After arriving

So you have arrived safely and are all set up in your new home, what now:

1.  Find a doctor

Find a doctor ASAP, search the Internet for local practices, you need to contact them to see if they are taking on new patients of if they they take your insurance provider as believe it or not, you can be told that they cannot take you on.  If you find a practice that will take you try to arrange for everyone in the family to go at the same time, this will make it a lot easier.

2.  Social Security

Depending on your visa status (under our visa status spouses are allowed to work but teenage/adult children are not - again the teenagers were not to trilled with rule!!).  Getting your social security number is a MUST, you need this for everything, from getting car insurance to opening a bank account even store cards!!!. It is quite a simple process, but again involves taking a number waiting in line.  Once you have completed all the paperwork it can take up to 2 weeks for you card to arrive in the post

3.  Driving

Once you become a resident you must apply to your local DMV to get you driving licence. Gone are the days when you are can just swap your Irish or British licence. you must complete a Theory test and in some states a road test also, for example in Massachusetts, you need to do a road test and  you must have a licenced sponsor sitting in the back of the car while you take your test.
The theory test is done at your local  DMW on a computer and you can in most DMW offices  arrive with no appointment to do the test.  Don't assume that because you have been driving for years that this will be easy.. there are a lot of different rules and the questions can be varied between driving, road signs, and rules on permit drivers.