relocating to florida from the uk

:)i wonder if any one could give me some advice, my husband, myself and our 2 children are looking to relocate to florida. we are hoping to move to the melbourne beach area and buy either a lawn maintenance or fishing tackle shop their. would this be the ideal place to relocate to. we are a quite family not into pubs and clubs and would like to move to a fairly peaceful low crime rated area with good schooling for the girls. my husband is a very keen fisherman (actually he lives and breathes for it) and his dream would be to run his own bait and tackle outlet and to teach long distance beach casting. do you think this would work? what is the best area to move to and would we be accepted there. what sort of problems could we encounter with visas. which are the best and easiest way to get out there. we have around $450,000.00 to buy a business and property how far would this get us. please someone help and give us some advice we would like to move by the end of the year if poss. cheers

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quote:Originally posted by Tina Blackwell

:)i wonder if any one could give me some advice, my husband, myself and our 2 children are looking to relocate to florida. we are hoping to move to the melbourne beach area and buy either a lawn maintenance or fishing tackle shop their. would this be the ideal place to relocate to. we are a quite family not into pubs and clubs and would like to move to a fairly peaceful low crime rated area with good schooling for the girls. my husband is a very keen fisherman (actually he lives and breathes for it) and his dream would be to run his own bait and tackle outlet and to teach long distance beach casting. do you think this would work? what is the best area to move to and would we be accepted there. what sort of problems could we encounter with visas. which are the best and easiest way to get out there. we have around $450,000.00 to buy a business and property how far would this get us. please someone help and give us some advice we would like to move by the end of the year if poss. cheers

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Have you found a business to buy yet.....and have you talked to anyone about your plans.....like a visa lawyer........cost wise......you need very deep pockets to move here....even without the cost of buying a business....the age of your children is also important.....school wise..FL is not known for its good schools..so before you find a place to live....make sure the schools in that area are OK.......and visa wise you don't want your kids to timeout and get sent back to the UK.....so the younger they are the better....

chrizzy thanks for your reply our girls are 4 and 8 we have talked in short to both a british and american lawyer in respect to visas but really want to know more from a personal point of view on what living and working in florida would be like and if our employment ideas would work. we fish for fun and not for food we just enjoy the sport. thanks again for your reply

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quote:Originally posted by Tina Blackwell

chrizzy thanks for your reply our girls are 4 and 8 we have talked in short to both a british and american lawyer in respect to visas but really want to know more from a personal point of view on what living and working in florida would be like and if our employment ideas would work. we fish for fun and not for food we just enjoy the sport. thanks again for your reply

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We moved over here 4 years ago....the best thing ever for my son.....I'm not so sure about my daughter.....
My husband had a job offer so we had no costs....everything was paid for by the company....which was lucky because the move itself would of taken a lot of our money.....
I find living here now no different then living in the UK...if not for the US flag everywhere I could still be home....but then I live up here in the North so I don't have year round sunshine......
[msnsad]......what made you pick FL.......?

we run a gardening business here in the uk and immediately thought about relocating to the u.s. and as florida is the sunshine state we figured it would be the best place to relocate to and work all year round. also my husbands love of fishing would be accomodated in florida. open to other suggestions as this is not set in stone just had enough of the uk and lack of oppotunity for both us and the kids need a change of lifestyle but reading some of the posts has got us a bit worried.

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quote:Originally posted by Tina Blackwell

we run a gardening business here in the uk and immediately thought about relocating to the u.s. and as florida is the sunshine state we figured it would be the best place to relocate to and work all year round. also my husbands love of fishing would be accomodated in florida. open to other suggestions as this is not set in stone just had enough of the uk and lack of oppotunity for both us and the kids need a change of lifestyle but reading some of the posts has got us a bit worried.

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Your kids would have a great life here if you find the right schools and area.......its you that has all the worry.....if you ask me Maine or anywhere along the coast of New England could also be worth looking at......not all year round sunshine......but houses are cheap there so I'm told.......and the school are good...I'm also told...a friend of mines just moved down from Maine to FL....and is thinking of moving back.......I think if you're thinking of moving over here.....looking into the pros&cons of a few areas maybe your best bet......

Melbourne is nice. Good beach, quite surfy, not too far from Orlando if you want some expat contact. Going with something you know is geat I wish we had) so I would say either business would work. First you have to find one however. I would suggest looking on www.fbba.com for one and also emailing all the Melbourne realtors. Come and look if you can. For property, have a look at www.realtor.com and search on Melbourne. I think the location is a good decision as you wont get the agressive competitiveness over there of Orlando. Have a look at Vero Beach also. That is a bit further south and is so nice that Disney have a hotel there.
If you are looking for an E2 visa, contact Lesley at www.investorvisausa.com. She really is hot on E2.

thanks guys for your replies. its nice to get some first hand advice on where to go. looks like we may have picked the area. i am told the schools in melbourne beach are fantastic and have grade a reports, which is our most important aspect obviously for our girls. England is finished and within the next 10 years will be a third world counrty and i dont want that for my girls. fortunately we land here which is up for residensial developement so should be fairly financially secure, we intend to come over with no belongings and start completly from fresh, we are willing to work and work hard for our childrens future and figured we may as well well do it in a beautiful state with friendlier people than here, a better property and better weather. hopefully make a few good friends and feel like we actually have a future which we dont in this country. once again guys thanks. if you ever want a chat let me know and ill stay up late especially (lol) will be over for a couple of weeks soon to have a good look round. talk to you soon hopefully. tina[msnsmile2]

A good website to checkout is http://fl.living.net . All you ever wanted to know about Florida. Very helpful for relocating and gives comprhensive advice on different areas.

thanks benny going to look at the site you suggested right now. cheers

Try www.bizmarketflorida.com also. Tina, if you need help with the nitty gritty. let me know. Run anything you find by me. As you may have guessed, I learned a lot anout this through the school of hard knocks and am happy to help.

Hi

We own a property in Kissimmee but if we were going to live in Florida it would be in Melbourne.

We first went there on our honeymoon 13 years ago and were hooked.

The only reason we bought in Kissimmee is for the rental potental we would much rather be in the coast the area is wonderful and I would love to live there.

Best of Luck
Ann

We own a condo on the beach near Melbourne and I spend most of my time surf fishing. The best place to find out information is the local newspaper which has an excellent website at http://www.floridatoday.com This covers the whole of Brevard County.

I think you've made a good choice. I am moving my family to Melbourne soon for the same reasons. I know there is something called a Treaty Investor for those investing in a US business but I do not know how much must be invested. There is always Permanent Resident Green Card status which lets you live here and travel as you wish. I don't know how hard it is to get though. I do know if you are looking to buy a home in Melbourne, you should start as soon as possible. Melbourne is getting quite popular and property prices are rising. Good Luck to you and your family!

[msnwink]
Florida Pete

Florida Pete
It may be a bit premature to say you ARE moving your family to Florida, a bit more research on the visas will tell you it is not as easy as deciding you are going to do it. At the end of the day no matter how "special" our relationship is with the US the immigration authorities could not care less what their country can do for your family in terms of perceived better lifestyle etc, all they are worried about and what you will have to prove is what YOU can do for THEM.
If you can find an employer to sponsor you for green card it will be the only way to stay permanently if you invest in a business you can only stay as long as that business is trading (in their eyes) successfully and employing US citizens, so if you want to retire - you cant because you can only stay in the country whilst running the business so cant sell up. Julie can give you lots of info having been through the process herself recently shes more up to speed on current regs.

Incidentally Melbourne could well be opened up to the tourist industry even more if the proposed flights from Manston to Melbourne do go ahead. Last I saw they were in negotiations with an airline to start this summer but I think it will be too late for that, I've not seen any advertising for it yet. If the infrastructure develps I can see it being a place where people may fly into go to Orlando and then back there for a week or so instead of St Petes or Clearwater as they obvioulsy wont have a drive back to the airport then.

Steph,

I did not mean to be misleading. I AM a Florida resident. I moved here from New York Abou 15 years ago. Currently I live in the Central Florida area, I worked for Disney for about 7 years. My family and I are moving to Melbourne because the schools are better and for investment purposes.

Whenever I have posted some information, it is getting cancelled.

[That's because advertising is not allowed on this forum which I understand has already been explained to you by the website owners - please check out the rules at http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/rules.asp]

[msnwink]
Florida Pete

Pete
Sorry your post about not knowing about investment visas etc implied that you were thinking of moving overseas not that you were trying to direct Tina to help her move.

I think you'll find the reason your posts have been cancelled is that it is in breach of the rules - to which you must have agreed when registering for this site, in that it is not intended to be a free advertising forum for businesses.

Melbourne has become quite costly in the last couple of years. Large number of US citizens are opting to retire there so, unfortunately, property prices have just shot up. Anything near the beach is becoming absurdly expensive - condos on Highway A1A are increasing in price by something like $50,000 every few months.

A bait and tackle shop sounds a bit risky. What opinions have the lawyers given you on whether that would qualify for an E2 visa? The immigration authorities will want to know that you can stay afloat financially. Does you husband realize that there will be very little time for any personal fishing as most E2 visa holders end up working very hard at their Florida business. You are coming into a competitive business market, probably plenty of other tackle shops about.