NEW ZEALANDers heading to the US and their USC spouses - POST HERE!

[kiwibelcanto 3]

Welcome Zeddess You've found the best place for getting help to go through the whole "let's go live in America with our loved one" drama....lol. Everyone here is very friendly and only too willing to help where they can.

If you're in Auckland you're lucky because the doctor we all used, Dr Marcus Stone, is really nice. The medical is a breeze and the people that interview you at the Auckland consulate are very nice too.

It's a drawn out process, believe me, but well worth it in the end. You'll be just fine.

Aww thanks! It's definitely a saga just trying to be together that's for sure! Never thought I'd have to "apply" to be with my loved one but life has a funny way of doing things sometimes.. it's totally worth it though and I can't wait for the end result

Such a relief to know the medical and interview aren't scary at all, now all I have to worry about is being confused with which forms and documents go where! I won't think about that though until the time comes

Zeddess, here is a link before I forget to the Auckland consulate. That email address can be quite useful, and they do answer very quickly.

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=New Zealand&cty=Auckland

Cheers for the link, very helpful! Thanks for the link to Kiwiana's medical review too, really gives me a clear idea of what to expect so here's hoping I don't get too stressed out about all the things I'm supposed to do! What do you reckon has been the hardest part of the whole process?

[ivannnaloveskiwi 0]

Welcome Zeddess !

Most were here before me and let me tell you.. i wouldn't of gotten through any of it without them..the help and support is awsome! So your in good hands.. .. It's the Waiting, waiting.. that gets you.. good luck!!

[ivannnaloveskiwi 0]

hi everyone,

how long did it take for you to process through customs when you arrived in los angeles...trying to scheadul conecting flight..ty

In general, the times i have arrived in LA, i have probably waited anywhere from 10 minutes (to just get through the custom part) up to over an hour (for the baggage to arrive from the carousel which included going through customs)

But the last two times i arrived in LA, it wasn't the customs that held me up, it was my flight from NZ.

Last year I sat at Auckland airport for 12 hours as the plane was delayed. The only good thing is that when the plane did finally arrive at LA, they quickly sent us through customs, so there was no waiting.

This year my plane was also delayed. I think by 2 hours if memory serves me correct. Of course, this is not a common occurrence, thank goodness!

But to be on the safe side it may pay for you to have a bit of space inbetween connecting flights, so that you can get your bearings at LA airport and find out where to go for the next flight etc. Everything will be fine!

Thanks ana, well plan for the afternoon...lol... we are such worriers..i know i wont finally feel complete untill he's here.. always seems to be something.. like i'm barely hanging on the tip of his fingers.. and almost about to slip away..

[kelzm 0]

Ohhh a new person! It's so great to hear from other kiwis that are making the move here to the big US of A.

Welcome Zeddess, I hope your journey is carefree and speedy.

[kiwiana 2]

Definitely it is the waiting.. waiting.. waiting of the K1 process that is the most frustrating part of it all... It does seem like forever at the time and if anything it teaches you the art of patience!!

But in general, once the I-129f is approved, things do move a long quite quickly! (with the medical and interview at the embassy).

I must say that the AOS process seems far much faster than the K-1. Or maybe it just appears faster as we have our loved ones with us during this part of it

Good luck cdneh with the biometrics tomorrow, though as Kim said, its pretty straight forward. The biometrics itself didn't take very long. What i thought was funny was that after i walked up to the front desk to show my appointment letter to the security guy. he handed me a form to fill in and he gave me a pencil to use!! I felt like i was back at primary school!! But i was certainly grateful for it as i made a few mistakes on the form and was rubbing away with the eraser on the end of my pencil! The longest time was waiting for my number to be called. After the biometrics was finished they directed me to a table where there was like a survey form which asked to rate your experience and how you were treated etc. They had a box on the table to put your survey form in.

ivannaloveskiwi: You're not the only one that is a worrier. I'm right up with you in that field!

Kim how was it at the baseball game? I saw a little bit of it with my SO on tv and the score was like 2-1 (not sure which team had what score - I am still a novice at understanding the game )

[ivannnaloveskiwi 0]

Hi All,

seems we didn't asked the right question about getting through custom..what the heck do you do with the brown mysterious envelope? do you give it someone at customs? why do you have to have it at hand? does customs in LA open it..Is it carry on so you dont lose it? lol.. we just dont know..shrugs.. thanks

[Kelvan 0]

Hi Zeddess, good luck with your visa! The Kiwis here are friendly and can pretty much help you out with any questions you have about the process

Hey does anyone know of a website for NZers where they can register that they are living overseas and you can look up the US and the states and see which Kiwis are living there? Did I just imagine seeing this?

[Kim & Chris 0]

Hi All,

seems we didn't asked the right question about getting through custom..what the heck do you do with the brown mysterious envelope? do you give it someone at customs? why do you have to have it at hand? does customs in LA open it..Is it carry on so you dont lose it? lol.. we just dont know..shrugs.. thanks

Pack the "Mysterious Brown Envelope" in your carry-on then whip it out when you get to the customs line. If you hold it so the officer wandering around can see it they may even direct you to a shorter line Then when it's your turn at the desk just hand it to the officer there, they'll do all the rest. They'll open it and have a quick flick through and maybe ask you some general questions like where did you meet etc, but it's more for their curiosity I think. They'll take your finger print yet again and if I remember I think they take your photo, and then you're done, leaving the MBO with them. You can ask them where it will be handed on to if you want but I don't think any of us got a definate answer about that.

My first trip I had a 2hr connecting flight in LA and the Qantas flight was nearly an hour late getting to and leaving Auckland, so I hoofed it off the plane with the hoardes, and let me tell you, they were moving, and by the time I got to the customs line I was all hot and bothered and yuk , it was quite a hike. As I stood there in the long line waiting, my connection took off......but that's another story......lol

The last time I arrived I'd made sure I had a 4hr wait between connections, I let the hoardes fill the first bus to the main terminal and I sat in the second bus with a few others while it waited for the crew. I arrived all calm and collected at customs and there was no long line. Zapped through in minutes and felt sooooo much better.

Sometimes it's the little things you forget about but it's the little things that make the difference.

[Kim & Chris 0]

Kim how was it at the baseball game? I saw a little bit of it with my SO on tv and the score was like 2-1 (not sure which team had what score - I am still a novice at understanding the game )

Ana - they lost and the only thing that would console Chris afterwards was ice cream......lol..... but we got there early and got to watch the players warming up and batting practice, and Chris even spoke to a few of them so it was all good. I got lots of pics too.

But it was nice to get away even if it was just overnight (we have a houseful at the moment), and I have two more states to add to my list of " States I Have Been To".......lol (Illinois is just over the bridge from St Louis), and I just love the whole stadium atmosphere, so as I said, it was all good.

[Kim & Chris 0]

Hey does anyone know of a website for NZers where they can register that they are living overseas and you can look up the US and the states and see which Kiwis are living there? Did I just imagine seeing this?

Kelvan - The NZ Embassy in USA sight has a part for Kiwi's living in the U.S. where you can register I think. I'll put the link below. As for Kiwis in your area I'm not sure if there's anything on the Embassy site for it, but if you play around on google with the words Kiwi or NZ and your town or state, you may well find something. If you find a proper site for it let us all know

http://www.nzembassy.com/topic.cfm?CFID=27...p;l=86&s=nz

[Kim & Chris 0]

Cheers for the link, very helpful! Thanks for the link to Kiwiana's medical review too, really gives me a clear idea of what to expect so here's hoping I don't get too stressed out about all the things I'm supposed to do! What do you reckon has been the hardest part of the whole process?

Ana is right, the hardest part was the wait for the I-129f and then once you've been approved it's all go, so the next hardest part is getting rid of all your stuff, deciding what to take in the limited space you have and leaving all your loved ones, (not in that order).

AOS is definately easier paperwork and a shorter wait.

[ivannnaloveskiwi 0]

Hi All,

seems we didn't asked the right question about getting through custom..what the heck do you do with the brown mysterious envelope? do you give it someone at customs? why do you have to have it at hand? does customs in LA open it..Is it carry on so you dont lose it? lol.. we just dont know..shrugs.. thanks

Pack the "Mysterious Brown Envelope" in your carry-on then whip it out when you get to the customs line. If you hold it so the officer wandering around can see it they may even direct you to a shorter line Then when it's your turn at the desk just hand it to the officer there, they'll do all the rest. They'll open it and have a quick flick through and maybe ask you some general questions like where did you meet etc, but it's more for their curiosity I think. They'll take your finger print yet again and if I remember I think they take your photo, and then you're done, leaving the MBO with them. You can ask them where it will be handed on to if you want but I don't think any of us got a definate answer about that.

My first trip I had a 2hr connecting flight in LA and the Qantas flight was nearly an hour late getting to and leaving Auckland, so I hoofed it off the plane with the hoardes, and let me tell you, they were moving, and by the time I got to the customs line I was all hot and bothered and yuk , it was quite a hike. As I stood there in the long line waiting, my connection took off......but that's another story......lol

The last time I arrived I'd made sure I had a 4hr wait between connections, I let the hoardes fill the first bus to the main terminal and I sat in the second bus with a few others while it waited for the crew. I arrived all calm and collected at customs and there was no long line. Zapped through in minutes and felt sooooo much better.

Sometimes it's the little things you forget about but it's the little things that make the difference.

thank you.. that clears up alot of questions!!!

[cdneh 3,112]

Well that wasn't too annoying. I as early by half an hour and was on the way home by the appointment time.

I took all the NOA's, good thing as they wanted all three numbers, my SSN card as they wanted something with my new name on it, and my marriage certificate came in handy too. As my name was different than on the passport.

She seemed to have a hard time with my right hand, took every finger 3 or 4 times. ( I am older..are they wearing off??? )

No trick questions though, although I was ready ...lol...

I agree with everyone else...the wait is the worst. We were stuck ast NVC in AP for over 7 weeks after getting our NOA2, and that sure as heck didn't help at all!

[kiwibelcanto 3]

Thanks for the welcomes guys!

I have two more states to add to my list of " States I Have Been To".......lol (Illinois is just over the bridge from St Louis), and I just love the whole stadium atmosphere, so as I said, it was all good.

Omg I can't wait to start my "list"! How many states do you have on yours so far? I've only been to Washington & Idaho so there's only 48 more to go! Haha

I agree with everyone else...the wait is the worst. We were stuck ast NVC in AP for over 7 weeks after getting our NOA2, and that sure as heck didn't help at all!

Yeah, the long-distance thing has taught me a LOT of patience. I just wish it would hurry up and be the end of the year already because I'll definitely know by then if we've been approved and I'll also get to see him again, yay!!!

Sorry for the ignorance but what exactly is AP though? I've heard it around but just not sure what it does and why?

[cdneh 3,112]

Thanks for the welcomes guys!

I have two more states to add to my list of " States I Have Been To".......lol (Illinois is just over the bridge from St Louis), and I just love the whole stadium atmosphere, so as I said, it was all good.

Omg I can't wait to start my "list"! How many states do you have on yours so far? I've only been to Washington & Idaho so there's only 48 more to go! Haha

I agree with everyone else...the wait is the worst. We were stuck ast NVC in AP for over 7 weeks after getting our NOA2, and that sure as heck didn't help at all!

Yeah, the long-distance thing has taught me a LOT of patience. I just wish it would hurry up and be the end of the year already because I'll definitely know by then if we've been approved and I'll also get to see him again, yay!!!

Sorry for the ignorance but what exactly is AP though? I've heard it around but just not sure what it does and why?

AP...arggg...lol...Administrative Processing, or Additional Processing...we were told both. It just means that they started sujecting K1's to extra checks at the National Visa Center. They hadn't done it in the past that often although Kim and Russ were stuck there for three weeks last year. The trouble was that as it was pretty much a new thing for K1's, there really wasn't much to read here about it. We started a thread which is 'stuck' to the top in the Visa Centre forum, and at least now if people get stuck there there is more on it.

We had our NOA2 November 18th last year, and Auckland were getting to interviews pretty quick so we had hope for Christmas. As it was, after 7 weeks that didn't happen.

I was lucky though in many ways, after I emailed the Auckland people a few times, which I suppose was good as they had heard of us, they did send out packet 3 based on me having the ACK number, So that way I was able to get the medical and the rest done while we were still in AP. WHen we finally got out we were ready to go!

More good news is that even if you get stuck there, times have come way way down, to weeks not months.

The lady that interviewed me in Auckland did say that she could see we were in AP for random checks for quite a while. Random...talk about the short straw