IMMIGRATING

[GLYSEN]

Thanks Jeff, Chrizzy + Blott,
I have been looking for 2 bed 2 bath apartments in Tampa Bay and have found many beautiful looking complexes in lovely surroundings with lakes, pools, club houses, fitness & business centres on-site. One typical site is www.rentnet.com/call/8663004774 (takes you direct to one of the pages I like) - they all seem to be offered for around the $600 to $700/mo mark which to us seems extremely cheap for all these facilities (some even offer free after school club).
If anyone knows any adverse info about these apartment complexes we would appreciate your input as we keep looking for a catch!!
Will be bringing 2 kids with us (6 & 11) so if anyone knows a good school district/nice place to intereact but not too noisy around Tampa, we would love to hear from you....
ciao
Glynnis

[GLYSEN]

Thanks Julie,
Sent a reply but doesn't appear to have gone through so apologies if this comes up twice!
No offence taken - appreciate your honesty - we are looking into ways to increase our funding to at least give us a few months buffer.
Can you clarify for me please, was your business an existing one or a new one, as we were asuming if we bought an ongoing existing business there would be sufficient cashflow in the days after purchase to continue paying payroll, suppliers, insurance etc.? If we have to find a month's payroll from our own money I can see what you mean about underfunding!
Also, can the existing insurances in place continue, or would we have to start a new policy and pay a year up front?
Intend to take a salary monthly on taking up the reins so this should provide immediate working income - also considering business in hubby's name so I can apply for work permit (just in case)...
Mind you - I think it's scarier staying in Britain with kids who will probably never be able to afford their own home now, and will be hard pushed to even afford to go out once a week!
Not saying the grass is always greener, but as hubby is also a qualified joiner, at least we can hopefully help them buy something and do it up in the future...
Fingers crossed! (always the optimist)
Cheers
Glynnis

[esprit]

I dont know the Tampa area but if you have kids look for the school and then find an appartment near it. Price of the appartment must be secondary to the standard of the school. Educational standards in Florida are really low and kids from the UK are quite a lot ahead of their counterparts. A good school is really essential. Contact a realtor im Tampa who does rentals ( do a search) and ask for a list of schools and also ones he would consider good schools for your age group in the area then go round and visit them. I know of kids who have come here and loved it and others who just want to go home and it all comes down to where they ended up living and the schools they ended up going to and whether they ended up making friends. In particular, avoid schools that draw from predominantly hispanic areas, not racist but the kids tend to speak Spanish to each other outside class and that effectively excludes British kids from friendhsip groups. There are few Floridian kids who cannot make their way in Spanish but few English who can.

[GLYSEN]

Thanks Julie,
Will certainly look into school situation v. carefully - thanks for all your help. Will let u know how we get on...(slowly by the sound of it! but Rome wasn't built in a day as they say...!)
Regards
Glynnis

[Scotborder]

Good luck Glynnis, let us know how you get on.


Maria

[GLYSEN]

HI AGAIN FOLKS!

Just a quick note which I thought might help someone - we are still waiting to visit Florida to look for a suitable business (unofficially of course!!) but my brother has just had his visa application turned down - the reason they gave was that they were unconvinced of the viability of his business and value to US citizens as he had not supplied a Business Plan... they further suggested he may like to re-apply with a 5 year business plan which they could consider. My point is that, although this is the first thing I would have enclosed, I would probably have enclosed a 3 year Plan and it is interesting to note that they consider a 5 year Plan to be more suitable - this may just help someone with their application?
Best regards
Glynnis

[juliek]

hiGLYNNIS

is your brother going the E2 route

[esprit]

Was he buying something already trading or just going on plan?? If you buy something already established, the better that is doing the less business plan will be needed. If you are going on plan alone, yes of course they require the most detailed one you can supply. They have turned him down for a reasom. Either they did not think he would be employing US citizens or they did not think he had any chance of making enough to live on.

[GLYSEN]

Yes he was going E2 and he was establishing a new business, he was also employing a US citizen but would 1 employee be enough?
Our plans to go over in October have suffered setback as I dislocated my kneecap last week and have been given 6 weeks in a splint!! Just as I thought we were getting somewhere!
How is anyone fairing over there with the hurricanes? I hope not too much damage - keep safe everyone...
Glynnis

[esprit]

I do know someone who got E2 with just one employee and he was a green card holder, but that was a while back,