Introduction

When I decided to move to America from England, I read a few books about living and working in the USA. They were all useless. They didn't tell me what I wanted to know. They said things like "When men greet one another, they shake hands. Grasp the other man's hand firmly, and move it up and down two or three times. Never kiss other men in a business situation." However, I couldn't do much better, and I certainly couldn't write a whole book on it. I was also inspired by the Moving from the US to the UK page. And there doesn't seem to be a reverse version.

However, that said, stuff that I say may or may not be true. It might be based on what I've been led to believe, which might not be true. It might be biased by the part of the USA that I live in (West Los Angeles, Southern California) or it might just be nonsense.

In some ways, a FAQ (frequently asked questions) isn't necessarily the right name for this. The problem that I had (and still have, to a large extent) is not knowing what questions to ask, apart from the very general "What should I do / not do?" or "What do I need to know?" I'd not been here long when I started to write this, which means that there's a lot I don't know, but the books that I read were written by people who were either American, or had lived here for a long time. Hence, it seemed to me, that they had forgotten what it was that they didn't know when they came (if they came).

If you are vaguely like me, then you will find this much more useful. And by vaguely like me, I mean employed (that's why I moved here), with an insurer that sorts of lots of things, like pays your health insurance. If you're retired or a student or an illegal immigrant, then there are lots of things that probably affect you that I don't know about.

I'm not going to bother with straight information on X, where X is some fact or other, for two reasons. First, if you want to know X, you can probably Google it. And second, if it's a fact of any importance (like How much tax should I pay? Can I get arrested for ...?) then you are better off asking someone who has more chance of knowing. Like a lawyer or an accountant or a doctor.

Finally, if there's something here that you think I might be able to address, or want to comment on, just add it in the comments, or send me an email.