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

[kiwiana 2]

i was nervous as heck, i'd just about convinced myself that they wouldn't let me in cos i'm too fat but the doctor said that wouldn't happen.

he was amazing, made me feel very comfortable, was a good laugh in fact, i read and reread your post on your visit to the doctor and it all went really smoothly

i found the doctor, the xray place and the place to have the blood tests.

i think you were very game walking that road, i drove

and google maps with street view made finding everything so much easier

now i'm just hanging out for tuesday and my interview

yay!! it's good that part is now all over!! The doctor really puts you at ease. And it's great that all the other places aren't so far away from the docs! (but do recommend for anyone over 40 (or who isn't fit) to drive and not walk from the docs to xray place

everything is now just speeding along for you!! just a couple more days and then the interview! just magic!!!

[Lisaandtim 0]

yes they certainly are, had to move up my doctors appointment to tomorrow as my interview at the consulate in on tuesday 10th feb

How'd it go at the medical today?

i was nervous as heck, i'd just about convinced myself that they wouldn't let me in cos i'm too fat but the doctor said that wouldn't happen.

he was amazing, made me feel very comfortable, was a good laugh in fact, i read and reread your post on your visit to the doctor and it all went really smoothly

i found the doctor, the xray place and the place to have the blood tests.

i think you were very game walking that road, i drove

and google maps with street view made finding everything so much easier

now i'm just hanging out for tuesday and my interview

Hope the interview goes well for you! My SO also had his medical yesterday, hehe. He said that Dr. Stone was googling stuff during it lol and something about how he got someone's food idk. Was right after lunch. Then at the X-ray place none of the ladies had done one for immigration supposedly so they didn't know how to fill out the form, took 4 people lol. And yes, the x-rays are huge!

[Kim & Chris 0]

Congratulations, Cdneh, Michelle, Lisa&Tim......you're all moving along nicely, just about there the lot of you

Kiwiana...... The countdown is on, not long to go till you're jetting off to the norhtern hemisphere...lol.......have you booked your ticket etc yet?

We tied the knot on Tuesday just gone. With having no family or friends here it was just a simple ceremony with only Chris and I there. We'll have a few days away next week. I'm hoping to convince him to have another ceremony when I manage to drag him downunder, nothing extravagant, but with family and friends and a few more frills......

We had the ceremony, then shot down the road to the county clerks office and finished the registration and collected the marriage certificate, then off to SSN to change my name on my card, then down to North Little Rock for a slap up lunch of lobster, scallops and shrimp....the scallops were devine........being in the mid/south west, i've been missing my seafood fix

Now to the next step........the dreaded AOS paperwork trail

[Dave_n_Genna 0]

Did anyone ever receive anything really important from the consulate AFTER their packet 4 (glowing pink paper) arrived?

The reason I ask is, Genna completed her Medical (it only took 1 day to set up in Wellington) and received her Packet 4 yesterday. Our plans were for her to move to her Moms soon to await the interview, as the house she is living in has been vacated by her brother and is being sold soon. She has caught a bad cold now, and would like to move to her moms early, but we dont want her to miss anything important in the mail.

[kiwiana 2]

LisaandTim: That's great news that your SO got his medical done too. Wonder if he and michelle were there around the same time?

Dave_n_Genna: After the bright pink letter with the interview date, I never received anything else from the embassy, so everything should be ok if she moves now

Kim & Chris: CONGRATULATIONS!!! on your wedding!! wonderful!!!

mmm lobster and shrimps for lunch!! has got my mouth watering here!!

Please let us know how you get on with the AOS. I have been freaking out about it big time since i received the k1 visa. I just wish i knew 100% what to do as to not get a RFE! I really don't want a tb skin test as i have heard that some that were vaccinated against it as a child now show positive when they get the tb skin test done, even though they don't have it!! I just want to get the whole process out of the way without any hassles..

As for moving soon, well i am feeling pressure big time at the moment. My son needs to find somewhere to live. I have to get rid of all my furniture (i just want to throw it away as it isn't new stuff. The people that do come and collect furniture for removal, don't come out to my area and i don't have a towbar on my car so can't take it to them )

My SO asked me when i will leave, i had no answer but have now told him the target is for 2nd week in March, if i am lucky!!.

Have to hand notice in at work as well as give notice to landlady where i live too but until i know definitely when i will leave i can't do either.... so i am rather flustered at the moment as you can tell!! LOL!!!

Anyway, it will all come right in the end, i am sure.. just got to stay focused!!

[Kim & Chris 0]

Kim if you're around can you (or anyone else who might know) help please......

I'm in the process of filling out AOS papers and they ask for my A#.........I've been searching through this site and have only managed to find conflicting info. So far people have said it's....the I-94 number....the A number on the visa.......or it should be on the I-797 NOA2 recieved in the mail.

I'm sooooo confused....and I'm a bit worried.....we never recieved the hard copy of NOA2 in the mail with I-797 on the bottom, the official looking one (like NOA1)

Chris recieved and email to say we'd been approved and approval notice had been sent. (didn't arrive)

A few days later he received a letter with our case number and to say our paperwork would be on it's way to the consulate etc...... but still no official NOA2.

Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated before the rest of my hair drops out from stressing....lol

[Dave_n_Genna 0]

Kiwiana, thx for the reply =)

Why are u freaking out about the AoS? Is there a large chance of being RFE and sent back to NZ or something? To be honest I have not researched it all terribly much, since the guides are a bit lacking once you are out of the K1 process.

Right now, my only fear is of them frowning on the fact that Genna has not worked for about a year now. I have been supporting her through the past year, as we have been working on the Visa, and she has been over here for about 6 months of the past year, making employment difficult. I hope this doesnt affect the interview =(

Otherwise, I just cant wait to get her over here.

[Kim & Chris 0]

LisaandTim: That's great news that your SO got his medical done too. Wonder if he and michelle were there around the same time?

Dave_n_Genna: After the bright pink letter with the interview date, I never received anything else from the embassy, so everything should be ok if she moves now

Kim & Chris: CONGRATULATIONS!!! on your wedding!! wonderful!!!

mmm lobster and shrimps for lunch!! has got my mouth watering here!!

Please let us know how you get on with the AOS. I have been freaking out about it big time since i received the k1 visa. I just wish i knew 100% what to do as to not get a RFE! I really don't want a tb skin test as i have heard that some that were vaccinated against it as a child now show positive when they get the tb skin test done, even though they don't have it!! I just want to get the whole process out of the way without any hassles..

As for moving soon, well i am feeling pressure big time at the moment. My son needs to find somewhere to live. I have to get rid of all my furniture (i just want to throw it away as it isn't new stuff. The people that do come and collect furniture for removal, don't come out to my area and i don't have a towbar on my car so can't take it to them )

My SO asked me when i will leave, i had no answer but have now told him the target is for 2nd week in March, if i am lucky!!.

Have to hand notice in at work as well as give notice to landlady where i live too but until i know definitely when i will leave i can't do either.... so i am rather flustered at the moment as you can tell!! LOL!!!

Anyway, it will all come right in the end, i am sure.. just got to stay focused!!

Ana: I can relate to your dilemma, believe me. I got to the stage where I just wanted to pack a suitcase and leave everything else behind just as it was....just shut the door...lol

I was very lucky, my son is 28 and he moved back into the house to take care of everything for me. I sold off some stuff but as he was moving back into the house, I could leave most of the furniture in it for him to use. That was a relief, believe me but i did feel bad coz i left a bit of a mess behind, I was still in a flap racing around doing things right up until I had to leave for the airport

You wait soooo long to get the approval and you really don't want to get rid of too much stuff in case you're declined, then all of a sudden you get the big yes and it's all on, no time to do everything.

I don't think people who haven't gone through it can truly understand the strain it puts on you.

As you can see by my post above, every stage has it's problems...lol....but I'm sure we'll all look back on this in a couple of years and wonder what all the fuss was about ......chin up

[kiwiana 2]

Kiwiana, thx for the reply =)

Why are u freaking out about the AoS? Is there a large chance of being RFE and sent back to NZ or something? To be honest I have not researched it all terribly much, since the guides are a bit lacking once you are out of the K1 process.

Right now, my only fear is of them frowning on the fact that Genna has not worked for about a year now. I have been supporting her through the past year, as we have been working on the Visa, and she has been over here for about 6 months of the past year, making employment difficult. I hope this doesnt affect the interview =(

Otherwise, I just cant wait to get her over here.

Nothing major will happen about AOS. Won't be sent back to NZ or anything drastic like that!! sorry, i didnt mean to give that impression at all!!! I am merely worried ( i am a champion worry wort )as i am not really understanding the whole AOS process with the new requirements. I guess i just want to send in the AOS and not have to worry that i MAY get a RFE because i didn't send this in or that.

I have asked on vj forum about the tb skin test. One said they got approved without the skin test. While others say you need to get it done. so am just unsure of what is the RIGHT way to go about it. so hopefully someone here (ahem! kimandruss, Kim&chris ) may send away for it soon and be able to tell us exactly what they did and how they got on!!

[Dave_n_Genna 0]

Haha, I understand being a king of worry, believe me! I think I may drive Genna crazy before all this is done! =)

[kiwiana 2]

Ana: I can relate to your dilemma, believe me. I got to the stage where I just wanted to pack a suitcase and leave everything else behind just as it was....just shut the door...lol

I was very lucky, my son is 28 and he moved back into the house to take care of everything for me. I sold off some stuff but as he was moving back into the house, I could leave most of the furniture in it for him to use. That was a relief, believe me but i did feel bad coz i left a bit of a mess behind, I was still in a flap racing around doing things right up until I had to leave for the airport

You wait soooo long to get the approval and you really don't want to get rid of too much stuff in case you're declined, then all of a sudden you get the big yes and it's all on, no time to do everything.

I don't think people who haven't gone through it can truly understand the strain it puts on you.

As you can see by my post above, every stage has it's problems...lol....but I'm sure we'll all look back on this in a couple of years and wonder what all the fuss was about ......chin up

Yes!! you are soo right!! we wait so long for the approval and then when it is granted, it's like a mad rush is on to get everything that has taken your lifetime to acquire to now sort through and get rid of.

I am a sentimentalist and the hardest thing i have found is to not be able to take things that mean so much to me. My SO and I met online 10 years ago through the love of music/a music list! and he sent me mixed tapes - hand written tracklists and then further through the years cdr's of mixed songs etc. The amount is huge and just simply can't take them all with me.

I told him of my dilemma and he said to me that he has duplicates of what he sent me, so there is no need for me to take them but it was still very hard for me to let go of them!!

And photographs too of my kids, growing up and now adults. Family pics.. Just too many to take, so last weekend, i was going through them and picking out ones to keep. very difficult to do!!

The other things like furniture that i don't care too much about, is the biggest headache for me at the moment. i have now got to the stage, as you said, where i just want to pack my suitcase and just run away!!! LOL!

i know everything will sort itself out and as you say , will look back in a few years and wonder what all the fuss is about

[kiwiana 2]

Haha, I understand being a king of worry, believe me! I think I may drive Genna crazy before all this is done! =)

[Lisaandtim 0]

Haha, I understand being a king of worry, believe me! I think I may drive Genna crazy before all this is done! =)

Sorry, another question about I-134 -

Do I need to send him 2 copies of it or just one?

[rubyred 0]

from all the researching i've been doing, my understanding of AOS is that it's not bad if you're here on a K-1 - basically, you've already done a lot of work to prove your relationship etc. so i think most of the process is 'formality' from the time you get here. a lot of K-1s don't even have to interview for the AOS because they've already gone through the interview stage at the consulate in their home country.

we're getting close to making a decision as to what path we'll take... guess which way we're leaning

[kelzm 0]

Kiwiana - I know it's not the same as having the original photo, but have you thought about getting some of the photos you can't bring and getting them scanned? Then you can save them on to a usb pen, or use an online storage/print site (I use shutterfly). They'll be there for you to access, or print them out when you get to the usa.

I brought a lot of photos with me and I realised that my son had none of himself growing up, or any of the family events we'd been to so as part of his xmas present I spent time scanning the photo's and made up an album for him. With shutterfly it's very easy, you can get the prints mailed to you, or you can send them to your local target store for pick up in an hour.

Also... if you don't have a scanner and don't want to pay a service to do it, check out your local library. We had scanners at all of our library branches and it was free to use and most internet sites are free also, so you can upload direct from there.