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

[yankiwi 0]

I'm born and raised in Leominster, MA. It's about an hour (40 miles) north west of Boston. I own the home my mom grew up in and my family all live within miles. We spend a lot of time together ...which is why Russell is moving here. Of course, we've known each other for 10 years and Russell has always been aware that I wouldn't want to leave here... right now anyway. I do agree tho, NZ is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Especially where he is... (opotiki)... his parents own some seaside maori land in whangarua bay as well. We'll be back as often as possible. Just a shame it's so far away. I'm actually in the IT field too but I work for myself. Small world.

How neat you guys will meet up. Gee if we're approved this week perhaps we can get that Aug 19th date too! Let them know we're coming!

Awww...when I was growing up I always wished we'd just live in one place with all our family around us! If things were that way I would have had a much harder time coming here. But, with growing up here, there, and everywhere, and having crazy family estranged from each other on both sides (seriously, my parents families are like soap operas) I've never been settled in one place.

Problem is I get attached to the places I'm in at the moment, and every time I leave one I'm miserable for a while. I'm already moping about leaving NZ! We're plotting a few places to try and go before leaving since I won't be able to come into the country for over 2 years (since that's how long I've been here). *sighs* Why can't NZ be closer to the US?? My bank account would surely appreciate it MUCH more!

It's incredible you've known each other for so long! And soon you'll be together...we'll keep hoping that August 19th interview date for him too!!

I've often wondered if people in the IT industry have a higher rate of online romances than the general population. I don't work in IT, but all these couples have got me thinking that once I have my psych degrees and such sorted out online couple's therapy might be the way to go...and I married the perfect person to help me sort out the technical side of it!

Cheers!

Tiara

[KimandRuss 0]

Tiara, that is so funny... I went to school for psych but learned soon after that those instructing me seemed to need those services more than anyone else I knew. Needless to say, I never got that degree. It's still a great passion of mine and I often find myself in 'the counselor' role. I dont mind though as i've always been that way and it's who I was meant to be. Perhaps some day i'll go back to it.

I stayed home with my children (now 16 & 13) for 15 years. Not being the typical SAHM ..every chance I got I self taught myself how to fix computers and then networking, html, php, perl, sql, css, dreamweaver, photoshop...etc, etc...with every spare moment I had. Once my ex husband and I separated that was just the logical choice to make some money. Now I host my own server and control many websites but really I do anything related to helping small businesses in the area jump into this century and work more effeciently without getting screwed by the big name places. It's fun.. I do what I want, when I want which still leaves me time to be with my kids and to travel when I can.

When my children were very small and the internet pretty new to most, we had this one place where all of my friends with small children chatted daily after the kids went to sleep. Russell just happened in there one night. We were really great friends for a long time... great way to start our relationship. He was in University (Chistchurch) and I was merely playing with computers at the time. I think IT people just have more time online and more in common perhaps.

I can understand your feelings about moving to the US. If I didn't have the family and friends I do here I would certainly be in NZ more often although, i'm not sure how much Russell could put his Geology degree to work in Opotiki. It's just so far away from everything else. He has two siblings still living on his parents farm, a sister in Dunedin and a sister in AUS. They're pretty spead out as well. How come you can't travel back to NZ for two years? We probably wont be back before then either. Russell's family is flying to the US in the spring to see us 'married' and we plan on having a child together and then there will be work... NZ isn't really the place you can spend just a week in after 20+ hours of travel!

I hope you'll love living in the US and that you'll find the family and friends here that make you never want to leave!

[cdneh 3,112]

Just checking in..still here..still waiting

Not much happening out of Vermont just lately ..or is it just me?

Nice to see a few more from Auckland!

Wow..Opotiki, it's a lovely area ..my ex mother-in-law is there

[Kelvan 0]

Hi cdneh! What part of Auckland are you from? I reside in Bucklands Beach

Hey guys, we changed our username on here to more accurately represent ourselves, so I'm no longer Lux. I just paid for my tickets to go and see Evan in September! Hope the immigration officer lets me in!

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

oh hey guys, i'm in titirangi

[rubyred 0]

hey guys,

good to hear everyone's immigration processes are moving along nicely.

well, i've been here a week and a half now, and i'm loving it! jordan is everything i knew he would be, and more. no homesickness yet - not sure if i will get homesick. i didn't leave much behind: i was working two crappy jobs, in a shared living situation that was making me miserable, most of my friends had moved way, was spending all my time at home or at work, and had no life outside of that. i'm super stressed about job-hunting here, but if i'd stayed in nz i would have stayed at the same crappy jobs anyway. and i really, really love this area - the bay area is so gorgeous, and so full of character. and the weather is great - i was totally petrified about the heat, but it's been really temperate. at night, while jordan is throwing off the blankets and blasting a fan in his face, i'm wrapped up in two layers of blankets, with my feet curled under his legs to keep warm!

now for the technical stuff: the whole customs thing was very, very strange! first of all, leaving nz, the customs dude was completely confused by my DS-2019 form (it accompanies my J-1 visa, and MUST remain stapled into my passport), i tried explaining that it is proof i'm allowed to work, but he still didnt' know what i was talking about, and actually PULLED it out of my passport :/

so i arrived at SF airport (after spending the last hour of my flight in a near-panic attack state of anxiety, when it finally hit me what i was actually doing), stood in a huge line for what felt like years, panicked, dehydrated and incredibly overheated. i felt really ill, and the more ill i felt the more panicky i got. so i get the customs dude, show him my passport/visa... and there's a problem! the n-number on my DS form isn't on my visa, and it's supposed to be. so he keeps me standing there for ages while he gets on the phone. then he tells me i need to go to the secondary clearance office... so i go sit in a little office with a huge scary dude, and i'm sweating, and can't catch my breath properly, because i'm doing everything i can to not have a full-fledged panic attack. he gives me a 'look' and asks me if i'm 'feeling a little warm', i guess i must look totally dodgy! so he keeps me there awhile and gets my visa sorted out.

so then i go claim my luggage and head to federal inspection. i was expecting to take awhile there, since i had declared food on my customs form (3kg of nz lollies!!! jordan is addicted to snifters, jaffas, and whittaker's chocolate). but i got waved right through!! my bags didn't even go through the x-ray thing!! i walked straight through to jordan waiting for me!

so i didn't have to show proof of funds (even though i was told i had to have a minimum of US$2000 and proof of it to show customs) and i didn't have to show proof of ties to nz. it did take an incredibly long time to get through, but that was due to problem-people ahead of me, and the missing number on my visa.

it's been a strange experience... even though this is my first time meeting jordan in person, it didn't take long to feel like we've been living together forever... but at the same time it's totally weird, if that makes sense! i guess we're so used to each other, so used to spending tons of time together online, that it does feel normal.

enough of my rambling!

[KimandRuss 0]

Justine, thank you for taking the time to write. I'm so happy that you are finally in Jordan's arms and I can completely understand what you mean by it just feeling normal. I first met Russell after knowing him for 5 years and it was as though we were together all the time. Here we are 5 years later and it's even better! I hope it stays that way for you too!

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

Thank you so much for that info Justine, I do think the more we know the less scarey it's going to be for us, it's a shame it took so long for you and you had such a hard time tho

[rubyred 0]

this is only the beginning i'm on a one year work visa, then i'll have to return home and go through the whole K-1 process.

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

Any chance you can start the process before you head back here?

[rubyred 0]

not too sure yet. all the rules/laws/regulations could change in 12 months!

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

Hopefully it will change for the easier

So nice to hear about you and jordan, it was the same for rob and me, straight away it just felt like we'd been together forever and everything was so comfortable and wonderful.

[KimandRuss 0]

Justine, I think you would be fine adjusting from status at a later date this year considering this is your first meeting with Jordan and you didn't enter the US with the intention of marrying on this visit.

[cdneh 3,112]

oh hey guys, i'm in titirangi

Oh my goodness..we are neighbours! I am in Blockhouse Bay!

[cdneh 3,112]

Hi cdneh! What part of Auckland are you from? I reside in Bucklands Beach

Hey guys, we changed our username on here to more accurately represent ourselves, so I'm no longer Lux. I just paid for my tickets to go and see Evan in September! Hope the immigration officer lets me in!

I'm in Blockhouse Bay, and I work in Mt Wellington. Bucklands Beach is lovely!

I had leave booked for July, and was thinking about going over to VA then....but as we were meant to be filing in April, we decided to be sensible and wait it out. However, we struck a paperwork glitch and didn't get filed until a couple of months later....I so wish I had just gone ahead with our plans and visited. It's looking like next year now.