I am from South Africa, have been in the USA since 2005, and find it a place where you can create your own reality if you can find a decent paying (+-$6000/mth) job and have a good attitude towards working hard. The productivity level here is very, very high. The important thing about being an employee, is that you need to be really good at what you do, and this is especially true for foreigners, but the opportunities for career advancement is limitless if you're willing to relocate to where the relevant jobs are. In general, there are many, many IT opportunities here, but those who do the recruiting look only for the best, especially since it's an employer's market right now. I don't know anything about SharePoint Developer and Administrator jobs, but it is important that you're a good all rounded developer. In other words, you need to potentially be able to work professionally with clients, in a team, and also independently. The western part of the country is sunny and dry. The California coast has similar whether to Cape Town, except that Cape Town's white sand beaches are better, but the advantage here in the US is that there is a much larger selection of beaches. I find the inland temperatures uncomfortably hot, though you'll likely have air-conditioning in your home. There is an unbelievable amount of natural disasters that occur throughout the country during certain seasons, i.e. devastating tornadoes, south-east-coast hurricanes, incredibly dangerous thunder storms, flooding, etc. Americans travel a lot, so if you want to experience many interesting and fun things in and around your state of residence, be prepared to travel "crowded" roads and long distances during holiday times. I've traveled across the US from east-coast to west-coast by car about 3 times, and by plane more than a dozen times so far. Many travel 1 - 3 hours to work in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco - cheaper to stay in a neighboring city. The opportunities are here if you want it, but be prepared to work hard for everything you want - the competition can be tough.