The United States, topic by topic
Seven chapters that apply to everyone. Start at the beginning or jump to what you need.
Bureaucracy
No national ID card, no single portal, and fifty different DMVs — the U.S. runs on a patchwork of federal and state paperwork you have to assemble yourself.
Free SSN application Read bureaucracy 02Banking
Opening an account is straightforward once you have an SSN or ITIN — building the credit history that actually gets you approved for anything is the part nobody warns you about.
SSN or ITIN Typically required to open an account Read banking 03Visas & Immigration
The U.S. has no simple points-based system and, as of 2026, no digital nomad visa — nearly every path runs through an employer, a family member, a lottery, or a multi-year queue.
85,000 H-1B annual cap (incl. master's exemption) Read visas & immigration 04Work
A federal wage floor that hasn't moved since 2009, employment you can lose without cause, and — for most visa holders — a job that is legally tied to the employer who sponsored you.
$7.25 Federal minimum wage (unchanged since 2009) Read work 05Education
Public school is free but funded by local property taxes, meaning quality tracks your zip code closely — and higher education and childcare are both genuinely expensive by global standards.
Free Public K-12 (property-tax funded) Read education 06Housing
There's no national housing market — rent for a comparable apartment can be three times higher in San Francisco than in Phoenix, and a landlord will want proof you're a safe bet without a U.S. credit file to check.
No cap Rent control set state/city-by-city, not federally Read housing 07Cost of Living
There's no single U.S. cost of living — the biggest variable by far is which state and city you land in — and healthcare stands apart as the one expense category with no real equivalent in most other countries.
2x+ Cost-of-living gap, cheapest to priciest metro Read cost of livingSources & how current this is
U.S. immigration policy has moved unusually fast through 2025–2026 — the H-1B $100,000 fee alone has been imposed, vacated, appealed and stayed within a single year. Treat every fee, cap and court-status figure here as a snapshot and re-check uscis.gov and travel.state.gov before filing anything or relying on a number for a decision.