Anyone Happy they Moved to the USA?

[Karl and Olga 3]

Hi, everybody. I'm from Ukraine. Came here on a fiance visa in 2011 with kids and a cat. I can tell you that I didn't miss my motherland even for a single day. Well, probably because my husband try to do everything for us, everything so we would feel like at home. And we did. For 3 years already nobody wants to go back, even for a small visit. Only our papa wants))))))), he likes Ukraine. So don't think that something will be bad, maybe she will need a little bit of time for adaptation (I didn't), just surround her with your love, if you are the one, if she is coming here because of you, because she wants to have a happy family, everything will be fine. Just don't forget that for you it's home, she might not feel the same way from the beginning, just try to be there for her, as much as you can.

[indiana_sweetie 120]

My husband has no regrets about moving to the US. He has been here a year and a half. It took him 5 months to find his first job His first job was in Walmart, it was a nightmare, they treated him like dirt and he was loading trucks, but he was happy just to be be working. When he worked at Walmart he bought a brand new car. After 5 months of working at Walmart he landed his dream job in his field of engineering, ever since then it's been smooth sailing, and just yesterday we bought our first home together. He loves it here, he loves his job ,he goes to the gym, he has made new friends and goes out with them at least once a week, he said he can't imagine moving back home although he misses home and friends. We are going to Jordan in May for a month to visit and bringing the kids with us. Can't wait.

I am so happy for you and your hubby! Nice house.

My husband is happy here. Of course he misses his family and the food and numerous coffee bars. We found a good coffee bar not too far away, a grocery store with some of the food he remembers, and he skypes with family almost every day. He started his first job last fall but this winter was harsh so there was no work. He has since found more steady work. He is making friends, learning the roads, and how things work here. I asked him if he thought he would ever want to move back and he said no.

[aamirpearl 47]

My husband loves it here, lots of great opportunity for him and his life is better than ever..

[Vintat 7]

Its a culture shock at first. Everything will be different from what she is used to. When I first moved here 10 years ago I was 19 and was being away from my mom and the family I was raised with for the first time. I think I cried everyday for a whole month. But after I started getting around, meeting people and getting used to the side of the family I wasn't raised with, I learned to deal with it. Once she gets here and starts getting on with life and getting involved in things, meeting people, and just learning the American culture she will be fine and then she also has you to take her around and introduce her to new people and things. She'll end up loving it.

I noticed you filed for your mom. Has she arrived as yet and has she adjusted ok?

We're getting ready to file for our dad and we're worried how he might adjust when he gets here.

[GazaSlimaz 43]

Vintat, no she is not here yet, her case is in the NVC stage. I'm sure it will be a culture shock for her but as I told her she can go back and forth. When she starts missing Jamaica, I have no problem booking a flight and she go ahead and spend some time there. At her age, I would be shocked if she ever gets totally acclimated. I know that she will have comfort in the fact that she is here with me and my daughter though!!

[rlogan 2,036]

Hi All,

I am new here and have been reading some post and I read http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/484680-how-well-did-you-adjust/ is has depressed me because I see that many have not adjusted well and are very sad living in the USA. It frightens me because my fiance is from Colombia and would be moving to the Metro Detroit area, and it is the opposite of everything she is accustomed to. I do not want to see her sad it would devastate me, I was wondering if there is anyone who found positives by coming here to America?

I doubt it is even remotely the kind of change my wife went through. She moved from one of the most densely populated places on earth, tropical climate, to a log cabin on the edge of the wilderness in Alaska.

Stupid, arrogant people made comments about how we were so incompatible and how I should wait six more months to avoid bringing here in winter, how I needed to drive her to town all the time, meet lots of people, join a Fil-Am society blah blah blah. All of them dead wrong. I brought her here at thirty below zero. On the way home from the airport she saw moose, she played in the snow, we took awesome snowmachine trips to high mountains over looking our valley, and we didn't leave the cabin for six weeks at a time. She learned how to drive a bulldozer, skid-steer, 4wd trucks, snowmachines, four-wheelers, went up in my bush plane camping in the deep wilderness - the whole nine yards. She learned how to take apart chain saws, she helped harvest, transport, and stack 50,000 lbs of firewood a year, caught 400 lbs of fish at a time - saw some grizzly bears, sheep, caribou, porcupines and all other manner of animals.

All of this I had prepared her for with boatloads of pictures, long discussions about what it was like, and the point I want to make the most important is that this was the life she had expressed excitement about living. Before we started the paperwork for fiancé visa she had taken me up to a remote mountain park area on Mindanao where her mother came from, and we stayed in a little cabin without heat, without water, and as we looked out over the forested slopes below us she said "this is what I want it to be like". So the fact she came from a crowded, polluted, city environment has nothing to do with the kind of life she WANTS to live, and that is what was so stupid about all the comments people made about how incompatible we were: it is all about choosing someone who has the same wants and desires, the same vision for the future, and makes your jaw drop when you see her in panties.

If you have been communicating well, if you are compatible, and you planned well then it's not just a breeze - for us it has been the most exciting time of our lives. Six years of it so far, anyway.

Edited April 25, 2014 by rlogan

[Rafael+Felicia 9]

My experience... It has its up and down, when you are sad for sitting down at home (as I have been doing since have been here) but when I look at my daughter and the smile on her face... I will say to myself... She has a better future. Things ain't what we all think it will be... As a Nigerian, most of your friends thinks money grows on tree and when you receive a call from home... The first question is "have you start working?" I have to explain the situation to them.

But overall, you know at the back of your mind, the children you are giving birth to are born of love and they have a future ahead of them.. If you train them well.

I was a logistic manager for 10 years and the boredom of not working can weigh one down.

We live in Canton MI and we just enjoy ourselves with whatever moment we find ourselves.

My wife tried to find me some local food, which of course cost more... But the pleasure she deprive from giving me a feeling of Nigeria put smiles on her face.

Do I miss home? Yes!!!

Do I wanna go back? If my wife and children will follow me back... Yes

Do I believe that things are gonna change soon? Of course... It's all time

Am I happy? Happiness is what you create from what faces you in life

Am I enjoying the US? You can not but enjoy the fact that the best people in your life is with you... Is not really the US, its the people and reason you are here that you can always and should always enjoy

And trust me... Your fiancé will enjoy it with time

[Cam54 84]

Ive been here just over 4 months now and over the last few months ive definitely had some ups and downs but right now im pretty happy, have a lovely husband whos gradually learning whats ok and what isn't lol ( one example being its not ok to not tell your wife you just got a speeding ticket because youre annoyed about it- because she will find out and flip out more), got my dream job as a veterinary technician and its summer dress weather practically all year here in Southern California which is a bonus coming from rainy cold England. I really miss certain aspects of UK culture and definitely miss how simple everything is there in regards to bureaucracy! DMV, Social security, USCIS etc are such a minefield to navigate and also the fact that I knew how to do things in England like banking, insurance, property rental etc and haven't got a clue how it works here. But overall I am happy which is the main thing