Sorry to post and run but I have a couple of quick questions about an ISP.
How much notice did you get between accepting the ISP and actually moving? What kind of support did the company give you? How does medical insurance work? Do you still have coverage in the U.S? Could you still see your home dentist/doctor when you come back to visit?
ETA: thought of another question, how much did you take with you. Did you have to ship all your furniture/kitchen items or did you repurchase at the other end? I couldn't imagine shipping an entire house worth of items. Did you hang on to your house back here?
DH leaves for Australia today and will be in Korea next week. No offer has been made yet, but this trip seems odd to me. Company is spending a TON of money to fly DH around Asia Pacific for no real business purpose other than a quick meet and greet. He is only on the ground in any one place long enough to shake hands and do a good will tour. He flies into Austalia, is literally only there to spend the weekend in the home of the VP then they leave Monday to tour Korea and Shanghai together but no actual work clinics planned. Just a goodwill tour. I saw the invoice for DH's air travel, it was $20k for all the flying around in the next two weeks. You may not know this, but there is a company wide travel restriction in the U.S. For all non-essential travel due to budget reasons. So really weird that they are having him spend so much money with less than a weeks notice and no actual work being done, right?
Yes that's quite strange to fly him all that way for no real work purpose. DH just did phone interviews before we moved here. We had an australian ISP here "resign" (in quotes) very recently, but I think he was in a different dept than your DH. I can tell you more about that but via PM. Maybe that's why there is a rush?! I'm more surprised they would bring someone here given all the rumors floating around about what will happen here, but I suppose they will keep on until it gets more settled/official... DH was almost recalled last year when someone in NA quit and they needed someone to take his place. the only reason we're still here is b/c they didn't want us to have to move back so shortly after moving here. But anyway, I selfishly hope you do move here!
I need to go to sleep soon, but hopefully I can answer your questions.
How much notice did you get between accepting the ISP and actually moving? I don't remember exactly, but I think we found out officially in March and then did our look-see in May, and then were moved by end of June/July. We knew it was very likely in January. I think. I didn't write any of that down and now I can't remember. It feels like a long time ago!
What kind of support did the company give you? Me personally? Like zero. Ok not exactly zero, but it was not much. Everything they communicated was/is sent to DH and I felt like a total after-thought. DH's colleagues were very helpful, however, and a few employees at the relocation company are also helpful. We use the relocation company and the other company that coordinates our move to help us with any living issues, so it's not like we are on our own or anything. But even that all involved DH initiating contact to get info/fix problems. It was very frustrating for me when we first moved because he worked a million hours, had no time to deal with anything else, and none of these companies would talk to me.
How does medical insurance work? The insurance is the BEST. I can pretty much go anywhere and have coverage. No more travel medical insurance needed! I have no idea what we pay per month since that just comes out of his check, but the copays are zero except for Rx. No deductible. We have to pay ourselves at the time of service and get reimbursed but it's done online so once you figure out how to do it, it's easy. If it's something serious/costly you can call and get pre-approved. otherwise it's easiest to pay yourself first. Seeing a doctor is dirt cheap here, as are meds. I don't know if you are still in need of ST (We are) but that is done via the international schools and is included with tuition. My kids also get private OT which is not covered at all on the insurance policy, so that sucks, but it probably wouldn't be covered in the US either. So yeah you can still see your US doctors/dentists. They just need to accept this kind of insurance. It's currently BCBS (a global plan), so pretty much everyone accepts it. Last year it was cigna and I had no problem with my current doctors with that either. But then again, even if they did not accept it (like none of the doctors here take BCBS) you would just pay the bill and get reimbursed.
how much did you take with you. We are renting a kitchen table/chairs, beds/mattresses, and some other furniture. (it's included in the rent.) We took a lot of kitchen things, decor, couches/chairs, dressers, clothes, toys and a metric ton of food. We were in a somewhat unique position though because a few months before we found out we were moving here, we sold our house and moved into my grandma's house to help take care of her. we got rid of a lot of furniture then. So we do not have a US house, but the rest of our stuff is still at her house. I go back to her place for the summer so I wanted to have a bed there. That's why I did not move those. Most people here, that I've met, do not have a US house, and stay with family when they go back, so they shipped a lot more here, or put their stuff in storage. The couches here are god awful, as are the mattresses. I will warn you about that! We are still using rented mattresses but I bought a tempurpedic topper for them. I bought couches off a friend before we moved so that I could have an American-style couch here. The furniture we did ship got a little beat up so I would not recommend bringing anything valuable.
I'd be happy to give you a more detailed list of stuff like this if you do end up moving here.
Thanks for all the info. It seems overwhelming right now but you make it sound manageable.
We had been thinking that our ISP would happen in 12-18 months because it is based on the movement of some positions due to a planned retirement. The fact that things seem to be in the works sooner than later makes me think it would be more likely we would end up in Australia but DH would be in charge of Korea and Shanghai.
If you are able to, could you share the story about the resignation of the Australian co-worker.