I (just like everyone else here) am running into the same Status Bar overlap issue that everyone else is, with a little twist, and that is why I opening a new question about
UISearchBar has a delegate method for what you want. Just place it 20px from top.
- (UIBarPosition)positionForBar:(id )bar { return UIBarPositionTopAttached; }
Unfortunately it doesn't work together with a UISearchDisplayController.