Children adjusting to the US?

[Wade+Kristin 0]

I hope this is the right place to post my thoughts and questions.

We're in the K1 process right now, waiting for our NOA2. We have 3 children altogether. One each from previous relationships plus a son together. Now that Wade is here in Norway to visit us all while we're waiting for the NOA2, we took our son to the embassy here in Oslo to fix his dual citizenship so he can travel on his own US passport. While we were there, we met other families in similar situations who were reporting their childrens births and such. Most of these families were ones that had decided to live in Norway, while we wish to live in the US.

Right now we have our heads filled with thoughts regarding the children here and moving them over to the US. It would be great if anyone could share their experiences regarding this. How old were the kids? How did they react to moving - learning a new language and culture? How about getting friends, going to school? Anything you did to ease them into their new home?

Any suggestions and advices you can provide when it comes to this would be appreciated very much. The kids here will be 4 and 9 years old.

- Kristin

[Old Dominion 26]

Kids that age are remarkably resilient. That is based on my personal experiences with couples who have adopted children from various countries and how quickly they have melded into the schools, churches, extended families, etc.

[Wade+Kristin 0]

Kids that age are remarkably resilient. That is based on my personal experiences with couples who have adopted children from various countries and how quickly they have melded into the schools, churches, extended families, etc.

Thank you so much for the reply! I am sure we're worrying more than what we need to do. Obviously we just want the kids to be happy once we arrive in the US. They both are very outgoing boys with lots of friends here, and I guess I am just worried that they may not be able to "fit in" after we move. Hopefully everything will be alright.

Kristin

[NickD 202]

In regards to immigration, that six page instruction sheet in for the I-130 form pretty well spells that out with all types of variables, such as whether the petitioner is a USC or a LPR. Natural born kids unmarried and under the age of 21 get the number one priority.

Teenagers are the worse to bring here, but not only for immigration, just in general, whether your job moves you from town to town or if you are serving in the military. It was the end of the world for my 14 year old step daughter to leave all the friends she grew up with, but she had the option to return to her home country when she turned 18, no way Jose, USA is her home and has made plenty of new friend here. She also had to learn to read, write, and speak English that she has done extremely well at. Besides she has grown accustomed to drinking clear clean fresh water from the tap, something she still can't do in her home country.

Norway may be a different story and a great deal depends upon where you move to the USA. Some places are a living nightmare, others are the most beautiful places you can find on earth.