kelzm

Congrats Kim and Chris!

Good to hear you made it safe and sound Grant, good luck with the job hunt. Did you smell the garlic when you were in Gilroy? I'm living just a little south of there and have made quite a few trips up to the outlet mall to pick up essentials...

Kim I know what you mean about being over the immigration process. I need to get started on my sons paperwork but now that I've got everything sorted for me I just want a break! I may leave it till he visits again in January and get the paperwork underway then.

Hoping to hear some news from a few of you soon, it must be about time those noa2's came through!

Hi all, been a little while since I checked in but good to see everyone is still coping with the process and some of you are moving forward. Grant, must be exciting to be just about on your way. No news from Kim and Russ I see, here's hoping they're having a fantastic time after the wedding and we'll get some pics soon.

For those of you that are worrying about driving over here, I think that once you've been doing it a little while it feels fine. It's actually not that scary driving on the other side of the road, because you sit on the other side of the car, so that still feels right. What I have the most trouble with is turning, at first I was muttering 'stay right' under my breath as it's tempting to want to turn over to the wrong lane. The four way stop signs always give me a shudder too. But I'm getting used to the 'whoever gets their first goes first' rule. I've even driven up to San Francisco which is about an hour and a half from where I live.

As an update, I too was planning a life of leisure and looking forward to some time off but I soon found myself going stir crazy. I've got a two week temp job as a secretary/receptionist just to fill in time and give me a little bit of extra money. I'm going to start my serious job searching after that. I'm looking at a commute though which after living 10 minutes from my workplace is going to be tough.

I've had a few moments of homesickness, and I've definitely started to notice differences between NZ and the USA. I've visited many times but living here is just different.

Kim pictures would be great. Here's hoping for good weather for you.

Kiwiana - the practical was surpisingly easy. I too was dreading a parrallel park because of having to do everything the wrong way around. I didn't have to do that but I did have to reverse alongside a curb. I looked over the wrong shoulder (my left) while doing so, old habits die hard! The things that I got wrong were my hand signals, I hadn't read that part of the guide! Also I stopped too close to other vehicles at intersections, you have to leave 6 ft between the cars or you get a mark against you each time.

All in all it was pretty simple, I didn't have to go on the freeway as I live in a small town and it takes 20 minutes to get to the freeway. I had to do lane changes, show where everything was located in the car like wipers, lights, emergency light etc, and lots of driving around, with many stop signs and interseactions included. I sat my NZ license quite a while back but I'm sure this test was easier.

Hi all, well, it's a strange feeling not having anything left to do until I have to file for my 10 year card in 2 years time. I have my green card, my SSN and passed my CA drivers license. It wasn't a difficult test and I've been driving every visit so it was more just nerves to have someone in the car watching my every move, rather than it being tricky.

Yankiwi - sounds like you're moving not too far away from where I'm located, the weather here the last couple of days has been lovely though there was a bit of a heat wave last week where it was around 36 degrees celsius and I thought I might cook!

Good luck to everyone, I'm sure all those K1 approvals are just around the corner. Kim and Russ, have a great wedding celebration, after all this time, enjoy it!

Kiwiana - the practical wasn't too bad, I was allowed to get 6 wrong, and I got 4 of them wrong. I didn't study too much for it, I read through the handbook that morning and I did a few of the tests online through the DMV site which I really suggest making use of, including the 'driver knowledge' quiz. I noticed some of those questions in my test sheet so that was what really got me through it all!

My green card arrived in the mail today. Overall I'm very impressed with the speed of things here since I'd read that some people waited months. SSN arrived 1 week after POE, greencard within 3 weeks of POE.

Yesterday I applied for my CA drivers license and sat the written test while there. I passed that and have my practical driving test on Tuesday.

Michelle - by all means dress nicely if you wish As I said I dressed tidily, like I do for work, but I wouldn't worry about going all out with suits and the like. I don't think that they're judging the calibre of your clothing, it's more important to have all your paperwork ready to go. Honestly, I know that it's very nervewracking waiting for the interview but the people at Auckland are lovely. They actually seem to want to help and I don't think they're there to trip anyone up. As long as you're sincere about this visajourney (and I know we all are) then I don't think anyone has anything to worry about.

Hi guys,

I absolutely would not worry about what to wear to the interview. I made sure I was tidy and that was about it. The reality is that you stand and talk to them through a high counter with a glass window with a speaker and microphone set up. They likely can't even tell if you have jeans on or not There are also a lot of people going through there from students to workers to holiday makers all in different forms of garb. I don't think you'll be judged at all on what you wear (just you know... wear something!).

Welcome to Lisa and Tim

Dlopez, great news on your interview, I'm sure you'll be back here in time for Christmas.

Good news for me, my SSN arrived in the mail on Monday. Only 1 week after I arrived in the country, it was issued on the 17th (I cam in on the 15th) so that was great. I'd read stories of people waiting weeks so here's hoping that the system continues to be so prompt for the rest of you.

I've flown Air Tahiti Nui a couple of times as they can be a few hundred cheaper on special, they're not bad, you just need to watch how long your stopover will be. They fly from Auckland to Tahiti, then on to LAX. The first time I flew with them I arrived around midnight, Tahiti time, and had a 7 hour wait, not quite long enough for me to go to the expense of getting a hotel. Sadly though I was unaware that they close the airport in the small hours of the morning and so I had to sit on my luggage on the pavement for the better part of five hours. The second time my stopover was only two hours and everything was fine, I also did not have to collect my luggage, so hopefully they no longer make you do that. It's just something to be aware of, especially if you're carting over lots of precious belongings.

I usually use the House of Travel website (www.hot.co.nz) when looking at flights, it will compare all the airlines, then I book direct through airline sites as you save administration fees etc that way.

Hi all, glad to see you made it safely to this part of the world ShawnandLu. I still feel like I'm on a 'holiday' after my first week, probably not helped by the fact my son arrived yesterday. He was an extremely grumpy 14 year old who kept asking what we were going to do last night and was disappointed to hear read a book, play a game, watch tv - exactly like at home. I'm sure he thought it's be one non-stop adventure when he got here!

I only just realised that I never posted my POE review so I will do that. I came direct to San Francisco. If you have the option do consider SFO for you POE. It's much smaller than LAX, much friendlier and AirNZ does direct flights to there as well as other airlines starting to pick up more routes from there. You can also book onward travel pretty simply as well. It's a 12 hour flight so same distance as LAX without the drama of that huge airport.

My POE was fine, I flew business class (yay for airpoints upgrade) so I was off the plane pretty speedily and right to the front of the immigration line. Unfortunately some bright spark then decided that line should do wheelchairs as well and I had to wait for 45 minutes while 10 or so wheelchair escorts got put in front of me. After that it was pretty simple, they were very efficient. The border woman came and took my passport while I was queuing to make sure I was in the system, later another guy came along and had us all manually do our fingerprints and sign a form with him, and then the border woman put it all through. I didn't get many questions at all but that may be because I was on CR1. Just told when to file for my 10 year card since I have only a 2 year one and to head along to the social security office to get my number when I was ready.

Russ, best of luck with your flight. I'm betting that sleep is something that's escaping you right now!

Congrats to Kim and Russ and Shawn and Lu too! Lots of things happening.

Amaciar - How long did it take for Nic to get his SSN? Did he wait for it to be sent by mail or did he go into the office? I'm trying to get a good idea of the timeframes so that I know if I need to go in to apply. Lots waiting on getting that SSN!

I'm home.

Lots of good vibes being sent out to Russ, I'm confident that he's going to breeze through the interview.

Heya

Here's some links for parking. I parked in the Customs St carpark, I was there for just over an hour and it cost about $5. It took about 2 minutes to walk from there to the Embassy.

http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auckland/T...rking/guide.asp

There's also the Wilson parking yards which you can find info on here: http://www.wilsonparking.co.nz/go/regions/auckland-cbd

Good luck for your interviews everyone, I'm flying Home today I'll talk to you all later on, from there!

Kim - space bags sound like a good idea, I might give those a go! What I'm finding is that I'm having to put aside lots of things like clothes so that I can take other things like photo's, little sentimental knick knacks and old cards and letters. I suppose ... you can always buy new clothes, right?

Great news Kim

I'm on my last week of work now, flying out Monday evening to San Francisco. I'm spending this week sorting and re-sorting all my belongings and trying to get myself down to three suitcases only! The nerves are starting to kick in when I think about the big trip, I'm very excited but the prospect of leaving family is a bit daunting. I'm worried about my son who will be staying in NZ to finish High School, I'm sure that he'll be fine but I know the next few months are going to be a bit traumatic for us both.

Congrats, here's hoping they can get you in for an interview this week so Russ can be on his way asap.

Welcome bobsagetti, it's always helpful to hear from those who have been through the whole process. The California drivers license situation is one of my big concerns right now, and insurance. My husband spent his time last weekend visiting car dealers so I now have a lovely new car ready and waiting for when I can legally drive it!

Kel - great to hear you got through the POE entry with no problems and that you're enjoying your time with Evan.

I'm in countdown mode, one more week of work to go, flying out on the 15th. Starting to get a little nervous about now!

The NVC thread has the info on tracking packages. From what I've seen they're usually pretty speedy with getting them sent out once they're completed. Unfortunately for Kim she's stuck in some kind of horrid slowdown, hopefully yours will be in the next outgoing shipment.

Welcome to the thread! And good luck with getting your application through quickly.

Just to add about the CA drivers license - once you are a resident of the state you need to get a CA drivers license after 10 days. To apply for your license you need to have your SSN.

Here's the DMV's take on 'resident':

If you take a job here or become a resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner’s property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

You can find more info on applying for a license here: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#2500

Like Grant I plan to get my CA drivers license asap, I'll be in there as soon as my SSN arrives. One of the big reasons is that my husbands insurance company won't insure me if I do not have one.

Gosh look at us all online

I'm tired of my chair too, mostly because I'm frantic to get 3 assignments done this week. These are the times I regret the amount of procrastination I did in previous years, trying to finish up my degree as fast as possible isn't the greatest way to spend all my weekends!

Hi all, big welcome to our new kiwi couples! It's heartening to see there are so many of us going through this (not that I wish the stress and confusion of applying on people!), but it's nice to have company on the trip.

Grant I looked at different ways to transfer my money, some people recommend using commercial transfer places such as XE. I decided in the end it was easiest to talk to my bank about it. There are two options through most NZ banks (I use Westpac), telegraphic transfer or money draft. For both of these they charge a flat fee ($25) but unlike cash there is no currency commission so that's the only fee on this end. Like Michelle said there may be charges from banks on the other end, but for most it seems to be around $10 - $15. To do a direct transfer you'll need Brook's parents bank info which they should be able to obtain from their bank.

I decided to go with a bank draft to take my money with me, which is made out to me and I'll use it to open my own bank account in the US.

Here's the info from Westpac: http://www.westpac.co.nz/olcontent/olconte...aphic+transfers

Wow, lots of good news all round!

Congrats to Grant and Tiara, glad both of your interviews went so well, I think we are very lucky to have the Auckland consulate to go through, excellent service and friendly people make the whole thing a lot easier.

Kelly - yay on the NOA1 hopefully your wait will be quick.

Kim, I'm sure that your interview is just around the corner, good luck for that happening asap.