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

[cdneh 3,112]

Back again...we drove to Arkansas (Searcy) and back in an SUV with two kids under ten. Heaven help me my ears are still ringing. And I hate Hannah Montana.

Things went well otherwise, his father, who is 95 and has memory issues, got through the ceremony without a hitch, other than calling me by 2 different names at various times. We had a nice small reception back at their quite lovely home, and stayed a few days to catch up with them all and relax a bit.

We are back in VA now, and back working on the flat. I see more of Lowe's and Home Depot than anyone should have to do ..heh..but we are painting this week and putting down the new floors and then I get to to what he calls the frou-frou bits. I am good at frou-frou

Here's a pic for you to have a look at...not bad for a couple of old folks who scrub up okay

Prezzies!

Cake cutting

After match with the Mother in law

Kate you look lovely and your dress is gorgeous......congrats to you both....looks like you had a wonderful day...............I can't believe you were in Searcy. That's where I live !!!! ...and where i got married...so snap!!

Chris' flatmate moved out in early March, taking all of his stuff with him as you would expect, so we've had to buy up large on many things....so I also know Lowes well....lol

After living in Auckland my whole life, and having to suffer through peak hour traffic for many years, I was looking forward to the slower pace of Searcy, (about the size of Pukekohe), and as nice as it is, (and the people are lovely), I'm glad Chris has said it's time to start organising the move west to San Francisco, it won't be till towards the end of the year, but he knows I like a project. He's lived in many places throughout the states, but he's a Californian boy and SF is his favourite.

Good heavens..imagine we were in the same town and didn't know it! I wish I'd seen your post before we came back here...we could have met up. We will be back there yet, Chases's parents live there, and his brother is near by, so if I'm coming again I will let you know!

[kelzm 0]

Lovely pics cdneh! A big congrats on the wedding and here's hoping that all the renovating goes well.

Glad to see people are still trekking along on here. It's been a busy few weeks for me so had a few posts to catch up on.

I'm off next Saturday to an ANZAC day celebration which will be the first time that I've met up with other kiwis since I arrived here in September. Looking forward to driving up to San Jose and hearing some familiar accents!

[kiwiana 2]

cdneh: wonderful wedding pics! your wedding dress is gorgeous! congrats to both of you! hope all goes well with the painting this week

Michelle: How's everything going?

Kim&Chris: SF is on my list of places i want to visit! My SO says its lovely there! so hopefully by the end of the year we may be able to take a vacation there for a few days

Ed+Cindy: hope you have success with your feijoa seeds. If they take, they will certainly be a talking point with friends etc as i don't think they have them here at all do they?

kelzm: lovely to hear that all is going well!

[rubyred 0]

got my medical done, will finally send package tomorrow!

[Kelvan 0]

cdneh congrats!!! It's great to see pics of your wedding, you look beautiful! Sorry everyone I haven't been updating lately. I've been pretty busy with wedding plans. We are getting married September 18th in Kansas. So I won't be going over til around late July/August. I hear there is another process you have to go through once there, which is what a lot of you are probably doing right now I see. Just when I thought I was done!

[KimandRuss 0]

awww Kate, you look beautiful! Congratulations!

Justine, huge congratulations to you! It's hard to believe where we both were one short year ago, eh? I'm very happy for you both!

Yes, Michelle...what's been up with you and yours? How is Rob feeling?

Kelly, yup, yet another process (and another $1010) to go through once you're here. I can't tell you how much I resented putting together AOS after all we had already been through! I simply did not want to bother to do it and since we were in no rush we waited until just a couple of weeks ago to file. Probably not such a good idea to wait so long but no regrets... it's there now and hopefully we wont have much more to do until we need to apply for the 10 year.

Congratulations to everyone else with good news! I don't have enough time to read through all the posts i've missed so forgive me if i've missed something.

My brother lived in SF bay/Menlo Park area for years. It's actually where he went missing 6 years ago. Beautiful weather and the coastline is just breathtaking!

I've been so busy with work that i've had little time to get on VJ. When I do I have to put my moderator duties ahead of my posting. Can't say I like that much!

Things are still going very well with us. Now that AOS is sent out Russell is putting together an updated CV/Resume. Not sure how many engineering geology jobs are in MA but hopefully he finds something he loves!

[Ed+Cindy 1]

Hey congrats to all of you who's now happily living with your SO in the US. Ed and I are still waiting for my visa to pass the name check....

Just wondering, does any one of you live in NZ now? I'm in Auckland. It would be nice if I could meet another kiwi who shares something in common .

Cindy

[kiwiana 2]

KimandRuss and Kelvan: It's lovely to hear from you guys!!! Ed+Cindy: I think there are a few of us that are still in nz.

As for myself,on Monday i phoned SSA and tried to make an appointment to get my SSN into my married name and was told they don't make appointments for that. Just walk ins only.

So yesterday, my SO took me to a different SSA office to get my ssn in my married name (recap: the last office i went to.. at first the lady was going to deny me a ssn and then her supervisor said i could have one but NOT in my married name)

When we arrived, I was surprised to find the waiting room completely empty!! This time my SO came inside with me and i was so glad of that as my experience the first time around was very stressful and upsetting. I handed the guy the required documents and he began to question my wanting it in my married name. I showed him the document that i had downloaded from their website that says that i am able to get it in my married name.

He was a bit hesitant. I thought oh no! here we go again!! My SO pointed to the form that i had produced and asked the guy to explain what it meant? Did it not mean that i was able to get it in my married name? There was a bit of a debate as we were clearly showing frustration by it all.

My SO then turned to the security guard (who was sitting calmly at his desk just listening to what was going on)and said to him that we werent wanting to make trouble but we know we can have ssn in married name. The guard understood our frustration and we all agreed to get the supervisor and he came out and my SO asked him to explain the section on their policy about getting it in married name.

The supervisor said i can have it in married name but they have to clear it with DHS first. He then went on to say that with the k-1 visa and the 1-94 i CAN work! I said to him, i am not allowed to work until i get work permit.. but he kept saying you CAN work as you have DHS authorization and on your ssn it says valid for work only with DHS authorization and you have that in your passport. I said to him I think only JFK POE gives a temporary work permit with the k-1 nowadays.. but he was adamant that I can work...

Anyway, as far as getting ssn in my married name. the supervisor says they have to clear it with DHS first and it could take up to 6 weeks but hopefully will not take more than four.

whew! I am so glad that is over with. It's like hitting your head against a brick wall dealing with SSA. I'm hoping to send in the AOS package the first week of May if all goes well. Just waiting on employer letter from my SO and his mum (household member)

[Kim & Chris 0]

KimandRuss and Kelvan: It's lovely to hear from you guys!!! Ed+Cindy: I think there are a few of us that are still in nz.

As for myself,on Monday i phoned SSA and tried to make an appointment to get my SSN into my married name and was told they don't make appointments for that. Just walk ins only.

So yesterday, my SO took me to a different SSA office to get my ssn in my married name (recap: the last office i went to.. at first the lady was going to deny me a ssn and then her supervisor said i could have one but NOT in my married name)

When we arrived, I was surprised to find the waiting room completely empty!! This time my SO came inside with me and i was so glad of that as my experience the first time around was very stressful and upsetting. I handed the guy the required documents and he began to question my wanting it in my married name. I showed him the document that i had downloaded from their website that says that i am able to get it in my married name.

He was a bit hesitant. I thought oh no! here we go again!! My SO pointed to the form that i had produced and asked the guy to explain what it meant? Did it not mean that i was able to get it in my married name? There was a bit of a debate as we were clearly showing frustration by it all.

My SO then turned to the security guard (who was sitting calmly at his desk just listening to what was going on)and said to him that we werent wanting to make trouble but we know we can have ssn in married name. The guard understood our frustration and we all agreed to get the supervisor and he came out and my SO asked him to explain the section on their policy about getting it in married name.

The supervisor said i can have it in married name but they have to clear it with DHS first. He then went on to say that with the k-1 visa and the 1-94 i CAN work! I said to him, i am not allowed to work until i get work permit.. but he kept saying you CAN work as you have DHS authorization and on your ssn it says valid for work only with DHS authorization and you have that in your passport. I said to him I think only JFK POE gives a temporary work permit with the k-1 nowadays.. but he was adamant that I can work...

Anyway, as far as getting ssn in my married name. the supervisor says they have to clear it with DHS first and it could take up to 6 weeks but hopefully will not take more than four.

whew! I am so glad that is over with. It's like hitting your head against a brick wall dealing with SSA. I'm hoping to send in the AOS package the first week of May if all goes well. Just waiting on employer letter from my SO and his mum (household member)

Ana that sux!!! I feel for you, I truly do.

You shoulda come on down to Searcy Arkansas and applied where I did, I was in and out and off to walmart quicker than a quick thing.

But seriously, it's hard coz you don't want to rock the boat too much in case there's a big black tick goes against your name somewhere, but honestly, when you know you're right and you've got to deal with uninformed incompetence it's enough to make you want to sit down and cry

Your still valid I-94, the apropriate ID, and your Marriage Cert is all that should be required and it should only take 2 weeks max to turn up in the mail. We know it, it's a pity some of them don't.

Never mind, get your AOS in and then just sit back and join the rest of us waiting, it'll all be over soon

[kelzm 0]

Though it took me a little longer, reading all these stories I'm glad that I went with the I-130, once I was through POE I didn't have to do anything but wait for the greencard and ssn to turn up in the mail. Then again, I do have to remove my conditions once two years are up, so not sure what kind of trial that will turn out to be

Here's hoping that AOS doesnt bring you all too many more trials.

[kiwiana 2]

We managed to send off the AOS package today(sent it via express mail. It is suppose to arrive there tomorrow) Back in the waiting room again How long approximately did it take before the NOA1 was received after mailing out the package??

hope everyone is doing well

[Kim & Chris 0]

We managed to send off the AOS package today(sent it via express mail. It is suppose to arrive there tomorrow) Back in the waiting room again How long approximately did it take before the NOA1 was received after mailing out the package??

hope everyone is doing well

Sent the parcel in on 23rd Feb and I got the little card thing back about a week later to say the parcel had been delivered and signed for . The first NOA1 letter arrived on 7th March 12 days after I sent AOS off. And so the waiting continues.......

[kiwiana 2]

Sent the parcel in on 23rd Feb and I got the little card thing back about a week later to say the parcel had been delivered and signed for . The first NOA1 letter arrived on 7th March 12 days after I sent AOS off. And so the waiting continues.......

12 days is pretty good! It's a bit like deja vu. In the waiting room again There was so much to remember to put into the package. I hope I never left anything out

[rubyred 0]

we were so freakin stressed right up to the last minute - assembling the package was so confusing, making sure we had duplicates of various things to go with different forms. to make matters worse, we were doing this all the night before we had to flight out to chicago at the very last minute to be with jordan's family - his baby niece had a malignant tumour and a kidney removed. so we were worried about this whole AOS thing, and had no idea what our niece's prognosis was. thankfully, she's in the clear, as they caught it earlier enough. she's a very lucky baby!

[Lisaandtim 0]

Sent the parcel in on 23rd Feb and I got the little card thing back about a week later to say the parcel had been delivered and signed for . The first NOA1 letter arrived on 7th March 12 days after I sent AOS off. And so the waiting continues.......

12 days is pretty good! It's a bit like deja vu. In the waiting room again There was so much to remember to put into the package. I hope I never left anything out

Hello everyone !

Sorry haven't been on much. I have been busy with wedding, AOS paperwork, and finals for my pharmacy class, which I passed!

We have the biometrics appointment tomorrow. They're making us drive way out of our way but lol guess I should be used to that by now.

I was wondering if we have to bring the K1 stuff too as it says bring all paperwork in regards to this document or something along that lines. Does anyone know?

Glad to see the progress some of you are having. Hope it continues.