[gone35]

Sorry if this doesn't sound as much but... do your research. Ex ante it appears you and your wife are under a lot of misapprehensions and, if I may say, grass-is-greener media/cultural European clichés about the US --too many, perhaps, to disabuse in a single "Ask HN" thread.

Like others said below, a good idea would be to come live in the US for, say, a summer or so under a short-term tourist or student visa (eg maybe for a career-related summer course or unpaid internship) and see for yourself.

[seminole]

Yes, well, this is part of research :-) I agree that staying for a while would be ideal, but it's very nearly impossible at this point.