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

[yankiwi 0]

Amy- I'm glad the Consulate seemed to be able to straighten it all out. But I wonder why you've even had to deal with the NVC? If you're a resident here working you can do Direct Consular Filing (which is a much better deal than the long, USCIS-NVC-Consulate route we've been dealing with!). Congrats on the early interview date! Ours is on the 19th (as is another member here) so you get to go first and then tell us how it went!

Michelle- How goes the paperwork? I always try and set a "reward" for after a set of paperwork gets sorted out. Usually it's something as simple as a coffee at my favorite cafe, but picturing sitting there relaxed, stirring and sipping reminds me that I'll have it over in no time, and makes it a bit easier to tackle. Oh, and I agree with Kim, a glass of wine while filling things out won't hurt...

Kim- I know there's been no news yet since if there was you'd be shouting so loud we'd be able to hear you clear on the other end of the world...but I often think of you two and send a bit of "hurry up" energy towards the NVC! If Amy and her partner could get a date for August 13th at this short of notice, I've decided that it's perfectly viable for Russell to be cooling his heels with the rest of us come August 19th!

Oh, and aren't there 1-2 people getting ready to fly off to the US? Hope all your last minute details and travel plans are going well!

[kelzm 0]

Yankiwi - glad to hear Chris's medical went so well. Dr Marcus Stone definitely seems to be the most cost effective (which was important to me!). So many August interviews, not that long to go at all... August begins this week after all! Kim I'm crossing my fingers that Russell gets to have his August interview too, I'm sure you must be close to approval.

Today was a good news day for me. I got the call from my sons principal to say that they've approved him staying and keeping his scholarship and I also got a call from my lawyer to say that the sale of my house has now gone unconditional.

So, I'm busy preparing - garage sale next weekend, pack up the house and move out to my parents the weekend after, then finish up all the other bits and pieces and look at flying out mid-September.

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

Still waiting on my birth cert but i've calmed down (somewhat hehe )

So good to see that lots of things are happening for people

and i def know which doctor i'll be making my appointment with

[amaciar 0]

We went for my hisbands medcial today. We are located two hours from Wellington so we went there for the appointment. It was $500 which sounds expensive having read some of the other posts. I suppose if we had had to fly to Auckland it would have been way over $500 so we are okay with that. The doctor did think it was strange that we received an interview date so soon but we aren't going to question it.

Yankiwi- It is frustrating traveling with heaps of bags especially when you don't know where you will be making your home. Let us know if you find a airline that will ship your bags for you. Would be great to know as my husband and I will be living out of suitcases for the forseable future and at the moment I am pretty over it. Nothing worse than sitting in LAX for twelve hours with all your worldly possesions!

Kelzm- It is great to see that someone is done and on their way to the big MOVE. Good luck with the garage sale.

[KimandRuss 0]

Amy, congratulations on your interview date. We're so hoping to join in on one of these August dates! Keep us posted! Most of the time it's only a few weeks to the appointment in Auckland so i'm not sure why the doctor was so surprised. I hope you told him to just make sure it's there on time! Do you know when you're flying 'home'?

Tiara, thanks for sharing the news about Chris's medical. I think Russell will be calling that doc soon too. No approval yet but lots with our NOA1 date are getting approved right now so we're keeping our fingers crossed that it's any day now.

Kel, you had a wonderful day yesterday! So happy to hear your good news! Congratulations!

Michelle.. i'm sure you're anxious to file. hope it's soon.

So, as I said..we're hanging on every email around here and i'm trying hard to keep busy and stay off the computer (not an easy task when it's your work!). We are so hoping to hear something in the next couple of days. Will keep you posted!

[amaciar 0]

We don't know when we will be flying home yet. We are going to wait and see how the interview goes and then change our plane tickets. We have some that are booked for December. We want to be home early September though so once we get the green light we will change our tickets and buy our american flights.

Kimand Russ- I hope you receive some good news soon.

[Kelvan 0]

Hey guys, we sent our I-129F off tonight. Overnight express. Although the post woman said it might not arrive tomorrow cos we sent it late in the day. So I'll wait 2 days. I hope this package arrives safely. *waits*

[Michelle Kauffman 0]

Woot, grats guys, now the waiting begins, I've also just sent my paperwork off to rob, so hopefully next week our packet will be with USCIS too

Edited July 31, 2008 by Michelle.S

[cdneh 3,112]

Finally we have a noa1 ...

It took 25 days before we got one..I was getting pretty worried we would have to refile. But as hard as it was to wait, I was relieved to see we weren't the only ones waiting on that. I wonder what on earth Vermont was doing that such a big group of people were left in such limbo?

All going well without further hiccups, I was hoping to get 'home' in time for Christmas...but I'm not sure about that now. Flights are going to be tough to book around the holidays, and without having the slightest idea of when...it's hard to know what the heck to do really

[Kelvan 0]

Yay I'm glad you got your NOA1! I'm so worried about ours, since our first package got lost

[cdneh 3,112]

Yay I'm glad you got your NOA1! I'm so worried about ours, since our first package got lost

Oh no...I hope it all goes through this time okay. I'd have been beside myelf

[amaciar 0]

kelvan- I think if my first packet had gotten lost i would have ended up in tears! How did you find out? Good luck with this package. I hope you sail through the process

Edited August 2, 2008 by amaciar

[Kelvan 0]

Hey amaciar, well we filed on June 11. After 30 days we hadn't heard anything, no check cashed either. We got worried and called USCIS and they had no record of our package on their system even though we had a delivery receipt from the postage company saying it had arrived there in June. So we are now refiling. I know CSC is going really slow right now but hopefully this one will be okay >_<

[yankiwi 0]

Cdneh- Yay for finally getting a NOA1! Hopefully things will process quickly for you. You may not have a problem waiting until say mid October to book a flight to the US for around Christmas. I say that because when we flew my brother here for our wedding (which was in December) we only knew about 5 weeks before we needed him to fly out, and we were still able to get him a ticket arriving here at the beginning of December and back to the US on the 27th of December I think. As long as your dates are a bit flexible it may be doable. Like, traveling on the 24th is insanity, but on the 27th-29th seats are actually cheaper. Plus, you're flying one way, so that should help I'd think. We don't have tickets yet and still foresee leaving NZ by the end of the year. It may cost a bit more, but at least once you have a day you won't have to change it and pay penalty fees!

Kelvan- Oh no! I hope your second packet gets through without someone losing it!

Michelle- Yay for getting that paperwork sorted! Hopefully your partner will file soon so your case will start processing!

Amaciar- I've been hunting around but I still can't find anywhere that will ship things for a decent price. It's to the point where I think mailing it would cost about as much as shipping it with an excess baggage place! I mean, I checked rates for 2 book boxes and it was like $1,000 USD with one place! I could send them book by book via NZ mail for cheaper than that! *snort* There has GOT to be a better way...I'm not giving up yet! I let you know if I find anything useful.

Right now we have no idea where we are moving to, just that at some point we will be grabbing all my stuff from Alabama (where my dad decided to retire), so in theory I can ship things to them (even if they will whine about things taking up room). But other than that, we have no firm plans, since where we go depends on where Chris finds work. Ah well, we have no kids so why not have a little adventure?

Kim- Sending good juju to you and Russell. I check here everyday to see if there's been news, I imagine you both must be in pacing mode. (((hugs)))

[gshennen 0]

I have started applying for jobs in the US, I approached 4 potential employers today, with more tomorrow...wish me luck.

Once we have had my interview, I will then apply for actual jobs, rather than just "cold calling (emailing)" potential employers.

Cheers

Grant