Richard Purves

Let's see. First time, I was told the application was in progress and come back in three weeks. 2nd time they confirmed it had been sent but I'd already confirmed it hadn't been received, so filled out SS-5 form. Find out then my name was wrong. Advised 10-14 days. Will be enquiring again Monday as USPS informed delivery hasn't picked up anything yet.

Well let's see. POE on December 28th 2019. According to SSA, card was issued and sent on December 31st. Card never arrived.
Waited three weeks. Saw a nice lady at my local SSA office on January 21st. Was told two weeks. At time of posting this, it's been 10 working days and nada. I am understandably concerned that such a crucial document (Real ID act for drivers license requirements etc) has potentially gone missing TWICE.
 
I've now camped out in my local SSA office three times, spending on average an hour each time. I am reluctantly planning a fourth trip on Monday.
 
The less I mention of USPS screwing up my green card delivery along with USCIS not updating my address, the less my blood pressure raises.

Also, I'm prefer sending mail by UPS, not USPS.

When it rains, it pours........hopefully, things will get better......good luck.

Yeah the rules have changed a bit, but it does mention "split year treatment". So they calculate tax based on projected yearly income and if you leave before that, then likely you've overpaid and they owe you some money. You'll need parts 2&3 of your last P45 too.
 
https://www.gov.uk/tax-right-retire-abroad-return-to-uk

Hi,
 
So after I had been in the US a few weeks, i had read something about claiming back income tax rebate if leaving the UK [plus it gives notice that to them that ive actually left]. I was in no rush to do this as I figured that as i was paying PAYE income tax automatically I would always be paying the correct amount with the amount divided up equally over the 52 weeks of the year. Anyway, i filled in the online P85 form, and a few weeks later a letter from Inland Revenue arrived in the post to my US address, I figured it would just give me a zero balance nothing owed or to pay, but I couldnt believe it when I read they owed me close to a months worth of my previous salary with cheque attached ! Talk about an early christmas gift !
I dont often see much mention about it on these forums at least not recently, and YMMV but its something I would now 100% recommend !
 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-leaving-the-uk-getting-your-tax-right-p85

this question will also go unanswered, given the inappropriate tone that it adopts.

TBH it's been a rollercoaster for me. I've only got as far as attempting to sort my bank accounts and going through this: https://www.gov.uk/moving-or-retiring-abroad

Ewww decaf ... never again with that stuff!

Ewww decaf ... never again with that stuff!

Yeah I was there for just shy of 3 hours, majority of that just waiting, I literally spent 10-15 mins at both windows, just depends how busy they are, staffing levels etc, some people breeze in and out in 20 to 30 mins, there's just no guarantee.

It really depends on your file. I went in at 9.40am for a 10am appointment. I didn't get out until 11.30am but my case was one of the more complex ones. Could be sooner, judging from the others around me.
 
2pm minimum should be ok. You have to think about the 10-15 min walk back to Vauxhall tube station and travel after.

One final update, and I can't believe this ... I was told 7-10 working days for processing and then however long the courier needs.
 
I went from AP to Issued in 24 hours. Today, I got an email from the courier saying they are delivering tomorrow. I think that's unheard of quick?

Absolutely !!! 🙏👌
Best feeling ever. Your right.  Breathe ..relax and give them whatever they want. 
 
They took all three tax transcripts, my employer letter, W2s. Everything. 
 
He had all my supporting docs with the Affidavit of Support. 
 
I was a bit surprised they kept it all but he had it clipped together so maybe that’s why. Only thing they gave back was pay stubs. 
 
Plus the new public charge will be in affect soon so maybe they are covering themselves at this level as well. 
 
However, it did surprise me and I make well over 125 percent and enough for 4 plus household with ease. 
 
Either way, we we were approved but I think it may be useful to share since UK sometimes only needs one supporting income. 
 
That’s the only thing I thought was a bit interesting and better to be over prepared sometimes.  
 
Other than that he said it was like a conversation with a friend and it lasted maybe 5 minutes tops for the actual interview. 

Woohoo!

Ryan and I were approved today! !! 
 It was actually exactly how everyone describes the interview. 
We will write up a review shortly. 
Thanks Again @Wuozopo, @Zoeeeeeee, @Greenbaum, @lady3jane, @Richard Purves, and the many I’ve missed for all your support. 
Finally, we can be reunited, married, and AOS time. 
🎉🎊

Thank you @Richard Purves and congrats on your recent approval. We were following your timeline as well. Very happy for you and appreciate the kind words. 

Average is visa delivered 7 days after interview. It varies.. some are quicker. Maybe since this is your second interview, some things were already done.
 
Anyway...Lucky you. No more stressing. 

The morning of Tuesday 1st October, approx 6am.
... and hup! Awake. It's dark, that can't be right. Have I overslept the alarm? Better get up and get ready quick then! Oh good grief! Waking up half an hour before my alarms go off (yes I have multiple) was not part of the plan! I get ready, get my stuff, the envelope full of documents that I've meticulously checked and rechecked over the last two weeks. Stuff that in a M&S carrier bag because the weather forecast suggests that it'll be wet enough to build an Ark. I don't actually want to be Noah, so with the very limited space I have I take my umbrella too. And my phone. And a phone charger. Oh, don't forget my bank card either.
 
And now I'm ready.
 
Out the door, head to the tube and arrive for a 10am interview at ... 8am. Whoops. Breakfast might be an idea, so camp out in District and somehow despite nerves manage to stuff a breakfast sandwich down my face with a lot of deliberately on my part stewed tea. Saw a couple people being redirected to the cafe for the storage facilities. I did some exploring at this point too. The Waitrose tea bar isn't IMO that nice by comparison. Waitrose also does NOT have a bathroom. District does, so I buy a bottle of water for the embassy and make sure I've "refreshed" myself. Top Tip: the bottle must be unopened when you go into the Embassy security screening. Also the Embassy does also have a restroom but it's the other side of the building from the immigrant visa section I was in, so I sipped as the air is dry and waited.
 
I was allowed to proceed to security at 9:40am. My experience with airports helped enormously and I was through in a couple minutes. Interestingly before you're allowed through the door, a security person wants to see your phone run an app, any app before being allowed in. Fine, fire up Facebook for him. Takes 2 seconds to look and we're done.
 
Huge queues inside the embassy. Guy at the desk starts calling out names, mine is second and asks us to come forward. You can feel the non immigrant applicants staring down the back of your head as you totally bypass all the queues. Proceed to the lifts, up to 1st floor and through to the IV section (left, end of room, left again). Take a seat, see my number immediately called so go to booth 24 and give over all the documents asked for. A few questions, made difficult by low speaker volume and the gentleman's polish accent and we're done in about 5 minutes. I did ask him to turn it up but I still had to struggle to hear over another applicant's screaming child.
 
Back to a seat. Get talking to a few people nearby. They're going to rejoin family out there, as were most people there. They seemed to be successful, so I let them go. Meanwhile my nerves are fraying, and I'm shaking like hell. I do not want to do round three of this.
 
(incidentally outside I got talking to someone else who also interviewed at the same time I did. He also got 221(g)'d in January 2018 and NOIR'd and beat it. Very strange that two of us on the same day turn up. He's doing family visa though.)
 
I wait. I wait more. I'm conserving battery power so I daren't start playing Mario Kart Tour. I also don't want to miss any announcements so no music and no headphones. At this point I'm more a prisoner of my own thoughts and I plan my strategy for when my interview comes up. At first the longer I wait, the more nervous I get. This starts to subside after a while. I started waiting about 10.05am. The clock drags on. A lady with I think a Spanish accent sits near and asks if they just wait there. I explain that after first call up, the interview will be next so she should keep an eye out for her number. I've chosen a seat with a good view of the display. I can also see the weather outside go from sunny to very wet indeed.
 
11.20am arrives. Every single I number around mine has been called up! This is worse than buying raffle tickets! (I've a talent for buying raffle tickets where the numbers that win surround the ones I've bought.) I'm wondering what's going on. Nerves fraying. Mouth dry. Drank most of my water already.
 
11.30am. I'm called up. I place my stuff down, exchange pleasantries with the Consular Officer. He asks how I'm doing. I say I'm a bit nervous and hold my hand out. I'm shaking like Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles. He laughs to put me at ease and we go into the interview. All my plans, my strategies, my carefully prepared answers go straight out of the window. I revert to talking like I'd talk to a CBP officer examining my passport. He smiles, spends a lot of time typing. He actually thanks me for waiting and says that he went through the entire file before I was called up. My file is a good 10 inches / 25cm thick ... no wonder it took him a while! I'm sure that thing has ballooned since I saw it last.
 
So, from his demeanour I start to relax but not too much. It's clear he wants to approve this and the questions were all geared around that fact. Some mention of the film "Trauma Therapy" that I'm involved in and the fact it's premiere is tonight! Think he was quite impressed with the cast. I got the impression he knows his stuff, and this was confirmed by the fact he mentioned that a college buddy of his now helps run rogerebert.com .
 
The other part was he mentioned that he was very impressed with my attorney's paperwork. Said it made life very easy for him. I did say that I would feed that back and I have. (Plug time, I used Beltran Brito Casamayor as my attorney because I've decided that having a fiery Latina man based in Florida fighting your case is exactly what you need! Daniel Casamayor in particular is highly recommended!) 
 
He approved me. I've a slip of paper for next steps, which I assume is the USCIS fee and to expect my passport back in 10 days time. I assume but didn't ask about the IV packet. Now I'm going to spend the next two months wrapping up my UK affairs and make the next leap over in early December. Stick a fork in me, I be (almost) done!
 
Oh and when this finally hits home after three solid years of effort, I may vomit.

We've had a few interview reports over the last week or so (mine included). Basically you've got the prep work done. Breathe. Relax. Go confident but honest. Your file will speak for itself.
 
Good luck!

Getting to London
 
This entire experience has just reinforced my belief that the UK is too centralised, it’s one of the most centralised countries in the world. London is very congested, and I swear it smells either that or it was just the drop in air quality.
Also, everything could have been signposted better, even with the help of a smartphone it was a tad difficult to navigate at times. I’ve been in some large cities in my time and they were all better signposted. I wonder how Londoners or people from the South-East would react if they came to Scotland or went abroad and everything was as badly signposted.
 
I live in the far North East Highlands of Scotland. There were a few options for me to get there. The Caledonian Sleeper would get you into London Euston at 07:50 on the day of the Medical if it was on time and running. Except it was being hit by strike action at the time and seems to be consistently late because of its operator. As an aside they only run the newer sleeper carriages from Glasgow and Edinburgh – so much for all that Highland tourism – and the cheapest room ticket I could find was £140 which is more expensive than a lot of flights.
 
I decided to travel to Inverness and fly from there. The flight was supposed to leave at 19:05 and arrive at 20:35 at London Heathrow the night before. 5 hours before it was supposed to run British Airways cancelled it and booked me on a flight for the next day. There were no more flights from Inverness that would get in early enough for me to make the medical.
 
I was eventually able to fly from Wick to Aberdeen and then Aberdeen to London Heathrow after having to pay way more than I should have, oddly enough British Airways were still running the flight from Aberdeen. Though it was delayed by two hours. I arrived in London at 00:00.
 
I took the N9 bus to my Travelodge and settled in for the night. The next morning, I made my way back to London Heathrow and took the Heathrow Express to London Paddington. There were a few options at this point. I could walk to the medical, use the Underground or get a bus. I opted for the Number 7 bus and got off at the Selfridges bus stop and walked to the medical.
 
One thing to note the map and picture on the Visa Medicals website makes it look like it’s on a blunted corner. It’s actually in the middle of a street.
 
The Medical Itself
 
My appointment was at 09:10, I arrived a bit early and settled into the waiting room. There weren’t a lot of people there, but it soon filled up.
 
Got called early and went over the documentation, the receptionist did ask to see my DS-260 which isn’t listed as one of the documents you need but luckily, I tend to be a bit paranoid and over-prepared. I was given another form to fill in which was basically an expanded version of the Medical Questionnaire and a urine pot for a sample.
 
After that was done, they took a photo of me – might be related to their switch to a digital/electronic system.
 
I was allowed to leave my bags at reception. I waited a few more minutes and was called by the doctor. She went over my answers to both questionnaires and had something up on screen that looked like the digital image I submitted at the NVC stage. She then told me that they’ve switched away from a courier system to a purely digital/electronic one just this week, I specifically asked if they no longer used DX couriers. She then proceeded to complete what I think was an online form while asking me questions.
 
Quick eye exam where I had to stand at the end of the bed and read off letters while having each eye covered.
 
Then I had to strip. You are entitled to a chaperone or to be seen by a doctor of the same gender, I didn’t really care anyway, and speed was important to me. She also offered me a gown but as I was just stripping down to my underwear it didn’t matter. She examined my ears, took my temperature, examined my mouth – commented that I had large tonsils – listened to my heart, took a vial of blood, checked my blood pressure, examined my stomach, examined my legs and then had me breath in and out while prodding at my back a few times in different locations and that was it.
 
Back in the waiting room for a few more minutes and then it was time for the X-Ray. I just had to take off my top and anything worn around the neck. Again, didn’t bother with a gown. I just had to hold a pose for a few seconds while taking a deep breath and holding a screen with my thumbs. The guy checked that the image looked okay and that was that.

Returned to the waiting room again and then time for the nurse. She went over my vaccinations and I didn’t need any, they were still waiting for their flu vaccine stock to arrive. I could have got it via my GP, but they too were waiting for stock. So guess I got given a waiver for that or something.
 
Went to the reception window, paid for my medical. Got a receipt. An FAQ page and told that if I didn’t hear back in 3 to 5 days that everything was okay.
 
They talked about emailing me something a few days later, probably a copy of the report of images or the X-Ray and that was that, £350 lighter and that's not counting the cost of two last minute flights.
 
I brought passport/visa style pictures with me, but they weren’t required.
 
I had some more troubling getting to Gatwick by 12:00 for the return flight but won’t bore with that but it did involve some rushing around and aggressive moving by me to make it.
 
Got the interview on the 15th let's hope travelling on the 14th is less eventful... and cheaper.

Just had my Medical today. I'll write it all up in a day or so.
 
As a side note it seems they've switched to an electronic system at the end of last week/start of this week instead of using a courier.

Sunday 29th September 2019. 8.30am.
... and we're awake! Ok checking self. In bed, alone, oh clock's running way slow like it's mechanical rather than quartz. Must lay off the late night caffeine in future. Oh good grief! That was my morning as I realised I was going to do a dry run of the trip to/from the Embassy today. Right before the F1 race too. Here's some of the fun things I've learned on this trip which will aid you on your trip to the Embassy.
 
Vauxhall tube station: Take Exit no.4. That'll exit you in the right direction to the embassy. When you get to the crossing, don't follow the road straight on! That way lies illegal cigarette hustlers on the street and other things I don't want to know about. Instead follow the road to the right hand side. That will keep you going in the right direction. You'll quickly spot the Waitrose as the Embassy as you walk and shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes.
 
Waitrose on a Sunday morning was shut. They are open weekdays which is good.
 
A new cafe that I've not encountered before called "District" is open and within sight of the Embassy South Pavilion. It's also full of Embassy employees having brunch so I kept my mouth shut apart from to converse with the almost entirely Australian staff (plus one New Zealander). This is where I made the discovery that this cafe will do bag storage. Apparently the Embassy is redirecting people there now if they turn up with big bags, laptops etc.
 
They advise getting there early, like pre 9am as space fills up quick. It's £10 for the day, and there's a free drink thrown in for good measure. I stopped there for a quick pain au chocolat and a tea, and the tea defeated me! Small cups but big pots. I know where I'm having breakfast Tuesday before I go for round two.

I can't remember what I've told people right now 😛
 
But yes, as soon as I know what I'm doing and where exactly I'm going I'll ping you

Yep, I caught that and got the edit in, but totally messed up "if you are under the threshold".
 
So under the US/UK tax treaty, you pay the country where you live. The date you move you are a resident of the US. You should not be taxed by the UK on that last bit after you move.  
You file in the US if you earn over $12,000 during the tax year. (That is the figure for a single person for 2018 because 2019 tax form/rules are not finalized yet. It can change or stay the same, but gives you an approximate figure. It will not change much if at all). If you don't earn enough while a US resident, then you don't have to file.  You will be considered a Resident Alien for the tax year. If you earn enough income in the last months of 2019 (while in the US) to file, then you report all income earned during 2019 even the UK part. Then you have to exclude it so not taxed on it. Or take a tax credit for what got paid to the UK.
 
Read the beginning of Publication 519. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf
There's a dual status year discussed as well which is another way to file if you earn more than $12k in the US and have to file a US return. 
 
Note: that Publication above is for 2018 because there is no 2019 out yet, but the rules will stay the same so it's a good source to review. You will be resident alien for filing because you will have a greencard in 2019 If you enter the US in 2019. So you can skip parts discussing non-resident alien taxes and focus on the resident alien parts...or the dual status filing.