And we're off and running for round 2

Newbies and Old Timers.......Below you will find a link to the original Australia thread that is now archived. This you can access at any time. Hope you all find your way here to the new site without too much trouble....Just Coo-eeeeeeeeee and will come get you otherwise

AUSTRALIA 1 (original)

ok i for one am totaly lost but i found this thread lol

dang , you're lost. can I join you. Even the look is different now..

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay team.. i was looking for australia thread ... now i know what to look for...will put this page in my favorites so i can come straight here...that was the only way i could find you lot last time...

i like the new look takes a bit of getting use to but we will all get there..

thanks aussiewench for doing that for us...^5 to you mate.

take care kath

OMFG 8 HOURS!!!! til my boys are on the plane.. holy crap!!!!!

they have landed in Sydney according to the web site!!!!!! WOOHOOO

That is so exciting I hope they have a very safe journey!

Karo,

Tips on fixing your timeline so there is not gray area and the tickers will work as they are supposed to.

Do one of two things.....

1. Go to your old signature at www.visajourney.com/forums2/ and copy your signature. Delete all the code in your signature here on the new board and then paste what you copied from old sig.

2. Delete all code in your signature and start from scratch.

There is extra code within the signatures here which stop them from showing as they should.



Princess,

YAYYYYYYYY that is great news. Hope they had a safe trip. Enjoy!!!

Cheers Lorelle! You're amazing

I tried to do what u said to fix the sig... and it says it won't do it cause of the sig is to long?

thats excellent aussie&princess i bet you wont sleep much till they get here safe and sound enjoy


angela

gotten a few hours of sleep each night but not good. THey on the other hand have had NO sleep. Our son had a few hours sleeping on dad's shoulder. but my Aussie hd MAYBE an hour and half since my saturday night. this day is going REALLLLLY slow, so i know it going even slower for them til they can board the plane. less then 24 hours now


and aussiewench... thank you, took me a while to figure it out but got my sig fixed

just to give everyone an update..... MY BOYS ARE HOME!!!!!! They even got in 40 mins early. that plane was bookin.. so far the kids seem to get along wonderfully....

Cooooooooooooo--eeeeeee!!!! I was wondering when we'd be resurrected. Cheers all and good luck on your journeys. I recently got news from my 24 year old son that my first grandson was born on Jan 17th. Thankful for webcam and photos at this point.Missing Oz like crazy now but hangin in there. Cheers Lindy Click to view attachment

okay so went to apply for my social security turns out on a K1 visa you are automatically allowed to work for those first 90 days while the k1 is still valid why does everyone say you are not allowed you are not supposed to get the stamp you are just allowed to work look in the document that you need to print out and take with you when getting your social security K1 is definately listed under DO NOT NEED SPECIFIC INS AUTHORIZATION TO WORK so i guess this means i better start looking for a job

congrats ozgal...what did they name him..and yes thank goodness for all the technology we have these days...glad all is going well for you .. i will probably be the same when i get here permanently...

hey derek...i heard that from a friend in florida whose fiance' came from uk..she said the exact same thing...they were also told this..i was sceptical and you just confirmed it mate .. thanks for that.. im wondering if it is in particular states...seeing im in the states might pop in to social this week and check it out advanced warning is a great knowledge where working is concerned...good luck on the job front mate
take care all
kath

[quote name='kath&rob' date='Feb 1 2006, 06:24 PM' post='8068']
congrats ozgal...what did they name him..and yes thank goodness for all the technology we have these days...glad all is going well for you .. i will probably be the same when i get here permanently...



Hey Kath. They named him Lachlan James. (keeping our Scottish heritage alive) Cheers Lindy

ok, I posted this in the "moving here and your new life in america" forum-- but I think it might get a more relevant audience here. So, maybe someone can help if I copy and paste? Pretty please?

Does anyone here have any advice on shipping belongings from Brisbane, AU to Los Angeles, USA?

My husband and I move back to America on April 14, so the time is approaching very rapidly. One company called us today, they're located near Brisbane international but want to charge about $1,400 to ship his belongings (which basically consists of books, DVDs, computer equipment, and misc. little items). Not to mention, they told me it'd take us about 14 weeks to recieve said belongings as its shipped via the UK. I'm shipping-stupid to be honest, but I think that is a bit steep. It'd be cheaper to pack it all up in luggage and have it charged as excess baggage on Qantas. MUCH cheaper.

So yeah, anyone know of any companies in the Brisbane area? If so, we'd be eternally grateful, as I have no clue where to start and he's at work nearly every day so I get to deal with most of it. I want to get this done ASAP,too. If possible,a month before our flight leaves so that stuff will have transit time before we even get to America.

Thanks.

hey lindy

nice strong scotish name they chose when ya reckon u will get to see him ...

take care
kath

Where did u hear that u can start working without the EAD?? I have never heard that before that u can just work on the K-1 without an EAD. I was under the impression that in order to work before filing for the EAD, u had to get a temp stamp of the EAD at the airport and only JFK does that.

Does anyone here have any advice on shipping belongings from Brisbane, AU to Los Angeles, USA?


you might try OSS Movers

that's who i used and it cost me $1550.00 (including insurance) from sydney to akron, ohio.

i had 18 items all up. 13 boxes and 5 different items and it took about 3 months.

hope this helps.

matt

Not anytime soon Kath, maybe next year if we ever get finished with our renovations. Wee Lachy will be able to call me Granma probably by the time we get there but such is life.....
We'll be removing conditions in September and then I'll be starting the citizenship journey.
Meanwhile I'll be watching the forum waiting to get all you other Ozzies here safe and settled and a big congrats to those of you who have already made it.

Aussie and Princess, woohoo,the worst part is over, now just comes the settling in period, if you keep things in perspective and stay on track all will be fine.
Cheers y'all, Lindy

Hi mwfaith1971, I posted the following on your other thread. Hope this may help.

I moved from Brisbane to the Bay area last October. After looking into shipping my books, CD's and photos with a shipping company I decided to simply pay excess baggage. I saved thousands! I flew Air NZ. So, I phoned them about 2 weeks ahead, advised I would have excess baggage asked the price etc. Upon checkin I handed over around AUD450.00 for around 10 pieces of luggage and all was well.

If you don't have tons of stuff, I'd recommend that route.

Yep yep Ozgal


here our update

We made it!!!!! Aussie and Son landed on Tuesday. he had NO problems at all POE!! it was so much easier then what he had the last time. Their plane was even 40 mins early. We went today to get our marriage lics. and set up to get married tomorrow Morning!!! WOOHOOOOO

hi ya all
well we just got back from social security thought i would check what derek told us ..apparently it is so as long as we have our I-94 or a I-688B now i dont know what the latter is at the moment so will do some searching...the lady thought at first that we couldnt work without INS approval then she checked on a sheet and told me the above information..this is in the state of ohio-toledo ...so check it out guys to see if it is correct in your town...

congrats on setting your wedding date hope all goes well for you two...good to hear they had a safe arrival and hope all goes well for your family...
take care
kath

hey guys.. on the work thing and the info you're getting from SSA:
There is a difference between "employment authorized" and an "employment authorization document".
K-1s are EA 'incident to status', and that lets them get a SS card.
K-1s without the EA stamp (which creates an EAD) will have trouble completing a form I-9, which every employer is required to complete at hiring.

Do a little more digging before you get overexcited; this is one of those areas of immigration rules with a lot of misinformation.

hi meauxna

well i did a bit more digging and i must of been reading this thread when you posted ...here is a thread that might help us understand it more...its confusing but thats what you get when dealing with the governments of any country...i dont know which way i will go on this issue its a touchy one for sure...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=481

take care you lot
kath

hey there matt
how is akron doin.. you had much snow that part of the state mate...we havent had much at all since i arrived in toledo raining at the moment..hope all is going well for you ..

take care
kath

hi kath,

it's raining here too. i'll actually have a shower shortly and then go to the driving range and work on my golf.

they say it's going to start snowing tonight and there's a possibility of getting between 6 and 10 inches. so it looks like it's finally going to do what it should have beeen doing all last month..

aside from that all is well. still looking for a job...well my new family is looking for a job for me. sounds weird i know but apparently they have connections and have told me that they will take care of it.

i've just realised that today i have been here exactly 6 months...god i miss my 2 girls.

matt

we did it!!!!!! We Hubby and Wife!!!!

we did it!!!!!! We Hubby and Wife!!!!

All the very best to you both and your family for a wonderful life together.

aussie and princess - congratulations.

just thought i'd post this to you all. it's a new citizenship for that the australian government is going to start using.

matt

[attachmentid=101]

Congrats to you both! Yous look lovely!

ROFLMAO Too funny Matt

HAHA that's very funny

CONGRATS Aussie and Princess

Hey all


finally made it to US soil and back with my lady!!! Cheekily tried to talk the customs guy into handing out an EAD but no luck, surprise, surprise! Now wedding planning and finding accomodation for the two of us, so much fun! End enjoying my enforced holiday! My thesis supervisor didn't grade it before I left so have to complete the edits from here, real pain in the butt.

ciao gang

spike

next week i have my aos interview and then i think i will quit this site.

whilst most that i have encountered here are fun and helpful. i have found lately, when someone asks a question they are either ignored or people hang sh1t on them.

it's no one in this aussie thread but i see it happening more and more in the adjustment of status section amongst others.

if any aussies want to talk to other aussies here in the states i would suggest you go to:

matesupover

let you know how i go next week.

matt

Nooo don't leave us

I understand what you are saying though. Everyone loves drama on a chat board!!

Best of luck with your interview, and when Stewart gets here (notice the WHEN and not IF) I'll direct him to that site I know he'll need some support

MATT i understand exactly how you feel. while i was doing the k1 process most people were extremely helpfull, but now as i go into the AOS site i see many un answered questions or smartass remarks. i have plenty of questions as we are about to send in our aos but from what ive seen in there its a waste of time asking so we battle on. i have checked out the site and it looks like a good place to go thanks

angela

What a shame to read that you'd go elsewhere to find answers for your AOS questions or quit the site. Why do you think it's a waste of time and what could be done about improving the situation?

IMO people should remember why they joined this site in the first place. it was not to post jokes or see how many little hearts they could get. it was to get some knowledge on how to go about this whole immigration process and maybe get a friend or two to share experiences with.

i appreciate people hang around once they've finished their own process but they might want to help the new people who have questions or are confused on some issues involving immigration, instead of ignoring them, treating them like dickheads, calling them trolls etc. i wonder if that's how they were treated when they were asking their questions...i could guarantee it wasn't, otherwise they wouldn't be here.

there is a core of people here that try to help when they can but i feel as if the majority of people on this board got what knowledge they could and instead of helping someone as they have been helped, like to sit back and wait till something happens, then make hindesight judgements and smartarse remarks.

the only thing that could be done to improve it is to remind people here why this site exists. it is to help EACH OTHER through this process through collective knowledge. until people recognise this it will always be a case of "look out for number 1" and fcuk anyone else.

these are just my thoughts. if you are offended by what i have said then i appologise, but maybe you need to question why you are a member of this board.

matt

I'll presume you are not familiar with many of my posts, then.

And I agree with most of what you posted. I'm quite interested in how to change that.

hey there matt

wow mate i never thought i would read such a thing in a message board website...im so use to it in the chatrooms but this was a surprise to me...were here to give support and information in these threads not put down someone...

mate keep ya aussie spirits alive and keep coming here to talk to us cos ya have made some good mates here...apart from that your the only ohioan i know in here lol...

i know its hard to not get pissed off with some people but thats life ....you have travelled on a journey that would of been harder if this site wasnt here and you my friend are one of us and if you leave cos of someones stupid comments or non-responses (which im guilty of also) well ya gunna be sadly missed mate..
DON'T DO IT STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

(by the way it took me awhile to respond to ya cos i just didnt know what to say)
talk to ya soon matt
kath





hi ya

i was also wondering does anyone know of a route (flying) from melbourne to toronto (canada) without touching u.s. soil...

i have searched many airlines an they all seem to go to LAX .. i am wanting to go to toronto when i finally get here to stay because there is a yearly room meet happening and its been turned into my welcome to america party (i know its in canada but there are alot of my yanky mates coming lol)

so if anyone knows of an airline i would really appreciate it..robbie was thinking of driving to toronto an flying out from there to come an get me then driving around canada before entering u.s. soil on my K1 visa...
thanks guys
take care
kath

[/quote]

I'll presume you are not familiar with many of my posts, then.

And I agree with most of what you posted. I'm quite interested in how to change that.
[/quote]


meauxna,

just read some of your other posts. as i said, there are a core of people here that do help and offer advice and from what i can see you are definitely one of them.

as to how to change the remainder. absolutely no idea. people as a whole are resistant to change, so that's the biggest hurdle to overcome.

the only thing that could be done is the implementation of specific rules stating what you can and can't post (ie: immigration information only) but to police that would be a full time job and it's not possible. so at the end of the day we will have what we have now. a core of knowledgable people offering answers and advice to questions and the rest that want to post jokes.

btw, i'm all for region specific areas of the site (like this one) where we can talk amongst ourselves (so to speak) just unhappy that alot of people choose to ignore someone's questions that they could quite possibly answer and more than likely had when they were going through the process themselves.

kath,

i'll probably stay (don't know how long), probably just venting instead of beating the wife.

you might try air canada. they depart from sydney and stop at honolulu. although because you are in transit, you don't go through customs so, theoretically, your K1 visa should be intact until you come through the border in buffalo or where ever you decide to cross.

it's quite possible to do the trip without touching the US but the biggest considerations are what's the cost going to be and how long are you going to be in the air? i only say that because i just thought that you could fly to london (about 23 hours from melbourne) then london to toronto. more than like cost and time prohibitive.

check out air canada though. and check a round trip ticket as well as one way cause it will probably be cheaper.

matt

Hi Matt,

Would really hate to see you leave over this. Yes it can get frustrating and annoying with the situations that you describe but alas that is the downside of an open forum. I just grin and bare it in the knowledge that the ones that do want to offer their advice and experiences do so and I just ignore the others. I dont venture in to AOS or those US side forums much at all, but what you describe happens right across the board, but I truely believe that overall members do support and offer information, advice (albiet sometimes wrong but they make the effort at least)

Just wanted to also comment on the below



Please no hahahaha I would personally die without the OT...jokes and all. I am one of the ones that contribute much there........but I also contribute in a constructive way in the immigration section. There will always be the ones that go too far, but I for one can manage both. I have two hats that are interchangeable


Cheers Matt

Lorelle

Congrats to Aussie/Princess on your marriage. Now you have the joy of going through the whole adjustment of status process. It's even more painful than the K1 Visa!

I don't know if this has been asked before, excuse me if it has, but can we have a list of where all the aussies are living in the US? I just noticed that there are some in California and that got me wondering if you live anywhere near me.

I live in Belmont, San Mateo.

i live in akron, ohio.

matt

lisa71 im in california city


i have a question for any aussies in aust you can buy a product called glycerine you use it for sore gums or bath oil lots of things actually does anyone know if you can buy it here in usa or something similar to it

thanks angela

hi lisa

there was a thread in the achives that asked this question you voted to which part of the states you lived..

if you go to the top of this page on the left hand side there is a tab MAP
you might find ya answer there..or when you do go to the immigration timelines and bring up australia...just send them an email and ask them ..might be a quick way to find out..
take care
kath

I buy glycerine in the Natural Food stores in the US. I use it in making my own mosquito repellent
Never thought about any of those other uses!

Stewart will be with me in Florida