Moving to USA soon - advice wanted please...

I was thinking the same thing. Why in the hell would he want to go to Michigan? New Jersey is like the "Garden of Eden " compared to that State, lol. One of the highest unemployment rates in the Nation and the State is flat broke.
He can also go to his local DMV and pick up a copy of the Class A test book. Study that, he should be okay and not have to spend a ton of money on something that he can get for free.
With his experience, he should go to one of those schools that teach you how to pass the test. That'll save him a few thousand dollars also. He'll have to get a DOT Physical on his own which should cost him around $150.00.

 

Drivers from foreign countries except Canada and Mexico, after they get their temporary work VISA can obtain a "Nonresident CDL". You still have to meet the USA (FMCSA) requirements for a driver by getting your medical certificate and the hiring company still has to do a background investigation on you and make sure you don't have a bad driving record. So make sure you bring all documentation from your prior employment for the past 10 years along with contact information and any government records. Most likely you will have to fall under the companies hiring requirements and have the proper school training hours. So basically you are starting out, you will be like a new drivier, but will get a special CDL.

Once you meet citizenship status, you can transfer your nonresident CDL to a regular CDL.

 

Another thing to consider Leonard is where you move to. Unless there is a specific reason you want to live in Michigan?

The cost of living is high anywhere in the north and northeastern US and even the west. Almost anywhere in the southern half of the US is almost half as cheap to live.
A long haul truck driver makes the same regardless where he lives. So it makes sense to live in a cheap state unless your friends and family are somewhere else.

Where I live in Tennessee is about the cheapest state to live with no income tax. Compared to other states, real estate is alot cheaper too.

 

If you're looking for the equivalent to your E+C, you want the Class A CDL. The only thing I'll add is not to come into this with high expectations right off the bat. It's a much different industry here, and you WILL experience those "what the hell did I get myself into?" moments.

 

Agreed if you migrate to the USA don't go to MI! He hasn't seen the lake effect snow yet, a couple of 15 ft blizards a year. They are bulldozing Detroit down and that is not a joke, 40 sqaure miles! Link provided and to put that into prospective Danbury CT is 42 sq miles! The tax rates in MI are some of the highest if not the highest in the country. You have a 3 to 5% state tax, state & local sales tax, and the local payroll taxes are crazy high. That is before you pay federal and social security/medicare taxes, you would be lucky to keep half your money if you find a job. If you smoke quit now $75 to 100 per carton! Then on top of all that you have an unemployment rate of around 12% and if you count discouraged workers it is over 25% in that state.

It is so bad for people in MI they just walk away from paid off houses and give up to move away. During the 2000 to 2008 expansion of the American economy MI retracted due to our manufacturing moving abroad and the state was a manufacturing state. It has known no growth since the 1990s. It is full of immigrants now from the middle east and Africa who come for a couple years then decide living in Jungles and deserts is better and return home!!! Second link is to e-bay and you will find houses under a $1,000 dollars that people abandoned.

People like to talk about dirty places and you haven't seen anything like abandonned poluted rust belt towns. MI is full of them. Crime is crazy, there has been reports of people commiting crimes to go to jail so they can see a MD and be warm during the winter. The laws are frigging crazy and they will lock you up for anything, see 3rd link.

If I was migrating to the US these five states: TX, ND, NE, NJ, and OK. I listed NJ who is having more economic problems than those other states for the guy because truck drivers are still in huge demand there, those ports and NYC never slow down. MI is going to get worse to because all the automakers are cutting production because the double dip is starting. They made too many cars and have no buyers. The Federal Government through stimulus, grants, extended unemployment insurance (3 years worth), and other aid has kept that state from failing the last 4 years and it is coming to an end.


sad part is during the 1950s until the 1980s MI was 1 of 8 states that controlled 36% of the worlds GDP.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgT1AidzRWM[/ame]



http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/87054002.html
http://realestate.shop.ebay.com/i.h...n+house&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313
http://www.bing.com/search?q=michigan+man+prison+better+off&FORM=AWRE

 

real estate is cheaper in MI because so many people are getting the hell out but everything else you said is dead on the money. He will also be penalized living in MI because companies are reluctant to hire from that state because little freight moves in and out.

TN and KY are the states getting these manufacturing jobs that are returning to America slowly. Not rust belt states and it is electricity cost not unions or taxes that is the reason. Only Alaska has more fresh running water in the forms of streams, rivers, lakes, ect than KY with TN coming in at number 3. The hydro power along with the coal and nuclear power gives those states great advantages because companies looking to open can negotiate fixed prices with the states that control the sanctioned monoplies. Power is sometimes over a third of the cost in manufacturing. Old joke "Buckeyes and Hosiers are just hillbillies that ran out of gas on the way to detroit"

I am moving to TN next year (Jan 2012), live on the border now and why pay the state taxes of KY that are going up and higher property taxes. Caan just buy my groceries ect weekly in KY to bypass sales tax.

 

Don't come any further South than TN or KY. Maybe NC but that's close enough. It's not all peaches and cream down here ya know. If the heat & humidity in the summer don't kill you a mexican driver might run you over. If you have school age children prepare for private school cause we didn't get the 'no child left behind' memo. Our public school bus fleet is the oldest in the nation. A quick look at Comedy Central will give you an idea of our political climate.

 

Northern AL and MS are catching the manufacturing jobs TN and KY miss on. So it can't all be bad south of TN. Amazingly with companies such as Ford's KY Truck plant expanding and Toyota adding another line creating jobs KY's unemployment rate is still 10%. It's all in the eastern part of both states that mine coal hurting bad now. Cap and trade will kill the region, the new emission standards has almost did it in. Chatanooga lost the Toyota plant to MS because that state (MS) is bascally giving them everything: land, power, and tax incentives but Volkswagon swooped in and made a deal in Chatanooga and is building a plant there now.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/24/us-volkswagen-idUSTRE74N6RA20110524


People really don't think of the Tennesee Valley as an auto manufacturing strong hold but it is. The largest auto plant in the word is now in Georgetown KY with Toyota's North American headquarters is in KY. Vettes in Bowling Green and with the expansion of KY Truck that is now Fords largest plant. Nissan, BMW, Kia, Volkswagon, Toyota, Mercedes, Honda, and Hyundai have all opened plants or broke ground on plants last 8 years in Northern GA/AL/MS, KY, and TN.

This links shows TN while not a place assembly plants locate to is suppling parts to all of them and is now the #1 auto supplier by state with 860 facilities statewide.
http://www.wbir.com/news/article/179087/2/TN-named-first-in-auto-manufacturing-strength

You can scream it is the lack unions, access to I 75/65 auto alley, or anything else but it is the bottom line. These states have VERY cheap power due to the TVA and the states are giving them the land to build on. That Hyudai plant was meant to be in Shelbyville KY but there was a problem with a farmer who was holding out for more money on his land and Hyudai had to have it up by a certain date and took option #2 in AL. he got greedy and screwed everyone, a couple million dollars was on the tble for his 250K farm and the greedy ####### hired some lawyers and delayed everything. Last i heard he had to sell the farm for under 250K to pay his legal bills.