Well on the way to getting it all done..

[Colin Wilson 0]

Well guys here is an update.. on our progress..

Sold the Calgary house had it packed up by Atlas Van Lines moving and put in Storage in Calgary unit we find a house.

Traveled from Calgary - thru the sweetgras Montana Border the crossing was great.. very painless as I have

previously posted..

We traveled the 5 days ( 4000km) cross the Nation pulling a 6 x 10 Trailer I had bought to Tennessee..

We have gone thru quite a Process..

I dont think any one in Tennessee has ever seen a Temp IR-1 Visa in a Canadian passport before.. ha ha

But the very first thing you have to get is a SSN.. Dont Believe the thing about checking the DS230 section.. and believing

that you would just get one.. The Lady at the SSN office said you have to come in..

It was not hard at all to get the SSN as long as you have the immigration Visa..& Certified Birth cerficate

( The SSN is the very first thing you need to get)

You will need it for Bank accounts ( Mortgage/Loans etc..) Believe people who say as a Canadian you have no credit here.

They are right.

( It takes about 2 weeks to get SSN Card in Mail, But you can go back in in 2 days to Get the Number)

Here in Tennessee you have to have a Local Bank account ( They dont like out of state checks)

but to get a bank account you Need:

Drivers Licence & a SSN Number No exceptions.....

So the Drivers Licence was Next ,, Just an eye test no exam... Nice..

Then Bank accounts, It was sure nice to know someone local here as it made a huge difference..

We set up a few accounts at a Larger bank ( no problem they said to cash Canadian checks)

and signed up to get pre-approved for a Mortgage..

(still waiting on that one, the Canadian thing is slowing it down.. they are trying to link Canadian Equifax

to American Eqiufax to get history/ Credit)

Wish us Luck ...

We are spending most of our days looking for a nice home so that brings you all up to date.

My Cell phone from Telus was terrible done here ( connections, drop calls echo etc..)

So I changed to AT&T wireless ( but as I said above they want your SSN and then of coarse no from credit on a new SSN

so I had to pay a refundable .. in 12 Months..$100 bucks to get service.. ( phone works great here 700 rolling mins/per month

for about $75./month.

Regards

Colin

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Well guys here is an update.. on our progress..

Sold the Calgary house had it packed up by Atlas Van Lines moving and put in Storage in Calgary unit we find a house.

Traveled from Calgary - thru the sweetgras Montana Border the crossing was great.. very painless as I have

previously posted..

We traveled the 5 days ( 4000km) cross the Nation pulling a 6 x 10 Trailer I had bought to Tennessee..

We have gone thru quite a Process..

I dont think any one in Tennessee has ever seen a Temp IR-1 Visa in a Canadian passport before.. ha ha

But the very first thing you have to get is a SSN.. Dont Believe the thing about checking the DS230 section.. and believing

that you would just get one.. The Lady at the SSN office said you have to come in..

It was not hard at all to get the SSN as long as you have the immigration Visa..& Certified Birth cerficate

( The SSN is the very first thing you need to get)

You will need it for Bank accounts ( Mortgage/Loans etc..) Believe people who say as a Canadian you have no credit here.

They are right.

( It takes about 2 weeks to get SSN Card in Mail, But you can go back in in 2 days to Get the Number)

Here in Tennessee you have to have a Local Bank account ( They dont like out of state checks)

but to get a bank account you Need:

Drivers Licence & a SSN Number No exceptions.....

So the Drivers Licence was Next ,, Just an eye test no exam... Nice..

Then Bank accounts, It was sure nice to know someone local here as it made a huge difference..

We set up a few accounts at a Larger bank ( no problem they said to cash Canadian checks)

and signed up to get pre-approved for a Mortgage..

(still waiting on that one, the Canadian thing is slowing it down.. they are trying to link Canadian Equifax

to American Eqiufax to get history/ Credit)

Wish us Luck ...

We are spending most of our days looking for a nice home so that brings you all up to date.

My Cell phone from Telus was terrible done here ( connections, drop calls echo etc..)

So I changed to AT&T wireless ( but as I said above they want your SSN and then of coarse no from credit on a new SSN

so I had to pay a refundable .. in 12 Months..$100 bucks to get service.. ( phone works great here 700 rolling mins/per month

for about $75./month.

Regards

Colin

Glad to hear you made it there safely. Good luck with your house hunting. TN is a beautiful place, the winters are just a wee bit different than those in Calgary.

[trailmix 77]

Good info there Colin, as always - and good to know the trip went well.

My Sister and her family lived in Tennessee for a couple of years, they liked it a lot (the name of the town they lived in escapes me at the moment).

Good luck getting the mortgage, hopefully with your new bank connections it will all go smoothly. Speaking of my Sister etc, in spite of the fact that they had virtually no U.S. credit history and at that point no U.S. citizenship/PR - their local bank did give them a mortgage, granted at a slightly higher rate, but still good none-the-less.

[vnoe 0]

I'm glad to hear all is well in Tenn and you had a safe journey to get there!!!!

[Flames9_RN 358]

Glad it all went well. Some do get the SSN by checking off the box. Didnt work for me, but have read others that did get it. Best of luck finding a house

[misa 2]

Colin, thanks for the update and glad to hear you're both settling in okay despite the SSN #######.

[Colin Wilson 0]

Glad it all went well. Some do get the SSN by checking off the box. Didnt work for me, but have read others that did get it. Best of luck finding a house

Hey Folks....

Since my Last Post: ( here is update)

Found a House ( in The Country just what we where looking for) 12 mins from Grandkids

(they handle house sales different here)

Got pre-approved for Mortgage

(Talked bank into linking equafax canada to Equafax USA, took them a couple days but done)

Found a Calgary Accountant ( expert in US/ Canada tax) he will handle transition year..

So think I am almost a Local.. Haha

Great Journey to All

Colin

[Flames9_RN 358]

Good move on finding a competent tax dude!! This yr our inlaws footed the bill, would have hated to see that as they had never doen any CDn stuff before (RRSP) they did a lot of research, which costs $$$$$

Glad all is going well

[neiks 19]

Here in Tennessee you have to have a Local Bank account ( They dont like out of state checks)

but to get a bank account you Need:

Drivers Licence & a SSN Number No exceptions.....

So the Drivers Licence was Next ,, Just an eye test no exam... Nice..

I needed my SSN for getting my driver's licence here. Just got my DL last week and spent the rest of the week getting my truck registered (after having to pay over $900 in ND sales tax) and just waiting for get my policy for auto insurance (which I needed my driver's abstract and Record of Insurance Claims) Think I'll head to the bank tomorrow and get an account open. Takes awhile to get things together.

Found a Calgary Accountant ( expert in US/ Canada tax) he will handle transition year..

Can you recommend him? I am going to need a good one come tax time too. Edited September 17, 2007 by neiks