As you maybe can imagine the whole process of leaving work in one country, already not your home country, and then moving to another does not happen overnight.
To give you some idea on what is all involved I will try to tell you the story in 2 parts – getting to the part where we left the US: ‘Getting Out’ and then in a 2nd later episode I will tell you about what it all takes and took to get settled into India.
The whole story started in January 2012. We had a wedding in NL and I decided to use the opportunity to meet a few of the faces in my discipline at the corporate headquarters. Succession planning is done from certain levels on a global level, depending also on the discipline, and as we would start the job hunt towards the end of 2012 it was a good time to make people aware that I would become ‘available’. We only really had 4 days in NL but timing is everything and everyone I needed to see was around. Via – via I was introduced to a guy who had just agreed to move to Bangalore India to really make work of the discipline I am in, in the Asia Pacific region also taking with him all the recent changes in processes and tools to get the changes propagated. So we had some coffee and a chat and without any intention beforehand there was all of the sudden a real opportunity on the table for me.
Asia was on our cards already, we were looking for Asia as one of the places which would be quite different from the US again, a place we had not worked yet and a good location, with all the available help, to still manage 2 full time careers and a family with young kids. Which is getting harder and harder as we move both up the career ladder.
Around May/June time our internal application rounds are done (3x per year) and ‘my job’ in India was posted. Unfortunately I was officially not allowed to apply yet as my window was only open at the end of the year. My boss in Houston was willing to work with us and put the condition out that if Eelco would get a job in India that round he would let me go too. Nothing suitable was posted for Eelco though and so the round closed without our applications.
Then some Monday evening late in the summer Eelco got a call from a sr regional VP in Asia who so happened to be a metallurgist too. He had heard that we were seriously interested and willing to relocate to India, and he certainly saw the use for someone like Eelco in the region. After a quick chat with him and a couple of weeks in which that guy must have pulled some strings, a job offer for Eelco was on the table. By then the pulling game between my organization in Houston and the new one in India had burst loose in full force. So much so that India was not willing to wait for the next application round and wanted to do what is called ‘a placement’ - moving us out with the normal cycles.
Sometimes Dutch culture is really well visible in our organization and the final nod to release me involved at least 10 different people in Houston who all had to say yes and agree to the release date. I am not sure who all talked to whom and what strings all got pulled by whom but after a couple of weeks back and forth the green light came unexpectedly (timing wise) towards the end of August.
Then the real paperwork begins:
1. Job offers are send and need to be accepted by us
2. Based on the job offer acceptance we got a handshake
3. A transfer coordinator in some HR service center in the Philippines is assigned and starts sending us stuff
4. We received a letter with which we could get our medicals done
5. The Health svs could not accommodate us for > 3 wks later so Eelco turned on the charm and all of the sudden we could come the next day
6. Frantic search at the house for our ‘gele boekjes’ or vaccination records
7. Health check is fine our 20th HIV test in the past 8 years or so plus in typical American style a thorough listing of everything we may ever become exposed to in India and us signing our lives away.
8. A 2nd transfer advisor from the Philippines contacts us – this time for Eelco and claims she is the one and only for us.
9. A battle within HR over e-mail as to ‘whom we belong to’ – despite the fact that from a work perspective I am the lead career (prioritized from business need perspective) HR claims Eelco should be the one as he makes a whopping couple of hundred more a year. So the cat fight starts with arguments how the pay difference is really important for our allowances....mmm the only thing we do not get twice is housing & utilities.....that is defined by job grade not salary......whatever. We know the only affect is the paperwork. Our freight is now traveling the world under Eelco's name and we all have to come under him for the medical insurance instead of me. Whatever...the conventional way i.e. under the dad is easier to explain anyway and he now has to do all the extra paperwork & signatures -;) As they told us in Cuba - being the 'jeffe' - or the more important one is no real benefit, just more hassle!
10. Eelco’s transfer advisor wins and promptly start sending us the same welcome e-mails we already have had for 3 weeks and tells us we need to start with our medical….duh! I can't resist sending her a message that if she wants to 'tae over our case' so badly she better tale the whole file as in progress...no use of course as in the course of the next few weeks we regularly get the same request 2-3 times.
11. Medical clearance comes through
12. We receive instructions from an Agent in India on what needs to happen for the Visa application process. We need loads of papers ourselves but also quite a few which need to come from HR India who is waiting for our medical clearance letter which should come to them from the Dr in Houston though the svs centre in the Philippines. So we pick up a copy of the clearance ourselves and send it directly to India
To give you some idea on what is all involved I will try to tell you the story in 2 parts – getting to the part where we left the US: ‘Getting Out’ and then in a 2nd later episode I will tell you about what it all takes and took to get settled into India.
The whole story started in January 2012. We had a wedding in NL and I decided to use the opportunity to meet a few of the faces in my discipline at the corporate headquarters. Succession planning is done from certain levels on a global level, depending also on the discipline, and as we would start the job hunt towards the end of 2012 it was a good time to make people aware that I would become ‘available’. We only really had 4 days in NL but timing is everything and everyone I needed to see was around. Via – via I was introduced to a guy who had just agreed to move to Bangalore India to really make work of the discipline I am in, in the Asia Pacific region also taking with him all the recent changes in processes and tools to get the changes propagated. So we had some coffee and a chat and without any intention beforehand there was all of the sudden a real opportunity on the table for me.
Asia was on our cards already, we were looking for Asia as one of the places which would be quite different from the US again, a place we had not worked yet and a good location, with all the available help, to still manage 2 full time careers and a family with young kids. Which is getting harder and harder as we move both up the career ladder.
Around May/June time our internal application rounds are done (3x per year) and ‘my job’ in India was posted. Unfortunately I was officially not allowed to apply yet as my window was only open at the end of the year. My boss in Houston was willing to work with us and put the condition out that if Eelco would get a job in India that round he would let me go too. Nothing suitable was posted for Eelco though and so the round closed without our applications.
Then some Monday evening late in the summer Eelco got a call from a sr regional VP in Asia who so happened to be a metallurgist too. He had heard that we were seriously interested and willing to relocate to India, and he certainly saw the use for someone like Eelco in the region. After a quick chat with him and a couple of weeks in which that guy must have pulled some strings, a job offer for Eelco was on the table. By then the pulling game between my organization in Houston and the new one in India had burst loose in full force. So much so that India was not willing to wait for the next application round and wanted to do what is called ‘a placement’ - moving us out with the normal cycles.
Sometimes Dutch culture is really well visible in our organization and the final nod to release me involved at least 10 different people in Houston who all had to say yes and agree to the release date. I am not sure who all talked to whom and what strings all got pulled by whom but after a couple of weeks back and forth the green light came unexpectedly (timing wise) towards the end of August.
Then the real paperwork begins:
1. Job offers are send and need to be accepted by us
2. Based on the job offer acceptance we got a handshake
3. A transfer coordinator in some HR service center in the Philippines is assigned and starts sending us stuff
4. We received a letter with which we could get our medicals done
5. The Health svs could not accommodate us for > 3 wks later so Eelco turned on the charm and all of the sudden we could come the next day
6. Frantic search at the house for our ‘gele boekjes’ or vaccination records
7. Health check is fine our 20th HIV test in the past 8 years or so plus in typical American style a thorough listing of everything we may ever become exposed to in India and us signing our lives away.
8. A 2nd transfer advisor from the Philippines contacts us – this time for Eelco and claims she is the one and only for us.
9. A battle within HR over e-mail as to ‘whom we belong to’ – despite the fact that from a work perspective I am the lead career (prioritized from business need perspective) HR claims Eelco should be the one as he makes a whopping couple of hundred more a year. So the cat fight starts with arguments how the pay difference is really important for our allowances....mmm the only thing we do not get twice is housing & utilities.....that is defined by job grade not salary......whatever. We know the only affect is the paperwork. Our freight is now traveling the world under Eelco's name and we all have to come under him for the medical insurance instead of me. Whatever...the conventional way i.e. under the dad is easier to explain anyway and he now has to do all the extra paperwork & signatures -;) As they told us in Cuba - being the 'jeffe' - or the more important one is no real benefit, just more hassle!
10. Eelco’s transfer advisor wins and promptly start sending us the same welcome e-mails we already have had for 3 weeks and tells us we need to start with our medical….duh! I can't resist sending her a message that if she wants to 'tae over our case' so badly she better tale the whole file as in progress...no use of course as in the course of the next few weeks we regularly get the same request 2-3 times.
11. Medical clearance comes through
12. We receive instructions from an Agent in India on what needs to happen for the Visa application process. We need loads of papers ourselves but also quite a few which need to come from HR India who is waiting for our medical clearance letter which should come to them from the Dr in Houston though the svs centre in the Philippines. So we pick up a copy of the clearance ourselves and send it directly to India
13. We gather all the paperwork we need to have for the Visa application which includes copies of our Delft certificates, marriage & birth certificates, proof of address, CVs and a long list of not so simple forms to fill out etc etc
14. The couriered package arrives with all our employment / employer related visa application letters from India 2nd week of October and we submit our full application the day after. Major milestone!
15. The other correspondence starts up - the moving company in the US, the tax consultant in the US, the relocation agent in the US (who will arrange hotel & car etc after you move out of your house before you leave), the tax consultant in India, the relocation agent in India etc etc.
16. Through some contacts we found a school in Bangalore we think will work and register the kids and manage to pay for the first 6 months too
17. I find an OB/Gyn in India and make an appointment
18. The guy from the moving company comes to assess everything in our house to see if it will fit in a sea container
19. We get more letters & more forms to fill out for our social security in NL
20. Eelco's replacement has arrived at work and handover has started there. With me it is just more manic deadlines approaching.
21. We arrange last appointments with the pediatrician and my midwives as well as to pick up our full medical files
22. We meet with the realtor and set up Power of Attorneys such that other people can sell our house after we leave
23. We start canceling things like the kids school etc and start planning farewell parties
24. Eelco has a thriving business selling all our obsolete stuff on Craigs List (like Marktplaats)
25. We plan and have our last outings in Texas and frantically work our way through everything we have - what to sell, dispose or replace. Our shopping lists grow at the same pace as we manage to order and receive stuff.
26. We check on the status of our Visa's & we try to convince the relevant people to start booking travel for us.
27. We arrange for cleaning of the house after we move out by the maid service, power washing of teh house exterior, a last 'terminator' session (bug spraying) and some garden work to make it all look nice & ready for sale.
28. We start advertising our cars for sale, Eelco has a leaving do at work
29. On the 11th hour, really the last possible day to maintain our travel and move plans as is, our Visa's come through just minutes before my farewell at work - Pfew! - Late Wednesday the 14th
30. We confirm the packers, the hotel in Houston, the car rentals and the transport to the airport. We apply for the kids' visa's which could only be done now we have ours. Tickets to NL are booked. It is my last 'normal' day in the office and Eelco and I are spending our time on handovers, our last deliverables and backing up our systems etc - Thursday the 15th.
31. My major work deadline is passed/done - Friday 9pm - our last weekend in Houston starts
32. We inventorize everything we have left in the freezer & pantry and then buy a few matching items to serve everyone at our farewell party - Saturday
33. We spend the Sunday frantically going through everything. Packing our luggage and separating what will need to go in the air freight. We label everything that needs to stay with/in the house as well as the few items that need to go to NL.
34. We eat our last meal at the house
35. The packers arrive and the madness starts. We move our luggage onto the balcony to avoid it being packed. Eelco takes his car to the dealer and wraps some stuff up at work whilst we also finalize paperwork for the house and have a little farewell party at school for Kaat (in conjunction with some Thanksgiving parties). We sleep in a hotel.
36. Day 2 of packing, work keeps pestering me with some last minute things and they are also not willing & ready to let Eelco really go yet. Farewell in Rick's class, last minute decisions on what moves where and o yeah - we need a rental car in NL. Tickets from NL to India are in progress, India is asking for more scanned copies of everything and want Eelco to start reviewing some welding procedures. A decision is made on the sale of my truck and we deal alarm services & utilities etc to make sure we can get to it all and keep it up during the sale of the house. The kids watch TV in an otherwise empty house (and test the Echo) whilst we sort the last bits & pieces. Too late we make it to the hotel. No big steak for our last night in Houston - just some room service!
37. Our last few hours - a last minute ride to the charity shop and the recycling. A walk through the house with Jason to inventorize what all needs to be done before it goes on the market. No kids visa's....thank god they each have 2 passports. But we do need to still go to the Visa Agent to go pick up a letter confirming they have our kids American passports. Frantically I try to squeeze all the last pieces of remnants in bags. We need to get to the airport on time as the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving is the WORST day of travel in the US.
38. As we have checked in our 10 pieces of luggage and are ready to pass security we get a call - kids passports are ready....well too late!
39. 3 days later and I am back in Houston. I drop my truck & all papers at the agreed location.
40. Cleaning needs to be inspected, another walk through with Jason, empty the fridge & freezer, polish the copper bowl in the toilet.
41. Cash checks for the cars, and write checks for everything that is still to come on the house.
42. Distribute last presents and goodbye cards, see a few more friends, shop a few more last things
43. Oh and somewhere in those 3.5 days also have a double project review with long days & dinners + frantic handovers as there is still no replacement so a lot off "maybe you could also still do this before you go" and the more conventional stuff of packing up my office, doing last time writing & expenses, hand in my PC etc.
44. Finally the kids visa's arrive through courier service at the office.
44. Get keys to everyone, arrange for cable box to be returned.
45. Return rental car, take all the last stuff out of the house, attend review close out & meet one of my great colleagues in Houston at the airport lounge and then it is time for me too to leave Houston for good.
We are out - in no mans land as we call it. Part I of the move is done. Have had no time to worry if all the right stuff is in the right place and whether we have done all we needed to do. Guess we will find out one way or another.
1 comment:
It is not easy, but I would not mind to go through this for a couple of years India I think it is well worth it. I have never been but it is a long standing wish for me to visit.
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