zoobuffalo

i am getting rejected here, there and everywhere i have a job. i have savings. i have no credit history in the US. this is tough.

hi

question about xe trade - i have it all set up for transferring money between my uk and us bank accounts... and have initiated a trade with them but now they want me to wire the money to them but haven't given me any info about how i do it!! what do i do next?! have been searching my bank's website in vain trying to figure out how to wire money to a company that haven't provided me with any account number or anything for doing this... and they say i have to get them the money in 3 days and now i'm panicking! can anyone who's used them pm me asap with what to do??! my uk bank is nationwide...

thank you!!! emma.

thanks guys! woo yeah!

that would be JFK. not exactly super-friendly woman at the first desk, but the second guy very friendly, sense of humor and helpful too. was a little nervous for it, but nothing to worry about at all

so here we are in NYC wow! i had a slight nightmare with the courier service from the embassy who were bringing my passport with visa back to me - was on the phone and hearing different things from different useless customer service people - one told me my visa had gone back to the embassy because they'd tried to deliver it when no-one was home... and i wouldn't get it until a week's time... then it shows up the same day on my doorstep at like 10 minutes to 6pm. anyway it was a bit crazed but i got the thing and we flew out just 4 days later. immigration was a breeze. simply took my packet at the desk, looked through it a little, stamped 'approved' and sent me round to another desk. waited a couple minutes, then a guy saw me, took fingerprints and signatures, said welcome to america, congratulations! it was great. that was on monday - yesterday we spent a while at the Social Security office queuing for a card application. was worried that i needed my birth certificate with me (hadn't taken it with me) but they just needed my passport! the lady seemed really suprised i was there to apply for it just the day after i got in the country! but this card is what everything else is hinging on! can't get a job, bank account, credit card, health insurance, anything until i have a social security number. they told me up to two weeks... hope it doesn't take that long! off to buy a cell phone today as that's about all the productive stuff we can do right now! but nice to have a little time to chill in the city before we get down to normal life. anyway wanted to say thanks to everyone on here for all their help, reports and advice. it's been wonderful and i don't know where we would have been without you guys. hope everyone's cases are going well and i'll be sure to report back about any other things i think would be helpful. we went with john mason shipping in the end and have paid the bill but not heard any date when we might get the stuff at this end yet. hope it's not too soon - haven't even finished unpacking the suitcases yet!

thanks again

emma+arsenio

wow weird because for us the quote from john mason was quite a lot cheaper that from excess baggage. i guess it depends where you're going from/to and what sort of stuff you're taking.

ah ok cool, well that sound pretty much like what i'm doing. just getting bogged down with the terminology and what not

the people at john mason didn't say that it would make any difference. i was just doing it this way because i don't have my visa number yet to put on any forms etc. and we get to use his SS# and should be all fine. i'm sure it's all just formalities. the stuff i'm having to tick on the forms is mostly the same for residents and non-residents.

elmcitymaven that's really interesting... so you didn't have to fill these customs forms in at all? i was given the same forms by doree bonner. it's the US customs form 3299. just thought they were the same with every shipping co. as it all has to clear US customs. i have to do all that basic inventory stuff for each box too, but this was definitley required. hmm maybe shoulda gone with excess baggage... tho i am saving a bit of money so maybe it's worth the stress will call up about that tho - thanks!

well it's all specific to your case, so the instructions just told me to list in everything in this one section that we're shipping that we've owned for under a year - so really it does take some thinking about and figuring out! i haven't been very specific, just said like 'kitchenware, worth about £30' stuff like that. will send it back to john mason today and hopefully they'll give a holler if anything's not right. yeah it was just the biographic info page of his passport they wanted. was feeling a little stressed out about it all this morning, trying to make sense of the forms, but feeling better now. but yeah probably best not to leave it too much to the last minute, i feel like i have done a bit and it's still 3 weeks till we go...

have bitten the bullet and we're going with john mason. i called them yesterday to accept the quote and i had to scan and email over my husband's passport (we're doing it in his name to be on the safe side) and the acceptance of quotation form that they'd sent us. we fixed a removal date of the 11th april! wowowowowow so soon! today in the post i got a pack with the US customs forms and instructions on how to fill them out. am trying to do it all by myself right now while my husband's out at work! wah! it's all like declare items you have acquired abroad and their value etc, stuff you brought with you that was not made in the US... it's a bit complex can anyone advise?

i think it really varies! look at my quotes - they're pretty vastly different like that one being loads and not even being door to door! i guess the only way to do it for sure is to get quotes yourself like you're doing. i listed how much stuff i'm taking so you might be able to gauge some sort of an idea from that?

i'm calling john mason back tomorrow to say we're going with their quote. will be sure to report back on all stages of the process

jpkeswim, i'd say put the names of the companies mentioned into google and check out their sites to find out. sure you'll find they ship from all over. thanks for the recommendation, sunnybear - have just filled in their contact us form. blimey, i have to say, as a web designer, the websites i'm having to look at for these shipping companies offend my vision!!! they're definitely not these guys' top priority!

and i MEANT to ask, has anyone on here used john mason to ship before and can give me any feedback on them?

well, excess baggage have come in at not too expensive - they quoted me £615. to specify, we're only moving 10 boxes of stuff, a sewing table with legs removed, an armchair that's partially dismantled, a mirror and a medium sized brass instrument.

i have really been impressed by john mason. i was contacted quickly by a representative, he asked me a couple of questions over the phone and then got back to me within the hour with a quote (their website has a cool application where you click on all the rooms in your house and then click on the items to add them to your list - it's fun!) - the quote was £560. i emailed back saying i'd like some more info about their company etc. and they said no problem, 2 days later i have received the quote as a document, including insurance forms and full explanation of costs and services. right now it's looking VERY likely we'll ship with them as their customer service has really impressed me

good to know - thanks redkitty well they're one of the front runners for me right now! i guess as soon as you say yep, we're going with you, they start laying on the customer service

woof! sterling international say £995.00 ... yeah won't be going with them

someone tell me if this is too much information

ok, feeling more impressed with john mason than upakweship - asked them both for a brochure and info, john mason replied back saying they'll send it today, upakweship just said that all the info's on their website. their website seems pretty unintelligable to me! bit of a mess. i couldn't find any of the info. i guess they're not too interested in sending you stuff unless they've definitley got your business. anyway they might be £10 cheaper than john mason, but they're putting me off with their brief and unhelpful emails.

John Mason International have just come in at £560 (plus insurance). seems good, but i do wonder a bit when the email is literally one line long with the price and no further info - no what to do next, no info about their insurance services, etc. have emailed them back requesting a brochure...

wow i am doing 1/2 hourly updates

just got a quote from www.moveme.co.uk - most expensive yet, came in at £742.50 and that's not even door to door!!! wayyyy more than even doree bonner with all their extras and professional service claims! so, yeah not recommending that one!

jeraly - will post links and phone numbers when i get an opinion on who's best. was going crazy on google earlier and now the emails and calls are rolling in John Mason International just called and is getting back to me soon with a quote, he said they didn't even need my visa details.. hmmmmm ok it goes on... bizzare.

breaking news - upakweship will do it for £550, best price so far. am having a thorough read through of their terms on their site - they've only quoted on what i told them we're taking, so could be the situation that they turn up and go tsk tsk tsk no this will cost a lot more

ok that's interesting, thanks lansbury! think it might just be simplest to get it all done in my husband's name to be on the safe side. the guy who said it might be a problem was going on about having to take a SS number from me now and then there being problems if it didn't match up after going through customs! i said ok, so what do most people do who are in my situation and need to ship stuff... he said... they don't. huh. anyway, got the quote back from these guys, doree bonner, huge glossy brochure - they did not email me the quote as well as they said they would, they did not get back to me regarding any of these SS issues that they said they would look into. anyway the quote was £615 as well, same as excess baggage - though i see DB's quote does not include VAT, wheras the excess baggage quote doesn't even mention VAT. oh this is getting annoying. i have just asked for a quote from upackweship so guess will see how that one comes out. good thing about doree bonner is they gave me all of the necessary forms that we have to fill in so i have them now. oh well, will keep you guys updated!

hey AJS - i'm just coming to the end of my CR1 visa journey check out my timeline by using the link at the side of this post. we got married feb 2007, sent off out first lot of forms march 2007 and i just had my interview now and am approved, pending medical results. so all in all it was a year of waiting for us. hope you can get some idea of the timescales by looking at our timeline. good luck with getting your interview soon.

emma.

Can I ask why your case was at NVC for six months? Also, from the time your case was completed at NVC, how long did you have to wait for your interview?

Thanks!

hmm no idea, i figured that was just how long it took. we had a couple hold-ups, had to wait almost a month for my police certificate to come through, as we didn't know we had to get it, so sent for it when asked. there was something else that held us up about a month too, can't remember exactly what it was! but stuff on our side anyway. so maybe could have cut the time down to maybe 4 months at NVC? just an estimate. after getting case approved we waited almost 2 months until the interview. hope that helps!

emma.

hey AJS - i'm just coming to the end of my CR1 visa journey check out my timeline by using the link at the side of this post. we got married feb 2007, sent off out first lot of forms march 2007 and i just had my interview now and am approved, pending medical results. so all in all it was a year of waiting for us. hope you can get some idea of the timescales by looking at our timeline. good luck with getting your interview soon.

emma.