LAND DOWNUNDER, Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

[kaffy 2]

How much stuff do you have?

We had a generous baggage allowance so we were only left with a couple of extra boxes of stuff so we just slow boated them over through the postal system. Reliable and everything arrived within the estimated time frame (10-12 weeks I think). Plus thanks to USPS's excellent service everything was delivered to our doorstep (contrary to Australia post who never bother to attempt delivery and always just leave a slip in the letter box )

Edited November 21, 2009 by kaffy

[alex and astrid 38]

have my interview date! December 15 at 8 am :)

[Miss Natalie 0]

have my interview date! December 15 at 8 am :)

Yay!! Good Luck! You'll do great

[Breezie54 2]

WooHooo Awesome.. You will do great just be yourself!!

Wishing mine was before Christmas... but oh well hopefully will be in the New Year.. But Leo will be here end of first week in December so that kinda makes up for it

[Breezie54 2]

You have to be legally wed on US soil, so getting married legally in Australia, whilst the right thing for you family situation, is totally out of the question for the US visa. If you do, you wavier the rights of a Fiance visa as you are married, and would have to start over to file for a Spouse (K3 or CR1) visa.

Having a mock ceremony/practice ceremony, where no legal documents are signed or where you don't have someone who can legally perform a marriage (a celebrant doing it without you signing the paper can be considered just as legal as signing the paper i believe) may work, but you need to get all the answers from the US government otherwise they may deny you entry at POE.

Thanks Chris & Mara.. i was going to have a clients son do the Mock Ceremony he has a marrage celebrants licence, was just going to make it a committment ceremony so may call him and see if he can still do it without it considered being legal..

[kaffy 2]

as long as you don't register with the BDM it should be fine

[kat loves matt 0]

Has anyone gotten their green card before their final interview? I got mine today and haven't had a final interview. I'm delighted but a bit confused.

Wondering if their approval processes have changed in the last few months?

[Warren and Cindy 6]

So I have finally made it to the US, I hope those traveling here it is less eventful than my trip.

Leaving Melbourne, Mother, Sister and her Kids saw me off at the airport, very hard as in the end there was no dry eyes between us.

Flight to Brisbane to catch connecting flight to LAX, though a bit stressing wasn't too bad.

13 hour flight from Australia to LAX was full so no chance of free seats to streach out on, plane makes good time, get to area ahead of schedule, thats where the fun starts

Fog in LA!!! yes thats right fog in LA, after circling LA for an hour we were diverted to Ontario, California About 45 miles east of LAX, there we sat a further 4 hours >< Missed my connecting flight, more on that later. stress level goes up.

POE, immigration.... so we finally get to custom/immigration, wait in queue and finally get to a immigration office, i hand over the "Mysterious Yellow Envelope" and I give him my passport/visa, he looks at it and then proceed open the envelope (inside eveything cindy and i have submitted so far) then he asks me what felony have i committed, at first i didn't understand what he was asking (i have never have had a fellony) i ask him what the question was agoing, i said i have not had any fellonies, he proceeds to ask me a list of things that i might have done like over staying visa, shoplifting, to which i say no to everything, then he tells me the visa says i have a minor fellony, i tell him its wrong, i do not, he porceeds to go over every docu,ent 3-4 times >< my stress level increasesto a high level. he finally can't find anything and lets me though.

Due to stress and lack of sleep i pick up a bag that looked 99% like mine (even had the same locks) get waved through custom and get the run around between Vaustralia and AA about rebooking my flight, realise the bag was not mine, got that sorted out and eventually AA gets on board and I get a flight to dallas where i stayed the night, then got the last leg of my journey and arrive in Charlette 20 hours late.

Not a very good trip here, my 6th to the US and worse by far, but was greeted by Cindy at the airport, that made up for everything.

At 9:15 am today Cindy and I married best day of our lives

[TerriandEric 4]

CONGRATS Warren & Cindy!! May your lives now be filled with much love laughter & happiness

We have finished compiling the I 129F package..Eric is posting it off to CSC tomorrow morning...crossing fingers for a speedy process without any hiccups.

[Deb+Steve 13]

So I have finally made it to the US, I hope those traveling here it is less eventful than my trip.

Leaving Melbourne, Mother, Sister and her Kids saw me off at the airport, very hard as in the end there was no dry eyes between us.

Flight to Brisbane to catch connecting flight to LAX, though a bit stressing wasn't too bad.

13 hour flight from Australia to LAX was full so no chance of free seats to streach out on, plane makes good time, get to area ahead of schedule, thats where the fun starts

Fog in LA!!! yes thats right fog in LA, after circling LA for an hour we were diverted to Ontario, California About 45 miles east of LAX, there we sat a further 4 hours >< Missed my connecting flight, more on that later. stress level goes up.

POE, immigration.... so we finally get to custom/immigration, wait in queue and finally get to a immigration office, i hand over the "Mysterious Yellow Envelope" and I give him my passport/visa, he looks at it and then proceed open the envelope (inside eveything cindy and i have submitted so far) then he asks me what felony have i committed, at first i didn't understand what he was asking (i have never have had a fellony) i ask him what the question was agoing, i said i have not had any fellonies, he proceeds to ask me a list of things that i might have done like over staying visa, shoplifting, to which i say no to everything, then he tells me the visa says i have a minor fellony, i tell him its wrong, i do not, he porceeds to go over every docu,ent 3-4 times >< my stress level increasesto a high level. he finally can't find anything and lets me though.

Due to stress and lack of sleep i pick up a bag that looked 99% like mine (even had the same locks) get waved through custom and get the run around between Vaustralia and AA about rebooking my flight, realise the bag was not mine, got that sorted out and eventually AA gets on board and I get a flight to dallas where i stayed the night, then got the last leg of my journey and arrive in Charlette 20 hours late.

Not a very good trip here, my 6th to the US and worse by far, but was greeted by Cindy at the airport, that made up for everything.

At 9:15 am today Cindy and I married best day of our lives

Congrats Warren & Cindy ... what a great chapter to add to the love story!

[Rings 10]

OMG this is like my first visit to Australia Re-lived.

I am from Colorado. It was a massive snow storm when I flew out to LAX. The plane was delayed so it could be de-iced. I missed my transfer flight directly to Melbourne. When I got there they put me on a flight to Sydney. Now before this I had never been on a plane longer than a half hour to Kansas so when they put me on a flight to Sydney (which I had to run to the gate because I had 11 minutes till take off) I had 14 hours to stew in the fact that I was going to the wrong part of the continent in a place i have never been and my wonderful man was not going to be there to save me. Not to mention I got my monthly visitor on the plane 2 days early and had nothing because it was all in my checked luggage. When I arrived in Sydnay the customs lines were so long that I stood in line crying. I had gone to find my luggage and it was not there. I tried to file a claim and missed 4 flights to Melbourne to get it resolved. They never could find my luggage at that point and the lady from the customs area saw me crying my eyes out and she came up to me and took my ticket. She did some research on her computer thing and let me through 9she felt sorry for me lol)

Finally I arrived in melbourne and I saw my baby. I was only 7 hours late, but he was still there waiting for me. He knew I got on the plane in Colorado and he couldn't get any information from the help desk because that information is based on passenger privacy. Finally some guy at Quantas felt sorry for him and told him I was in Sydney so he waited.

When I got to Melbourne I still had no luggage and I needed a shower and a store so I could get "essentials" my wonderful Loke was so understanding and so wonderful.

Even though it went the way it went....I would fly that trip a thousand more times if it meant that I could spend the rest of my life with him.

Thanks for reading my story and thanks for sharing yours. It made me smile knowing that even though your flight sucked.... you will find a moment to look back on it and remember the value of it.

Cheers Aussie Mate Oi Oi Oi !!!

[TerriandEric 4]

We filed our I 129F yesterday -- so now we have everything available crossed for a fast turn around. We are aiming for a June wedding but at this stage no dates have been picked until we get a better idea of the time line. We can only hope that they 90 days that we have been seeing holds true for us as well.

[Warren and Cindy 6]

good luck!!

i hope you both have a fast and easy journey

[Warren and Cindy 6]

Note on SS#

I thought to see what would happen with applying a week after i arrived, as we were at the office updating Cindy's and guess what, i recieved my SS card yesterday, so my details were in there 1 week after POE, so don't wait 2 weeks to apply

[Bacon 0]

We filed our I 129F yesterday -- so now we have everything available crossed for a fast turn around. We are aiming for a June wedding but at this stage no dates have been picked until we get a better idea of the time line. We can only hope that they 90 days that we have been seeing holds true for us as well.

I'm hoping for a June wedding as well but I'm starting to worry. I'm with the VSC and nothing's really been processed out of that one in about two weeks now. I'm so nervous that they've moved everyone off of processing the I-129F's and that they won't start working on them for another few months.