DaisyD

Does anyone have any advice or experience relating to the medical marijuana industry? I am considering applying for a professional job within the industry in Oregon and am wondering if there could be potential conflicts with my green card status or a later application to remove conditions on my 2 year green card or applying for citizenship. If there are any doubts I'd rather not risk my residency status, but the job could have a lot of potential for me, Just to be ultra clear and avoid confusion I do not consume/use it myself in any form and have no intention to.

Just wanted to say thanks to Nich-Nick for this guide. We used it yesterday and managed to fill it in easily on the 2013 taxes with Turbo Tax Basic (we tried Free tax first, but they don't have the option for the foreign income). You just saved us from having to pay for a tax accountant to fill it out for us.

Many thanks

Daisy

I think that you are in a great place. Half of the problems people have in my experience of moving away from home are unrealistic expectations. They expect their new life to be amazing and wonderful and full of fun and excitement, which it will but when homesickness and other difficulties strike (as they will) they are devastated and unprepared to cope. You know that it will be difficult, for you and your family and expecting it will help when it does arise. If you can see that it is part of the process of moving and that it will not be a permanent state of being/feeling. I've been here six months now. I talk to my family a few times a week on skype and keep up with all the news. Letting my family know what I am up to helps them see that I am happy and starting to settle in. Half of their worries come from the fact that they will miss you and the other half because they worry if you will be happy. I don't mean to say you shouldn't share your concerns and daily worries with them when you move, but that you should focus on getting yourself settled in and enjoying your life in america. They will be happier if they can see you are happy. The other thing to remember is that homesickness comes in waves, it may be there for a while and then go away and then come smashing you back in the face, but sure enough it will go away again. I thought I was just fine until the "holidays" started. Thanksgiving with my in laws (even though it's not a british holiday) was tough, they just don't act how my family would at a family gathering and I felt like a big outsider. Then planning for chirstmas came, usually I would know what I was doing by september back home. But here, we only decided last week to stay at home and even now, there is a possibility that we will have guests, but I don't know. These both bought on major homesickness. But help, understanding and support from my husband was crucial in overcoming this. We discussed our own desires for how to spend the holidays and he took me on a special shopping trip to buy mince pies and a christmas pudding (even if they are extortionately priced!), which silly as it sounds cheered me up hugely. So in summary, it will happen, it will suck, but if you expect it and talk to those around you about it, you will get through it and it will pass.

The green card is exactly that, a card roughly the size of a credit card. It is also green, hence the name.

I personally would wait on your passport renewal. You will still be able to travel despite your passport being in your maiden name and your green card / AP being in your married name; simply carry a copy of your marriage certificate documenting the change in names. They could ask to see your passport at your AoS interview.

Thanks Hypnos,

I will probably wait then if it could be required at my interview.

I am trying to decide when the best time to send my passport off to be renewed would be.

My passport is in my maiden name and is also due to expire in May next year, so I would like to send it home to get a new passport issued in the UK. The helpful advise for the UK passport office is that it can take a minimum of 4 weeks, so I would expect from that it will take at least 2 months (to include postage time) and potentially a lot longer. I would like to get my passport renewed as soon as possible so that I can travel if needed (once I have AP). What would you advise? Renew now, or wait until after I have the green card?

Is the green card affixed to the passport like my K1 visa was? Or is it a separate card? Will I need my passport at the AOS interview? I had my bio-metrics taken and they let me in using my British driving license (photo ID), so could I use that instead? Does my passport have to be valid for a certain period of time for them to issue the green card?

I've not shared with anyone in the US, but I have in other countries and although it has always been a positive experience I would strongly advise that you find accommodation for the first 1 to 2 weeks in a b&b, hotel, motel, hostel or with friends or such like so that you can meet potential roommates and see the accommodation before committing to living with them. It may be scary moving knowing that you only have accommodation for a week or two, but that should be plenty of time to find somewhere to live if you start your search as soon as you get there, it is generally easier and quicker than you think to find a room. Make sure you go to see at least 3 places before making any decisions.

The majority of people are safe and sane, but you might not have similar lifestyles to them all or enjoy the company of them all. I have often thought that an internet advert had ideal roommates and then on meeting with them realized that they are not people that I want to live with (not that they were dangerous, just I would not enjoy being around them lots). Or that an apartment looked really good in the pictures, only to find out that I didn't feel safe in that part of the city when I went to visit it.

Also the possibilities for scams and deception online is very real and it is easy to get drawn into if you don't know the area you are moving to, do not hand over or send any money for deposits/rent etc until you have physically been to the apartment/house and met the people you will be living with, even if it sounds great and someone is pressuring you to commit or you will lose the apartment. The more pressure someone applies to ask for money before you visit the place, the more wary you should be.

As I said above, I have always enjoyed sharing accommodation with others and found it a positive experience, it is a great way to get to know people in a new city, and generally a great way to save money. I don't want to put you off, but I do want you to go in with your eyes open to ensure you have the best chances of finding a nice place with people that you will enjoy living with.

I had my interview on Monday and honestly you really don't need the French certificate if you were only there for 6 months. I was in France for exactly one year but my first 2 months were in a hotel and so did not appear on the question about places where you had lived for longer than 3 months, so they were reluctant to take my police certificate when on paper I was there less than 1 year, I did eventually give it in at the second part of the interview but could have got away with not having it. For 6 months you do not need it. You will be fine.

I am currently waiting for an interview date at London and have the same message with it having been updated on Monday. I know this information is no help to you but maybe someone has done something to your case file but ascribed the wrong message to it? Try calling the embassy or the DOS to see if they have any more information, particularly if you don't hear anything back within a week of the update as I'd expect them to send you a letter if something had been changed.

If you don't mind me asking, which document was your wife missing? I want to make sure I'm ready for my interview and have everything needed.

I hope you get it sorted soon, I can't imagine how hard it is waiting for an extra month after the interview still not knowing when it will end.

Daisy

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No idea how you go about it, but i know that it is possible to get a second passport. Maybe it is worth applying for one if you are desperate and getting nowhere with the embassy? Obviously though it doesn't help speed up the visa. Not sure how to do that....

Have you tried contacting your senator's office? My fiance is from Oregon and we got a very speedy response from them and were approved less than a week later.

Okay, rewind. I lost the plot. You Daisy are going to the interview. Right? You need no documents from the USC except his affidavit of support and proof of income. The list of documents for the interview are all about you. No divorce decrees for the American needed.

Yes I'm the Brit he is the USC. Thanks for your help...I was getting myself confused.

Daisy

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Take the original divorce decree and a photocopy of it to the interview. They will hand back the original before you leave. You'll need it again at some point.

Thanks Nich-Nich

Just to be absolutely 100% certain though, do i need to take the marriage certificates as well?

(sorry to make you repeat yourself...i just want to double check everything)

Oh and second question while i think of it...one of the decrees was certified and the other not....is that a problem?

Hi,

I am just wondering (read: worrying) whether I need to take a copy of my fiances previous marriage certificates (which I don't currently have) as well as his divorce decrees (which I have) to my interview? His divorce documents were included in the i-129f but not marriage certificates.

Any thoughts?

Daisy

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Thanks for all your help. That's really useful. I will make sure I've got the records in an official format before I book the medical.

Can anyone clear up a question for me please?

I have been trying (and struggling) to get a record of my vaccinations from my GP. They have them but they have to be typed up as they are currently on bits of paper and this is proving to be a difficult task for them.

I have a previous record from 2007 which is only missing tetanus jab that I have recently received in anticipation of my medical. So my question is if I attend the medical without a full vaccination record what will happen? Can I show my records from my GP here when I come to AOS in USA? Will they be accepted?

If I delay my medical by say a week will my potential interview date be put back?

I'd appreciate any thoughts you have.

(Just been told by my fiance to be more patient....perhaps he has a point!)

I've been thinking I ought to make a list like this for a while. I would like to go to see a play at the Globe theater and go and visit friends that I've not visited in a while. I will get thinking on what else to add to my list! Hopefully I'll be moving in June so only a few months left.

Better to get it altered now, then to have problems at your interview. The day is nerve wrecking as it is without having to worry about that!

You'll also have to get the certificate translated.

Did it today. I called them and they were really friendly helpful and are going to send me a new certificate. Very efficient. I still think that my second french certificate will arrive before my british one even though I applied at the same time! Next job to find a translator.

Thanks for all your help.

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I had the same problem with my spanish police certificate. They spelt my midde name Elizabethy, instead of Elizabeth.

I asked on here if anyone could translate a brief letter into spanish so I could send it back and have it corrected. A kind person helped, I sent it back, highlighting the mistake along with the letter. It took about 2 weeks to get the new one and I didn't have to pay again.

I only noticed there mistake when I had the certificate translated, the translator said he could only change the name when the certificate came back ammended.

It's a small problem to fix.

Thanks, I will try to get it altered. I was just seeing if I could be lazy and ignore it but correcting it will cause less worry at best and less time at worst. Time to brush up on my french!

I have just received my copy of french police certificate (I lived there for a while) and unfortunately despite me providing the correct spelling they have miss-spelt my middle name by one letter. Does anyone know if this will cause problems when I go for my interview at the London embassy? Is the certificate needed later on my path to citizenship? Do you think it is worth getting it corrected now?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Daisy

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Yes, I've learned that lesson now. I don't think I was ever asked for it previously which is why I didn't make the effort to get it printed at Christmas. But I'll make sure to have for my next trip at Easter to save the hassle again.

Been meaning to write this for a while, but only just got round to it. I just wanted to share my experiences.

I've visited my fiance 4 times previously without any problems at immigration. Each visit was for less than 10 days and a couple of months apart.

I flew over for a visit in December and at the immigration desk was asked the usual questions, told them I was visiting my fiance and when my return flights were for. The man at the desk asked for my itinerary but I didn't have one as I didn't have a printer at home. He informed me that it was a requirement of the visa waiver (I didn't realise this). So I got sent to the second interview room (not sure what it is called). Quite a few others from this man were also sent there and the immigration officers in there seemed to be complaining that he was sending lots of people their way. I put my passport in the queue and took a seat and waited until they called me up. I spoke to the immigration officer at the desk he asked for a reservation number which i didn't have so he had to manually look up my flights (which he wasn't too pleased about but he did find them). He was asking me about my fiance and if we'd applied for a visa and when we were going to get married. He was also able to check my previous visits and highlighted one of the visits he couldn't find the return flights for but i remembered it was via a different airport so that seemed to satisfy him. Anyway, once he'd found my flight details he printed them out for me and told me to remember to take a copy with me next time.

So it was a bit of a pain and took a while to wait my turn (luckily I had plenty of time until my next flight) but it wasn't a big deal. Maybe that all my previous visits had been relatively short helped, I'm not sure.

So my moral is print out the flight details and take them with you (or at least have the reference number) and that I wasn't asked for any other evidence of intentions to return home.

Hopefully that puts peoples mind at rest.

Daisy

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Thanks for all the suggestions. I like the honeymoon idea and the target gift list. I will look into them.

D

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Hi,

J and I are currently organising our UK based engagement party and have been asked what we would like as gifts and that has got me thinking about wedding gifts too (when the K1 visa finally arrives we're hoping for February...!).

So what are good gift ideas that i can suggest to my UK relatives? I don't want bulky items to have to ship over to the States. What did others ask for?

There is always money (though I feel a bit awkward asking for that)

Or gift cards - but I don't know which American stores will accept UK credit cards online (any suggestions?)

Alternative gifts we are thinking of is

a favourate recipe to go in a recipe book for us to keep

or I would like pictures of my friends and family to take with me in a photo album

Anyone else have any ideas? either traditional or alternative gifts?

Thanks

Daisy

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Another variation for you all:

We're planning an engagement party in UK for my friends and family this autumn to allow us to celebrate with those that can't travel and to give me something to plan and focus on!

Then we'll have the wedding sometime next year in America when the visa comes through. I'm hoping that we can shortlist venues etc in the mean time and then if I spend 6-8 weeks packing up my life once i get my visa before i move should give us 2-4 months in total to book the wedding once I've the visa in my hands. I've promised my parents to arrange it for when they can attend and other UK guests will have to fit in if they can, but at least we'll already have celebrated with them.

We've only just started out so nothing is definite yet but this was the best compromise we could come to so far.

Thanks for all the advice.

I am not sure if my skills are specialised enough but I work in scientific research so if an employer wants me they should be able to justify it as my background consists of unique research (I'm hoping!). Though how unique that is compared to others is something I will have to find out. I understand that the work visa is temporary but I'd hope to change my status after we marry and this way I won't have either the months apart from a spouse or the months twiddling my thumbs waiting for my work permit after arriving and marrying on a k1. Although we want to get married next year we'd prefer to be together as soon as possible so are looking at all our options.

Thanks again for your help. Any other opinions would be appreciated.

Daisy

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