Pat2021

Thank you Both, that's what I figured but wanted to confirm!

Hi All, My wife and I recently bought a property but before we move there's some work that needs to be done - so it will be around a month or so before we move over there permanently. Now I know we need to notify USCIS of a "change of address" within 10 days. Is there any specific information as what they consider "change of address"? We already received mail over at the new property (mostly just spam, but also home-insurance docs and utilities) but currently we still reside (and have our bank accounts etc.) at our original address. Do we need to let USCIS know now or only once we physically relocate? Thank you in advance.

Thank you all again, very good insights here. My degree, and work experience, is from the UK, from one of the top universities (Ivy league equivalent) so should be accepted here without too many issues. The idea with temp jobs might not be a bad one - how / what is the best way to look for them? Indeed and LinkedIn don't seem to list them from what I've seen. I did that, but so far nothing. No one even looked at my LinkedIn profile within the last two months... I used the LinkedIn Premium Trial to message a few, but not one has read my message or even looked on my profile. I'll look into recruiting agencies though, thank you. I also tried applying / looking for internships, but at least around LA they require you to be enrolled in a university program and have proof of such.

Thank you everyone for those suggestions and ideas. I'll take them into account and let you know how it goes

I do agree with that, however I am applying across the spectrum, from tiny companies all the way to giants like Boeing. Just to get in somewhere, after that I'll have more leverage (and at least income).

Hmm fair enough but the only degrees above what I have would be MBA or PhD, both of which I don't believe would qualify for this?

Thank you both for the good advice. The ideas, especially #2 sounds very good. For #1 I've noticed for the big companies it's usually "faceless" and difficult to find out who department head / hiring manager is. For city, I live near LA, so looking for jobs in LA, there's no shortage of postings thankfully. Most companies I've applied for ask for that during the automatic profile creation thing, but I can double-down on the resume if that's helpful.

I immigrated at the beginning of the year to the US on IR1 and have since been looking for work. However, so far, after 2 months of trying, I have not had a single call-back, job interview, or even invite. Just a few rejections and mostly radio silence. I've finished an MEng degree, which doesn't seem to be known here, so wondering if that's an issue? I also have 3.5 years of work experience, but with nearly a year gap due to COVID lay-offs in 2020/21 and then I quit my job in Dec. 2022 to move to the US and no work since - is that an issue? Furthermore, the jobs I had, I was being rotated through various departments on an as-needed basis, so I don't have technical skills in a specific area but rather a wide variety of skills in lots of areas. I did look at how to tailor resumes for the US market, how to apply, and had my resume looked at by multiple people that said it's strong, but even so, nothing as of yet. I am wondering if either the MEng or the gaps are red flags and if so how can I overcome them? From what I've seen MEng is pretty much equivalent to MS, just more engineering focused, so when the online portal only lets me choose between BS, MS and PhD, I choose MS. I've seen it's now a numbers game, and I'm applying to a big number of jobs, so that should not be it. Could it also be that recruiters think my resume is fake, as the companies on it are based in the UK?

I don't remember the exact wording as we've now filed MFS for her and not filed for me, using TaxAct. Seemed more straightforward than TurboTax. Going to file for me next year. It could've been "resident alien".

Thank you. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20 as they say, originally she just went to the UK to study, didn't expect to have a job there. Oh well. She's (we're) now back in CA, so for 2023 definitely have to file state taxes!

Ah that's good, I wasn't sure if safe harbor only applies if the work is from a US company that sends you abroad, or also from living abroad and getting a job there through a local employer / company. So looks like she's in the clear, both safe harbor wise and income wise

She was a resident of the UK from 2017 to 2023 (moved back Jan '23), but domiciled in CA. It seems in CA it is nearly impossible to sever ties, so you're always domiciled unless you take specific actions (moving to other states for example) before leaving to go abroad. As she was registered to vote, had driving license, bank accounts, etc. all in CA.

Yeah it seems CA is one of those states that requires you to file state taxes even if you are a resident abroad, as long as you are domiciled in CA which she is / was. However, looking at the income on https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/residency-status/index.html, the income was below the requirement to file, so I think we're in the clear by not filing? We just filed the federal ones as MFS though, and next year we'll switch to MFJ for 2023, which makes sense. Then I can wait until we submit the return for 2025 and file N400 then

Thank you, but there doesn't seem to be any benefit in doing so, as the income is below any tax threshold anyway.

Yeah that's probably it, last year I was not a resident, neither for tax purposes nor an LPR. So MFS it is!