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[seniorscholar]

Check the IRS website for the query about paying taxes on the US. The general principle is that when one is living abroad for more than xxxx months (I forget what the number was last time I did it, and it may have changed) one owes no taxes on the money earned abroad. If you are still earning any money in the US (royalties, rental income from property you don't sell, investments) you pay taxes on that income. (But it's been several years since I last worked in the UK, and as you can tell, I forget all the ins and outs, to say nothing of the fact that the IRS -- or the Congress -- likes to change the tax code every year.)

[porcupine]

sueenglish is right - look at the inland revenue website for tax information. Your final tax contributions may also depend on your visa/immigration status.

You can check out the cost of Tube and bus transport online, if you're planning on using public transport rather than owning a car. There is also a rather cunning timetable search device that tells you how long - in theory at least - your journeys will be and whether you'll need to change lines. This might help you plan where to live based on how long it may take to get between your home and your office.

Garbage is covered through your Council Tax payments. For electricity, water, gas and telephone, you often need to find your own provider and get connected. When I moved to the US I didn't have a credit record here, so I had to pay a hefty deposit to each one in order to get connected - you might have to do that too in the UK. Oh yes - don't forget about your TV license (you can also find out about this online, and - if you've never heard of these before - no, I am not kidding!).

I would guess that the full-time nanny fee you mention is in the right ball park, but it may end up being more than that (salaries often have London weighting added).

If you don't already have a credit record in the UK then you may have trouble getting a mortgage. I have bought a house overseas before and I absolutely do not think this is a good idea at first - if you do want to buy, wait at least a year beforehand. It's a nightmare to coordinate an international purchase, you need a chance to decide where would suit you best based on how you find living in the new place, and if you need a mortgage from a UK bank, you may have real trouble arranging this if you don't already have a UK address/salary evidence.

Opening a bank account might also be hard work without any UK credit history/connections. It might be worth discussing with your current bank whether or not they already have a partner branch in the UK, and see if they can open an account for you there before you leave, or at least provide you with a letter of reference to present to the new bank. You might also contact your new employer's HR department, or even members of your new department, and see if they can advise you on what other new hires from the US did.

I can believe that 41k rent is being asked in central London these days, but I think you can do much better than that if you hunt around a bit - maybe consider not living in central London. Not that I would ever encourage anyone to choose the hell of commuting!

Sorry if this sounds a little gloomy - I've moved internationally twice in the past three years and I haven't caught up on my sleep debt yet! It has been fun, though... Congratulations on the job, and good luck with your move.

[mehmet_shehu]

I think that these two things are something that are 'in the eye of the beholder' because I find that UK/European appliances are pretty awful. Yes, they are energy efficient... but a washer/dryer takes about 2 hour to do a load of laundry and you can't fit many clothes in at one time. Most Brits I know seem to have laundry strung all over their house to dry...I find furniture in the UK to be poorly made. I also import ALL my linens (sheets and towels) from the States because the quality is much higher.

Yadda yadda.....I knew we could rely on "expatinuk" to, as usual, whine about how terrible things are in the UK and just how great America/American stuff is.

On *any* given subject, the torrent of negativity about the UK from this person is unrelenting. Where's hubbabubba when we need him? Why does she even bother working in Britain if she hates it sooooo much?

[Post edited by moderator.]

[sueenglish]

I think that these two things are something that are 'in the eye of the beholder' because I find that UK/European appliances are pretty awful. Yes, they are energy efficient... but a washer/dryer takes about 2 hour to do a load of laundry and you can't fit many clothes in at one time. Most Brits I know seem to have laundry strung all over their house to dry...I find furniture in the UK to be poorly made. I also import ALL my linens (sheets and towels) from the States because the quality is much higher.

Yadda yadda.....I knew we could rely on "expatinuk" to, as usual, whine about how terrible things are in the UK and just how great America/American stuff is.

On *any* given subject, the torrent of negativity about the UK from this person is unrelenting. Where's hubbabubba when we need him? Why does she even bother working in Britain if she hates it sooooo much?

Tell me, Mel, do your colleagues at North Staffs Poly know how much you despise their country and everything in it?

Hey - this is not very nice is it? What about us in the UK who always put America down? Actually, expat says loads of great things about the UK if you bother to read all of her threads...and expat has been one of the most supportive people on this forum in my experience.

Or are you just a wind-up merchant with nothing better to do with your time?

[expatinuk]

hmmm.... *eyebrow raised at mehmet_shehu*

I've said before that this person seems to have a bee up his rear about Americans, so I just ignore him. Oh, my name isn't Mel... Mel seems to be someone who owns a diner.

There are great things about living and working in the UK and in Europe in general, but not all things are great and I won't pretend that they are. The same can be said for the US. I've lived and worked all over the world not just in the US and the UK, so I'm pretty comfortable with knowing what I like and what I don't like about each place.

And as I said about goods from the US and Europe... it's just what a person likes. If one likes trendy clothes, then European styling is the way to go. I like clothes that last and I could care less about 'trendy' so I buy my clothes in the US... from Lands End and/or LL Bean.

[falada]

It took me awhile to get used to hanging clothes around the house rather than popping them in the dryer and having them come out soft and wrinkle-free, but now those massive US dryers seem like a terrible waste of energy. I mean, air is free. It only takes a little extra planning to get the laundry done in time for work Monday morning.