New to the board

[MicheleUS & JohnUK 0]

Hi! I've been lurking for a couple weeks and figured I better jump in and say hi.

My name is Michele (US) and my husband is John (UK). We've been married over 4 years and live in Scotland. My husband was made redundant after 20 years of working with this company. His last day of work is December 31st.

We are going to immigrate to the US now and on Sept 16th filed the I-130 in the London Embassy. I received a notice that says the I-130 was file on 9/22. Is that what you'd consider NOA1?!?!?! There was no case number on this postcard they sent so I can't track it online.

We put our house on the market last week because we thought it would take up to 6 months to sell (it isn't a desirable location for most as there are apartments right behind us). It sold in one week. So we are out of our house as of January 15th. We can stay with his parents but they are older and real nervous and our 2 kids under 4 yrs will make then crazy.

When I originally started reading the boards I thought I read that it was taking about 3-4 months on average to get a greencard. Now, I'm reading more and finding that it's more like 7 months and longer. Can anyone give me happy news here?!??!!

I'm getting really nervous. We have no job (as of right now) after December 31st and nowhere to live (that we can stay for any length of time) after January. I could fly to the states with the girls myself but I think it would really upset us all to be apart very long.

So, anyone have any good info for me, or advice? Anyone on this board in the UK going for the CR1 right now?

Michele

[munchkins 0]

Hi Michele and John

welcome to VJ, have fun while you are here and don't be afraid to post your questions, take it as you find it and discard what you don't want to read, otherwise enjoy

Good luck for the rest of the journey, hope it goes quickly for you

[MicheleUS & JohnUK 0]

Hi Munchkins,

Thanks! You are UK also? But did you file form the states? Why did it take so long to get your approval?

So you know of any couples that are both in the UK and filing?

Michele

[Welshcookie 17]

Hi Michele welcome to the board ...try posting your questions here http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showforum=82 you will get more views and advice that is relevant to your situation. We are in the UK but won't be filing until '09 so I can't help you much I am afraid.

Good luck!

[Fatty 0]

Hi Michelle,

We're in a similar situation to you.

I'm the US citizen, but I've lived here most of my life (my kids don't have US citizenship, so I'm applying for visas for them too).

It sounds like you are applying via Direct Consular Filing, through London. Which is the fastest way to get a visa. That's the route we're going too.

From my understanding of it all, getting the I-130 approval usually takes about 3 months. Then we get sent the visa application package, including the affidavit of support form. I suggest you read up on that at the embassy website and start filling it out now, and gathering documents etc to speed up the process.

Then when you file your notification of readiness for visa interview, I think it takes them a further 3-4 months to process and provide an interview date.

We sent our I-130 off end of july, and I think they started processing it August 1st. We're still awaiting approval. We're hoping (all fingers crossed, and seriously praying every night...) to have the visas by Feb, because we are expecting another baby, and we really want the visas first, so the baby can travel with us without needing a seperate I-130 filed.

We're fixing up the house ready to put it on the market in 2-3 months or so.

[Fatty 0]

Also, we're in Scotland too.

[MicheleUS & JohnUK 0]

Scotland too?!?! Where?

Are you the husband or wife? If you're the wife, just wondering why your kids aren't able to get citizenship?

Please let me know as soon as you get approval to give me hope!!! Do you have a case number yet? What type of notification have you already received so far?

So you want to have the baby here then? When the baby is born won't you then need to file for the baby before you can go?

Where are you going to live in the states? What are you going to do about health insurance? Have you researched movers already? DId you file the ds230 at the same time?

Michele

[ninamyers 0]

Welcome It's always nice to see people from the UK! I hope all goes well for you! I'm reckoning things might speed up a little now after the delay from IMBRA which has clogged up USCIS for so long...

Good luck!

[MicheleUS & JohnUK 0]

Thanks Nina! What was the delay?

Where are you in the UK?

Michele

[no name 1]

Welcome.

I see you have a lot of questions.

Have a look here at timelines for both the I-130(K3) and the CR1. Filter it for the UK. That should help you...

http://www.visajourney.com/timeline/

Edited October 7, 2006 by devilette

[Fatty 0]

We're from the Falkirk area. Where in Scotland are you?

I'm the wife. I was born to US citizen parents, but was born here in Scotland and have lived here most of my life. In order for the kids to be eligible for citizenship, I have to have lived in the USA for 5 years since turning 14 I think it is. I've only lived there about 2 years total, and it was all during childhood. The kids will get citizenship as soon as they enter the US on their visas though, under the Child Citizenship Act 2000 section 320.

Yes I want to have the baby here. I read on the embassy FAQs that a baby born after the visas are issued, can travel with us as long as we bring the baby's full birth certificate and passport. If the baby is born before we get the visas, I think we need to apply for an I-130 for the baby, which will set us all back by months. I'm keen to get over there and get started with our new lives.

Regarding movers, we're just taking a very limited amount of stuff with us and will just be shipping most of it surface mail. The important stuff will be packed in our suitcases. And we'll just pretty much start from scratch as far as furniture etc goes. We're moving in with my dad and step mother initially, in Maine. They have a huge house and are soooo keen to see the kids, they feel they've missed out so much thus far and are looking forward to making up for lost time. It will help us to just get over the initiall immigration stuff, get settled in, build up some savings hopefully before we move on.

I really don't know about health insurance! We're both self-employed so I imagine it will cost us an arm and a leg. Haven't crossed that bridge yet though.

We haven't received approval of the I-130s yet either, but I don't expect it will be too much longer. We only filed shortly before you did so we don't have a case number or anything yet either. We're about finished with the I-864 and DS 230, just to be prepared, but I'm still gathering the supporting documentation and we haven't been able to get the forms for the police certificate yet. Then the police certificate can take up to 40 days to arrive, so if you haven't already, it might be a good idea to persue that just now, so as to avoid delays when the time comes.

Where in the US are you moving?

I'm also not sure where we'll live in the Uk if/when we sell our house. We'll have our two daughters and a baby, so it won't be easy squeezing us in to our parents. If it's only for a few weeks I guess we'll stay with parents, but if we sell months in advance we'll probably look into renting for a short while.

Phew, this was a long winded post. Sorry. It's good to "talk" with someone else at the same stage in the process as me. I hope we can keep each other posted with how it all goes.

Fatty (Denise)

Scotland too?!?! Where?

Are you the husband or wife? If you're the wife, just wondering why your kids aren't able to get citizenship?

Please let me know as soon as you get approval to give me hope!!! Do you have a case number yet? What type of notification have you already received so far?

So you want to have the baby here then? When the baby is born won't you then need to file for the baby before you can go?

Where are you going to live in the states? What are you going to do about health insurance? Have you researched movers already? DId you file the ds230 at the same time?

Michele

[MicheleUS & JohnUK 0]

Denise,

Just down the road practically. We're in East Kilbride.

We're basically starting over when we get there too, but my John can't part with boxes and boxes of books and CD's and we have alot of decorations from traveling and my nice dishes and new pot sets, etc. So, guess we are going to need a container. But we are stumped about that because the house is sold Jan 15th and we don't know if we should send our stuff over then (risking that what if he doesn't get the greencard.....and there should be no reason why he doesn't...but you can never be too sure....and then we have no more stuff!!!!) or put it in storage until we know for sure and then intnl move it. And we have to seel off our entire contents by Jan 15th and I just can't see that happening!!! So it will either be going to charity or the coup.

We're doing the same...living with my folks in TN which will be great for my kids! And then eventually buy a house. John wants to go back to Uni and get a teaching certif and be a teacher, so the first 2 years there we are in limbo a bit.

We got the police certif already to be ready. And we are going to try to sponsor ourselves with capital and if that doesn't work I have had my father fillout the 864 as back up.

Definitely keep in touch!!!!!

[Fatty 0]

Excellent. We're in East Kilbride every Wednesday for a homeschooling playgroup thing we take the kids to. Not too far at all from here.

How long did it take you to get the police record through? Was it the full 40 days? I'm a bit nervous about that.

Yeah, we're not taking decoration things or plates etc, but for me, it's pieces of paper with sentimental value...I can't part with. Like songs we wrote when we were teenagers, love letters to each other etc. I'm such a sucker for that stuff. But it all piles up and it's heavy!

If you google moving overseas, or emmigrating moving complanies or something quite a lot comes up. We were looking into it for a while. We're going to go ahead and start shipping some boxes now, but like you, we're nervous about what if they don't get their visas...then our stuff will need to be sent back again! Storage is a good option, I've seen a bunch of signs up recently for a storage company. I can't remember the name, but they have big signs up at Cumbernauld, saying self storage from £5 or something.

As far as getting rid of stuff, we're going to be doing car boot sales probably and free cycle. Have you heard of it?

http://www.freecycle.org/display.php?region=United%20Kingdom

We've used it a few times before, and it's amazing how fast things get grabbed up. It's nice to know your things have gone to someone who needed/wanted them, instead of just to the dump.

TN sounds wonderful. Yeah we're not too established with our plans for when we get there. We're trying to just get us over there first, then take things a step at a time. It's all good fun (stressful! But good fun)

[MicheleUS & JohnUK 0]

Where is the playgroup?

It took 2-3 weeks to get the Scottish police report but the one from Scotland Yard is suppose to take longer. My husband just told me that...I thought we had the only one!

Yes, I use freecycle alot! I love it!

Where did you say you were moving in the states?

Michele

[rebeccajo 14]

Welcome to VJ and back to America!