Australian expat nearing naturalization says hello!

[groover08 5]

Hello friends.

 

I’m writing to say hello, to introduce myself, and to wish everyone a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving.

 

I’m a little embarrassed to be writing here because I have read some of the profiles, timelines and stories and I am almost ashamed that my experience has been so much easier than many of you. In many ways I have been extraordinarily fortunate. I’m choosing to freely share my story here and hope that I am received without hostility.

 

I am an Australian expat with a wife and two daughters, living in the DC suburbs. I work for a very large automaker in their DC office. 

 

A former employer moved me and the family from Brisbane AUS to Utah in 2011. The employer paid for everything and their white-shoe lawyers managed the entire L1 process. I remember my involvement being limited to signing a bunch of forms and attending a perfunctory interview at the US Consulate in Sydney. We landed in Utah in March 2011.

 

A few years after that, the same employer (and their law firm) decided to put me and the family through the Green Card process. I shrugged - I was happy with the employer and in the US, and as per the L1 process, I did not follow it all that closely. I again signed a few forms and that was pretty much it. The family and I have been LPRs since June 2015. 

 

I took a job in 2017 in DC with a large automaker. It became more and more clear to me that my future belonged in the US and not back in Australia. My kids, now 14 and 11, have been in the US since they were 5 and 2. I decided to apply for naturalization in late March, 2020 and have my interview in Baltimore in mid-December.

 

My process has been remarkably easy. I have only recently started to understand what what an amazing gift I was given by my former employer. My experience has been so much more simple than those I have read on this forum and from following immigration news more closely. Perhaps I was naive, perhaps I was ignorant. As this process nears its natural end, I have become more aware of exactly how fortunate I have been. I realized that now.

 

I wish you all the very best in your own processes, and I hope you get the outcomes that you wish for. 

 

[African Zealot 1,452]

Great!

[JeanneAdil 6,201]

and welcome to the US 

and no problems if you came legal to any of us as that is what we are all here for

[Harold_Oakland 133]

Happy Thanksgiving, groover!

[TBoneTX 43,059]

What a nice introduction.  Welcome to the forum.