Kiwifruit

Not to worry. If she is held up by Government "Processing" they will book her on a late flight at no charge.

No, that is not necessarily true. It is the passengers responsibility to allow adequate time to clear processing formalities.

Speaking from years of airline industry experience.

Who actually pays the fees is between you and your fiance

That is between the two of you as to who provides the money

You booked through a travel agent? You have to go back to the original agent.

Jess, if you need any assistance when you come up here to Auckland let me know, I am literally ten minutes down the road from the Consulate.

Ben

If we take the view that being the beneficiary puts you in the deep end, and it probably does for at least the first six months to one year, then you either sink or swim.

I sure hope funny foreign fruit floats!

... that's why I am taking swimming lessons

This is an issue Kate and I have struggled with significantly and it almost got to the point where I wanted to throw in the towel and forget the entire idea of moving. I have had some experience living and working in the USA during the past few years and here are my thoughts ...

- New Zealand has a much more "stress free" state of living,

- We get free healthcare

- We get heavily subsidised higher education (NZD12-15000 for a Bachelors Degree here)

- We get four weeks of guaranteed annual leave per year (my current job has five)

- We get five sick days per year (most employers offer ten)

- We have generous social security (welfare) and pension (KiwiSaver)

- We have paid parental leave (up to one year I think, should check on that)

- Our salaries are generally much higher than in the US

But ... in saying all of this, I have to say the US will be a change for a few years, I can go back to school and do some graduate study, Kate's family have welcomed me in a way that makes me teary eyed I am really amazed .... and I can become a citizen in three years then we can choose where we want to live. She has said we will consider moving back here once I am done with school.

It is also harder for her to immigrate here before we marry, Immigration New Zealand want us to be living together for a year beforehand and its gotten quite hard to get as there are several categories of domestic partnership here that do not exist elsewhere (incl in the US) so you really have to prove your case to them. Once we have been married for a year or so she can become an instant permanent resident however must wait two years to get access to student loans which is a bummer.

You would be right in saying I am concerned about job prospects and things like that but we'll try it for a bit and see what happens, at worst it will be something different. Will it be better? Sure damn hope so!

Recently when I went to buy a ticket to Minneapolis from Korea, the cheapest ticket I found was for $1500. When I did another search for flights to Winnipeg in Canada (my wife's family live close to the Canadian border) I was able to find a flight(which makes a stop over in Minneapolis) for only $1100. According to a Canadian friend of mine, so long as I cancel my onward journey to Winnipeg, before it is due to depart Minneapolis, I would have no problems disembarking in Minneapolis if I liked. The same guy told me that he has done this himself a couple of times himself without any problems what so ever.

Be careful doing this, technically what you are describing is "throw away ticketing" and it is prohibited under the Passenger Air Tariff.

The reason I say that is some airlines (such as the one I work for) will make you reissue the ticket to exclude the MSP-YEG flight at a cost, or they send your bag to Winnipeg and the responsibility lies with you to get it back!

Just tell the airport you want your bag stopped in Minneapolis

Hi folks

Kiwifruit here, your funny foreign fruit with a few tips from years in the airline industry to help you out

Things to know

- A return ticket (round trip) is always marginally more expensive than a one way and offers more value for money, it offers you up to a years stay so you have a way to get home if need be and you can claim back unused taxes if not required.

- Airlines sell "published" fares which is what average Joe Blow buys from the airline directly or from a travel agent

- Airlines also sell what are called "nett" fares (aka IT, BT or contract fares) to travel agents aimed at certain markets e.g. STA travel, Trailfinders in the UK etc. They are sold in bulk for a discount off a published fare under a contract.

- Nett fares can used in your favour, they often allow for free date changes but are restrictive in that you need a certain booking code for seats (often the lowest possible) which can sell out quick

- Bookings made through a travel agent must be serviced by the agent prior to departure and any refund even after departure must be referred back to them

- Flights are held in the airline systems for one year (to save costs) and this is called "system range" anything outside that, is called outside system range.

- Lets say you buy your ticket to depart in January but you can't book 12 months to next January because its outside system range and you book as far out as possible, some airlines will say you have to pay a fee for the date change to get your right of 12 months validity and some will not.

- If this happens to you and you cannot book 12 months out at time of booking and book as far out as you can but do not show up for the return flight without changing it you run the risk of having the ticket cancelled and value lost.

- Some airlines allow you to place the ticket into credit i.e. "open date" the return portion once you have travelled, which mitigates the system range problem, some do not. All will charge you a fee for changing a ticket from stored credit.

Things to Ask

- Can this ticket be stored as a credit after departure?

- Does this ticket allow a free of charge (FOC) date change if return date is not in system range?

- What is the change fee?

- Do I have to pay any fees-for-service to change the ticket through your airline or agency?

If you can book up to 12 months out from date of departure

- Ask can the ticket be placed into credit

If you cannot book up to 12 months out from date of departure

- Ask can the ticket be placed into credit, if so go with whatever is cheapest

- If not, ask a travel agent about a nett fare (contract fare) which allows an FOC date change for outside system range

- If none exist, find whatever has a lower change fee

Airlines

Some are better than others, trust me on that!

- From UK/Europe check with BA first, they generally allow all tickets to be placed into credit and Emirates as they generally allow an FOC date change on published fares and have lower fees. Not to mention a stop in Dubai!

- From SW Pacific/AU check with QANTAS, they allow all tickets to be placed into credit but do not offer an FOC date change on their published fares, they generally do on the nett fares sold through travel agents

- From Asia check with Cathay and Singapore Airlines first.

Hope that helps, any questions let me know!

Thank you to all for your very kind responses, Kiwi is touched.

Growing up in the 1900s we were all taught through the media and Hollywood the Horatio Alger myth that the US was number one, the greatest, freest, most advanced nation on the face of the earth that we should all somehow look up too and aim to be just like Joe American. It was portrayed as being diverse and exciting and where good always triumphed over evil because that is what happened to Bruce Willis or the Terminator where nothing could ever go wrong and if did it would be fixed with no adverse outcome. A friend of mine refers to this as the Herratio Algar myth where we are taught to believe the USA is number one and never at fault.

Having grown up and spent time living and working in the USA and knowing a large number of Americans I am now convinced that the American Dream is the one in which it's populace are deluded into believing exists through lies and manipulation of Government and media.

It is very hard for me to broach this subject with Katie who will not have a word of it, who does not really understand why my two friends' wives (expat Americans) do not want to return there but who will just as quickly say she is jealous of how much I earn here and how tired she is working two jobs.

I know from looking on the FDNY website and some emails with a volunteer EMT organization that you don't need a degree to become an EMT. You need to take a course that's recognised in your state before you can apply. Also it looks like as well as Fire or Police department run Ambulance services, there are privately run ones too. It probably would go against what you're used to having to ask people if they're insured, but at least that's an option.

The level the Americans call EMT does not exist here and the thought of being made to accept a clinical level with people who require 100 hours of "training" is an absolute insult to the three and a half years I have invested in clinical education and training. A Paramedic AO here has an in depth knowledge and skill base in such things as the LMA, 12 lead ECG interpretation, manual defibrillation and cardioversion, adrenaline, morphine and ceftriaxone amongst many other clinical modalities.

Hey VJ

Funny foreign fruit here once again, and FFF is starting to sour. Sorry I couldn't find what I thought was a more appropriate forum so I put it here.

Kate and I have known each other for just under a year and have been engaged not quite three months. We genuinely love each other very much but I have had enough of this whole visa process and moving, it's just so complex and frustrating and I'm ready to quit because its doing my head in and saying that makes me very sad.

I have experience working in the US at summer camp and for the airline industry so I know what the US is like; it's a great place with many wonderful, kind and genuinely hospitable people and fantastic variety of things to see and do. It's also a very broken place and a fractured society that cannot agree on basic things like whether healthcare is a right or a privilege, where you must work harder and it seems end up with less and where people seem lost in a disorientated cataleptic dream state fuelled by the media and pop culture (mind you we are the same on that last one sometimes).

The visa process is so long and frustratingly painstaking; we have to go out of our way to think of ways we can document what we do; the main job of doing everything is on me, I have to fill out all the paperwork and pay for everything (because I am able to afford it) and its becoming a bit too much.

Kate works her bum off at two full time and one part time job for substantially less pay than her equivalent here, is generally always tired and run down from working and has little to show for it. I work one job and earn a salary of just under NZD40,000 plus a night shift allowance of 40% and get free healthcare, accessible higher education and can focus on what I choose to because I am not burnt out and tired from working 24/7 or if I can get treated if I get sick because the insurance company might not pay or how much gas costs and struggling to make ends meet. Getting around is easy and I don't have to think about going half an hour out of my way to get groceries or things I need, public transport is pretty good when I need it which is not often (I am limited in where I can drive because of medical i.e. daytime only in lower speed areas where I know where I am going) and there are few true "no go" parts of Auckland because of drugs and gangbangers.

The comparison of my job in the US pays minimum wage or barely a few cents more and given a) we are outside a major hub city and b) the state of the US airline industry it would be hard for me to obtain such a position, not that I really want to. Investigations of returning to school/uni and getting my Masters Degree are painfully less fruitful because a Bachelors Degree is not a Bachelors Degree it seems, I would have to do a whole bunch of "liberal arts" coursework in order to be considered for a direct entry Masters. I have experience and qualification as a Paramedic level Ambulance Officer (volunteer) but nobody recognises that despite our education being far superior to the US (exceptions exist). We both want to retrain at uni but its so expensive (public is about $7,000 USD per year compares to about $3,000 USD here) and funding is so difficult, there is no universal student loans and what loans exist must be paid back after a year or something like that regardless of employment status (unlike here) and I would actually spend more and get less education than if we studied here!

We cannot seem to be able to sit down and work out a logical, realistic plan to integrate our lives and achieve our goals. We both want to go back to school and we both want to have children. That means at least two years where one of us does not work and goes to school, where it would be impractical for us to start a family, where we are on one income and it's probably going to be hers. Meanwhile we get nothing in terms of state aid and I am just not sure it's going to work.

As an example, we are on different sides of the work clock this week and we have not spoken meaningfully in almost four days. I am being a bit of a b@stard and while on the one hand will end up with the woman I love but on the other hand, am not sure if "real life" can work. I don't want us to end up worse off.

Immigration New Zealand are not being of any help either; we have to live together for a year for them to even touch us.

I know deep down I am just venting but this is doing my head in.

Thanks for listening

Ben

If you want a fruity perspective, Kiwifruit says go with that and do an I-130 AOS off the employment visa.

You need to look at the conditions of the ticket. Tickets are valid for one year from date of booking for departure and may, subject to the fare conditions, incur a change fee plus difference in fare or taxes.

If you need to change two or three times it may very well be cheaper just to wait.

Thanks all!

Greetings VJ funny foreign fruit here again.

So the future Mrs Kiwifruit is getting a bit ripe and going off on a tangent about wedding planning and such while I haven't even fallen off the tree yet, do Kiwifruit grow on trees; ####### me I dno?

I am a bit more realistic and trying to gently say to her we have not even filed yet but girls will be girls and such when it comes to this stuff.

My plan was to file when I went back over in June/July because we would gather more evidence (photos, boarding passes, receipts etc) and fill everything out in person before I left. Now I am not so sure and have talked to her tonight about just doing everything now.

Because I do not like mushy fruit, I am a very risk adverse person and am concerned that we do not have enough evidence so if we get an RFE for more, well we don't have any!

Here is what we have to prove we met in person

- Airline receipts, two boarding passes and coupons from Southwest saying I flew on the tickets (I work in the airline industry, the ONLY way a ticket can show as "used" is if it the passenger was actually uplifted on it)

- Passport stamps

- Several photos together in the Bahamas and at the Kennedy Space Centre

- Copies of both our onboard cruise account cards showing the same ship, sail date and room number

- Bank statements for ATM withdrawls when we were driving from Indy to Florida

- Credit card statement for a hotel I paid for (no receipt from them unfortunately) and from the Kennedy Space Centre (to fit the photos)

- Carnival baggage tags for both of us showing same date, room number and ship

I intended to do a bit of front loading (even tho it would be dangerous to let foreign fruit drive such a heavy peice of machinery like a front end loader ) with ring receipts, skype logs, a couple of emails (we're not big emailers) and one or two affadivits.

What do you think VJers? Do it now or later? We have over a year (we want to get married in the spring of 2012)

Thanks peoples!

Ben

If you can do your BSN first then do so, better to get it out of the way first time round.

While nursing IS competitive we have attributes that make hopefully make us more competitive; we are international non-traditionalist career changers with work experience in other fields, are mature and hopefully have good people skills. I have a strong customer service background dabbled with some health care experience as an Ambulance Officer (vis-a-vis Paramedic) and if you can talk yourself out of a corner and think on your feet that is 2/3 of the challenge taken care of.

Good luck

Our Bachelors Degrees are three years, totally specialised (what the US call "major" or "upper division") no Degree here has any general/liberal or "lower division" course work, we are allowed to do one class (out of 24 we need for our Degree) that is not in our field of study.

The reasoning behind this that we get the equivalent of "general education" in our last year of high school and that qualifies us to go to University.

I an really surprised how much of even professional degrees like Nursing are made up of non-nursing coursework which can be in such subjects as astrology, arts, humanities, history, basic computing, drama or anything inbetween, but then again we have none so that would explain it.

Its really frustrating to be given a plan of study that includes two or three semesters of "pre-req" classes in "humanities appreciation" and "social competence" especially considering the cost of study and that it seems a Bachelors Degree is not created equal the world over.

Now, my work as an Ambulance Officer (vis-a-vis Paramedic) has included dealing with drunks, I've been vomited on, copped gobs full of abuse, dealt with heart attacks, broken bones, little old Nanas who fell over, diabetics, suicides .... had to use those verbal reasoning and critical thinking skills a lot ... do you think this qualifies as "social competence" and "humanities appreciation?" (jk)

Thanks for listening.

Hey VJ

Funny foreign fruit here again ... I ma wondering if anybody has any experience with transferring credits from a Bachelors Degree to the US and these "general education" requirements the US seems to have.

I ask because I am looking at a second degree nursing program ... now, now I know, I know, where do I hang my stethoscope you say its not foreign fruit has a neck or shoulders (good thing I am not a banana then ) ... anyway, they list a whole bunch of "general education" pre-reqs which include options as art, history, astronomy, social competency cluster etc

Two problems is that 1) New Zealand completes five years of high school so whatever history or english I did in Year 13 is probably equiv to freshman year at college in the US as they only do four years HS and 2) because of #1 our degrees do not have any "general education" requirements and each paper (class) we complete is specifically focused to our Degree.

I can understand the second degree programs being set up for US Bachelors Degree holders where they will do a bunch of general education classes which is more-or-less what we do in Year 13 at high school ... I hate the idea of having to spend even longer at Uni (gosh its so horribly expensive in the US even for "in state" fees!) and having to pee around doing basket weaving and english 101.

I'm going to hit school up and explain the differences between our two systems and try to get my high school and Uni transcripts evaluated and sort of try to show equivalence. While I understand this will depend on the particular policy of a specific institution in question, Kiwi is wondering if anybody has had a similar experience?

Big fruity thanks!

Ben

Guys with the passport photo.

What is the sizing they require? the same as the US passport and visa guidelines?

2 Inches (50mm X 50mm) ?

http://www.path2usa.com/photograph-requirements-for-us-visa

It seems larger than a Australi passport photo..

You should read the K1 guide mate, all the info is there, yes its bigger than what we in AU/NZ consider a standard passport photo.

LOL thanks all, Kiwi sure is nontraditional, funny foreign fruit is hardly traditional now is it

Gosh the differences between NZ and the US when it comes to higher education are so marked, partic around funding as we have universal students loans that do not need to be repaid until you earn enough and no residency requirements, you can step off the boat on day 1 and if you are an LPR you pay resident rates here.

While I would love to go a B2 BSN or MSN its not financially practical to do so and only be on one income for 18 months or longer.

Thanks all, now does this look like VT to you? Oh well lets shock it anyway, sir, sir, this might hurt a wee bit!

Hey Guys I have a question

Do i need to send my Passport photo with a Form DS-156?

I was reading it online for the photo requirements but not sure if its needed for this visa... Help please

Thanks

DS-156 you fill out online and send/take to Consulate for your interview. I had to do it for my J visa back in 2008.

Seems this foreign fruit is upgrading in the world, J to K LOL!

Hope you are staying dry mate

Ambulance here is very highly educated and well skilled, requiring thousands of hours of education and it will soon required a Post Graduate Diploma to become what is equivalent to a "Paramedic" in the US. Sadly the US is not the same, a few months at a votech school and 600-1000 hours of "training" suffices for Paramedics. We have drugs and clinical autonomy that the US can only dream of, e.g. ketamine, rapid sequence intubation, thrombolysis prehospital etc.

An equivalent level of what I am does not exist in the US and its difficult if not impossible to get my clinical education recognised, I would have to start out with a 100 hour "Technician" course (such a course would not even qualify somebody to touch a patient here) and work up from there.

My scope of practice is as follows (this is totally autonomous, I don't need to speak to a medical control physician to do any of it) OPA/NPA/LMA, aspirin, GTN (NTG) SL, salbutamol, methoxyflurane, ondansetron, IM glucagon, PO glucose, IV cannulation, IV fluid administration, adrenaline, cardioversion, manual defibrillation, 12 lead ECG interpretation (bit rusty on that one!).

My business degree grades were pretty good actually, about a B or B+ overall and I've had a good few years of experience dealing with people so I can think on my feet and handle stress quite well.

It would be ideal to do my second-degree BSN however that is going to prove a lot more expensive particularly if I need to wait 12 months to get resident tuition.

Hello VJers

What can I say, my brain is melting somewhat and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Currently I have a business degree and work in a really boring job which is like lignocaine (lido) for the brain (yes that rhymes I know, thats why I put it! lol) however for a few years now I have considered becoming an RN as I am also a casual Ambulance Officer (Intermediate Care) and have a great interest in critical and intensive care medicine and anaesthesia. I have read Guyton's Medical Physiology for fun ... what does THAT tell you? LOL

New Zealand only has the BN (Bachelor of Nursing - BSN equivalent) however I know the US still has a two year program. I am looking for some info as to which is better in terms of marketability and actually getting work for I'm at the "OK we go on our honeymoon and come back, now what?" stage.

I have looked at ADN at the local community college (should take ma about a year) however there are some options for second degree BSN or a direct entry MSN where you do the BSN in a year then do the Masters over 12 or 18 months part time.

I already have a significant acumen for and depth of clinical knowledge by way of my Ambulance experience and feel I should tackle the second degree BSN or MSN outright as this will give me a better foundation and get everything over in one go. That however comes with the downside that its longer and more expensive especially if IU don't grant me resident rates (12 month rule) whereas in a year I can have my ADN and an RN license in hand.

Not wanting to trample on the well established professional standards that my nursing colleagues have built over the last 200 years and take the "short cut" but honestly, I need something that will get me work as fast as possible!

By way of my Bachelors Degree I can probably get rid of most of the pre-req classes except for one or two basic sciences (chem, bio etc0 I already have A&P done and want to do patho and pharmo while I'm still here (these are University level).

Now I hate to reduce our jobs to a skills peeing match but on the ambo I can do the following (perhaps you are interested): OPA/NPA/LMA, aspirin, GTN (NTG) SL, salbutamol, methoxyflurane, ondansetron, IM glucagon, PO glucose, IV cannulation, IV fluid administration, adrenaline, cardioversion, manual defibrillation, 12 lead ECG interpretation (bit rusty on that one!).

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Ben

Hello VJ!

Kiwifruit here, long time scroller-througher, first time poster and even longer-time owner of a strange sense of humour ... well seeing as how I am fuzzy foreign fruit would you expect any less?

Long story short my American girlfriend and I have decided to get married and start a fruit salad, however it's proving a bit difficult and the big question is which visa route do we choose?

We met online in June 2010, met face-to-face in Jan 11 (spent two weeks together) and got engaged. I have been doing lots of research and feel that both the K1 and CR1 visas are good options each with thier positives and negatives.

Unless I am advised otherwise, we plan to do the process ourselves, we're both fairly educated and think its DYIable.

Given recent policy changes by Immigration New Zealand its easier for me to go to the US and sponsor her for NZ permanent residence rather than doing it here.

Anyway, here is what we have come up with .....

K1 plan:

The good

- Do not have to be seperated after marrying as I can apply for AOS straight away

The bad

- Requires costly adjustment of status and application for EAD/AP which would be nice to have up my sleeve without waiting

- Means we cannot take our planned European or Carribean honeymoon as I would need to wait for AP

CR1 plan

The good

- Less expensive as no AOS/ED/AP required

- We can take our honeymoon anywhere we like (would be on VWP and not have filed I-130 yet)

The bad

- Would have to come back to NZ after getting married

Either way I have one more trip to the US (at least) in the middle of the year and Kate (Mrs Kiwifruit) is planning to come visit NZ later in the year which means we would have more airline receipts, photos etc.

The big sticking points for us are that we don't want to take our honeymoon IN the US (K1) and that if we went the CR1 route I am concerned we would be held to a higher standard of evidence (bonafide marriage vs ongoing relationship) and we would have to spend the first 5-8 months apart of our marriage apart.

Whichever route we choose, we are going to submit the following as evidence:

- Photos of us together

- Copies of our Carnival cruise cards that have the same room number and cruise date on them with both our names (on seperate cards)

- Copies of airline itineries, some boarding passes and statement from the airlines saying the tickets were flown on

- Two credit card statements with some misc charges eg hotel we both stayed at and ATM withdrawls

- My life insurance showing her as beneficiary

- My credit card showing her as an additional cardholder

- Engagement ring receipt

- Skype logs

- Phone bills

- Copies of cards and envelopes sent to each othes

- Statement from her parents that we were together for both trips

- Letters from each of us stating we are free and intend to marry (if we choose K1)

I might have one or two other bits and pieces I can throw in for good measure that I am not thinking of.

So, if you could have a look at my plan and help a strange piece of down under fruit decide which y'all think is better it would make for awesome fruit salad!

Thanks

Ben