“We see no reason to return”: how a Russian woman left after her husband in the USA and did not regret
'17.04.2021'
Source: Lenta.ru report
Two years ago, a Muscovite Kirill was offered an offer he could not refuse: to work in the United States. His wife Vika supported the idea of moving abroad. For several years, she managed to determine for herself the pros and cons of being away from her homeland. Vika told Tape.ru about life in Seattle. Further - from the first person.
Million Offer
My husband is a manager at Microsoft. For many years he worked in the Moscow office and often traveled on business trips to the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Over time, he was offered to move there to fulfill his duties internationally. According to the terms of the offer, we had to move to the USA within two months.
In terms of a visa, everything turned out very simple. We came to the American Embassy in Moscow with the documents for the L-1A visa for the husband (internal transfer of managers) and L-2 for me (the spouse of the person with the L-1A visa). We had to fill out standard tourist visa forms and a special seven-page internal translation form. We did not have to stand in lines, because such visas are processed separately from tourist ones.
In five days, we received a visa, packed our bags (or, to be more precise, one cargo container) and moved from Moscow to Seattle, Washington. It is not located where the city of Washington is located, as many people usually think, but quite at the other end of the country, on the west coast, washed by the Pacific Ocean.
Yes, it turned out to be easy to apply for a visa. But to do this, you first need to get a job offer in the United States, and only within Microsoft. And the chances of such an offer are very small. We do not know of any other visitor from Russia who would come here as a manager, and not as a developer or lottery player.
Calm move
Before moving, we visited the United States many times, in particular in Seattle. Sometimes they flew to the States for several weeks combining work and vacation. We had a clear idea of where we would be and what awaited us. Although we lived well in Russia and I had a favorite job, we had no doubts about the move.
The move process went very smoothly. There was no time to adapt to the new conditions - on Friday my husband and I quit our job in Moscow, and on Monday he had to be at the office in Redmond at 08:30.
Microsoft makes moving as comfortable as possible and hires a special assistant. He is responsible for organizing the transportation of things, book a car and an apartment for the first two months, and also sends all the necessary information for development in a new place.
In the USA, we have made many good friends, both Russian-speaking (Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs), as well as Americans and other emigrants. In general, getting to know people here is much easier; people are more willing to make contact.
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Features
There were a lot of different features that caught our eye immediately after moving. First of all, of course, the difference in mentality - here everyone is very welcoming. Even those who you see for the first time are smiling, wondering how you are doing, making compliments. At first it was a little embarrassing that a stranger at the checkout counter in the store asked about your plans for the weekend, but we quickly got used to it. Now this no longer seems strange.
The locals treat emigrants from Russia in the same way as they treat Italians, British, Indians, Chinese or French. Nobody here cares where you came from, because there are a lot of visitors here. Almost all nationalities can be found in the vicinity of Seattle.
For several years of life in this country, they have not heard anything bad about them. Someone asks why we left. Many say that they have always dreamed of visiting Russia, and often even ask to teach them a couple of phrases in Russian. It's very funny.
“Privet! Kak dela? ”- with a wild accent any American tries to pronounce at the first meeting.
We were also surprised that in most apartments, hotels or in houses, showers in bathrooms are fixed and without a hose, and the pressure of the water, as a rule, is not regulated. Ceiling lighting is minimal: in living rooms, for example, most often there is none at all, especially in old houses. Sound insulation leaves much to be desired: in our state, houses are built mainly from simple boards, plywood and drywall, insulation is placed between them. You can’t look at redecorating without tears. Americans like to paint the walls in beige and put a texture on them. There is nothing to be done, this is considered the standard.
In the beauty industry, everything is very sad here. Unfortunately, you will not find highly qualified professionals who will do high-quality manicure, eyebrow shaping, epilation, trim or paint well, unfortunately. And the price as an indicator of quality here, unfortunately, does not work - as a rule, in the most mediocre salons it is several times higher than in Russia. It remains to look for quality services among the Russians working here. Fortunately, they can be found in almost every state.
In each cafe, they’ll bring you a glass of water for free before meals, even if you didn’t ask. And almost always, regardless of the time of year, the glass will be filled with ice. As for products in supermarkets, the choice seemed more diverse compared to Russian stores, and the plus or minus prices are comparable to Moscow, as far as I know, even by today's standards. Fresh steak and salmon are even cheaper than in Moscow.
I was surprised by the American cellular communication. Alas, not very pleasant. There are four major carriers in the US: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Moreover, the last two announced their merger. We have tried all of them and we can say that communication in the United States leaves much to be desired and costs a lot of money. In many places in the country, it works not only badly - it often does not exist at all. Although here we travel a lot, unlike Russia. Perhaps that is why our perception is slightly distorted. We pay $ 45 for one line with unlimited internet and calls.
If we talk about public transport, then in our state it is not very well developed. There is no subway here, buses in downtown Seattle often run underground - such is the local feature. If you wish, by bus you will most likely get to the desired point, but you will have to make a certain number of changes. There are trains, but not in our area. In cities such as Chicago, New York or Boston, transportation is better.
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Car country
In general, the United States is an automobile country, and you cannot do without a car. Here it is not a luxury or a sign of prosperity, but a basic necessity. Especially if you want not only to commute to work and home, but also to relax on weekends in nature. And she, by the way, is simply amazing in our state!
We live literally among the mountains: from the west we are separated from the Pacific by the mountains of Olympic Park, and from the east by the Cascade Mountains. And if you go south, you will find yourself in Mount Rainier National Park, and if you go north - in North Cascades National Park. Here, by the way, my love for nature and photography was born. Being among such beauty, it is simply impossible to sit back and not take pictures. My Instagram blog is primarily about this: I show beautiful places and tell you how to get to them.
Here, in general, every second person goes hiking on weekends, sleeps in tents, rides bicycles, and skis. There are a lot of outdoor activities and they are inexpensive.
One of the main problems of the USA
The lack of state medicine, the super-high cost of commercial medical services and medicines are undoubtedly one of the main problems of the country. Especially after a good voluntary medical insurance in Moscow.
Yes, there are many doctors, hospitals are equipped with the latest technology, the service is excellent, but many visitors from Russia are simply shocked by the prices. We compared the cost of medicines here and in Russia: sometimes their cost is 20 times higher. Moreover, without a prescription, you can buy only simple pain relievers and vitamins, and all more or less serious medicines require a preliminary visit to the doctor to obtain a prescription.
I will not speak for others, but our insurance for two costs 1,1 thousand dollars a month with a deductible of five thousand dollars a year. That is, we cover all costs of up to five thousand dollars from our own pockets. This is considered very good insurance covering almost everything. It is fully paid by the employer.
A visit to a therapist by appointment - $ 120, an urgent visit to a doctor without an appointment - $ 160, specialized specialists - $ 200 per visit and more. My husband had a computed tomography scan, after which he had to pay more than four thousand dollars in total. Yes, it's expensive. But, on the other hand, we can be calm that they will always help us. And the quality of service in clinics is a pleasant surprise, especially after Russian hospitals.
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Stereotypes
Taxes are a topic that will pull you into a separate article. For some reason, it is believed that in the United States they are very high. People who think so either do not understand how they are calculated in Russia, or they do not know the principles of taxation in the United States. For example, in our state there is no income tax (unlike California or New York). We only pay federal income taxes and premiums. Everyone living in the United States is required to file this declaration annually. Not like in Russia, when the employer pays for you 30 percent of insurance premiums and 13 percent of personal income tax, and one might think that “this does not concern me, it’s not me who is paying”.
Here, the system is specially made as transparent as possible so that each resident understands how much the government is costing him. In our case, after all the deductions, the effective rate of taxes and contributions is about 20 percent, which is much less than in Russia.
The same applies to sales tax, which is charged at the checkout depending on the location of the store or the delivery address (for online purchases). Seattle has one of the highest sales taxes in the country at 10 percent, but even that doesn't match the Russian VAT of 20 percent. Food is tax-free, and Oregon is two hours away with no sales tax. We go there for electronics and other expensive purchases.
When people find out house prices in the United States, they are very surprised. Yes, prices for a single room in Saratov and for a house in New York differ tenfold. But if we compare something more similar, for example a summer house in New Riga and a house of the same size in our area, then the cost will be approximately the same (yes, we compared). Add to that a 3,5 percent mortgage and travel time from home to work less than 20 minutes. From our experience, we can say that housing here is much more affordable for the average person.
Far from home, we miss salmon pancakes and lagman. Through the lights of night Moscow, which never sleeps. For parents and friends. But we like it in the USA. There are many more places in the country that we want to see. Many interesting job opportunities. We are, of course, monitoring the situation in Russia, but we do not see any reasons for returning so far.
