Wife maybe moving to Philladelphia

[AllanAUST]

Dear Forum Members,

My wife is looking at a job in Philly - she has been asked about salary - they had in mind 55,000 US.

Having not lived in Philadelphia before - is this a reasonable salary to live on ( here in Australia she is on 75,000 AUD including 9% pension).

Questions
What would a two bedroom Apartment and house cost in a nice area in philly?

Your help would be greatly appreciated

kind regards,
Allan

[Rachel_Heath]

Alan,

$55K Per Annum is not brilliant but it's not awful either. I think the average in Philadelphia's around $50,000 so you may want to see if she can get more.

Philadelphia's such a varied area that it's hard to come up with some good apartment prices, but you might be looking at anywhere between $600 and $1400 per month. I personally prefer the North Philadelphia suburbs to anywhere else but they can be pricey.

Ask for milk, I picked some up today for $2.19 for a 1/2 gallon (1.89 liters) but prices are rising all the timing so the figure is somewhat meaningless as an indicator given the current economic climate.

On what Visa type is she coming across and how are you planning to join her?

[AllanAUST]

Thanks Rachel,

Not sure what type of Visa as yet...and yes I would like to join her - looking at having a discussion with my firm about an exchange with our firm in Philly -Understand if one of us gets a sponsored visa, then the other one get a working visa as well from Amer govt ( under the new Aust / American Free trade agreement)...mind you I havent really investigated it properly! - Any knowledge of this yourself?

We are only recently married - so 6 months apart is doable but not much more!

cheers
Allan

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Allan in Executive search

Not sure what type of Visa as yet...and yes I would like to join her - looking at having a discussion with my firm about an exchange with our firm in Philly - "Diversified Ray & Berndtson" - Understand if one of us gets a sponsored visa, then the other one get a working visa as well from Amer govt ( under the new Aust / American Free trade agreement)...mind you I havent really investigated it properly! - Any knowledge of this yourself?

$55K isn't bad for an "administrative" job in the arts. It depends a bit on which orchestra, but unless you're name-branded talent, jobs in the arts usually don't pay all that well in the US.

Be sure to check out the visa situation. If they can get her in on a L visa, you're covered for working on the spousal visa. Otherwise you'd have to get your company to swing a "transfer" visa (your own L). But for an orchestra to be recruiting staff from abroad, they should be able to handle the visas.

For apartment rentals, take a look at the website for either the Philadelphia Inquirer or the Philadelphia Daily News. They should have apartment ads that will give you an idea about prices. Don't be surprised to find that most folks who work in Philadelphia live in the various suburbs - where prices are normally cheaper and the are generally "nicer."
Cheers,
Bev

[Rachel_Heath]

Originally Posted by Allan in Executive search

Not sure what type of Visa as yet...and yes I would like to join her - looking at having a discussion with my firm about an exchange with our firm in Philly -Understand if one of us gets a sponsored visa, then the other one get a working visa as well from Amer govt ( under the new Aust / American Free trade agreement)...mind you I havent really investigated it properly! - Any knowledge of this yourself?

Allan,

I'm unsure currently what protection the agreement would give your wife for her new job. The most (proposed) protection I could find is under GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services) and is for temporary workers only (mode 4).

That being said we need a little more background on your current situation. For example an L visa is issued to a worker of a company that is based both here and overseas and is therefore seen as a transfer visa. To obtain an L1 or L2 visa your wife would have needed to be working for the same organization in Australia for over a year an will be employed by the same company here. L's are more flexible than most other sort given that they don't have an annual cap and the spouse can come over on an L4, obtain a Employment Authorization Document is be able to see employment pretty much anywhere here.

An H visa is more complicated to achieve and in some respects more limiting in your abilities; both sorts are fixed to the company sponsoring the visa - you leave the company and you also have to leave the US. However unlike L visas, H-1B's are designed to admit 'skilled' workers into the US to fulfill a role that the sponsoring company is unable to fill using domestic talent. There is a 65,000 annual cap (currently fill for 2008) and is always keenly sought after. As a spouse you'd be able to enter on an H-4 visa but that would not give you any rights to pursue employment. The only way you'd be able to do so would be if you obtained your own visa.

The above two are just generalized statements about two different sorts of visa's open (and expand upon Bev's comments earlier on). If I were you I'd have my wife contact her prospective new employer and obtain more information as to how they thought they were going to proceed on this.

As for myself, I came out originally on an H-1B way back in the 90's then got thoroughly messed around by my sponsoring company so left in a negative-cashflow huff! Fortunately I met a sweet & understanding yank over here and - well, the rest is history!