Immigrants or not, moving to NYC to start a career is tough. We all arrive here with no money, looking for a place to stay and, mostly, looking for a job. Lucky are the ones who move here with a job already settled, a place to live, and some savings. Ok, I keep saying that it is hard to move to NYC, to be here on your own bla bla bla… So I decided that it is more than time enough to open up about how things happen when you move to this city and step by step of finding a job, finding a place to live, and inserting yourself on the market.
Step by step of moving to the US (NYC in particular) can become an entire bible of tips and information, so nothing better than turning this into a blog series where I can breakdown the steps and not bore you all with a blog post that would probably be the same size as Michelangelo autobiography and artwork…
As we know, moving to a new country or a new city and finding a place to live should be your first concern, so let’s start with first things first! Speaking from my own experience, moving to NYC is not only tough when it comes to finding a place to live, but also expensive and bureaucratic. To make this easier, let me go part by part.
1. Finding a place - how and where?
Ok, in the movies, living in NYC is glamorous! You find a broker and get yourself an amazing apartment in the west village area. In reality, things happen more in this way: you go on craigslist or Facebook ads because you cannot afford a broker and you find a room where you can afford the price and no, sometimes that room is not even in the city - depending on your budget the room will probably be in Queens or Brooklyn.
2. Affording your own place
Now, one of the main reasons why the newbies who are moving to NYC want to avoid brokers and want to live with friends is because of the price (DUH!) and because of the credit required.
Yes yes, if you are American you have a credit score or you can use your family as guarantors, but immigrants, in particular, we cannot rent an apartment on our own because we just moved to the US and we have no credit score. As immigrants with no credit score, to rent a place on our own we need an American guarantor (who makes three times more than the rent price) plus prove that our income (from outside of the US) is double the rent price. Yup… it is this bureaucratic and ends up involving more paperwork, more money, and more people than if you are American or have been here for a couple of years and have a credit score.
3. The difference between living on your own or living with “friends”
Because it is hard to get your own place in the beginning, living with roommates is always the way to go when you move to NYC. When it comes to having roommates, we all have that image of the tv show FRIENDS on our heads, but, honestly, that is far away from reality…
When you move to NYC and you already know people and have friends you can move in together, that is legit gold! But when you are a newbie to this city, it is most likely you will find a place to live in a craigslist or Facebook ad, move into the place, meet your new roommates and pray to God they are not psychopaths, lol (BUT FOR REAL!).
There are crazy stories about living situations in NYC and you have to make sure you are living with people that you are comfortable with and feel safe. If not, move out! This is NYC and there are places on the market legit every single day.
4. Finding a place where you can stay long term run
Another hard thing about finding a place to live in NYC is the timing you will be there. When you are renting a room, depending on the place, you can be kicked out within a year. So if you are like me and hate moving, finding a place and making clear that you want to stay long term is necessary - and make sure to point that out on your first visit to the place.
Alright, this is one of the first steps of moving to the US (like I said, NYC in particular) and starting that career you came here for. AS we have a lot more to go through, the next step is finding a job - which is definitely not the job you want, but something that will be temporary and help you survive!
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