September 2007 Archives
One of the most important success factors in an international relocation is the ability to find a job in your new home country. It does not need much clarification that the job market in the USA is significantly different than the job market that we are used to in the Netherlands. What came as a little bit of a surprise to me was, that the job finding process is also not quite comparable to what I was used to.
As our moving date is getting closer by the hour, our primary objective is to reduce the amount of stuff that we are taking. Even the smallest things quickly add up in volume, and it is always a good thing to keep that in mind. In the end, the bill is going to be settled exclusively on the volume that is being shipped.
I have been thinking about a few things that I will be posting about when time permits. Topics that are already in the pipeline are:
When picking an international mover, the first decision that must be made is if the moving company is going to pack everything for you, or if you are going to pack everything up yourself. Since we had moved only just over a year ago, and packing was one of the most stressful things that we did in a long time, we decided that (if the price was acceptable) we would be using a full-service mover this time. It is definitely more expensive to go this route, but the movers also take care of all the paper work that is required for customs (bills of lading, several forms, etc). We decided that the additional convenience would be worth the money.
Normally, moving to a different place to live is a big undertaking. Moving internationally brings on a whole other level of complexity. We are in the fortunate position that we will be moving to another country with a job already lined up.
Starting that job might turn out to be a little bit of a problem, for the simple reason that I will not have a social security number until several weeks until after we arrive. After we are admitted into the country, the immigration officer will send off a request for a social security number to the social security administration. Our information at this point indicates that it might take weeks before a number is issued and mailed to our address.
Welcome to Going West, a web log on which I will share my experiences with moving from the Netherlands to the USA's East Coast.
