Id like to move to NYC (from Australia) in the next couple of years.
I will know no-one and make the move alone.
Will i have any problems finding a job, or somewhere to live?
What should i need to know?
What kind of job?
New York currently has close to 10% unemployment, so you may have trouble finding a job, depending on your skill set.
Make sure you have a job lined up before you get there, or you’ll never be able to afford rent (assuming you can find an apartment).
Don’t buy a car.
I am speaking mainly of Manhattan here. Are you familiar with the basic geography of the city?
nope.
I can point to it on a map but otherwise not at all 
So your saying a trip for a month or two first would be better suited before moving there?
The good news: rents in New York are actually dropping a little, for the first time since (when? The Great Depression? Ever?) There are a lot of empty apartments… this site is a good place to look for places for rent. Recently there was a ratio of 8:1 of people looking : people offering a space. It’s almost always the other way around.
scotandrsn’s point about the unemployment is dead-on… things are bad everywhere right now, but they’re horrible in NYC. Salaries have gotten heartbreakingly low… most entry-level jobs I see advertised pay maybe 2/3 of what you’d need to live on in this city.
Umm… I meant that the ratio was 8:1 people offering to people looking. Duh. So you’d at least have no problem finding a place to live… it would make somebody’s day.
dont you mean 8:1 of people offering a space : people looking?
Because if it is at the moment the way you say it is, then when its “usually the other way around” then wouldnt that mean the market is booming?
Absolutely. What if you got here and then found out you didn’t like lliving in the city? You didn’t mention if you now live in a large city or not, but even if you do, every city has its own personality.
Presumably you must know something about NYC since you’ve decided you’d like to live there, but sometimes impressions gained from books, magazines, and t.v. are different from reality. Also, NYC consists of 5 boroughs. Manhattan is the one most people think of, but the 5 have distinctly different characteristics. Within Manhattan, there are many different neighborhoods with different characteristics, prices, and so on.
Geez … tall order. Isn’t it kind of tough for ANY foreigner to get a job & green card? I had a programmer friend from Australia, who was actually working at a company in Boston for more than a year, who got sent home. I’d be more concerned about being deported from the US than I would about making it in NYC.
Howdy, *Mr. Sherbert. <— Are you Daryl Braithwaite? (haha - Aussie insider joke ;))
Welp, I am an Aussie living in NYC. Immigration laws are tough. Jobs would be very hard to get here without a work visa, not to mention a bank account, apartment, utilities, etc. Jobs are tough to get even if you can legally work here right now.
I think the only way you can move here permanently is if you have a employer sponsor you, you have immediate family here, or if you get married to a US citizen. And even then, the immigration laws are tough.
The economy sucks here right now. Things in Australia seemed pretty peachy when I was there for a visit last year. So much so that I wanna move back in about a year!
I definitely recommend coming here for a holiday and checking it out!
Welcome to the SDMB!
(not quite sure what happened with the coding up there) 
speaking of marrying a US citizen…
If i were to marry one, then get divorced… what happens?
that what you were trying to achieve?
heh heh yup!
thanks
So would i be a legal citizen if i married a US Citizen then got divorced?
Well, you would have to remain married until you received your citizenship, I believe. (which takes a couple of years at least).
And then you have to prove to the INS that you are really married. They will interview you both, want to see joint checking accounts, apartment lease, tax returns, wedding photos and pics of your life together, etc. And if they have any reason to believe it’s a “marriage of convenience”, it is a Federal offense punishible by a hefty fine (I think it’s like $10,000)and or inprisonment and probably deportation.
Like I said, it’s not easy.
Oops…
punishable*
imprisonment*
Big smack-down.
I don’t recommend it. I have a Canadian friend who tried the same thing. Didn’t work so good. She got caught during a sweep for illegal immigrants (in Texas, where Canadians obv. weren’t high on their list of suspects) a few years later, and had many legal battles before she was allowed to stay. I think she finally has her green card (and mind you, she was a student here for years before that, and even had a social security number!). Tough business all around.
ouch…
Green card lottery here i come. lol