It was great meeting Grant, Brook and Clay today! They made what would have been a long, quiet wait much more enjoyable!
We had to be up at 5:15 am in order to make it out the door and across the bridge by 6:30 am. It wasn't that hard to get up though, considering we hadn't slept much the night before (we were both worried we'd sleep through the alarm!). Once we were in the city we parked in the open air lot across from the train station (paid $15 to cover it for the day so we wouldn't have to worry about the time running out!) then went and sat at a cafe until it about 15-20 min before the scheduled time for the interview, then we went up. We wanted to make sure if there were any lines to get through security it wouldn't make us late. Thankfully it was pretty clear though.
All our stuff had to go through the x-ray machine, keys, cell phones and such were taken and locked in a little locker by the guard and we were given a number card to claim them back with.
The first woman we talked to at the Consulate was really helpful and seemed to have a good handle on things. She reviewed a whole file of paperwork filled with all the original forms and such we sent to the various places, as well as the original documents we had submitted to the NVC for the police checks. She then asked to see our passports and took the courier envelope we were told to bring with us. After that Chris was fingerprinted (using this interesting electronic scanner thing, way cleaner than the ink and stamp method! LOL). She asked how long we'd been married for and what are travel plans were, and said that as things are now, Chris' permanent resident card would be "conditional" since we haven't been married 2 years yet. I asked if we waited to enter the US until after our 2nd anniversary in December, would the permanent resident card then be without conditions and she said yes, we'd just need to remind the immigration officer at the POE. We talked about the procedure to apply to remove conditions and she said while it's entirely up to us what we want to do, it is a pain and can be a long process (which we've already read a lot about). Then she said that they didn't have to affix the foil in the passport today! Instead we could have the interview with the Consular Officer and have everything approved, then once we knew when we wanted to leave we could just call them up and let them know we're ready to have the passport processed. We could drop it off and it would be back to us in about 2 days, and we'd then have 6 months from that point to enter the US. So it gives us a bit of room, since if they had issued it today the 6 months would have been up in January, and our anniversary isn't until the 21st of December...so we'd be cutting it close. Then she explained what the envelope packet is (basically you are hand carrying your own records, they don't keep anything on file at the Consulate, which is why it is so important that the envelope not be opened and safely make it to the POE!).
The Consular Officer that was scheduled to do our interview wasn't in the office yet, so we had a seat and enjoyed a long chat with Grant and Brook and got to see their little one (SUCH a cute baby, he stayed quiet the whole time!). It was kind of funny to chat with a fellow American after being out of the country so long!
After a while passed (must have been about 45 minutes) we were called up to the window for the interview, which surprised us since we figured Grant and Brook would be before us! I swear the woman who conducted the interview must be the "long haired blonde" some of the reviews speak of because she was sooo friendly and cheerful! She checked Chris' fingerprints again, asked where we'd met, how long I'd been here, when we got married, if I liked living here, what Chris' profession is (we took a copy of the CV just in case, but she never asked for it), checked our passports, went through the stack of papers initialing them, asked to see proof of our finances since I didn't have to file taxes last year, and gave us back the originals of Chris' birth certificate and our marriage license. She asked if we'd happened to bring any pictures of our wedding (I don't think it would have been a problem if we didn't have them, but thankfully I thought to get some printed off yesterday just in case!). Then she had Chris swear an oath and sign some paperwork. After all that she closed the folder, told us that the medical check was good for a year and the police check was good for 6 months (although they can get it renewed if necessary), so to just let them know when we were ready to have the foil placed in Chris' passport....and we were done!
We looked around for Grant and Brook to wave bye, but we didn't see them, so I thought maybe they had an even faster interview than us and then ran to save the car from the tow truck! Glad everything turned out well for you guys too, it was really nice meeting you, I hope your move to the States goes smoothly!
Thanks for all the well wishes everyone. Of this whole process the interview was what I dreaded the most and it turned out to be the easiest part of all! Thanks in a huge part to the excellent staff at the Auckland Consulate, they really to go out of their way to help.
But I'm trying to be relaxed about it. I figure if at the worst we move somewhere that makes me sick or Chris hates, we can just move again. We have no kids, not much to move, and just my dog to drag with us, and she's pretty happy as long as there's food, water, treats, and no loud noises (she's a scaredy dog!).
I wiill definitely try and see Dr Stone when the time comes.
So I understand your concerns with New England and our long, cold winters. They are beautiful... but they're not always easy to live with. It is an amazing and beautiful place to live, tho. I hope you can find somewhere good for you body and soul. 
So Nic was cheeky at the end and asked if we could go have a celebratory drink and the kind man said everyday is an excuse for a celebratory drink 
He dodged the question but when we arrived back to Palmerston North today we checked to see if our Courier Bag that we gave the Consulate had been sent......sure enough it was picked up today at 2:30. So we are hoping that means all is well and his passport will be back tomorrow with a shiny new stamp on it. 
He's quite looking forward to it! 
Congrats! You're on your way! 
