Irish in the US

[sowens 0]

Josh,

Congrats on the job! I am sure you will make the right decision. Sounds like you had a great time on your trip. Florida does have some great places to visit. We loved St. Augustine as well. We didnt make it to the Keys tho, sounds like fun! Let us know what you decide on the job.

Our case was completed at NVC yesterday, finally, so we are hoping to hear some good news concerning an interview soon. Hopefully it wont take too long for NVC to ship our files. I am going to ring the Embassy to see if we can request an early interview date as Niall is already prepared. Medical, police cert. etc, have all been done as we were going to go the K-3 route. So we will see what happens.

Hope all is going well for everyone! Take care!

Sherry

[J&D 0]

Decided to turn down the NYC offer and stay in Charlotte. Have started school in the evenings here and want to see the course thru to the end, plus I like my apartment and don't want a cubicle in NYC for twice the price. But am sad about the job, it would have been a good one....sniff sniff, but I am sure there will be others...

Let us know if you hear back on an interview date. Fingers crossed they will see Niall soon.

[aidan80 9]

Bump!...

Anyone heading back home for a visit this year? The wife and I intend to move back near the end of the year. We're going to get a look at a few places to live, jobs and stuff like that in May. Any and all advice would be welcome!

[J&D 0]

I'll be going back in May for a week. Have to do an exam but will see family for a few days. I am looking forward to the trip but not looking forward to driving on the other side with a manual...am too used to driving on the right hand side with an automatic now. Hope I don't get killed driving out of the car rental lot at Shannon...that would be embarressing...

Why are you heading back? Do you have to give up the greencard?

[Donal78 0]

Bump!...

Anyone heading back home for a visit this year? The wife and I intend to move back near the end of the year. We're going to get a look at a few places to live, jobs and stuff like that in May. Any and all advice would be welcome!

We wont be heading back for another 12 months at least as my wife is pregnant. She is due in October. Best of luck in moving back.

We are also thinking of maybe moving back in early 2008 to start a business. Then we can bide our time between here and ireland. You wont loose your greeencard as long as your not away continuesly for over 6 months.

[aidan80 9]

I'll be going back in May for a week. Have to do an exam but will see family for a few days. I am looking forward to the trip but not looking forward to driving on the other side with a manual...am too used to driving on the right hand side with an automatic now. Hope I don't get killed driving out of the car rental lot at Shannon...that would be embarressing...

Why are you heading back? Do you have to give up the greencard?

We are heading back for a number of reasons. The life style here isn’t for us, we’re in a constant state of rush between work, lunch, home and work again. It’s like we’re a record that keeps jumping, time to change the tune. I don’t have to give up the green card but I’ll most likely surrender it.

Bump!...

Anyone heading back home for a visit this year? The wife and I intend to move back near the end of the year. We're going to get a look at a few places to live, jobs and stuff like that in May. Any and all advice would be welcome!

We wont be heading back for another 12 months at least as my wife is pregnant. She is due in October. Best of luck in moving back.

We are also thinking of maybe moving back in early 2008 to start a business. Then we can bide our time between here and ireland. You wont loose your greeencard as long as your not away continuesly for over 6 months.

Congratulations on the baby!

One of the big reasons for us moving back is to setup our own businesses. We could do that here but it’s all too big here.

[J&D 0]

Best of luck to both with your businesses! I just closed mine (website design) before I moved to the US but I still dabble on the odd site (latest creation at www.te-ps.com) so when you all have your businesses set up back in the old country, give me a shout if you need any websites created.

Congrats Donal to you and your wife!

[Mand 1]

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here in ages, but seems everyone is doing great. Our daughter Sinéad is 3 and 1/2 months now and we think she's the best thing since sliced bread!! I would highly recommend parenthood, the 1st 5 weeks are a bit of a blur as we hadn't a clue what we were doing, but after that it all fell into place. She's been sleeping the night since she she was 5/6 weeks old, so we're really lucky!

Bump!...

Anyone heading back home for a visit this year? The wife and I intend to move back near the end of the year. We're going to get a look at a few places to live, jobs and stuff like that in May. Any and all advice would be welcome!

Lots of advice for ya! Are ye moving back to the North or South? Check out house prices in the area you're thinking of, as we didn't and are still gobsmacked at the price of houses over here. We're renting a 3 bed semi, which if it went up for sale would go for about E360,000!!! The mortgage interest rates are constantly going up too, which makes re-payments higher. It's not all doom and gloom, but the price of everything in Ireland these days is a real deterrant...we've been thinking of moving BACK to Ohio if you can believe that. There's 2 great websites for Irish houses. One is DAFT and the other is My Home.

If ye really do want to settle in Irealnd, do things your own way and don't listen to the negative comments that some Irish are known for. Make it your own and to hell with everyone else! What else...we used a company called UPakWeShip and it worked out the cheapest for us. We packed everything into boxes and made sure we had the minimum size requirement so it wouldn't cost too much. We were able to get all of our books etc over as it went by volume and not weight Thank God! Here's the website: UPakWeShip

Oh...move back in the summer if ye can, it makes the adjustment easier...not as much rain, it doesn't get dark till 10:30pm, people are in better moods etc

We wont be heading back for another 12 months at least as my wife is pregnant. She is due in October. Best of luck in moving back.

We are also thinking of maybe moving back in early 2008 to start a business. Then we can bide our time between here and ireland. You wont loose your greeencard as long as your not away continuesly for over 6 months.

Congrats on the pregnancy!!! Having a baby really does change things, but it's all for the better!! Brilliant news!

[Donal78 0]

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here in ages, but seems everyone is doing great. Our daughter Sinéad is 3 and 1/2 months now and we think she's the best thing since sliced bread!! I would highly recommend parenthood, the 1st 5 weeks are a bit of a blur as we hadn't a clue what we were doing, but after that it all fell into place. She's been sleeping the night since she she was 5/6 weeks old, so we're really lucky!

Bump!...

Anyone heading back home for a visit this year? The wife and I intend to move back near the end of the year. We're going to get a look at a few places to live, jobs and stuff like that in May. Any and all advice would be welcome!

Lots of advice for ya! Are ye moving back to the North or South? Check out house prices in the area you're thinking of, as we didn't and are still gobsmacked at the price of houses over here. We're renting a 3 bed semi, which if it went up for sale would go for about E360,000!!! The mortgage interest rates are constantly going up too, which makes re-payments higher. It's not all doom and gloom, but the price of everything in Ireland these days is a real deterrant...we've been thinking of moving BACK to Ohio if you can believe that. There's 2 great websites for Irish houses. One is DAFT and the other is My Home.

If ye really do want to settle in Irealnd, do things your own way and don't listen to the negative comments that some Irish are known for. Make it your own and to hell with everyone else! What else...we used a company called UPakWeShip and it worked out the cheapest for us. We packed everything into boxes and made sure we had the minimum size requirement so it wouldn't cost too much. We were able to get all of our books etc over as it went by volume and not weight Thank God! Here's the website: UPakWeShip

Oh...move back in the summer if ye can, it makes the adjustment easier...not as much rain, it doesn't get dark till 10:30pm, people are in better moods etc

We wont be heading back for another 12 months at least as my wife is pregnant. She is due in October. Best of luck in moving back.

We are also thinking of maybe moving back in early 2008 to start a business. Then we can bide our time between here and ireland. You wont loose your greeencard as long as your not away continuesly for over 6 months.

Congrats on the pregnancy!!! Having a baby really does change things, but it's all for the better!! Brilliant news!

Thank you, your baby is so cute. We are very exciting and cant wait to be parents. On moving back yes i know its expensive but as aidan said everything is a rush rush here. Even where we live now in MA we dont have time or energy to any of the things we did back in ireland. Everything has to be pre planned. But in saying that we both love the states but want our child to have the best future possible. Between ireland and the states you cant go wrong plus i have a large family back home.

If anyone is looking for a house we are selling ours in Oranmore. Its a 3 bedroom semi detached. Hopefully the house will sell over the next few months. When or if we move back we want to be closer to my family.

Its depends where you want to move back too. Galway has a slower pace to life and thats what we both like. I lived in dublin for 5 years but wouldnt move back in a heartbeat. Galway is the only place we would move back too. Yes ireland can be expensive but theres no place like home.

[J&D 0]

Sinéad is a beaut Mand!! Well done to you and Rob! How's Cork treating you? I'll be over in May for a few days to see my family in Cork City and while it will be good to see everyone as I'll be here for almost a year then, I have zero wish to move back to be honest because the cost of living has gotten stupid as you said.

For the same amount that the house you're in costs in US$, you can get stuff like this in Charlotte:

http://charlotte.homescape.com/charlotte/l...uct_id=20800927

http://charlotte.homescape.com/charlotte/l...uct_id=22460526

The other thing is I am lucky in that I find myself in the opposite situation to Aiden and Donal, at least for now, where I used to commute for 2-3 hours a day from Kildare to Dublin and as Donal pointed out, it is mad there, but I am working from home in Charlotte (for an Irish company) so the pace of life is much much slower now that I am in the US. Long may that last!!

[aidan80 9]

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here in ages, but seems everyone is doing great. Our daughter Sinéad is 3 and 1/2 months now and we think she's the best thing since sliced bread!! I would highly recommend parenthood, the 1st 5 weeks are a bit of a blur as we hadn't a clue what we were doing, but after that it all fell into place. She's been sleeping the night since she she was 5/6 weeks old, so we're really lucky!

Bump!...

Anyone heading back home for a visit this year? The wife and I intend to move back near the end of the year. We're going to get a look at a few places to live, jobs and stuff like that in May. Any and all advice would be welcome!

Lots of advice for ya! Are ye moving back to the North or South? Check out house prices in the area you're thinking of, as we didn't and are still gobsmacked at the price of houses over here. We're renting a 3 bed semi, which if it went up for sale would go for about E360,000!!! The mortgage interest rates are constantly going up too, which makes re-payments higher. It's not all doom and gloom, but the price of everything in Ireland these days is a real deterrant...we've been thinking of moving BACK to Ohio if you can believe that. There's 2 great websites for Irish houses. One is DAFT and the other is My Home.

If ye really do want to settle in Irealnd, do things your own way and don't listen to the negative comments that some Irish are known for. Make it your own and to hell with everyone else! What else...we used a company called UPakWeShip and it worked out the cheapest for us. We packed everything into boxes and made sure we had the minimum size requirement so it wouldn't cost too much. We were able to get all of our books etc over as it went by volume and not weight Thank God! Here's the website: UPakWeShip

Oh...move back in the summer if ye can, it makes the adjustment easier...not as much rain, it doesn't get dark till 10:30pm, people are in better moods etc

That’s a happy looking wein, that’s what I like to see!

We’re planning on moving over a few miles over the invisible border to the south, my family is in the north. We’re thinking about setting up our businesses in Donegal and living there if we can... lots of good reasons to now.

We know about the house prices, there almost as bad in the north now as they are in the south. The house prices in Florida are totally insane way too much then add the insurance, we’d never ever afford it. We are thinking about renting when we go back while the businesses grows then buying some land if we can and then building on it.

Listening to people didn’t the wife to Scotland then to Ireland or me to out of Ireland to Florida. I’ve already heard the typical negative comments.. “why you coming back here” “there isn’t much here, better off over there”. People over there don’t understand the lifestyle differences between here and there . I don’t want to spend an hour driving to work.. 9 hours at work another hour driving home, eating and going to bed. That’s assuming the weather is ok, I’m in Florida and the first bout of bad weather and I get to say hello to (it kinda is exciting in a weird sort of way ) overtime and 24 hour shifts. Which I admit is mad alright.. exciting in a lot of ways. It isn’t all bad here but the lifestyle thing is a big concern as is the business side of life and the life’s of our future babies.

I really wish we could go in the summer but we can’t. We were stupid enough to get a cat and a dog and due to importing them without the 6 month quarantine we can only fly at certain times due to temperature on the ground. We’ll be back home no later than December this year or else we wait another year.

Sinéad is a beaut Mand!! Well done to you and Rob! How's Cork treating you? I'll be over in May for a few days to see my family in Cork City and while it will be good to see everyone as I'll be here for almost a year then, I have zero wish to move back to be honest because the cost of living has gotten stupid as you said.

For the same amount that the house you're in costs in US$, you can get stuff like this in Charlotte:

http://charlotte.homescape.com/charlotte/l...uct_id=20800927

http://charlotte.homescape.com/charlotte/l...uct_id=22460526

The other thing is I am lucky in that I find myself in the opposite situation to Aiden and Donal, at least for now, where I used to commute for 2-3 hours a day from Kildare to Dublin and as Donal pointed out, it is mad there, but I am working from home in Charlotte (for an Irish company) so the pace of life is much much slower now that I am in the US. Long may that last!!

J&D I’m glad you managed to find the opposite than Donal and I have found so far. I hope your slow pace of life lasts a long, long time. Like I said here it’s a constant state of being that rabbit in the middle of the road, almost insane with the need to move.. yet stuck in the lights.

I hope everything works out for ye over here, for some it does and spectacularly so for others home is the best place.

[ddurkin 0]

Hi everyone! I've just been reading through all of your latest updates. Mand, Sinead is absolutely adorable!

All is well here in Indy. We celebrated our 1st anniversary this last sunday, in a very american fashion- went to the zoo, miniature golf, bowling, out for ice cream- it was great fun. Had a great dinner at a local sushi place as well (i know that sounds strange, sushi in Indiana, but it was GOOD!).

Everything is pretty much as it was last time I posted- jobs are going along, the house is shaping up nicely and starting to feel more like our home. eventually we'll move to Ireland but it's nice to be settled here for a little while!

We'll be heading over to Ireland probably in July- we'll become an auntie and uncle in early june and will need to take a trip over to see our new nephew! We're looking forward to seeing all the family and friends back in Cork.

Right so, hope all is still well with everyone, take care of yourselves!

[aidan80 9]

Well it's almost that time! We'll be going back home for a visit in about 3 weeks! We should arrive in Dublin 3 weeks from today. We're renting a wee car in Dublin (economy 5 door) from budget, anyone rented from budget before?

Does anyone have any travel advice, this will be my first time back home in a year and a half. This is also my first time using my green card! I'm also hunting out a decent exchange rate for UK Pounds and Euro!

[sowens 0]

Hi everyone! Just popping in to tell our news...... We got the VISA!!!!!! Niall went to the Embassy at the appointed time (1:00) said it was nothing like what he expected. The interveiw was over and done with before he knew it. He said they only asked one question about our marriage and that was "Has your wife ever been to Ireland?" He answered yes and that was that. He said there wasnt much else to tell as they didnt ask alot, just processed him thru. All in all the time he spent at the embassy was about 2 1/2 hours. The first person to talk with him was Irish, and he did say that she wasn't very pleasant. Then someone else came to him and took over. Hope everyone is well and good luck to those still in the process.

Sherry

[irishgirl73 0]

Hi everyone! Just popping in to tell our news...... We got the VISA!!!!!! Niall went to the Embassy at the appointed time (1:00) said it was nothing like what he expected. The interveiw was over and done with before he knew it. He said they only asked one question about our marriage and that was "Has your wife ever been to Ireland?" He answered yes and that was that. He said there wasnt much else to tell as they didnt ask alot, just processed him thru. All in all the time he spent at the embassy was about 2 1/2 hours. The first person to talk with him was Irish, and he did say that she wasn't very pleasant. Then someone else came to him and took over. Hope everyone is well and good luck to those still in the process.

Sherry

Great news

You must be over the moon-I am so happy for you both!

Colleen