Uhm...SQUEE??
From Receiving Social Security Payments While Living Abroad.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York and several central banks around the world have agreed to provide an international direct deposit service. This service allows the transfer and conversion of U.S. social security benefits to a foreign bank free of the various charges; the Social Security Administration picks up the tab. The countries that currently participate in this international direct deposit service (also called electronic benefit transfer) are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Also, this good news from theafaye regarding muh beasties.
Look into the vaccine issues for your animals because you might not need to quarantine them. Although I didn't bring my cat over, he did have his rabies shots and basically what you do is give them two rabies jabs (to make sure the antibodies are high enough) and then five weeks later have a blood test done to show that they have enough anti rabies antibodies (you might get away with just one jab but you might not and if you don't get them high enough you have to have a second jab so it's more expensive to take the gamble). Six months after that blood test they can travel with no quarantine and a pet passport. It might be different from the States, but it's worth checking because they're always changing the law and if you can avoid quarantine for your animals, all the better.
And it'd be great to have you as a neighbour. :)
The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York and several central banks around the world have agreed to provide an international direct deposit service. This service allows the transfer and conversion of U.S. social security benefits to a foreign bank free of the various charges; the Social Security Administration picks up the tab. The countries that currently participate in this international direct deposit service (also called electronic benefit transfer) are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Also, this good news from theafaye regarding muh beasties.
Look into the vaccine issues for your animals because you might not need to quarantine them. Although I didn't bring my cat over, he did have his rabies shots and basically what you do is give them two rabies jabs (to make sure the antibodies are high enough) and then five weeks later have a blood test done to show that they have enough anti rabies antibodies (you might get away with just one jab but you might not and if you don't get them high enough you have to have a second jab so it's more expensive to take the gamble). Six months after that blood test they can travel with no quarantine and a pet passport. It might be different from the States, but it's worth checking because they're always changing the law and if you can avoid quarantine for your animals, all the better.
And it'd be great to have you as a neighbour. :)