#expat stuff

[expatesque]

do you know if the maintenance grant as part of a training contract is taxable ?! US citizen in the UK here i was wondering you had to report that grant when you trained 😭 sorry i have no one else to ask and it’s stressing me out

Babes there's no way you're over the foreign earned income exclusion allowance amount. Just fill out form f2555. Also: you know US taxes aren't due for people living abroad until June yeah?

[awaytotheuk]

It is OCTOBER

My, my how times flies. So basically the only things new:

Rob has a new job (not sure if I actually posted about that yet) that he really likes, and has room to climb the ladder which he plans on doing

and

We tried to make a baby but it didn’t happen. I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t happen but I really wanted it to. So we are going to keep trying until it does happen. I’ve been pretty obsessed over the fact that it didn’t happen this past week, and I keep seeing pregnant people everywhere now. And my anxiety has been a massive bitch about it because sometimes I’ll think “well maybe I can’t have kids because this should have worked!” But then I have to remind myself that it doesn’t always happen the first few times and it was only a few times that we tried. I have a colleague who told me it took her three months of trying and I also know people who tried for years. So basically it’ll happen when it happens and my anxiety can stfu.

We’ve had the last week off and it’s been glorious, I really don’t want to have to go back to work but the bills don’t pay themselves around here!

[expatesque]

Cool, thanks! Any practical tips and suggestions, too?

Only bring one suitcase of day to day clothes, you'll probably end up throwing out a lot of what you own - different cities have different vibes and wardrobes don't always translate well.

Research the neighborhood you're moving to really well, and not just on expat forums - expats can tend to bunch together but naturally you'll want to meet locals. Being in a fun neighborhood can make a big difference. If you can, Airbnb or short term lease for your first month - once you know the city better, it'll be easier to choose a home base.

Making friends can be hard, especially if there's a language barrier. Utilize all the networks available to you (groups at work, your cousin's friend who also just moved there, etc) and join irl activities.

Make sure to learn a few important recipes before you go - you'll need them when you're missing home.

[expatesque]

Please forgive me if this seems ignorant, I’m trying to understand better: I read your previous Anon Ask where they laid out some of their financial goals (I.E. 50k in 5 years). Those figures seemed kind of low. I live in California so maybe I’m just used to different salary expectations, but is England less expensive than US? For example, earning say $70k in CA is pretty average I think, but would $70k in England take you a lot further? I think London is very expensive though. Just curious how “average” salaries/cost of living compare. Thank you.

Yeah, top 1% in the UK is ~£100k and top 1% in the US is ~$600k (probably higher in CA). Obviously there's going to be skew issues in there but it gives you a sense -- there's a huge salary difference, the same job in London will pay you about 1/3 less than in the US (obvi varies by company and sector). And taxes are much higher here, so take home is a lot less.

That said, eating out / bars are a lot cheaper + there's no tipping - when I go home, I find eating out in Chicago usually comes to like double what I expect to spend at a similar restaurant in London (ex-exchange rate, so like if I would expect a meal to cost me £40, it costs $80). Rent is expensive in London but not more so than in NY or SanFran. Getting around is okay, the tube is like ~£7 for a round trip and it's very unusual to own a car (in London). And obviously travel to most places is way more affordable. There are also certain things that are just tons more expensive in the US (cars, if you have one, are like 3x the cost in the US. Same with weddings).

But generally people get by on less - this is anecdotal but compared to my friends in the US, I seem to spend a lower % of my disposable (post rent and bills) income on 'stuff' and more on experiences (travel, eating out, etc). But honestly, I don't think lifestyle is very different, my friends in the US who earn, in nominal terms, quite a bit more than me, seem to be living very similar lifestyles - I think a good chunk of the difference goes to student loans, car payments, health insurance, medical expenses, etc. Or maybe they're all just saving loads more than me lol.

[expatesque]

coming from a non-law background, are there any advantages to doing a JD instead of doing the usual UK route

…Do you want to practice in the UK or the US? You can of course switch jurisdiction but it’s a pain. So your choice should really be about what city you want to spend the bulk of your life (or career at least) in. 

The advantage of a JD is you’re ready to practice in the US, you get access to the US route for finding the best US jobs. The advantage of the UK route is that it pops you out working for a UK firm (and it’s free/paid as opposed to ~250k more in debt). So it should really be a question of where you want to work, unless you’re citizens of both and would be happy in either country. 

If you don’t know that you definitely want to live in London, I would be hesitant to going the UK route; living abroad is way more trouble than people make it out to be. It’s a big commitment and not something to be taken lightly.

[expatesque]

books, London, expatriate

Books - when I was a kid, the ultimate punishment that my parents used -- when I’d been really terrible -- was taking away the books I was currently reading. They’d take them out of my room and put them into their room. But I mainly read hardcover as a kid, so when they’d leave their room I’d sneak into it and replace my stolen books with ones I’d already read. I’d just take off the book jacket, put it on an old book, and abscond with the ones that had been taken for punishment. I was a bit of a nightmare child. 

London - the first time I came to London, my grandmother took my sister, me, and my cousin Kate on a European adventure whilst my grandfather took my brother + 2 guy cousins white water rafting (we absolutely got the better end of the deal). Anyway, it was a bit of nightmare trip, lots of things went wrong, we were all annoying ages, it was a little bit horrible but mostly fantastic. The second time I came to London was for my Cambridge interview and I was totally exhausted and really stressed and cried in the taxi at how pretty everything was. Yesterday I moved out of my first London flat. I’m not even gone yet and I can’t wait to get back. 

Expatriate - I use ‘expat’ to describe myself because immigrant feels to...permanent for me. I think of immigrants as people moving to a new country forever, to make a new life, who love their new country and embrace it. I don’t know if I’ll stay in London my whole life, but I know that even if I do, I’ll never feel British -- I’m American through and through. So expat makes the most sense for me, I don’t know another word that means “I’m staying in this country at least semi-permanently but I’m really from somewhere else and still feel of my home country.”

[expatesque]

Can you link me to some of your specific posts/answers about interviews as an American on your AACS account ?

Uhm ya know I’m actually not sure I addressed it specifically as an American so I’ll do that now!

The interviews are nothing like the ones we get for US schools like the Ivies – these actually matter and are hard. The interview will pretty much have nothing to do with you as a person and everything to do with you as a thinker and your potential as a student. You’ll be interviewed by academics from your college about your specific subject. They’re looking for someone who’s intelligent, able to think critically, and fast on the uptake. There’s a lot more on what the interviews are like in the ‘interviews’ tag on AACS.

As for the logistics, you’ll be interviewing in the first 2 weeks of December. You only find out that you have an interview about 6-4 weeks in advance so you’ll have to find flights very quickly. If you can afford it, I would recommend coming a few days early. Hang around London, tourist a bit, and give yourself time to adjust to UK time so you’re not exhausted for the interview. They won’t ask you to reinterview as an international so you’re fine to go home straight after your interview if you want (although to avoid stress, I wouldn’t schedule your flight until the day after –that way you won’t be as stressed if your interviewers are running late or something). 

That’s pretty much the only US specific stuff I can think of! Let me know if you have any more questions!

[expatesque]

As an American who has lived in England, what do you wish Americans should take from the British and vice versa?

Americans should get contactless cards from the British.

The English could use a bit of American straightforwardness and ‘say what you mean’-ness. Oh and they could take a bit of our midwestern niceness too.