Howdy

[cjbaker16 3]

Hello

I have been trolling this forum for many weeks now (it's so useful and comforting to read other people's experiences) so I figured I would actually join. I am from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and my boyfriend is from Orange County, California. We have been together officially since January this year but we met last September and pretty much were together without that awkward discussion "are we together"? I won't go into detail about our amazing love story (haha) but I will say we know because we know and when you know, you know.

We filed our K-1 Visa petition in August and received our NOA2 on September 11, 2013. I misread old comments about the process from USCIS > NVC and raced out to organise my police report, got any outstanding vaccinations in prep for the medical and almost pushed daily to have the affidavit of support docs posted to me all to find out it actually takes longer than that now and with the shutdown who knows. Better to be prepared than not though right.

I've had people tell me I am outright stupid for leaving what I have here in Australia to go to America where the economy and working conditions aren't as great, but none of that matters because love wins out.

So far in this whole process I have been able to read information off this forum and other websites and it has negated the need for an immigration lawyer. I hope that can continue. I work in government so I know the gist of how many overbearing forms are needed repeatedly and I am very process driven. So I think I will have a handle on this for us both.

Anyway... I shall resume trolling for info!