dentsflogged

14 hours ago, NikLR said:

OP enjoy your kitty snuggles. 

I cannot WAIT for the snugs. Thanks!   I spent last night making her a nest under our bed (assuming she'll want to hide there) using blankets from our old house so she'll recognise them and a pillow that smells like both me & my husband. 

7 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Just wanted to say best of luck flying home with your cat!! Poor kitty flying from Australia to the US, then has to get on another plane...I have traveled internationally with cats twice but only once all the way to the US. Highly depends on the cat, some travel better than others.

Thanks!   She's always been OK in the car - on longer drives I'd take her out of the crate and she would go sleep in the footwell behind the drivers seat or sometimes climb under my sweatshirt or something (not safe, I realise - but that's how I kept her warm the day I found her and she's always found being inside my sweatshirt the most comforting place) but she HATES the crate, so I imagine that she'll be stressed out for at least some of it until she just goes to sleep. I figure that once I've got her she'll be better because at least then she's with her mumma.   I'm just so anxious to see her now - Its been since the last week of October since I last got kitty snugs - I've started cooing at human babies to make myself feel better 😰

5 minutes ago, NikLR said:

there's different health certificates required for domestic travel than international.  

I know.     I was told by two different airline reps (from different airlines, not two from the same one) that because she's flying directly after arriving from international, they accept the International health certificates.     I'm really hoping they were both right because there's literally no way that I can get a domestic one done in the interval between her landing in Phoenix and us heading back north to the Midwest.

Just now, C90 said:

Do you mean that your cat goes through 2 major international airports to get to Phoenix? I re-homed my 2 cats when I moved cause I didn't wanna make them fly that long, but I've seen a lot of stories on here from people who successfully brought their pets here  As long as you made sure your cat has everything he/she needs during the flight I'm sure he/she is going to be fine and ecstatic to be reunited with you! 

I'm using a professional pet transport company, which I'm hoping goes OK - I've had a few really good reviews from people I trust.

She gets picked up from where she's been living with a friend the day before she flies & will get checked over first and gets a break from the crate overnight before flying. 

Flies into LAX and has a significant break (around 10 hours) out of the crate while it's cleaned & the lining changed and she gets checked over by the import vet. A very short flight to Phoenix from there.

I pick her up in Phoenix & we go back to my friend's place and she & I will chill out for a few hours (only about 6 hours between getting back and having to leave again, so I doubt I'll try to sleep and we will just sit somewhere quiet together) before going back to the airport for our early flight home with her in the cabin with me. 

I re-homed her sister (she ended up being adopted by the person looking after both of them) but I hand-reared this cat from a 4 week old kitten when I found her abandoned in a box and I couldn't bring myself to give her up. I can't wait to see her!  Even my husband is excited because he knows how miserable I am without her! 
 

3 minutes ago, NikLR said:

I would not leave the USA until you have AP.  If flying domestically you're fine. 

BTW your cat if flying or travelling domestically will need a heath certificate from a veterinarian. 

Cat is flying in from Australia to Phoenix so she will have all her export documents which I was told by the reps when I called to book her in the cabin for our flights home will be acceptable.   Both told me that regulations for international import animals are slightly different because of the checks they have to have before & after their international flights. 
 

Just now, Ben&Zian said:

 

Should be fine. You don't just have a regular state ID or driver's license? Doesn't need to be the compliant card yet.

Thanks

No state ID at all yet - my job for when I get home with the cat is to go over to DMV and see if Wisconsin will accept my receipt for i-485, a print out of the Minneapolis service centre timeline for AOS processing and my Aussie license to see if they'll give me even a temporary license. 

2 minutes ago, C90 said:

Are you flying domestic? In that case passport and MC are enough. I traveled domestic twice and they only looked at my passport

If you're flying international you need an approved AP before you go

Yes, just domestic.  Phoenix.  It's got the best connections to get home with kitty in tow (and they wouldn't land her at MSP due to their restrictions on pets in inclement weather which i'm totally on board with) but now the idea of going through 2 major international airports has me worried!

Assuming that the weather doesn't mess me about (thanks to the winter storm in my part of the Midwest), I'm due to fly south tomorrow to finally go collect my cat (after 4 months apart!) - do I need to do anything special? 

I'm AOS from ESTA, finally have my receipts from USCIS so I'll be bringing the ones from i-130 and i-485 as well as a copy of our marriage certificate & my passport (because I don't have a Real ID compliant license yet) - is this all sufficient? I'm really worried that something will go wrong and TSA will call in ICE or something (yep I'm probably over-thinking this!)

On 1/25/2019 at 2:25 PM, rayman26 said:

Wow, you guys have been exceptionally helpful, and it almost no time!

 

I think the best thing to do is to get married here in the USA, at least that way I can have some visibility into everything and not get surprised because my pre-nup I used in Vietnam doesn't hold up, etc.  

Yes, a meeting with an estate attorney is necessary.  

 

I haven't read the whole thread so if I'm repeating someone else, eh...   My dad was a cop and my aunt a lawyer - I come from a family of over-caution in regards to law. 

If you're going the prenup route and want it to be iron clad?

Get it NOW before talk of visas.  Your fiance should get her OWN attorney (not one paid for by you in any way) and be given a copy of the pre-nup in her own language for them to review - that way it can never be claimed that she wasn't given the paperwork in a language she reads well and understands, and she can't ever say she didn't have proper, non-biased legal council to help her understand things that might need clarity. 

Do NOT wait for her to get to the country to sign it because if things go wrong down the track, it's possible that she can argue that she signed it under duress ("I knew I'd have to go home if I didn't and I gave up my whole life there/quit my job/sold property etc and I'd have nothing") 

Also remember that (and a good lawyer should tell you this) no prenup on earth will save you from basic divorce laws. You cannot use a prenup to force her to accept anything less than the minimum that a divorce would otherwise grant - ie: a share of what you accrue together during marriage. 

54 minutes ago, Visitor User said:

Doctor’s decide if the patient should be covered. I have health medical insurance. 

Your insurance decides what they will or wont cover, not the doctor.

Help calm my anxiety folks! 

Pacakge recieved last friday. 

Payment was showing held for $1760 on Tuesday and checking my account balance just now it’s dropped off ... is this normal or should I be calling my bank and yelling at them for denying it (especially when I’d called previously and told them to expect a charge for that amount from USCIS and that it was 100% not fraudulent)

With the Chicago office (presumably where the initial applications/payments are processed, given that’s where the lockbox is) closed yesterday and today I can’t imagine it’s because someone looked at the application and decided to deny it right? 

I’m seriously anxious right now. I really wanted my recipts by next Friday before I’m due to fly domestically (just in case!) and now this has got me sitting here really panicked. 

29 minutes ago, Visitor User said:

I know many immigration exam places but I am trying to get the cheapest rate. I found one for $210. 

So then ... call those places and ask them?  

Again, no one here will do that work for you. If you're so keen on saving money, then you'll have to work for it yourself.

4 hours ago, Visitor User said:

Anyone?

No one is going to do the work for you. You've got the internet, look up the list of civil surgeons then start making phone calls. 

2 minutes ago, nerdese said:

Congrats! I know it's a great weight off your chest to have the package out there, even if it is totally anxiety-inducing. I had a similar feeling of dread that I'd get some sort of outright rejection, but so far so good. It took four days for them to charge our card (mailed on a Saturday, card charged the next Tuesday), though of course I only asked my husband a week after mailing, at which point he told me it had already cleared a few days prior!

Oh so anxious! 

Probably worse because I'm planning on flying in 2 weeks (which is after my i-94 status has technically expired) and I really want to have my NOA1 with me before I go anywhere close to an airport! 

20 minutes ago, Chocobo said:

Fingers crossed that time passes quickly for you!

 

It took Chicago about 5 days (business days), to charge my card, so try not to worry if you don't see anything until the end of the week.  Plus with the insane cold, it's possible that offices may be closed (causing further delays).  

The cold is insane!  We decided to move when it was -26*C (well, thats when we COULD move) and I swear I wanted to die every time I had to go carry something else out to the truck!

Seriously hoping they just charge me soon so I can stop worrying! 

On 1/17/2019 at 5:07 PM, nerdese said:

Credit card was super easy, and as a bonus, we used my husband's card that gets really good cash back/points, which felt good (almost like we get a little something back for these exorbitant fees!) It was also reassuring to be able to get that automatic update that the card was charged, instead of waiting for a check to cash. I know they haven't been accepting credit cards for AOS for long, but we didn't encounter any problems -- just clip the form to the top of the application where you would have put your check.

 

As for the NOA, I think the date on the notice is the date it's generated. The date I received it only corresponds to how long it took to get to me via mail. My I-130 and I-485 NOA1s also had my priority date, which was 12/03/2018, the date my petition arrived and was accepted at the Lockbox. 

You're right, credit card was super easy. 

Package arrived at Chicago on Friday afternoon. I'm currently keeping myself occupied with finishing painting the house we bought and just moved in to so I don't keep obsessively checking the credit card statement to see if it's been charged. I'm so paranoid that we missed something important in the forms or something and they'll reject it out of hand so I'm just trying really hard to chill out until I see the charge and can relax a little.

2 hours ago, Moses Bee said:

I said yes because they been known each other for about nine years and is only two years and four months she did not pay him a visit , may be due to financial reasons or whatever , But they are still talking as couples  and do get a lot of things going on between them .

He did not said they are separated or having problems between them .

None of this matters. 

The requirement of a K1 visa is that the couple have to physically be in the same place at least once within 2 years of filing the petition.    You're probably trying to be kind, but you're also dead wrong and should read up on the process and requirements.

I don't know if it's the same as it is in Australia, but Lock Boxes/PO Boxes there for big companies/government offices are actually just a holding facility and at the set duration that the owner has requested, all the collected parcels/packets are then moved along to the "real" address as a bulk lot.   I imagine thats what's going on.

Didn't see one of these threads with a search, so I thought I'd start one! 

Our package was sent off today.   Guaranteed delivery for 01/25.  I'll be keeping an eye on my credit card like a hawk to see that filing fee be charged! 

Here's hoping speedy processing for all of us!

And you realise that you left out a single document!  D'oh! 

Moving and doing immigration paperwork at the same time has caused chaos in this household.  Our package was sent off a while ago.  

I just moved a box and found a second copy of my birth certificate.     Furious flipping and moving things around until I found my checklist and realised it was the one which was meant to be in with my i-485 (there's a copy with the i-130).

Here's hoping it doesn't cause any delays or anything.

Anyone else made silly mis-steps like that and had it turn out OK?   I'm totally kicking myself so hard right now! 

4 hours ago, FluffyBalls said:

 

Just double check the I94 online. Just a word of warning every once in a while there's a discrepancy between the I94 (official) end date and the one that's stamped in the passport. 

This!   My passport was stamped that I entered on 20th October when I actually went in on the 30th of October.  The date they wrote in my passport matches what my online i94 says (for my admit until date) but not 90 days from my "stamped" entry.  CBP officers can and do make mistakes - the computer that crunches the numbers does not.

18 minutes ago, eckoin said:

Wow @dentsflogged, it kind of sounds like a rip off... You had a TDAP and they made you do another TDAP? Those are like $30-50 at a local pharmacy. And TB, syphylis, and gonorrhea basically amounted to $400-500? That's insane. 

 

My civil sergeon charged $280 all in, told me to get vaccinations at a CVS down the road. Although I did have my pregnancy bloodwork which probably included syphilis and gonorrhea, so maybe that was it. I do remember paying $900 for those tests, a dozen or so. 

 

I had TDaP in Australia in October and got a combined Tetanus & Diptheria one here in the US because apparently (?) the protocol is that if it's been more than 10 years since your last TDaP shot, you'd have a booster for T&D within a few months.   My last TDaP shot before the one I got in October was sometime in around 2002 after I cut myself on a nail, so it was like a "fresh" immunisation in 2018, not a continuing cover shot. 

I think the breakdown in total was something like: 

$320ish for Civil Surgeon.  Now that I think about it, the lady preparing the bill actually said that they threw in the TD shot for free as an "uninsured discount" on the total bill because I was paying out of pocket. 
$390 for blood draw/Syphillis/Gonnorhea tests (done in my hometown)
$190ish for blood draw/TB test (done at the hospital where my Civil Surgeon was, because my local clinic doesn't test for that since it has to be sent off to another lab and they don't have the transport agreements for that) 

I think the main issue with the costs I paid is that for the blood test there was only one place I could go to get it done - no competition = they can charge what they like.   The next closest place I can go for a blood draw is 35 miles away and I'm not comfortable driving in the winter alone yet, so I just went with the closest option (walking distance from home). 

15 hours ago, millefleur said:

Sheesh... That's good to know for anyone possibly ever considering the idea of doing AOS as opposed to a K-1 or spousal visa. The medical abroad costs around $250 and includes everything except vaccines.

We were in the process of K1 before circumstances changed dramatically.   I'd already priced up the cost of medical in Australia and it was going to be close to $650 for me, taking into account the fact I'd be missing a day of work (I used all my paid leave up spending time with my husband) and the cost of getting to/from the appointment (I didn't have a car so it would have been 2 PT changes taking over 90 minutes or a $50 uber in each direction) so the price really isn't that much higher.

At the end of the day it is what it is.  We didn't plan to AOS in this way so the extra cost is one of the pitfalls of it - it's still outweighed by the fact that I can be here to support my husband while his only living parent goes through cancer treatment, and help my mother in law out by being there to cook/clean around the house and actually get to know her properly. 

1 hour ago, Ycats said:

Hello,

 

I was wondering, what is it that we are paying for when we are told the "initial price" of the Immigration Medical? Is this just the cost for the doctor to review our current documents and do all the paper work? Or does this usually include a little bit more except for immunizations? My husband and I are currently "shopping around" for a nice price for the medical. But I just want to be a little more educated on what it is we are paying for in the initial price.

 

The first place just said $220, not including immunizations.

The second place said $150, but bloodwork and immunizations would be between $200-800 extra.

The third place said $200 just to review the documents and included a TB test if needed. But would be an additional $340 for anything else needed.

 

Now of course, I don't expect things to be cheap, I just want to know what I am paying for with the initial price they are mentioning. The offices seemed to avoid that question, so hopefully I can find help from the community!

 

Thank you in advanced!

 

First and foremost - get copies of all your immunisation records (if you've had any) and have them translated if they're not already in English.

Secondly - the civil surgeon you book with SHOULD request your records and give orders for tests be done if those records are incomplete or non existent. 

I'm AOS from ESTA.  My civil surgeon sent me the requirements that they needed - Vaccination records for TDaP, MMR, Varicella (chicken pox) and a flu shot, as well as proof that I'm not infected with TB, Syphillis or Gonorrhea.  I had (thankfully) had a recent TDaP, Flu shot and MMR vaccinations (my sister in law was having a baby so wanted to make sure I was covered for things that could be very bad news for an infant) but I still needed to get another shot while at my medical for Tetanus/Diptheria which is the protocol for those strains apparently. 

I had my blood drawn at the local clinic for testing for TB, Syphillis and Gonorrhea and they sent the results straight to the civil surgeon. 

Because I wasn't able to get all my medical records (we changed GPs when I was about 5 years old and since both my parents are dead, there's no one to as who my original GP was), they took the fact that I'd had Chicken Pox as a child on good faith and I didn't need another shot.

Total cost was around $900 all up - that's blood tests, 1 extra vaccination needle and the actual civil surgeon appointment (which was $330 total just for her time).  

Unfortunatley, one of the down sides of AOS from a tourist visa is that you get screwed in a few ways, and having to do the medical under the American health care system is one of them. My husbands insurance didn't cover a single cent of any of the costs except the vaccination - their reasoning is that the blood tests were non-diagnostic so wouldn't fall under standard care and they weren't ordered by a specialist that I'd been referred to via normal methods so there's no "indication that they were medically necessary". 

20 hours ago, Cryssiekins said:

Agreed 100%.  When I came over I had some savings to help bridge the gap until an EAD was received, but it was super tight.  

We just submitted our AOS and the money side of everything right now is staggering.  My husband and I are very lucky that he earns a good wage and we live in a very low cost of living area, and are aware we are obscenely lucky that we both had significant savings (and in my case, investments which pay dividends spread throughout the year) and neither have any debt so it's not as tight for us as it is for a lot of others - but I STILL check our accounts every day and track every single penny of outgoing just to be sure.

I honestly cannot fathom how we'd survive if I didn't have my own savings and he was only earning enough to scrape past the poverty guideline when taking into account the additional costs that crop up - not just immigration ones, but the extra cost of groceries, more power and water usage, extra cost adding partner to insurance and then the inevitable little expenses like them getting sick and having to pay a co-pay for a doctors visit/medication etc etc etc.  It just adds up so quickly and can be a huge stressor. 

21 hours ago, yellowbee12 said:

but if i did I wouldn't have it for long enough to have tax papers showing it?

You can use pay stubs for current income that you've not yet submitted a tax return for. 

Don't forget that you'd be working the two jobs long enough to continue supporting your spouse until she can work, which can take anywhere up to 6 months after submitting the forms to request her EAD and possibly many months after that depending on what kind of work she's looking for, how good her English skills are any many other factors outside of your control.