Marta .... I love you....its just that in the morning here I have no one anymore....I feel happiest when we are all together here, but as time moves on so do people...it makes me sad....

yea, if he gets it in ny, the written test will be in albanian, which is wonderful...but in ny they also require a 5 hour pre-licensing course, which hopefully they would let me come and translate for him...otherwise, he wouldnt be able to take the road test without the class

in indiana he would have an even worse time getting a license, because they have absolutely NO translators for the written exam, and so he would have to wait until he learns enough english to take the test....

if he gets it in ny, then he wont have to re-test or anything in indiana, so that is what we must shoot for, the lesser of two evils

Big huuuugs for Julez


I hope they let you translate it for Adriano

I'm here! I've just been busy at work this week, so mostly reading but not so much posting.

Susie, does Adriano already know how to drive? I guess it does make sense for him to get his license here and then switch it over to an Indian one, but yeah, kind of a pain in the arse. Legally Scott should switch his over once he's here but I don't think he wants to. When I lived in Canada I never bothered switching mine either but I don't know if that was illegal or not.

I wish there were not so many little things to take care of once your SO arrives... I want it to be simple bliss. I know it will be in many ways, but it will also be annoying to have to think of all these details, SSN, driver's license, bank accounts and credit cards, health insurance, marriage certificate and lease and whatever else for AOS... I should make a list or else I'm sure I'll forget to do something by some deadline.

All that talk of ice cream makes me want some.

Scott has to switch? He can´t keep his Canadian one and get a USA one too? I am keeping my Czech one. Right now I am using an international driver´s license to be able to drive here cuz although I passed the written and driving test at DMV they won´t physically issue the license to me until I show them the GC. So I am basically getting the USA DL in order to have a U.S. ID cuz it´s convenient (Won´t have to carry my passport and marriage certificate everywhere I go ). Also it could become annoying to keep renewing the international DL since it´s validity is limited to just a couple of years compared to CZ or U.S. DL

But I know your Scott is a big anti U.S. fan

I was just thinking about the drivers license thing. What does he have to do and can he drive here with his UK license?

Haha, yes he is.
I was reading the requirements online for a NYS DL and it says you have to switch over if you become a resident of the state within 30 days. It also said you have to turn in your Canadian one to get it, so you can't have both. Which is annoying. I think he could just drive on his Ontario license if we rented a car or something, but if we buy a car then I think it might become an issue. And I would hate for him to have to retake an actual test if we didn't do it in the 30 days. I dunno, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

On another note, my current license is valid until 2014! Isn't that crazy? And when I got it a couple years ago they asked me if I wanted to have a new photo taken; i.e. it was not a requirement. That mean they would have allowed me to be 36 years old with a 21-year old photo on there. I can't believe it's not a requirement to redo the photo! It is, after all, a photo ID. Ah well, whatever.


I would do a google search for DL requirements for your state; that's how I found my info. Seems it depends on the state and the rules vary a bit.

you bet i have a list of things to do!!! lol and the times that are available for me to do each (ie: what time dmv has the permit test, or what time one can get married in city hall, etc.)...its also a pain in the arse to schedule things like this since we both work, and since he doesnt speak english, i have to go everywhere with him to make sure it gets done correctly...getting married in nyc is a two day affair as well, so that means i have to miss two days of work, or what i will probably do is go in late one or both of those days who gets married and then goes straight to work!?!

adriano knows how to drive, but that means diddly squat here in the usa...it is easier for canadians i think in ny...i think that they just switch it over like you would if you moved here from another state...if you are from any other country though, you need to take the written permit test, then take the 5 hour pre-licensing course and then take the road test...and he has been driving for years!!

That´s so weird that they make him give up his Canadian DL. Like what does him having a DL here have to do with that he was issued a DL in Canada. I think if he has a Canadian citizenship he should be allowed to keep his Canadian DL as well. I mean, if I go to Czech and go driving there and a get pulled over and the cop will look at my U.S. DL he will go like ...he will want to see a Czech one

BBS:
Well, at least he already knows how to drive.
Don't go to work at all the day you get married!! You should take the day off! I agree though, it's annoying there is that 24-hour waiting period and it's only M-F. Our parents are all going to come and we had to remind them it could not happen on a weekend -- we'll probably get married on a Friday.


Yeah, I have no idea, but could have to do with the fact that a lot of times Canada gets treated as the 51st state.
Maybe he can apply for another Canadian license b/c he "lost" his and then trade one in to get one here and then have both... probably illegaly, but what the hell.

I heard someone saying they just said they lost their home country one so they didn´t have to hand it in to U.S. DMV. Dunno if it´s legal but doesn´t sound like a bad idea. After all I think only my home country cop can take my driver´s license away to punish me if I do something bad on the road. I would never give it to some other country authorities I think. They have no right to it. Poor Canada being treated as 51st state.

Well I fear they will make him redo the tests if he simply says he lost it and has no current license to show.
Maybe I'm being paranoid.

But he is smart and can redo the test without any problems

true, but then it's just ONE MORE THING to have to do, which I think we'd love to avoid!

And to be honest, he's actually a bad test taker. Good thing he doesn't read this forum.

Marta, I just read your post about the Yugoslavian flag, and I have always wondered the same thing. You were spot on.

Friday sounds good. I am not sure if I can take the whole day off though. Since I am leaving my job on June 13th, I don't have any more vacation days to accrue, and I borrowed two of them (the 1 day I got for April and the 1 day I got for May - - - I hate the USA lol) in order to go to Albania for Adriano's interview.

I hear you, our time off situation sucks. My days off are unpaid; can you take one unpaid? Or is that just not a possibility with the AOS fee looming and all?
I hope to take a somewhat considerable time off when Scott first arrives but it all depends on $$, especially since I'll be supporting the both of us.
At least Adriano is already working! That is a great thing.

you should definitely take time off when he comes, see the sights and what not (if you haven't already)...we went to the brooklyn botanic gardens the other day for the first time ever (what a shame, i know), and it was beautiful!!! you should go sometime in the coming weeks, i know i will definitely be returning

my job doesn't 'allow' us to take time off unpaid...really ridiculous, but i will be out of here in no time...i should have probably told them my last day was a week before im moving, rather than a few days...this way i couldve taken care of some things in the interim period...i was motivated by an extra pay check though

yea, it really is a HUGE help that he is working...hes making as much as me per hour, and with all the overtime (time and a half), hes making wayyyy more than me per paycheck...if only we didnt have to move so soon, we could be doing really well for ourselves...the timing just really sucks

But why can´t you do it at the weekend? Do you have to work at the weekend too? In Czech, when you are getting married, you get a paid leave by law the day before the wedding (cuz lotsa weddings are on Saturdays), but if you are getting married during work week you get two days paid leave by law (the day before and the wedding day).
If you can´t do it at the weekend, you can just do it in your lunch break And then, when you have more time later in your life, when time or money aren´t pressing you, you can make a nice big wedding if you want, for your families to be there or something Or you don´t have to Or you can save time and money on your wedding and rather invest it in some special honeymoon Or you don´t have to You can do what you want

I must say Jeremy is really lucky - he gets five weeks paid leave and where he works is pretty flexible if he needs extra time off although that would be unpaid. I am sooo worried that I won't get the days off that he does... but then if I get an office job, he can take a couple weekends here and there and we can go camping or something

5 weeks paid!!

wow.

seriously, wow. I don't know if you all have heard, but we don't do that sort of thing here in this country.

Yes we have heard and we think it´s pretty sad

well marta, the courthouse isnt opened on weekends, so that idea is out...we intend on going out to eat with the family and some friends after we get married, but nothing too ridiculous...just out to a nice restaurant...then when we return to albania (maybe in december, maybe in the spring, depending on aos speed), we will have a little party with adriano's family...we definitely intend on spending more money on the honeymoon (wherever it may be) than on a party or something that i feel other people enjoy more than the bride and groom anyways, hehe thats just my opinion


yup

you are really lucky to get such a thing here in the usa

i just faxed the rental application over to indiana...woot woot

Yeah I know - we are soooo lucky... that is - he is He works on the Morongo Reservation though so I think that is part of it - and he is a supervisor as well so that might help... he's only been there about 4 years though

I have 5 weeks paid vacation. I started with 2 and after 10 years I have 5 weeks! Well, this is actually my 2nd year with 5 weeks. However, I know this is not the norm in the US.

But that is what I mean... it took you 10 years to get there! Isn't it standard in a lot of other countries to have that much time off even in your first year of work?
My first year out of college I got 1 stinking week. I spent it on an amazing trip to the UK though. Then went back to work & burnt myself out doing that for 5 years being at places that would never give any employee more than 2 weeks. I don't know how Americans do it, to be honest.
But that is quite nice that you have that much paid time off Julez.

hey guys, haven't stopped by in ages but wanted to let you all know that we have been approved for both the EAP and the travel doc (AP) today - just under 60 days from filing! YAY!!!!! hope everyone is well.

*scurries off to catch up on the thread*

Sara

Cool!!! I will update you on the spreadsheet!!!!

As for holiday - yeah - in the UK you get 4 weeks paid holiday and 4 weeks paid sick as standard in most places

yayyy congratulations!!!



that is simply glorious

I don't know either, that's why I am going back to school to be a professor, so that I don't have to worry about such things.

I just graduated from college last year and what a rude awakening it was having only 2 weeks vacation this past year. Going from a typical academic schedule, even if I went to school during summer session, I would still have roughly 7 weeks off. What a wonderful life it was, and what a wonderful life it will be once again when I go back in 6 weeks!!!

Ohhh - student life sounds blissful - I just don't think I am clever enough ><

It seriously is a rude awakening! I went to Pratt, where we had a 6-week winter break, plus 1-week spring break, plus your normal summer off. To 1 week! It was awful.
That is nice that you'll be back on a academic schedule.


We'll have none of that here young lady!

WOW! that is an incredibely longggg winter break, mine was half that!! it still wasnt too shabby though, compared to what i have going these days


hogwash

The time off work sucks so much in USA. I don´t know why but I know one thing. It used to be like that in my country long time ago when there was still communism there. When you stopped going to school and started working you were lucky if you got 1 week paid vacation a year. Then as you worked more years for one company the number of weeks would increase. So after 10 years you would get 3 or 4 weeks maybe. Now there is 4 weeks paid vacation by law for everybody and some companies give you even more but that´s their choice. I mean how can you enjoy working all year round just to look forward to having 1 week of vacation or something?

Yeah it's because the school had a short/optional winter session. I remember thinking it was actually a tad too long, but I'm loathe to admit that any amount of time off is too much time off at this point in my life.


You can't.

And what´s more, how are we supposed to use the 1 week vacation if we wanna see our family that lives so far away (spend 2-3 days travelling and flying and 3 days with the family I guess). Plus where is a week for spending vacation as a family with your husband/wife?

And can I just say over here that I am sick and tired of waiting for my interview date already.

I can't plan anything.

Huggggsssss

Thanks Marta.

How did you talk Scott into moving to U.S. with you anyway? I assume he would prefer to stay in Canada?

Well, I got my 5th week in my ninth year as I was promoted to officer. But I've had 4 weeks since my 5th year, which isn't too bad. 8 sick days and all the bank hols, so its a pretty good gig.

We'll be moving back to Canada, to Vancouver, after about a year of living in NYC.

So in a way, all this waiting and money seems like it's kind of for nothing... but it's okay. I need him to move here for me. We are both happy about where we are and where we're going and that's all that matters.

Compared to Czech, where if you get sick, you are sick and when you get better you come back to work, so others won´t catch all your viruses and so you don´t have to count days in which you can be sick cuz sickness isn´t predictable. You don´t get paid 100% but in the first 3 days you get like 60% and the remaining days you get like 40%. So it motivates people to get better soon to be able to earn 100% again but it doesn´t cripple them to calculate their sick leave and to be forced to go to work while sick or with broken bones or whatever else

Which brings me to the question: How are you gonna do it with his GC? After like 6 months of being out of USA his GC will become invalid. Is the plan that you permanently stay in Canada? Or maybe I should ask different questions like: Are you planning to do AOS at all? If so, isn´t it just a waste of money and time?

rae - i was thinking about what a pain in the arse it must be for you to still be waiting

and what's more, i hardly ever hear you complaining about it...you are a very strong chicky

and ps - i want to live in europe eventually, so you're not alone in wanting to leave here...my hope is to get a job there after i graduate in 5 years (eek!) i would be happy with almost any european country, although i prefer some to others

Yeah... he will lose the GC. Ideally I would have liked him to stay long enough to get US citizenship, then we'd move to Canada and I'd also get dual, so we'd be free to live where we want. But I know Scott doesn't want to be a US citizen and we'll probably live in Canada the rest of our lives anyway... so we lose the GC. Yes, it's certainly a waste of money. His brain works like a typical guy's and he'll probably realize this later on, whereas I'm well aware of it now. But ultimately, money is not the most important thing. I *need* him to move to the US for me, for our relationship, before I move back to Canada (I already lived there, with him, in 2004-2005). I know it might seem really backwards and it's a long story, but suffice it to say, I just need him to move here for me before I go back with him. So that's what we're doing. So it's all good.
Oh but yes, we will still do AOS. I need him to be able to work and get AP so he can travel back to Canada. Maybe after he sees the whole process he will have more appreciation for all the hard work it's been! Not that that is the point, of course. The good thing is that once he's here and we're married, I can apply for Permanent Residency in Canada while living here, and not have to go through a period up there where I can't work or travel or anything. So once I have that, even though we're saying we'll live here for a year, really it can be whenever we choose to move again.

hahaha, I'm over in the Canada forum complaining about it. Decided to do it over here today instead, I think they are tired of hearing it.
Have I mentioned that I'm tired of waiting?!
It's nice to hear I'm not the only one going through all this with plans to move abroad. But hopefully you can stay long enough to get Adriano citizenship (5 years is enough) and then you'll have more options.

Sounds nice As long as you are happy and together Maybe he will fall in love with the place you will live at and won´t ever like to go back to Canada

hahaha, yes, that's my sneaky plan.

No, I mean, I doubt it, but that's okay. I really am happy just being wherever we both are.