New in the US? Things to know/do when you are new: This section has always been on the cards for being on this website but never really took off until now. One reason is that there is a wide variety of audience to be addressed. People who are new to the US can be students, H1 or L1 employees, immigrants, visiting parents/relatives and those that do not fit any of these (I don't know who they will be though). So, when I think of what someone new would need to know about, I am not sure as each of these groups have different needs and different things to do/know about when they step into the US first. I have been trying to find out since I started "DiscComm" about what people (fresh into the US) would like to know when they just came in but so far haven't seen much response to that question, which made me think, may be there is no need for this section as they seem to figure out by themselves, over time. Now, since this "Life in US" section comprises of everything that you typically go looking for-after getting some breathing space in the US, I thought of adding this section too, for the requests that came in as well as to make it a full fledged branch about living in the USA. And ofcourse, when I came in, I visited so many websites to know the procedures, different laws, what's good and bad or rather let me say, what is acceptable (considered to be acceptable) and some cultural/perspective differences. When I think of culture and tradition, I keep converging into the word "perspective" as that more appropriately seems to justify the difference.
Let me try not to be too verbose and get on to the task at hand. My intention of putting up this page is to provide some basic information of what needs to be done when you are in the US. And as copying stuff from other place is not part of my motive, I would be directing you to places where you can find useful information to carry on the tasks. The best place to get started is immihelp.com/newcomer which has explained almost everything nicely. The only additional things needed would be the online links and facts based on my experience. So, please look it over and come back for more information.
SSN: The Social Security Number is the primary identification number in the United States. In other words, in a short time it is going to end up being the primary key of your record in umpteen number of databases maintained across the US. It basically determines your official existence in the United States. Almost everyone is going to scare you of saying how safe it should be and that it should not be disclosed to anyone at any cost. Yes, it should be secure but you will have to part with it many times too, as it needs to be disclosed at a lot of places. So, just store it safely, may be memorize it and then use your judgement to see if it should be shared. If a situation doesn't absolutely require your personal details, don't give it out. Never ever give it to Customer Service professionals or anyone who is trying to probe for your bank accounts. To find where your SSN office is, go to https://secure.ssa.gov. All you need to know about applying for SSN can be found at socialsecurity.gov/ssnvisa and the forms can be found at socialsecurity.gov/ssnvisa/ff_gov_links
Opening a Bank Account in the US: This might seem to be a little out of place but yes, it is one of the primary needs, when you land in the USA. You just cannot walk into any bank for opening an account as each bank would look up your credit history before giving you an account. The basic thing you need is the SSN# or ITIN# and a valid address to get started in the US. Most of the banks, however allow you to open a checking/savings account without an SSN#, if you have just landed from a foreign land and your SSN application is in process with the assurance that you will be updating your SSN# later. So, have your passport ready and a residential proof (either the lease agreement or any utility (water/phone/gas bill) and you are all set. And now, find out the closest available banks at your place using www.bank-anywhere.com. This will give you a list of closest branches and then it boils down to choosing the most reliable and popular one of the lot. Checking Account (Cash Account): Where should you open the checking account? There are too many banks some of them are kind of round-the-corner shops. If you know that you are not going to move from the place where you are, open it in one of the local banks. If you are not sure, it is time to consider the best options that have most presence across the states. For example, Chase, Citibank and Bank of America (BOA) are the prominent names but even these are not available all over America. If you are in the East, BOA or Wachovia would work for you. If you are in the Chicago/Midwest region, Chase is preferred, And when you start moving towards the west of the US, you would have to look at US Bank and Wells Fargo. Checking account is also called as the Cash Account because it will be always available for you to encash. A checking account typically is a non-interest paying account and even if it does, it would be nominal. May be you will earn a dollar if you have 10K sitting in your account. So, it is always better to also have a Savings Account that pays you good interest over time. It is not necessary to have both checking and savings at the same bank. The checking account should be at the closest bank while the Savings should be with a bank paying high interest without any minimum balance criteria. Savings Account: Saving accounts pay interest on your money and you would get anywhere between 3% to 5% interest rate based on who you are opening your account with. So, for 10K, at minimum you will end up receiving $300 in interest by the end of the year-which is taxable. Still, you would earn $260 rather than earning a dollar from your regular checking account. The only limitation with a Savings account is that it takes 3 to 5 days to withdraw money from this account. And typically, the 'online only' savings accounts pay a lot higher interest than the savings accounts at a branch based major bank.
Setting up your Internet: Internet service is a monopoly dominated market in the US. You typically have very less choice when it comes to getting an Internet connection as it is divided by region. Though there are many ISP players like Comcast, Cox, Qwest, Roadrunner, Timewarner, Verizon, SBC etc more often than not, you will only have one ISP like Cox or Comcast for your place. If you have more than one option, choose the one which offers higher speed at a lower price. Comcast Comcast is the ISP that offers special promotions (almost always) on its Internet and Cable (TV) package. So, the deal you get depends on how you obtain your connection. The price you get when you call up Comcast directly is a lot higher than what you would pay if you were to sign up online for the connection. Also, if you signup Comcast from a third party, you can get a free modem, a free router and some cashback for your internet. This will not be provided by Comcast on its own. The sites below are the third parties that provide you the best deals on a comcast connection. True, there are too many and that is only because the offers you get from each of these vary a lot. For example, you have the option of say, getting a cash back of $175 from one website with a $19.99 for 6 months. Another website may offer you a $125 cashback with a free cable modem (worth ~$60) and a free wireless router (worth ~$30), after mail-in rebates. Obviously the second one is a good choice if you don't own a router/modem. But if you are not new to the USA and already own these, $175 cashback is a very good deal and there is no mail-in rebate hassle involved. So, the following is a list of websites that we shoud check before finalizing the price. True, it looks like it is a matter of $10/month but after the promotional period (which varies from 6 to 12 months), the cost escalates and you might end up paying $55/month. Cox Communications Cox isn't too much into offering special prices. If Cox is the only service provider in your area, the only option is to directly signup using their website, with their initial trial offer. You can save some money by buying your own modem and router. For better deals on Modem/Router, try searching in the sites listed on Best Deal Sites section of DiscComm. |