Our experience of life in California, or Business in the American village on an E2 visa

I have worked in telecommunications all my life, developing programs from time to time: along with the development of the industry, I moved from one technology to another. I started programming in the 80s, I also found BK-0010 and BESM-6, and it became a hobby for life. Now I write mainly for Node.js with React. From the latest technologies - VR using Android or Unity.

At the end of my career in Ukraine, I was one of the leaders of an Internet provider company. Doing business in Ukraine is, unfortunately, one stressful thing that negatively affects health. In 2015, my wife and I decided that we wanted to live by the warm sea. The daughter had just graduated from high school and entered the university, so it was possible to find a place for a pension somewhere by the sea. One of the prerequisites for us was the opportunity to open our own business.

We were once surprised to learn that in the homeland of the Internet, its price in dollars outside big cities often exceeds the price in hryvnias in Ukraine, and satellite and mobile Internet have limits on the amount of traffic. To clarify the situation, they took a tourist visa and in February 2015 drove around the United States. Since the goal was to settle closer to the sea, they chose California. We also had a friend in San Francisco, who was very helpful upon arrival and introduced us to the Ukrainian community.

See America by car

The best way to see America is to drive across it. Renting a car in the USA is simple and quite cheap. I advise you to look for a car through the Internet. We rented a car for a week for $200. Near each airport there are many different rental services where you can choose a car for every taste. After visiting the rental desk, you are taken to a platform where cars of different classes are parked in groups, and you can choose the one you like. Returning is also not a problem, they don’t pay attention to scratches, so you shouldn’t worry too much about it.

Roads in the US are in excellent condition, and traveling at 70 miles per hour is perceived as standing still. There is a danger in this, since speeding is quickly fixed and punishable by a fine of $ 300-800, depending on the location and speeding. We repeatedly witnessed how the guys rushed past us, and after a few miles we already observed them on the side of the road in the company of the police. The police, by the way, are not visible on the road. We did not have to meet her on the way during our stay in the USA.

The peculiarities of driving in the USA include the presence of toll lanes and road traffic, as well as the difficulty in finding parking spaces in large cities. Outside metropolitan areas, driving is a pleasure. There is still a nuance of passing intersections with "Stop" signs on all sides. The one who first stopped at such an intersection passes first, and not the one who first drove up. At first it was difficult to understand the difference in this rule. Another important point is refueling the car. Often, ATMs at the dispensers do not accept cards from European banks. In this case, you can visit the shop at the gas station, where any cards are accepted.

Starting a business

Having traveled around the USA, we were convinced that it is possible to open your own telecom services business there. We chose the area with the worst internet - the neighborhood of the small town of Fresno in the heart of California.

Dawn in our village

We opened a new company in the USA for $1000. Used the services of BizFiling. Any person can open a company - there are no restrictions. To do this, you only need a scan of your passport. The procedure took two months, and in the fall of 2015, by the time we arrived, we received the documents by mail.

We arrived on a tourist visa. The visa officer, when crossing the border on a tourist visa, as a rule, sets the period of stay in the United States to 3 or 6 months, but not more than 6 months. We asked, and they gave us 6. Upon arrival, we visited the local authorities, where they showed documents for the company and filled out a form to open a business. After that, we received a referral to publish information about the opening of the company in the local press. We went to the editorial office and ordered the publication. After the publication, they once again visited the administration and showed the newspaper with information about us. That's all.

California state taxes are $800 a year for income up to $200,000 a year, federal taxes are a more complicated story. The federal tax scale is progressive, that is, from the first 9 thousand you pay nothing, from the next $ 20 thousand you pay 15%, etc. Part of the income is not taxed if expenses were made for certain needs. In general, this is not very easy, but any accountant draws up all the reports for $700-$1500, and this should be done once a year.

Upon arrival, we agreed with the owner of the radio tower and local authorities to start work. There are many frequency bands in the US that do not require any license to operate. In general, to start work, we only needed permission from the mayor's office to install equipment on the radio tower and permission to conduct business. I suspect that it would be possible not to obtain permission to install equipment, but we, according to Ukrainian habit, really wanted to have more documents. The permit cost $140 and the business license $70. Now we pay $70 every year for license renewal. The cost of a license depends on the place of business and, possibly, its type. The highest cost in our town is $350 a year. Most of all, we were worried, expecting some kind of business checks, as in Ukraine, but we did not have a chance to experience this.

After we installed and connected the equipment on the radio tower to the Internet, ordered and sent advertising by mail, we began to connect subscribers to the wireless Internet.

It is worth talking about advertising separately. Americans are afraid of people who are in sales. If you are tired of someone and you want to politely part with him, then say that you are selling something, and start talking about your product - the person will immediately disappear. For us, two advertising options turned out to be the most effective: mailing booklets and word of mouth. There is a special section on the mail site where you can select a specific area for advertising distribution and immediately see how many houses are in this area and how much the mailing will cost. Then you send flyers to the post office, and they deliver them in a couple of days. The second option is word of mouth, that is, our clients advise us to their friends. Naturally, for this it is necessary to maintain friendly relations with customers.

Business is working fine. A couple of times a month we go to clients in case of problems, otherwise there is no particular hassle. You can do other things: now I am doing two projects with local partners - on virtual reality and on a video surveillance system.

In January 2016, we connected the first ten subscribers. After the end of the stay on a tourist visa, they returned to Ukraine to apply for an E2 visa.

Applying for an E2 visa

Getting advice in any state institution is a very difficult task, as you are immediately told that you should contact a lawyer. It is impossible to squeeze out information about what needs to be entered in one form or another. It is good that with the advent of the Internet, almost everything you need can be found there. The cost of legal services in the United States for assistance in filling out any form on 1-2 pages costs at least $ 1-2 thousand. Assistance in preparing documents for an E2 visa will cost $ 5-10 thousand.

As a result, after talking with several lawyers, it seemed to us that it was easier to do everything ourselves. We read the requirements for documents for a visa, looked at the information on the forums, prepared and submitted the documents on our own. We were scheduled an interview at the embassy, ​​which we successfully passed after a month of waiting and immediately received a notification about the positive decision of our case. The visa was ready within 1 week.

Life in California

In the US, it is very important to navigate the location of bad and good settlements or areas. By the way, when looking for a job, you should know that employers also pay attention to this. When you give your address, Americans believe that you are declaring your ambitions and worldview. We live between two towns for 20 thousand people, located at a distance of 10 kilometers from each other. In one of them, some kind of criminal event happens every week, and in the other, something similar happened 20 years ago.

We rented a nice two bedroom house with an orange garden. It turned out far from the ocean, but cheap. It costs $750 per month and a communal apartment costs another $50 on average. Now, by the way, the season - oranges are the sweetest at this time.

In the US, unusual rules for renting a house. You can only rent an apartment, but in order to rent a house, you need your history of renting real estate in the United States. We had to ask the owner of the tower to act as our guarantor, and only under such conditions were we allowed to rent a house. The lease agreement is a very important document. During visits to the bank or DMV (local traffic police) it is necessary to show it, so it makes sense to make a copy. The house is rented with a refrigerator and a washing machine, but without beds and furniture. At first, we were rescued by the fact that in any store you can buy an air bed for $ 80-100, which is not much different from a real one.

In California, I was surprised by the peculiarities of connecting to mobile communications. A prepaid package worth $40-50 per month can be bought at any store, but to get started, you need to call the operator, and he will issue a mobile number and a pin code. Mobile phone coverage is not perfect. It turned out that in our area the coverage of our operator is not sufficient, I had to visit the office of the second operator and connect to it with the same number. This can be done without any problems.

Buying a car and registering it is easy. There are places where cars are parked on the street with special standard signs under glass. After choosing a car, call the owner and make an appointment. When he arrives, you check the car and if you are ready to take it, you pay him, and he gives you a piece of paper for the DMV. You must visit any DMV branch with this piece of paper, fill out the form, pay the fee, and documents for the car will be sent to you by mail in 10 days. In California, car insurance is mandatory. Done through the website quickly and easily, although it costs from $800 per year. We use Geico, it seems like the most adequate insurance company.

Getting a license in California costs $33 and takes a week. To do this, you need to sign up for an exam at the DMV, come and take a written test, you can in Russian. After that, you can take a driving test. For those who pass on the rights in the US for the first time, this is a must. Driving style requirements differ from Ukrainian ones. Here you need to turn your head while driving, a quick glance in the mirror is not enough. This knowledge cost me $17 to retake.

Another adventure was with opening a bank account for business. A person without a banking history and a social security number cannot do this in a small bank. At first, for some reason, we decided that it would be easier to be served at a local small bank, but we were refused by all local banks, since we had no history. We ended up opening an account with Bank of America. By the way, everywhere, when opening an account, they were asked to show a rental agreement for a house.

Lack of communication

Domestic problems in the United States are so easily solved that it makes no sense to discuss them, as is customary with us. One of the significant inconveniences of living in the US is the lack of communication. You can communicate with locals about the prices of goods, visits to some events, travel, work or hobbies (usually sports and TV), but due to the different cultural context, communication is superficial, there is no complete understanding. Trump's election added a bit of Ukraine-familiar politics to the conversation, but not for long.

Political life in the United States is more tied to local events and depends on local authorities. Moreover, the authorities even at the level of a settlement for 10 houses. Everything from how to paint the facades, use water and clean up garbage, and ending with the presence of a police station and a fire brigade, are decided by the local community.

In general, life outside of megacities is built around religious communities, of which there are a great variety and diversity. Perhaps it is worth noting that one of the easiest ways to integrate into village life and find support is to start attending some kind of church. True, as non-religious people, at first it seemed inappropriate to us, but if we perceive it as an element of spending leisure time and establishing closer contacts with the locals, then this option is probably worth a try. In general, it is very important to choose the right place to live and spend your leisure time, as well as to form a comfortable social circle.

The visits of compatriots make it possible to slightly fill the vacuum of communication. But, unfortunately, even taking into account the fact that plane tickets are cheap, those who are familiar with visits do not frequent. For example, tickets from Stockholm to San Francisco and back can be purchased for $350.

In San Francisco with my brother, you shouldn't swim

It's funny that after the news of fires or earthquakes in California, acquaintances remember us and begin to worry. California, although inferior to the area of ​​Ukraine, is insignificant, and fires do not spread to such large areas, especially in populated areas. We have never seen a fire in our area. As for earthquakes, it is very difficult to notice earthquakes up to magnitude 4, so maybe they happen, but we did not notice them.

findings

From our own experience and conversations with those who also moved here, we found out that after about 1.5 - 2 years of staying in the country, you feel that you have adapted and you can draw some conclusions.

Positive points:

• An E2 visa is an easy and relatively cheap way to get the experience of not just living, but living in the USA, that is, with problems, contacts with local residents and government agencies.
• Life in California is safe and comfortable, the roads are good, the prices of goods are quite low.
• Standard issues - buy a car, get a license, send children to school - are resolved without difficulty.
• Doing business in the US is easy. regulation at the lowest level. Any licenses and permits, even if necessary, are easy to obtain. Reporting is submitted once a year. In any case, you can hire an accountant who will complete and submit reports for $700-1500. Taxes are also paid once a year. And although their calculation looks complicated, in fact everything is quite simple and for the amount of income up to $ 300 thousand per year - very little.
• The local population is very friendly and simple. Maybe it's because California or because it's a village, but for us it was a pleasure.
• The climate is much better than in Ukraine. In March, we have + 22-24 ° C during the day, at night the temperature is about + 8-10 ° C.
• Under the E2 visa, both applicants receive a social security number (the ability to obtain a credit card and a credit score), and the spouse of the main applicant, if desired, can obtain a work permit, which is not limited to the established company.
• Having a business makes it easier to adapt, as constant involvement in business expands the circle of acquaintances and leaves no time for depression and homesickness.

Negative points:

• The main disadvantage for us is that the ocean in California is cold all year round except in San Diego. But it is quite expensive there, and the border with Mexico brings a lot of trouble.
• The time difference of 10 hours leaves only a few hours in the morning for contacts with relatives and friends.
• The two coldest months are December and January. Although during the day the temperature is about + 20 °C, there are frosts at night, and because of this, many people get sick with colds and flu. In July and August, daily temperatures exceed + 40 ° C, which is also uncomfortable. The climate on the coast is very different. For example, in San Francisco it is cool almost all year round - about + 20 ° C, windy, and the ocean is again cold.
• Medicine is expensive and medicines are hard to get. We brought medicines from Ukraine, but did not use the services of local doctors. They also did not buy medical insurance, as they considered it cheaper to fly to Ukraine, if necessary.
• Food and semi-finished products are not tasty.

All in all it was very helpful and interesting. This experience allowed us to look at life in the USA from the inside due to the income received in the USA, but it did not solve our task of living by the warm sea. So next year we plan to move to Mexico (although they scare me with mosquitoes) or Hawaii. Hawaii has already been checked, now we are going to go to Mexico to see.