thesnowman

The job I have been offered is in West Hollywood working for HP. I was use to having horrific commutes in the UK and was pleasantly surprised to find no real traffic problems in KC. Don't really want to do more than 30 mins commute each way, so what areas would that give me.

You can probably find some nice places out in the valley but I have no idea how the school systems are there. Hollywood has its good areas and some really bad areas. Do you you have any time to consider this where you could maybe come for a visit. Seeing is believing!

My wife and I have already thought about doing this, the job wouldn't start till after the new year anyway so yes I do have some time. I just wanted to get a heads up on some areas to look at as both me and my USC wife have never been there and don't know any of the areas. Will probably go out there in the next month or so if we are still considering it.

I told my mum about the offer and she was all gung ho about it, she wants to come over and relax in the beach and find Robert Redford

The job I have been offered is in West Hollywood working for HP. I was use to having horrific commutes in the UK and was pleasantly surprised to find no real traffic problems in KC. Don't really want to do more than 30 mins commute each way, so what areas would that give me.

I had already looked at the house prices there and nearly had a heart attack, although the new job would pay more I dont know if we would be any better off. I know gas is more expensive but is the general cost of living more.

I recently got a job offer to move to LA, the money is considerably better, however I have never fancied moving to LA. I currently stay in Kansas City which I quite like as it has all the stuff you expect of a large city, but with a small town feel.

However my impression of LA is that it is a bit fake and all about the glam and Hollywood. I know this could be completely false so I want to know from some of my fellow immigrants (or USC) who have moved to LA what is it like. I do like the idea of being close to the seaside and all year round good weather.

My questions are:

1.What is LA or the surrounding area like for bringing up children. I dont want this move to negatively impact on my son.

2. What is the traffic like, especially around rush hour. If anyone if from the UK and can make a comparison with the traffic there that would be appreciated.

3. What are nice areas for houses and/or condos

I am sure I will have more questions, but these are the ones at the forefront of my mind. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

What a load of nonsense The VWP is a good program which if canceled would greatly reduce the amount of tourist coming to America. Also to suggest that all the people getting refused a visa is a terrorist is crazy. Most people that i have heard about getting refused is because they cant provide enough evidence of ties to there own country, not because they are friends with Bin Laden.

Also the shoe bomber had a clean record and if he had to apply for a tourist visa, he would have got one. It also might make it harder to track terrorist if they cant use the VWP as they will then gain entry via other means, probably coming in illegally via Mexico.

Although the comparison to Rome is slightly over the top I can see where he gets it from. An over extended army and a bloated democracy at home that is becoming more corrupt. I don't think he meant it as a direct comparison, but just to emphasize that even the seemingly most robust countries can go pear shaped.

I must admit that I found it hard to get a job at first, but the preception is that it is easier for us immigrants to get a job in IT than other fields. I assume because IT is global anyway.

I got an email on Saturday saying that my AOS card production had been authorized. Hopefully I will receive the card soon, got my EAD less than one month ago, but o well thats the chance you take. Anyway wohooo don't have to deal with USCIS for at almost 2 years.

P.S Got approved without any interview, so I assume that I will get one that the removing conditions stage.

We brought over GBP and exchanged them over here and found that it was pain in the neck. We did get a slightly better exchange rate, but here in Kansas City no one had ever seen british money and only certain banks would change it and even then they didnt seem to have a clue on how to go about it.

in the end we had to wait 3 days to get our money exchanged as they said that they had to get it verified. My parents also had travellers checks when they came over and had problems getting them exchanged.

I know its just because Kansas City isnt that big a tourist destination, as when I went to vegas I could exchange cash easy, but here is was a pain. We just wished that we had either transfered it using pay pal or brought over dollars

Yeah I agree about the bbc being one sided, but like you said they dont do the fear mongering like fox news does over here. CNN aint to bad, but it doesnt really cover anything outside of america.

I read a good article a while back about americans going to british news sites

to get a non US point of view.

http://www.cjr.org/the_news_business/super...y_complex_2.php

I read the British news sites near enough everyday and its quite suprising what the US media outlets dont tell you, even about stuff happening in America.

I must admit I am slightly tempted, I did spend hours last night watching Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and coupling last night on BBC America.

You know how people hate us now we don't have to pay for a tv liscence.

Although it is unfair, I couldn't help but think it's worth paying it to keep Richard Armitage on the telly

Dalm right. Those ppl that complain that we don't pay a tv licence can ####### off. I pay my subscription to BBC America and also pay my subscription to Sirus for radio one. Would like to have a bbc world news channel as well, cause the news programs over here suck (I know you can get the news programs on BBC America, but rarely get to see them).

I must admit I am slightly tempted, I did spend hours last night watching Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares and coupling last night on BBC America. I am not interested in any of the soaps, but being able to get all the football would be good, especially if I could get BBC Scotland as well.

The only thing that puts me off is that I hate watching tv on my laptop and I know that I will probably never hook up my laptop to the tv.

Rather than trying to right the wrongs of society by complaining about people not accepting your Green Card as ID to head office, why not just get a drivers license/state ID?

I would kind of agree, as that is what I done as soon as I got my EAD, but I only got a CFD at first, which didn't always get accepted, however all these people here have talked about having US passports, EAD and greencards, all IDs that are issued by the US government, and bending over backwards to accommodate these wannabe jobsworths just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

I mean my wife used her American driving licence in the UK and not once did it ever get questioned, in fact she used it all over Europe for various means and was never questioned. I mean how hard is it for all the states to issue a poster that describes all the state and federal IDs that are accepted. I mean since they are determined to crack down on underage drinking (at 18 you cant have a beer #######) as they appear to be, it would be a healthy step to take to produce these posters and give them to stores, bars and restaurants.

Also I know at times I felt that I had bent over backwards to fit in to the way of life over here, but were denied getting state IDs and driving licenses due to crazy bureaucracy, so a little bit of understanding and common sense from these people would go a long way. unfortunately it often appears to be forthcoming.

This topic made me chuckle.

I just got my proper drivers licence the other day, after spending months with a piece of paper as a licence. However before that I generally used my UK driving licence as an ID when I got carded for Alcohol and most of the time it got accepted, even if I did get a few odd looks, especially since the date is day/month/year. However we went into this local grocery store and bought some wine and the guy came up and asked me for ID, so I showed him my UK driving licence, we went away and came back and said that they couldn't accept it and that they didn't accept non us government issued IDs. He then told he would accept my UK passport, but isn't that also a non us government issued ID. It didn't make any sense, so I asked to speak to the manager and had a big argument with him that they would accept a UK passport over a UK licence. He wouldn't budge and said that I should always carry my passport with me. As I was getting more and more heated my wife had used her ID and bought the groceries before grabbing me away.

Anyway went in the other day to the same store to buy some margarita mix as we were having some friends over, the mix didn't have any alcohol in it, and we had the tequila at home. Next thing the I know I am getting carded for the mix. the guy explained that although it didn't have any alcohol in, it was in the alcohol section (next to tonic and soda water) so therefore ID was required. So I had my paper licence in the car, so i showed him my EAD. He informed me that it wasn't valid as it wasn't a government issued ID, I then pointed out to him that it said Dept of Homeland Security in big red letters at the top and if that wasn't a government dept what was. he eventually went away to ask his manager (who was the same guy that I had the argument with before), he looked over and I just smiled at him, he then told the guy to accept my ID, probably didn't want another fight.

I know I am in America now and the rules are different, but it does seem a bit crazy. Although it was funny when my mum and dad came over to visit, we all got ID'd going into a bar, but the door man went to my mum, " I definitely want to see your ID". it was right in front of my dad, it was quite funny.

When my wife was in the UK, they refused to let her drive a manual car on her American driving licence, she had to drive an automatic, and this was an Avis at Gatwick airport. I didn't have to surrender my UK licence when I past my test in Missouri.

I am lucky that my wifes family run a daycare and that my wife use to work there as well, even get a discount

Yeah I use thunderbird at work as I prefer it to outlook, you can download free plug ins for it that generally replace most of the lost functionality, for example you can download a calender plugin and a backup plugin etc.

If you find it hard getting a job I would register with a temp agency, my wife registered there got work a few days a week and within a month had an interview and accepted a full time job that she got through the temp agency.

I visited the US when my K1 was pending, I would just ensure that you get your better half to bring strong documentation (letter from employer, pics of daughter, rental agreement etc) showing ties to Manila. She will likely get grilled for a good while at immigration, but as long as she doesn't lie and has no intention of screwing over the system you should be ok.

We used excessbaggage.com. It was a bit of a mixed bag at first I thought the service was great, they would drop of the boxes then pick them up. However as we neared the move date I requested more boxes as we need more stuff and that is where the troubles begin, the boxes didn't come and I phoned up and the apologized and sent some more the next day. I then requested them to be picked up from work, they then didn't turn up the next day to pick them up. I phoned up and they informed me that they couldn't pick up from anywhere from the home address (even though they had picked up from my work address before). In the end they finally picked up the final box on the day that we left the country (I left instructions with a friend to call me if there was any probs), but thankfully it got picked up.

I phoned a day or two after reaching the states and they said everything was fine and the boxes were due to leave at the end of the week and we would get them in a couple of weeks, which was surprising as it was quicker than we expected. Two weeks later I phoned up again and the boxes hadnt even left the UK, no reason was given and I was told that it was always the case for them to leave then. In the end we received the boxes within 6 weeks on leaving the UK (which was our expectation), but it just wasn't as smooth as it could have been.

Everything was delivered in one piece so we cant complain to much.

Just dont ask for more boxes

well I arrived over here at the beginning of november and I am really enjoying it. I found a place called the world market where I could get proper cadburys chocolate and other british and european things (I did notice nuttela, for the person who was looking for it). To see if there is one near you go to this website http://www.worldmarket.com/custserv/store_locator.cmd

The only thing I miss is smoked back bacon that you get in the UK, and Iron Bru from Scotland, but apart from that I am settling in fine and I have started to make friends

I have just past my driving test, but they wont give me a driving licence. I have sent off for my EAD and greencard, but only at the beginning of Jan and havent received them yet. They are stating that my I-94 record states that I am K1 status until 10 Jan 07, which has since past. They want to see my greencard, which of course I wont get for a while. Are they allowed to do this or is this a mistake on there part. I performed my test Kansas city, Missouri.

Help anyone

Could you add me Andrew (Scotland) and Danielle (USA) we are now living in Kansas city, Missouri since the beginning of October

I am about to file all the forms for adjusting status, employment and advanced parole, but it asks for a certified copy of my marriage certificate. Can I just send in my marriage certificate that I got from the wedding or do I need to get a certified copy (which takes 30 days to come).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

As I understand it if he has never been arrested or charged with any offence then there wont be anything in his police record. As my police record stated that there was no record of me ever being arrested or cautioned. I would confirm this with the police, but I am fairly confident that there wont be anything on there.

Congrats Devilette and Snowman on getting your visas too! Doesn't it feel wonderful to be through with all that! Now to wishing everyone coming up the same speed and success!!!!

Yeah it feels great, but be glad when I am on the plane and I can relax. I hate moving house, but cant wait to get there.