Kajikit

Yup looking at that pic of aukland i would agree and right across the border is vancouver which also looks like that.......

I loved Seattle when I visited it... that part of the US seemed much more cosmopolitan than most of the other cities I went to when I travelled around the country. It's a different world to Florida.

If he's got no serious physical cause for his snoring, get some ear-plugs! Actually, you'll get used to his snoring given enough time together. DH snores like a jet liner sometimes and it took me a couple of years to really adapt to sleeping with him. But now (after 7 years) I rarely even notice it. If it's too loud I prod him to turn over.

I suspect you'd feel a lot more at home in Seattle... and you don't even have to leave the state to get there.

It seems a little odd that you would get an email rather than a paper letter... I'd be double-checking if I was you!

My oath gonna be tomorrow !!!

I just got my letter. My ceremony is next Friday. I'm very surprised it's so quick... but that means I'll have a US passport by the end of next month.

Seems simple enough to me. They're trying to avoid confusion. It doesn't actually distinguish between citizens-by-birth and naturalised citizens, it wants to make sure that the bases are covered. If you're not a citizen yet, you need the A number.

The lack of eye contact doesn't mean a thing. I had a perfectly normal interview and the interviewer acted like a robot for the whole time. I think that must be USCIS policy... or else they're staffed entirely by androids.

They give you a vocabulary list in the back of the citizenship booklet for both the reading and the writing sections of the test (they're not identical, but most of the words are very simple). If it's any help, his partner could drill him in those lists for as long as necessary to help him learn them. You have to read and write sentences like 'The president lives in the White House.' If he has a certifiable learning disability (like dyslexia) causing his illiteracy he could get a medical exemption on that part of the test and not have to do it. They just need to fill out the medical form and get a doctor to rubber-stamp it.

Nobody's FORCING you to become a citizen. Some people don't because they'd have to give up their original citizenship and they want to keep it (but their country of origin doesn't allow dual citizenships). Some people have trouble coming up with the cash or they're worried about the exam or whatever. You can keep a green card forever if you want, you just have to keep on remembering to renew it every ten years. Personally, citizenship means never having to worry about the USCIS ever again, and being able to get an American passport.

If you're a fluent English-speaker you don't need to start studying at least until you get your interview letter. That gives you about a month's notice, which is plenty of time to memorise the hundred questions. At least half of them are things that most people with an English-speaking-background will know already just from watching television and reading books so you really only have to 'learn' the tricky ones.

If you have to do the whole thing by rote it would be much, MUCH harder.

You can divorce her any time you like and tell her to get out of your home and never talk to you again except through a lawyer. Deporting her (for just cause or otherwise) is not up to you. You cannot 'GET' anybody deported. All you can do is report them to Immigration if there is a good reason to believe that they only married you for the green card.

Had my interview at Ft Lauderdale today and it was a carbon copy of Moonys... got there at 9.30, the appointment time was 10 and they called me back at 10.30(ish). The interview took ten minutes tops. The lady who interviewed me seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever and a robot could have done the interview, but at least it was painless! She didn't want to see any paperwork except my greencard and the interview letter (she told me to put the rest of my packet of stuff away unseen), and the only real question she had for me was who supports me financially (since I had no employment history on the form, and none to give her now. I'm 'working' six days a week between our church and the local library and local cat shelter, but nothing you get paid for...) Anyway, the answer to that is my husband, of course. We have one of those old-fashioned marriages where what's mine is yours and all that. Not that I said that to her, I just told her that my husband did... she made a little note on the form and passed me on to the next question, and in the end she told me I was approved. On the way out the door I tried to get an idea when the citizenship ceremony would be but she said she had no idea and I'd get the letter in the mail. All she'd tell me is that they do them a couple of time a month.

Actual civics questions. She asked the Governor of our state, name two American holidays, where is the Statue of Liberty, and I can't remember the other questions but they were easy ones.

Congrats Moony! I hope my interview on Monday goes so smoothly...

Don't go to Ihop then .

Everyone is welcome to miss whatever they want, but I think it's useful to point out that the US is a big place and there are many cultural differences within the country itself. Some of the things people are saying about "what the US is like" is completely foreign to me, and makes me wonder where they live.

Some thoughts I have while reading this:

Only discount shoe-stores display shoes by size. Any normal retail store will display a single pair and you ask for your size. Makes me wonder if that person husband is just taking them to payless for shoes.

In the local mall there are four shoe stores with varying price ranges (from Payless up to a store where the shoes start at a hundred bucks and go up...) All of them have the shoes stacked by size, but in the most expensive shop there's an actual person to help you as well.

I have never seen a place without sidewalks. No sidewalks?

In Florida, sidewalks are fairly rare except on the largest, most busy roads. My route to church was chosen because when they upgraded the road they put a sidewalk all the way along so I don't have to walk in the traffic.

There are plenty of places with a good food/restaurant culture where people go to relax and talk. I think if everyone just scarfs and leaves, maybe it's a diner.

Remember that in some parts of the world, a dinner out normally takes at least four hours... in the US it's more often fitted into one, ninety minutes at the outside, because the restaurant wants to fit two seatings into their night.

While I love living in Florida, sometimes I really really miss the Seasons, the hills/mountains, and the Australian plants (okay, except for the paperbarks, which I adore, but which are a noxious weed in Florida!) I also miss real Chinese food. There are a lot of South-East Asian people in Australia because it's geographically close, and you can get REAL Chinese food just by going to find a Chinatown. American-Chinese isn't remotely the real deal.

If you have a ten-year greencard, and you wait until you've had it five years, you're getting your citizenship in your own right, not piggybacking on your spouse. Your divorce is a non-issue. Paperwork for a 5-year citizenship application is very simple. Photo, copy of your greencard, check, application, and anything else specifically asked for in the application form.

Your greencard is YOURS... once they've given you a ten-year-greencard, you get to keep it whatever happens to your marriage/spouse. The only thing is, you don't get to trade it in for citizenship early. People who are married to a USC get to apply for citizenship after three years, but then you have to prove that your marriage is still valid etc. Since you're having marital issues, you're safest to wait for the five year mark and apply on your own - then they don't care about your marriage at all. Check the date on your greencard and you can apply five years after that date.

You're quite correct. You only HAVE to hang onto that ten-year-greencard for 12 months if you're married to a US citizen. But having paid all that money to get it, there's no rush. It's good for a decade.

They don't care about the US citizen's criminal background unless it involves the VAWA... they only really care about the prospective immigrant.

If you have an actual greencard and not a work visa (b whatever it is), you have nothing worry about. Working visas are only valid as long as you maintain the employment they were granted for. Once you have a greencard, it's yours for life unless you choose to leave the country and give it up.

A couple of hundred people in the room I can handle, especially if it's a big enough one not to seem too crowded. An hour's wait I can handle. Much more or longer than that brings back all of my agoraphobic nightmares...

I'm sure it depends on where you are in the country and how crowded the oath-taking ceremony is going to be. Just look at the description posted earlier today - 6000 attendees at one ceremony, so it took hours on end just to get through them all.

Somebody just described their oath-taking in LA and it sounds like a total and utter nightmare because they processed 6000 people at the same time and left them standing on the pavement for two solid hours before they even opened the doors to start the processing. For people who have already survived the process, how big, crowded, and lengthy was your ceremony, and where was it? I'm asking because I'm a)curious, b)have a disabled husband who would not be able to stand in line with me for anywhere near that length of time, and c)claustrophobic! You won't ever find me voluntarily joining a gigantic crowd for anything.

Congratulations. But I'm glad that Fort Lauderdale is a lot quieter than LA... I'd go stark screaming mad if I had to go through the oath ceremony with 6000 people pressed in around me. Not to mention standing in line for three hours. I have trouble standing still in one place for more than 15 minutes.

If they're going to take your picture, assume that you want to look your best for it and dress/groom accordingly. They may or may not use it, but who wants to spend the rest of eternity with bad hair if they do?