on how many others are in "secondary" - we ended up behind various people being scrutinized for security reasons as well as a few other new immigrants, took us well over an hour, probably closer to 2 by the time we were done. This despite the airport not being that busy when we landed. Some people breeze through and others spend a few hours. I've heard reports of 3-4 hours too at places like JFK at busy times.
 
We were done with activation in around 15 minutes. This was at LAX. Like @BenCreswick, we were taken to another queue where there was another lady in front of us, but no-one else.

We were panicking because we had less than hour to get to our connecting flight to LAX (remind me to never do that again).
 
We have two kids. Make sure the staff at border control can see your envelopes and, if you can, explain to them that you need to activate. We did that and were instantly moved into the right queue.

When we moved permanently February, our little one had been sick on the plane and was still holding his sick bag (Qantas hosties wouldn't let him throw it out on the plane). A staff member saw him and motioned us to follow him. He took us to a queue where we didn't have to wait at all.

So, I don't know, have the kids look a little green and jump the queue maybe?
 
We have two kids. Make sure the staff at border control can see your envelopes and, if you can, explain to them that you need to activate. We did that and were instantly moved into the right queue.

When we moved permanently February, our little one had been sick on the plane and was still holding his sick bag (Qantas hosties wouldn't let him throw it out on the plane). A staff member saw him and motioned us to follow him. He took us to a queue where we didn't have to wait at all.

So, I don't know, have the kids look a little green and jump the queue maybe?

Haha... I might try this trick. We will be transitting in Narita for 12 hours. So I am sure they will be grumpy, at least.
 
our little one had been sick on the plane and was still holding his sick bag (Qantas hosties wouldn't let him throw it out on the plane).

:eek: Just, wow. We've had littlies being sick and been instructed that the toilet trash is the correct place to discard it (in other words, don't hand it to the attendants as they come round collecting trash!) It boggles my mind that you'd be made to hold on to a full barf bag for heaven knows how long on a long distance flight ....remind me never to fly qantas :D
 
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