John Carter

As some of you will be aware, I've had enough of the UK (it's past all hope) and am considering options. Those options including driving a Corvette, so I'm researching what happens if I need my passport updating, stuff like that.

Which leads me to the British Embassy in Washington DC.

http://www.britainusa.com/sections/i...7&L2=41049&d=8

What. The. Foxtrot?

A lot of muzzers in the US who want to head east then? Or a government who wants the place chock full of 'em?

Westcountryman

Looks like the British Embassy staff in Washington need to be told to Foxtrot Oscar.

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Manus haec inimica tyrannis ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam - "This hand of mine, which is hostile to tyrants, seeks by the sword quiet peace under liberty."

TonyG

It is a paradoxical situation. On the one hand they bomb them, support Israel, lock them up in Guantanamo and then bend over backwards to get them into their country! I was aware that there were far more of them there a couple of months ago than there were when I was there two years ago.
Mexicans, however, are a far bigger problem than muslims.
£30,000 for a brand new Corvette over there? It's a good first reason for wanting to go!
As long as you can get employment or prove that you can support yourself, it's not the worst place in the world - as long as you avoid West Virginia and Kentucky, unless of course you don't mind sharing your life with seriously ESN people with webbed hands and feet.

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If you don't think you can change the world, who do you expect to do it for you?

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John Carter

I make it more like £23,000.

EB5: Pay £240k to buy your way in. Goes into an investment fund. Gives $25k per year income, no effort - which is above the blue collar income average ($24,192), just for sitting on your bum. Since the EB5 gives a full green card, you're free to go earn more doing anything else.

Money for house. No problem, some places are dirt cheap. Take this example in northern Louisiana. £24k. 3 bed, 2 bath, central AC, 1.5 acres. Might look scrappy but beats a £170k semi on a soulless UK estate, no?

Oh. And a top end Mac Pro is £2k cheaper.

So, like Stoke then? But with Corvettes.


£287k for card, house and Vette. I'm sorely tempted.

TonyG

$46k is the base price for a Vette, but by the time you've added on all the bits you wind up nearer $60k.

Can't make a £2k saving on the 8 core MP even if you wind everything into it. Don't forget that reclaiming VAT needs to be taken into account and also you have to add sales tax over there which you can't claim back.
The biggest savings are achieved by not using Apple's upgrades, everyone of them is overpriced, especially the memory. I can save over £2k just by doing that myself!

I'm not sure that you have got your facts right on the EB5, it doesn't seem to have changed since I looked at it in 2000:

EB5 Immigrant Investor Green Card

EB5 Green Card Details

The EB5 category requires an investment of $500,000 to $1,000,000 in a new commercial enterprise (buying an existing business or expanding an existing business is permissible in some instances) that will result in a benefit for the US economy and produce ten full time jobs for workers not related to the EB5 petitioner. There are 10,000 EB5 green cards available annually. Once the EB5 petition is approved, the investor becomes a conditional resident for two years and once the conditions are removed, a permanent resident.

For whom is an EB5 Green Card appropriate?

Foreign entrepreneurs who invest between $500,000 and $1,000,000 in a commercial enterprise that will benefit the US economy and create at least 10 full-time

I can't see an option for putting $500k into a deposit account.

__________________
If you don't think you can change the world, who do you expect to do it for you?

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http://www.mercola.com/townofallopat...ofallopath.htm

TonyG

In fact the $500k only applies to investment in deprived areas, otherwise it's $1 million to create 10 jobs.

http://faq.visapro.com/EB5-Green-Card-FAQ2.asp#Q1

__________________
If you don't think you can change the world, who do you expect to do it for you?

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http://www.mercola.com/townofallopat...ofallopath.htm

g hall

Whatever happened to

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" ?

__________________
"That government is best which governs least."
"This is a sharp Medicine, but it is a Physician for all diseases and miseries".
"To be "matter of fact" about the world is to blunder into fantasy --and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful."

TonyG

It was replaced with:
Give us your money!

__________________
If you don't think you can change the world, who do you expect to do it for you?

----

http://www.mercola.com/townofallopat...ofallopath.htm

John Carter

Who needs all the bits? It's got a 6.0 V8 and a steering wheel!

Even if you go for all the bits, it's still only £28k.

Sales tax dependant on state of residence, surely?

And this assumes that you can reclaim VAT. A lot of people can't.
Even with VAT reclaimed, it's still at least a £500 difference.

I didn't say "deposit account". I said "investment fund".

http://www.andrewbartlettflorida.co.uk/EB5-Visa.aspx

TonyG

Alright, be pedantic!
My figures were based on about $1.93 ish to £1, the $ has slumped further still recently. When I was first looking to move over there a s/h Vette was $40k for a 2 yo - exchange was $1.55/£1 then.

I have to admit to not being aware of the changes to the EB5 rules so that info is very welcome. All I have to do now is get the £250k together before the £ slumps!

As for sales tax, it's only not a factor if you want to live in Alaska and a few other places. New Hampshire isn't bad, but you are showing an interest in Fla. which has 6% rate.

As for VAT, I'm registered so not a problem.

__________________
If you don't think you can change the world, who do you expect to do it for you?

----

http://www.mercola.com/townofallopat...ofallopath.htm