I think at this point you really aren't in a position to resettle, though this job may offer the opportunity to see what it's like to live and work here. As others mentioned, your husband will be barred from working if you're here on an H1B, and your salary isn't enough to cover the necessities of life in an acceptable part of Chicago with two young children. Are you prepared to go back to Pakistan to wait out the period after your visa expires? Canada is no longer an option.
There is a bit of a crack down on businesses that abuse J1 visas, and early childhood Ed isn't considered a highly specialized field, so you're unlikely to qualify for an H1b. Your first step really needs to be to consult an immigration attorney, and six weeks isn't really enough time to make this sort of decision, given your circumstances.
OK no advice about Chicago or visas/immigration but $37/44k is absolutely nothing for a family, esp if you're used to big spacious housing and more luxuries in dubai. Why do you even want to move? seems like so much hard work and too much. Can't you teach in Dubai?
After taxes, you will be making $3000 per month. To live in a city like Chicago, in a decent neighborhood, with a family of four - $3000 per month would definitely put you at a tough financial situation. It's tough, but doable. At the end, it's how motivated you are to move determines whether it's worth moving or not
thanks TLK bhai. how do you figure out its gonna be 3000 per month? is this based on 33,000 annual salary or 44,000? Also how do you calculate the salary after the Chicago taxes and all - the net pay (considering Chicago has many taxes as compared to other cites. I am very motivate to move so surely it is worth the pain for us. I believe once we get there then things will slowly fall into place. I hope this holds true for all the ppl who go there to make ends meet or for a better future.
OK no advice about Chicago or visas/immigration but $37/44k is absolutely nothing for a family, esp if you're used to big spacious housing and more luxuries in dubai. Why do you even want to move? seems like so much hard work and too much. Can't you teach in Dubai?
thanks for your post. I am already working as a teacher here. I want to shift there for a better future/opportunity of course. My whole family is settled in the US. Gaining experience there is different than gaining experience here.
I think at this point you really aren't in a position to resettle, though this job may offer the opportunity to see what it's like to live and work here. As others mentioned, your husband will be barred from working if you're here on an H1B, and your salary isn't enough to cover the necessities of life in an acceptable part of Chicago with two young children. Are you prepared to go back to Pakistan to wait out the period after your visa expires? Canada is no longer an option.
There is a bit of a crack down on businesses that abuse J1 visas, and early childhood Ed isn't considered a highly specialized field, so you're unlikely to qualify for an H1b. Your first step really needs to be to consult an immigration attorney, and six weeks isn't really enough time to make this sort of decision, given your circumstances.
thanks for your post. I agree H1 is not an option for me. if they were to choose me I guess theyl have to go for the J1 visa. my husband can work on J2 as far as my knowledge goes.
Based on my 25 years in USA, i concluded that no matter under what circumstances you come to USA (student, work visa, spouse visa, green card lottery …), your first 2/2.5 years are tough. You would need some adjustment time, whether its financial adjustment, social, relationships or something else. You will be going through that too, but if you are determined and a tough person, USA has this uniqueness to provide a person with unlimited opportunities to grow. This is the only country in the world, in my opinion, where you can enter as an illegal alien with $50.00 in your pocket, and can become a legal millionaire in 5 years. So I say, go for it. Your present will give you challenges, but your’s and your family’s future is better in USA than Dubai.
Cheap apartments in a city like Chicago are VERY hard to come across and if they do...they're in bad neighborhoods. An apartment for $600-$700 is going to land you in an unfavorable area. Absolutely.
$45,000 a year is not enough for a family of 4 people...2 kids plus husband and wife. Factor in your healthcare costs, rent, utilities, commuting costs, etc.
Good school districts are very expensive to live in in Chicago and surrounding suburbs...these are highly coveted areas by everyone so finding a cheap living situation is difficult.
If you came here alone to start and your husband kept his current job until you got your bearings here, it might work but based on your salary alone...it will be hard.
We rented a **1 **bedroom apartment in a decent school district in the suburbs...$1,000 plus utilities. There was a 2 bedroom in our subdivision that went for $1300. And this is the suburbs...not even a particularly rich one...Glen Ellyn.
thanks for your reply. As of now, I do not know their decision. The HR has not approached me yet. I do not know where I stand at this point of time. Once they give me the offer letter we would be able to decide about housing and all. I didn't understand you said school districts are expensive? Isnt school free for the kids?
The biggest difference for me when moving countries for work had been adapting to change in energy of the cities and things you enjoy while living in that city.
There will be differences - a lot of them when comparing living in Dubai and Chicago or for that matter and it depends on what and how you "feel" about those changes.
From my perspective; I have lived in Karachi, Dubai, Singapore, NYC, London, Zurich and stayed in these cities for couple of years before returning to North America once again. Dubai is awesome fun city but has transit feeling - I owned Dubai as my home; but Dubai read UAE never owned me as it's resident it more or less treated me like a tourist.
NYC is humungous but city / country owned me and likewise. So I "felt" happier and more connected to the city as compared to places in Middle East.
Karachi/Lahore/Islamabad are still my favorite cities to live (due to variety of reasons) even though on paper and from neutral point of view those cities might not even be comparable on paper - in pure statistics comparison. But I love these three the most!
Sorry for roundabout comment - but whole idea of my post was to give you an idea that there are certain things other than income that will change your perspective and feel of the city that you will call home. And opportunities to grow in your field should hold very high priority in any one's life.
jazakAllah for such a prompt and helpful post. I rellie appreciate it! I agree a 100 percent with every thing you said. that is why I am pushing my husband to make the move. USA is surely the land of opportunities and this is a well deserved title. I just checked my take away salary of both 33,000 and 44,000 and its 2370 and 3000 dollars respectively. Please do pray for us. Whatever happens would be good for us InshAllah.
The biggest difference for me when moving countries for work had been adapting to change in energy of the cities and things you enjoy while living in that city.
There will be differences - a lot of them when comparing living in Dubai and Chicago or for that matter and it depends on what and how you "feel" about those changes.
From my perspective; I have lived in Karachi, Dubai, Singapore, NYC, London, Zurich and stayed in these cities for couple of years before returning to North America once again. Dubai is awesome fun city but has transit feeling - I owned Dubai as my home; but Dubai read UAE never owned me as it's resident it more or less treated me like a tourist.
NYC is humungous but city / country owned me and likewise. So I "felt" happier and more connected to the city as compared to places in Middle East.
Karachi/Lahore/Islamabad are still my favorite cities to live (due to variety of reasons) even though on paper and from neutral point of view those cities might not even be comparable on paper - in pure statistics comparison. But I love these three the most!
Sorry for roundabout comment - but whole idea of my post was to give you an idea that there are certain things other than income that will change your perspective and feel of the city that you will call home. And opportunities to grow in your field should hold very high priority in any one's life.
Good luck - whichever city you choose for living!
thanks for your post and I like the comparative analysis of different cities. honestly, this is the best place to live in the whole world. I ve been raised here, this country is home more than Pak for me. but I know there are no opportunities to grow esp for a man. and I wanna make this move esp because of my husband. He is actually a bit of an insecure person because he has a B.com degree but has more than 10 years experience in IT but he is insecure about the fact that he doesn't hold a degree in computers and the courses he did take for computers are expired as of now. Amazingly, I got this offer and what better opportunity to move than this? Of course if he would have gotten this opportunity, I would have been a bit relaxed cus the pay scale would've been far far better than what I have been offered but as luck would have it, I was offered this opportunity and I don't want to miss it. I have to make this move otherwise I would be stuck here all my life. My husband lacks that kind of spark and drive to move there. there are many reasons for that. lets not get into that.
Is there any way for you to apply for schools in Texas where your parents are? I know Chicago is super expensive and specially the area where you will be teaching. My parents live on LaSalle St & Maple St.
ideally I would have loved to work in Dallas, close to my family but I got this offer ghar baithay literally! cus I applied online.
thanks for your post and I like the comparative analysis of different cities. honestly, this is the best place to live in the whole world. I ve been raised here, this country is home more than Pak for me. but I know there are no opportunities to grow esp for a man. and I wanna make this move esp because of my husband. He is actually a bit of an insecure person because he has a B.com degree but has more than 10 years experience in IT but he is insecure about the fact that he doesn't hold a degree in computers and the courses he did take for computers are expired as of now. Amazingly, I got this offer and what better opportunity to move than this? Of course if he would have gotten this opportunity, I would have been a bit relaxed cus the pay scale would've been far far better than what I have been offered but as luck would have it, I was offered this opportunity and I don't want to miss it. I have to make this move otherwise I would be stuck here all my life. My husband lacks that kind of spark and drive to move there. there are many reasons for that. lets not get into that.
eastern, your post gave me so much hope in this hour of despair and anxiety. JazakAllah!! I agree with us being young and moving now. right now, I have left it on God. they are taking a lot of time in replying back because of the formalities and all I suppose. I don’t know where I stand as of now.
i dont know if you are fully aware of the H1B visa rules, reading your post makes me think you arent.
if you are on an H1B visa, your spouse can be on an H4 visa, not H2 visa (H2 is a visa for manual laborers to work in farms during harvest time).
spouse would not be able to work on an H4 visa (unless your employer sponsors your green card application and it clears a certain stage of the process, which usually takes a year or more).
currently H1B visas are quite hard to get, even for those who went to grad school in the US, despite them having special quotas. there are simply too many qualified people applying and not enough visas and its a crazy lottery system. J1 might be your only option.
i dont know much about J1 visas, but you really need to talk to someone who understands these things before you even start talking about money, housing etc.
thanks for your post. Yes, you are right, H1 is not easy. I assume if they decide to choose me theyl give me J1 visa. but thaz what I think.
ideally I would have loved to work in Dallas, close to my family but I got this offer ghar baithay literally! cus I applied online.
I would start applying for public and private schools in Dallas if I were you. As far as your husband goes, ask him to apply to one of the oil and gas companies in Dubai. Sometimes, they will let him move to US as part of the job rotation. IT in US has gotten tough to get into specially if you dont have US experience but if he moves as part of his job all that experience will count as part of his job when getting another job in US.
Hope this helps. There are quite a few of us IT'ers here at GS. Feel free to ask any questions.
Your expected salary of $44K/ Year will be tough but its doable in Chicago. I live in Suburbs. Cost of living is much cheaper vs. other places. Regardless, it will be a challenge but very doable. Depending on where you are exactly working, you can choose to live in a suburb close to train line with good schools. There are affordable suburbs all around Chicago with great schools where you can get a 2 bedroom apartment for $1200-$1400 per month that leaves you good amount for other expenses. Commuting via Train in the City is most economical option. I grew up in Karachi so talk of Crime rate simply makes me laugh. Dont worry about Crime rate. If you want to move to the US, this seems a good opportunity. Nothing ventured nothing gained.