Everything you need to know for your firsts weeks in NYC!

Hello again! Finally I made it! I am living in NYC. Times goes quickly because it has been already a month here and I didn´t realaze it. I wanted to write about how happy I am living here but I decided to give you all the tips I learned so far so if you want to move here you will know how to make everything you need to do.

Firs steps

Almost all the paperwork you need to do here in NYC can be done in 48 hours. I recommend you to arrive a few days before your new job starting date so you have time to make as much paperwork as possible.

Telephone: the first thing I got was my American phone number. I went to an AT&T shop with my passport and they opened me an account and give me an American sim car in minutes. You don´t need even a bank account. They open you a customer account and then, once you’ll have the bank account, you can add it in your own profile, online.
Social security number application: you can make the application online at Social Security Number and Card | SSA you follow the steps, filling the form, collect the needed physical documents. The fastest way to get it is going directly to present the physical documents once you´ve made the online application to a Social Security Card Center. If you live in Manhattan there is one in the Dowtown. I recommend you to be there at 7 am because there´re always a lot of people and you have to wait one hour at least. You have to bring with your passport, the DS-2019 and you have to print the I-94. This document is your traveler history and you can get it at I94 – Official Website (dhs.gov). I went there before my first day at work so the lady with who I spoke with made a copy of the documents and said to me that they would be addressed the next Monday. One week after that I received the confirmation that my application was ok and the delay to receive the social security car was 4 weeks at least.
Bank account: for opening a bank account you need a social security number but there´re banks that can open you an account without it. I open a bank account in Bank of America. The process was the same as the telephone number. I went to a bank with cash -the minimum in Bank of America is 200$- and my passport and I opened it in minutes. I received my debit and credit card a few days after that.
Spanish Consulate. I know that Architect-US sponsor people from all over the world. I guess that everyone has to go to his/her own consulate so maybe this part is only helpful for Spanish people. First, you have to set an appointment to go to the consulate. So once you´ll know when you move to NYC I recommend you visit this site Servicios consulares – Consulado General de España en Nueva York (exteriores.gob.es) and set the appointment for the first date available so you make this soon. You have to bring your passeport and a photo. They give you the form to fill. I spend there 1 hour so if you´re already working you´ll need to talk with your boss.

Finding an apartment.

This could be the most difficult part. If you´re new in the country and you don´t have references, payrolls, etc. a lot of real state agents won´t want to rent you an apartment. So you have two other options: finding a room of dealing with landlords who own one or several appartments and rent them by themselves and now through real state agencies. One of the most used sites are NYC Real Estate Search | StreetEasy There you can see in the announces the person behind the announce and see if it is a real state agent or not. I was very lucky because the next day to my arrival I apply to a lot of apartment announces and one of them was posted by a guy who have a lot of apartments and trust foreign people to rent the apartments to them. I see him the next day and I gave him a signal to reserve the apartment and I move on June 1^st! So two weeks after my arrival I was already living on my own apartment. Because this is difficult to find and apartments are more expensive than rooms, maybe you prefer to find a room. You can look for it in facebook or in websites like Rooms for Rent & Roommate Finder | SpareRoom

Once you move to the apartment you need to pay electricity, gas… for that you have to contact Con Edison – Powering New York City and Westchester you can make the application online. For the renter insurance the fastest and cheapest is Lemonade. You download the app, follow the steps and you have it in a few minutes!

Your new job.

I am surprised that the accessibility and fire prevention compliance are very similar in every country I have worked in Europe and here in United States. The most challenging part for me is the Imperial System. Those Americans are crazy! You think one you manage feet and inches it´s ok and then you learn that they use fractional inches for small dimensions and inches for big ones. I give an example: they don’t say “this is 4´ 6.594¨ long“ they say “This is 54 19/32¨¨”! If you´re an architect I recommend you to use Revit, Rhino or whatever software you will use in your new post before arrive here so once you arrive you´re already used to that.