How has it been for you ?

[luv2teach77 41]

My wife and I started our Visajourney in July of 2004 and I've been living just outside of St. Louis, MO since March of 2005.

I'm just wondering how everyone has been doing since their big move stateside ? I haven't been on these forums for quite some time so have no idea if any of the people I waited out this process with all those years ago are still active on this site or not ?

My experience, normal ups and downs of married life excluded, has been overwhelmingly positive. I have been employed with the same company since January of 2006, we bought our first house in April of 2007, Welcomed a daughter into the world in March of 2009 and celebrated 5 years of marriage in April of 2010. Yes there have been some stresses and some trials and tribulations but through them all we have had each other and none of those have really had anything to do with the visa process itself.

I miss my family and my friends and my hometown of London but I don't miss any of those things enough to make me question my decision to move here. I love my family, like my job, have some great friends stateside and have probably achieved more in the 5 years I've been here than I'd have managed had I stayed in the UK.

The hardest part of this whole process for me was waiting to get my EAD once I arrived in the US. That was a LOOOONG 10 months and I did start to get a little stir crazy at times during that period. At that time I felt like all the independence that I'd gained in the UK had just disappeared and I really struggled with my apparent lack of identity. I can vouch for the fact though that you get all the independence back, just hang in there. As they say, patience is a virtue and it certainly helps when getting setup after a move stateside.

So... How are you all doing ? What were the hardest parts of your transition into being a legal immigrant in the US ?

Mark