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

[gshennen 0]

I was about to ask you which one you were talking to - if it was the blonde American ... but you wouldn't know that by email. LOL. All the staff in there are lovely, but she really stands out.

This is the lady that we spoke to, and helped us with the first lot of filing, arranged my interview date and time etc.

She was brilliant, so very friendly and helpful, and was able to answer all of our questions (we had a fair few).

Cheers

Grant

[KimandRuss 0]

Justine, you are getting so close!!!!

cdneh... hope you're hanging in there.

We're trying to be patient but grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it's been 11 weeks already... gimmie!

Kel, any luck yet?

Hope all my other kiwi buds are doing well.

[cdneh 3,112]

We are hanging in there...just

Still waiting on the actual noa1 so far...sheesh...

[rubyred 0]

9 days till i arrive in the US!!

the woman at the consulate: young american with long straight blonde hair? that's who i had. really lovely.

[gshennen 0]

Only update here is that I got a copy of my medical results from the Dr. in the mail. All good.

This was couriered to the Consulate on Monday (by the Dr.).

Just a waiting game now until the interview in August.

I am however updating my CV, and starting the look for a job in Northen California (Sacramento, Bay Area, San Jose etc) now. I have identified plenty of potential employers, so will get in touch with them over the next few weeks (just getting a couple of references written for me now). Will be hard being an employee again, at the moment I work for myself in a Project Management Consultant role, but there should be plenty of work in this field as an employee.

Hope everyone else is going well, and making progress.

Cheers

Grant

[kelzm 0]

Still playing the waiting game myself! Interview on Monday so I'm looking forward to getting that out of the way and knowing that I'm all approved. Then I just have to get the rest of my life (House, sons school) sorted! I've never known time to seem to move so slowly its frustrating, yet at the same time so fast I'm worried how I'm going to get everything done.

I really hope that July will bring good news for you Kim and Russ, and you as well cdneh. I found the USCIS wait the worst because there's just no information coming from them.

I have to admit though I've also been looking around through job sites and starting to think about getting my CV into some kind of order. Seems like a few of us are going to be inhabiting Northern California.

[KimandRuss 0]

cdneh.. it's coming hon. Stay strong!

Justine, i'm so excited for you! Don't forget to keep us posted!

Grant, my brother lived in Menlo Park for quite some time while working for SUN. It's a beautiful area. Good luck with your job search! Did you try to move your interview date up? Maybe you're in no rush and don't care to. I just know others have had theirs expedited...I certainly know we're going to try!

Kel, thanks for the well wishes. We've been at uscis 11 weeks as of today. I thought we'd be on our way by now but ...not to be. Hopefully we hear something in the next couple of weeks and then we'll be on to the Consulate too! We're quite excited to get to that point because we know Auckland will try accommodate us as much as possible and that once we have some dates in mind it will be easier to plan some things out. Right now just feels like we're in limbo... it's felt that way for years now so we're so ready for it to be done with! I do hope this month brings you much luck as well! Good luck on Monday and please let us know how it goes.

It does appear many of you will be on 'the left coast'... too bad... I would have loved to host a party for our kiwi/us couples. Maybe some day.

keep checking in folks!

[cdneh 3,112]

cdneh.. it's coming hon. Stay strong!

It does appear many of you will be on 'the left coast'... too bad... I would have loved to host a party for our kiwi/us couples. Maybe some day.

keep checking in folks!

Kia kaha

I won't be on the 'left coast'...have a party and we will come ...from Virginia

[gshennen 0]

Grant, my brother lived in Menlo Park for quite some time while working for SUN. It's a beautiful area. Good luck with your job search! Did you try to move your interview date up? Maybe you're in no rush and don't care to. I just know others have had theirs expedited...I certainly know we're going to try!

We haven't tried to move my interview date up at all. I have two big contracts that finish in late August so we are not in any hurry to make too many plans until they finish up.

Good luck with speeding your one up!!

Cheers

Grant

[KimandRuss 0]

Thanks Grant.

cdneh... i'm on the right coast! Boston girl... well, 40 miles NW of Boston actually...but still a part of 'title town!' and a huge sports fan! We wont be too far away from each other.

[JonesSanJose 0]

Hello,

Was reviewing the site again for the next step in our process. Alan is from New Zealand and has

been in the states for 18 months now...soon coming up on 2 year change of status. All is been going

well for us...we have settled into married life in San Jose, Ca (my home town). I work for a non-profit in Palo Alto and he has his construction business. Yes, when he arrived here and was waiting for his work permit he took the General Contractor exam. Once he got the job permit, which took about 3 months after arriving in the states, so now he does projects for residential and construction companies.

Of all the things Alan misses his Rugby (so signing up this week for Setanta sports via Satalite TV) and the summer time of Australia (he was living there when we met). Planning on trip back to NZ next year if we can get good prices on airfare.

Oh yes he also has a side business...looks for classic cars for NZ folks who want to export. Loves the hobby since he is into 1960 car styles...

You can email us if you want to know about the area...

Bye for now

Julie & Alan

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

Hey Guys and Gals

Just an update, we're waiting on my divorce papers, which will be final 14 July, i have never, not ever, not even when i was 8 months pregnant, known a month to pass so slowly.

Been sort of avoiding the forums cos i know we still have a long wait and we're both finding this really really hard, I thought after meeting Rob in person it would be easier because there would be no doubts at all but it just seems to be harder cos we want to be together.

Anyways, as soon as I get my divorce papers i'll be sending them off to Rob so he can send in the petition.

It's good to see some people seem to be making progress

Looking forward to updating with good news soon

[kelzm 0]

Michelle - I hope things pick up for you soon, waiting is awful, I know.

Julie and Alan - welcome to our little thread and nice to hear of another Kiwi/US couple. I'll be not too far from San Jose when I make the move. I'd be really keen to hear how Setanta sports works out for you. I'm a rugby and rugby league fan and not getting to see any games would be very very sad.

[KimandRuss 0]

Michelle, my heart is with you girl. We waited over 2 1/2 years for that &^%$#@* divorce decree. I sent out our petition the very day I was able to pick it up from the courthouse! Now, here we are close to 3 months after sending and ...still waiting. Yes, the wait is hard but stay busy, stay positive and you will manage. Keep us posted.

Hello Julie and Alan, great to have you posting with us. Russell was already in the states with me for over a year and i've turned him on to all our sports teams here in New England but he took me to a Rugby match NZ vs AUS not too long ago and we already know we'll be switching over to Sattelite to catch his All Blacks. We also lived in AUS with him for the summer of 2006. Small world.

For all of you moving to or living in San Jose/Palo Alto, I wonder if I could ask you to look at a flyer of my brother. He disappeared from his Menlo Park home in 2003 and has been 'missing' for more than 5 years. He loved going into Palo Alto, it's where his mail was delivered, and his doctor was at Stanford. He loved the grounds there as well as the parks in San Fran. He is a Harvard graduate, worked for SUN and loved the Bay area. He does suffer from depression and was pretty critical when he went missing but our family believes strongly that he is still out there. Perhaps still in the Bay area. He had mentioned 'walking away from his life' as he felt he was a burden on us, his family. About a week after he went missing, I flew out there and drove around in his porche boxter looking for him. Part way down to Half Moon Bay we stopped at a McDonald's and the manager ran out and told us that he was certain he had been there not 4 hours earlier....explained him in detail, what he was driving and even what he ordered. I'm also certain it was him. It is a very strange story and I wish I had the time to explain it all to you here but he is very loved by his family, who are all here in Massachusetts....most in the same city even. He moved to the west coast because of his depression and 'SAD'. We want him home. I'd appreciate it if you could have a look. Thanks so much.

[gshennen 0]

Kim - that's sad about your brother, hopefully it all works out well for you and your family in the long run.

Thanks for the naming of the Sattelite company (Setanta) that plays the rugby - this is something I will miss a lot. I was in the US during the Lions series a couple of years ago, and couldn't find anywhere airing the games (and Brook's parents had an endless number of channels on their sattelite provider). I had to ring home and get someone to tape the games, and I only got the results via the Web the next day.

Julie and Allan - A fair majority of my work now in Commercial Construction Project Management and other services around this such as construction logistics etc), not sure if this is Allan's game at all, but I'm keen for input/opinions on approaching companies in my search for a job (we are pretty open to anywhere around the Bay Area, San Jose, Sacramento areas. I have started to create a bit of a "hit list" of potential employers.

Hope all is well with everyone else, and that progress is being made.

Cheers

Grant