A few things I'd like to know (UK)

[TheAndies 50]

As Limey said, bring over an unlocked phone and it should work OK - I came over with an old (unlocked) iphone4 and put a walmart sim in it to get up and running.

I got my U.S iPhone from Verizon, I explained my situation to a woman at the store and she was pretty understanding/cool over the whole situation and suggested the easiest way forward was to switch my significant others plan into a family plan and add a new iPhone to it. as the plan was setup already no credit checks would be needed. So we read the fine print, set it up and I paid about $200 for the phone (I paid more simply as I wanted one with alot of space and line activation). Aside from the low data (we get about 10 gig/ month to share), its all good!