Making SOS-TIPS happen

We were notified early February, but it was a strange process for several reasons. Primarily, they notified those who won several days before they notified those who didn't. Many people went on social media to voice their issues with the notifications this year. Secondly, those who did win received an email through the EU portal about signing a Code of Honor; nothing about actually winning the grant. The same day we received an email stating: "Having completed the evaluation, we are pleased to inform you that your proposal has passed this phase and that we would now like to start grant preparation." Still, no official letter that clearly states, "Hey, person who has been waiting to hear the news since September and whose cognitive capacities are at a minimum due to anxiety and excitement: YOU WON!"
So, joy overtook me gradually and there was an air of uncertainty for hours, but eventually, as my Supervisor and Host University also began corresponding with me about starting the grant, and that's when I knew: I can let myself believe it; I had won.

My Host, Maastricht University (UM), was incredibly fast in responding to everything. As the EU portal began sending messages and asking us to complete tasks, UM kept completing the tasks on the same day or same week. In this process, since I basically had nothing to do, I understood the basic setup: the EU is signing a contract with UM, not me. I will be signing a contract with UM, not with the EU. This structure is very important to understand; although you have won the grant, your Supervisor is responsible for the project and you have contractual obligations toward your Host university, which, in turn, has contractual obligations to the EU. 

One of the first issues I got anxious about was how and to which country I will be paying taxes. Again, please note, I won a MSCA "Global Fellowship", meaning that I will have an outgoing phase (2 years spent outside of the EU) and an incoming phase (1 year spent in the EU). I knew I'd be living in the US for the duration of my outgoing phase, but would I be paying my taxes there? Will that change once I come back to the EU?

As I learned, the rule of thumb is: you pay taxes in the country where your salary comes from. But where does your salary come from? That's something that those involved in the project need to communicate about and decide fairly early on. I'm assuming that the default is: your salary comes from the EU host. In my case, this is Maastricht University. So even though I will be spending most of the grant in the US, my salary is paid by MU for the entire duration.

Why is this better for me (at least, I think)? When you win a grant like this, you pay overhead to the Host organization, thus, we begin with a circa 15% overhead fee deduced from the entire award amount. This percentage varies according to organization. If I were to ask for my salary to be paid via my American Host for the first two years, I would end up paying overhead to them as well. Furthermore, the EU has a law against double taxation (i.e. you only pay taxes in one EU country), but I wasn't sure if this was the case if we consider an EU country and the US. I guess this would depend on which EU country we are talking about and whether it has such an agreement with the US.

So, this is very much connected to taxation, right? There is considerable overlap. Once you know which country you will be paying your taxes, you also know you will be getting your basic healthcare from that country. Before this was clear to me, I applied for an EU health card in my home country; this card is fundamentally for people who have social security in an EU country and want to travel or live somewhere else in the EU and be eligible to receive healthcare there. Yet, what I didn't know at that point was: if I'm paying taxes in the Netherlands (not my home country), I need a Dutch social security number, Dutch health insurance, and will need an EU card from that insurance company, not from my home country. I was thinking, an EU health card is an EU health card, it doesn't matter which country issues it. But this is not true. You need an EU health card from the country where you have your health insurance. This will - in theory - allow me to receive care in the Netherlands and anywhere in the EU, including my home country. Will report back once I can confirm this :)

This covers healthcare in the EU, but I will not be in the EU for two years. So, then, I need health insurance in the US as well. This was one of those realizations that really made me cringe. I'll be paying health insurance in two countries: it is mandatory in the Netherlands even if I will not be residing there for a long time, and it is mandatory in the US also because...well, it just is. No, it's not making me feel two times as safe. My Dutch health insurance is probably great and covers most things, but I cannot take advantage of that, not even when I'm back home to visit (because I will be using my home country's healthcare with the EU card issued by the Dutch insurance company; not without problems, I suspect). My US health insurance is probably minimal, but I have yet to find out for sure. I had no choice in the health insurance, my US Host University said I had to get the one they have for international students; but I do think this particular plan is both cheap and good compared to other plans in the US. We shall see.

I wasn't required to get a US social security number (I already had one anyway), because I will not be paying taxes in the US. I did have to get a Dutch "burgerservicenummer" (BSN), though. I found out fairly late in the grant preparation process that I not only needed a BSN, I also had to live a month in the Netherlands before I could start my outgoing phase. These were non-optional. Looking back, I would tell myself to write this into the grant proposal (as a "short visit" in the first month); spend time with your EU Host before the outgoing phase, it just makes life a lot easier.

To apply for a BSN you need a residence in the Netherlands and you go to the municipality that serves your city/area. You need to prove that you reside in that location, which is a bit tricky if you are renting. You need to take your passport, (recently issued) birth certificate, and a few more papers...I was told to "bring everything I have", which made me giggle but then I actually did take all my documents with me...everything I could think of. The application process took maybe 5 minutes with the administrator and about 15-20 minutes filling out a document prior to that. Very fast and effective. Beware, they ask you when your parents were born...just FYI, in case you don't keep that sort of thing in mind, or your mother makes you forget it early on in your life. My card, and hence social security number, arrived in the (snail) mail about a week later.

You'd think we're done here, but we're not. You still have to put your old social security number on pause. Just like you can't (or shouldn't) do double taxation, you can't have two active social security numbers. For Hungarians, this is the specific form, which can be filled out and submitted via the government portal (ügyfélkapu); it took 5 minutes. This is a temporary deactivation of your social security number; once you move back to your home country, you re-activate it.

People have different ways of approaching this. I've heard of moving out to the country and staying in a hotel until you find something you like; I've also heard of looking for a place online and either taking a virtual tour or asking a friend/colleague to take an actual tour for you, or both. Some people are okay with living with others, i.e. finding a roommate, other people want to live alone, or you may be moving with your family...so it's hard to generalize. When I was at the University of California, San Diego on a Fulbright, I found accommodation on campus specifically designed for international scholars, which was wonderful. I thought on-campus housing would be impossible to get and very costly, but actually, it was neither. Madison is a bit different. The entire downtown area is basically student housing, the city seems to be built around the University. In San Diego, I had a roommate, which was great and I wouldn't have done it differently, but this time around, when I looked into housing for international scholars, all I found was larger apartment for families and smaller apartments for single graduate students. Also, the accommodation the University offered was unfurnished and pretty much the same price as any mid-range downtown housing.

I knew I wanted a furnished apartment, and I knew I wanted to live alone this time around. So I began looking for furnished studios and one bedrooms downtown. I found a lot of options for unfurnished places, very few for furnished. Beware, "furnished" is not the same as "fully furnished"...the former includes the basics: bed, closet, stove/oven, fridge, maybe a (coffee) table. I found short-term options for the latter, where it was a "just bring your toothbrush" kind of situation: pots, pans, cutlery, bedding, etc., but these were only available for 1-2 months, nothing long-term. I also checked Sabbatical Homes, which is a great initiative, I think; but only found places that were quite far from downtown and the campus buildings. They were nice, though! I really wanted a personal connection with whom I'd be entering a rental agreement. Buildings that were managed by corporations seemed less personal and more risky, in terms of what I will get and maintenance, etc.

In the end, I chose a studio in an apartment building managed by a corporation :) BUT, the apartment is downtown, very close to campus; it is furnished (not fully) and it's close to multiple supermarkets and shops. This last feature is very important as well. For someone who has lived in European cities, it may be hard to image that you cannot go get groceries on foot...in many places in the States, you need a car to do even basic things. Madison is more European in this sense; it's very walkable. 

The most important document you will ever get in the mail is your DS-2019. This is basically a fancy and official way of the American institution inviting you over to the States, thus allowing you to apply for a visa. This process was initiated by the American Host in my case; they have a routine timeline for this, don't worry, you will get in on time. Most American universities have online portals where you upload necessary documents and can keep track of this process. You apply for a visa in your home country after you have received your DS-2019 in the mail.

My visa application process was no doubt affect by COVID, but it was still more nerve-racking than I had imagined. This is a long story; the short version is: I wrote the Embassy many months prior to my grant start date, they turned me away saying I should contact them later, closer to my grant date. I wrote them again later, same thing happened; they said I had to ask for an appointment within 30 days of my travel date. So I wrote them a third time, within 30 days of my start date, and they said "Oh, sorry, we don't have any open appointments until your travel date"...well, their online system told me this. So I wrote them and explained what's happening, perplexed, and they said, "Sorry, will let you know if anything opens up". Then I wrote again, angrily, and was given an appointment soon after that. I'm not sure if the anger helped or if it was just a coincidence that someone had cancelled their appointment at that exact time. I was surprised to see how few appointments were available. If they make it a requirement that you cannot book a date until you are within 30 days, then they should be obligated to provide you with an appointment. Anyhow, I later heard I wasn't the only one in this situation. Let's blame COVID.

Be prepared for a 160 USD visa fee and a 220 USD SEVIS fee (prices subject to change over time), which you will more than likely pay from your own pocket. You may be able to get reimbursed by booking these as "research, training, and networking costs", this would depend on your Host institution, will let you know how my process goes.

Do not underestimate how incredibly dependent we have become on our phones. You will need a phone as you travel and you will need a phone from the second you arrive...it's just the way life is now, I wouldn't fight it or try to go without. When I was about to move to San Diego in 2017, I ordered a J1 SIM card for myself (to my home country) and activated it a few days before my flight to the US. In order to use this SIM card, you need an unlocked phone. If I remember correctly, this process worked perfectly in 2017. I had no problems and customer service was excellent: prompt and helpful. It's a bit weird that the phone numbers get reused with this short-term phone solution, so you might get strange people calling you or texting, thinking that your number still belongs to their friend. But, the rates are great and you can cancel the service very easily at any time. So, I was thinking: J1 SIM will be a good decision this time around as well. I ordered the card and activated it, had an old phone unlocked, tried the card right before I left, and it was working fine. But life is never this simple. Read more in the next chapter.

Some quick thoughts that may not be evident: talk and text are free in the US (I think with every provider), you only pay for data. There are several plans at every provider, of course. You can usually switch between plans (go higher or lower), so I'd get a plan with more data for your first 1-2 months and then switch to a cheaper plan (unless you want to use your phone as your primary source of internet). Remember that your plane / bus ticket may only work through an app (more on this below), so having a phone with usable data is frequently necessary for travel, not to mention the fact that keeping in touch with loved ones shouldn't depend on wifi availability...although, the world is doing better and better on that front.

So, currency and travel is always an issue. Here the problem is: I am paid by Maastricht University (UM) in EUR, but I will be living in the States for the beginning phase of the grant where I will need USD. We all know banks convert currency in a way that is disadvantageous to the client...the conversion rate you see on Google is not the same as what banks work with. My first thought was, should I open a bank account in the States and have UM send the money there? But that's not ideal because then the bank will convert it. I started asking people who travel a lot how they do conversion.

Now, you, reader may already know this, but there are providers out there, offering far better conversion rates than banks, and it's incredibly easy to take advantage of. I was not aware. Companies like Wise (earlier: Transferwise) and Revolut are amazing; they're basically online, fast, and convenient versions of your roadside currency exchange service. You can open bank accounts with various currency, add money to those, and convert currency at any time. You can order a card and use it to pay in shops, buy stuff online, transfer money, etc. It's like having a bank account in multiple countries with the local currency. I cannot say enough about how great these companies are. My primary provider sent me a card for a minimal amount, which I am able to use in the States with no problems (so far, at least). Furthermore, I can use it as a debit card but also as an e-checking account, which is advantageous because when I pay rent and do other transactions, many times e-checks don't entail any extra costs, while using debit cards or wiring (transferring) money may.

So, to sum up what is working for me now: I opened a EUR account in my home country at my regular bank (I could have just used Wise or Revolut, but they were new to me at the time and didn't trust them yet). I appointed this account as the one where UM should wire my salary. The University requested a document in which I had to prove this was my account (i.e. my name, date of birth, account number and a few other things had to be in this doc), which is not easy to provide with non-bank companies, I think. So, having an actual account paid off for me. Thus: EUR account in home country, I get my salary wired there; from that account I add money to my Wise/Revolut EUR account. And as a last step, I convert money from my Wise/Revolut EUR account to my Wise/Revolut USD account. This has been working nicely. Incredibly useful service; thank you to both these companies!

My plane ticket was bought by my EU Host University and was deduced from the research, training, and network costs. I arrived to Chicago's international airport and went on with a bus from there. I bought my own bus ticket through an app, which gave my a deal on a return ticket that I can use any time within one year. Since the ticket was bought through an app, I needed the app and internet to show it to the driver. This is (also) why I said earlier, you need a phone/net to travel. Although most forms of transportation now offer wifi, I wouldn't count on it...but I tend to play it safe most of the time.

There are some things that I would pack if you are going to the States; again, not all of this pertains to everyone, these are just ideas from my personal experience. Stuff to buy/order/pack ahead of time: laptop cable or converter that works with US sockets (make sure you are able to charge your laptop and your phone!), unlocked phone (just use an old phone, it may save your life one day), tape measure (if you have several at home, take one with you; you will need it for new clothes, furniture, etc.), clothes (people say it's cheap and easy to shop for clothes in the States, this is not my experience), presents (minimum bring something for your US supervisor, but also for any people you have been in contact with and want to show your appreciation when you get there; take something that is unique to your country). Okay, so this is less noble of me, but I have issues with paying much more for things that I know are cheaper in my home country; so I took a couple of flat sponges for the kitchen that I can buy for a very low price, because for some reason, these are super expensive in the States (at least from what I've seen). There, I said it.

Aaaaand, it wouldn't be a pandemic without the compulsory PCR test that had to be dated 3 days within travel. I was very satisfied with this provider in Hungary: I could book an appointment online and for a Sunday, they have multiple locations to choose from, they were cheaper than the average price, and they send you the results in like 54 different languages via email.

One more thing from personal experience: check the specifications you have for accessing your email account abroad. Even though international travel is now commonplace, you may find yourself unable to access your emails from another country. Same goes for online banking and any other system that may be sensitive to sign-in location.