tucson_chick

processign times for AOS are totally random. it depends a lot on if you get transfered to Cali and on where you live.

you won't hear from your AOS until your local office processes your papers.

living on the boarder this takes forever, living somewhere else its much faster. some people have their greencards within 6 weeks in their hands, some wait for 2 years.

(not to talk about FBI background checks)

i'm sorry that you have so much trouble with your papers. it stinks.

but at least you seem to have a positive attitude.....

What is so good about being transferred to CSC? I vaguely remember when Julez was but that was soooo long ago now that I don't even know what it means anymore - we get to go through all of this in a couple of months!!

Is it sad of me to be kinda looking forward to AOS?!?! I feel a bit left out - Jeremy and I are "married" for all intents and purposes but the whole AOS thing feels like a bit of a dream...

And I've been here four weeks today!! I can't believe it!!

Oh - as an aside, I had an e-mail from Debz the other day to say they have a two year old kitty called Oscar She seems to be doing ok but I haven't had an e-mail since, so I am guessing she is still net-less... I am very jealous of her $100 a month rent though It's a friend of the family so it is great for them as I don't think Nick earns a lot but wow... I am sooo jealous of that! We pay $725 a month and our place is tiny!!!

being transferred means that you get your GC without interwiev and within a few weeks. just compare julez timeline to mine. LOL.

we pay 1150 a month if it makes you feel better tucson ist CRAZY expensive. damn snowbirds.

ohmann ,was habt ihr denn für schlimme ameisen????????????

allen schwangeren viel durchhaltevermögen!

wir fliegen am freitag zu erics durchgeknallter familie nach oklahoma, seine grosseltern haben ihren 80. ohman, als ich seine stiefmutter und seinen vater das letzte mal gesehen habe, haben sie mich aus dem haus geschmissen und als nazi beschumpfen weil wir einen satz auf deutsch geredet haben.....

I dunno - I think leaving us on our own together could be dangerous

Trying to find cheap rooms in Sedona for 8th August... Sent an e-mail to one place so keeping fingers crossed that they get back to me and tell me it is available as they have an internet discount of 10% available as well as 10% AAA discount - would knock $16 or so off of the room price

the 9th it is! i am open for anything, you guys let us know and we'll be there! SOOOO excited!

we'll be flying out to oklahoma to be at erics grandparents 80th birthday next weekend. man..... i really don't like his family a whole lot.....

oh, congratulations to adriano's job!

the first one is always the hardest, but it helps SOOO much to get out of the house!

Susie, that is great that Adriano got a job! I'll be happy when Scott starts working too.

So we went to the biometrics office today. His appointment isn't until Friday, but we'll be gone then, so we thought we'd try Marta's suggestion of showing up & seeing if they could take him today. OF COURSE we walked there and they are closed on Mondays. So we'll have to wait for the new appointment letter to come after all.

I really hope this doesn't delay his AP any.

uh, how annoying!

off topic: it is so hard for me to not be nosy when people ask me really dumb questions about K1 filings. man.... READ THE GUIDES....... and fire your lawyer.

but hey, i should offer k1-and-aos-filing services and do the paperwork for people and charge them an arm and a leg!

Yes, all K1s are handled by the Frankfurt consulate so you can't really choose one.

I think I received my Pack3 on May5th, 2005 and my interview was on June 14th, 2005 so about five weeks later. BUT I think they are much faster now. I have read timelines of people that sent in pack3 and received the interview date for two weeks later. Once your case is approved it goes rather quick. Good luck and congratulations.

well - you don't need the police reports to file. the police stuff is needed for the interview stage, not for filing.

it took about 2 weeks between interview notice to interview for me. the only annoyance was that it took CSC 5 weeks to send our approved papers to NVC. I COULD HAVE WALKED FASTER!!

good luck

Julez Have fun in UK and you don´t have to kiss the ground but maybe you can blow it a kiss from us

Thanks Marta! We're pretty much packed. Just need to complete a bit of a tidy up and we're good to go! I am so psyched to get away for a bit!

I will offer your kind regards to the UK for sure! Take care lil mama!

uh, i wish i could get out of here for a while, as well! just the thought of going to work tomorrow annoys the hell out of me.

jetzt hab ich babyfieber.

hoffe ihr habt alle ein schönes wochenende!

Anyone else out there engaged to a German (or a German engaged to an American)?

yep

well - married by now.

ah, aly, you guys living in a unfurnished apt without even kitchen?

our little house (1BR) is unfurnished, but it has a little kitchen.

there are MANY microwave meals! rice noodels you can soften in hot water and add asian space paste over it

about visiting in august: that plan sounds awesome! we'll have collegues of eric's over for dinner on the 8th, and then on the 9th we could go to tombstone! SOOO excited!

do you guys drive the car a lot? one tank of gas lasts 3 weeks for us. (as long as we don't go on roadtrips and stuff)

hallo ihr lieben!

ich wollte nur mal wieder von mir hören lassen! ich habe in den letzten monaten immer fleissig mitgelesen, war aber so heimwehkrank dass ich nur passiv-depri in der ecke sass.

langsam geht es wieder ein bisschen besser und ich habe beschlossen, wieder mehr aktiv in die welt hinauszustiefeln!!!!

viele liebe grüsse aus arizona!!!

agnes

well - the easiest way to establish credit is to go with a secured visa/mastercard.

the way it usually works is that after receiving your SSN you go to the bank and open an account and apply for a credit card. they will tell you after one week that you got denied (go figure, as we have no credit history yet) and you receive a secured card. they open a savings account, put the amount of monthly balance in there, you want to be able to spend on your CC (up to 600 for BofA i believe). after one year of mishaps the bank gives you your deposit back and the secured card turns into a regular CC.

if they keep telling you that you aren't in the system yet, that sounds like major BS and you should go to another bank.

Bof A is really quick with fees, but you can usually go there and they will reemburse you.

peeves - if i would start on this topic, this would become the longest post in VJ-history

let's put it in one sentence: if i wouldn't work fulltime and bring in exactly as much as he does, i wouldn't mind taking care of the house-chores as much - but as i work exactly the same hours for exactly the same paycheck i really don't see a point of being his maid. unless he pays me for it.

@aly: which weekend in august?

let's make plans! it's freaking hot out there in summer. tombstone is great in the evenings when all the saloons and bars are open and the tourists are gone!!!!! LOVE IT!

do you guys have a phone number i could call so we can make plans over the phone and chat about peeves and about the good old times in old europe? otherways i could try to get yahoo messenger running on my laptop and we could chat with via our fingers

finally finally received the interview invite today.

FINALLY!!!

Congrats on finally getting yours!! Lucky you your interview is 9 days before mine!

yeah, that is us in the cities close to the border. it takes FOREVER to get an interview scheduled.....

question: after receiving the 2-year greencard, how much in advance do you have to apply for removal of conditions?

thanks so much for putting it in words, STP, that's exactly the attitude we need!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ah, and on the bright side, please see the new line in my signature!!!

FINALLY today we received the interview notice!!! august 20!!!!!

i hope everybody has a great, positive and loving weekend!!!!

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HUGS!

finally finally received the interview invite today.

FINALLY!!!

Agnes How is your baby fever? Are you gonna do something about it or not yet?

*sigh* not in the near future. there are many reasons, the most important being that eric and i need to grow closer first, there are so many little and big things we should work on first. and - money. and *sigh* ah, i would love to make babies now, but it wouldn't be the right timing. (if there is such a thing.....)

Yay!!! My interview notice just arrived. The interview is on September 30 in the new Triangle office!

I'm so happy we won't have to drive all the way to Charlotte.

congratulations to everybody's progress.

nothing new on our end, it's frustrating WITHOUT end.

I HATE BEGGING for my greencard. this is ridicoulous

*throws a pie for good measure*

AH marta, GORGOUS! SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

@ aly: where's the POE review? can't believe you have us wait so long!

USCIS can still do nothing for us...looks like we will have to wait till the middle of July or something. That´s when they should publish new processing times on their website. Only then they can do something but I´m not even sure what

we didn't hear anything from our AOS yet. its driving me crazy to see other people getting their GC and NOTHING here. *sigh* the processing times of the local office here in tucson say that they are currenty working on AOS from AUGUST 2007. guess it will take a while longer......

well - for me, it helps me when i find famililar things like groceries. for example chocolate, cookies, items like risotto rice, couscous, hazelnuts, orangina and other stuff.

i enjoy trying new stuff and finding substitutes, but - there is no american well-enough substitute for german or swiss chocolate.

ah, aly will be one of the last ones of the july filers to get moving! EXCITING!!!

Very nice post Rae! Another thing for the younger people here is that you are changing your primary role in life which is a huge adjustment. You're going from being your parent's son or daughter to being someone's husband or wife now (head of your own household if you weren't before). And for some you're soon to be someone's parent. Those changes in and of themselves are major adjustments to make in life and to couple that with moving to a new country, and I can see why some have a rough road. In the end though all that matters is being with the one you love and creating your life together.

thanks everybody for having such good advise and so many nice words. i really don't quite understand myself. i am such a lucky girl, i found a job relativ

ely easily, i have a really great husband, we have no real financial worries (not meaning that we are loaded, you know what i mean), we are healthy and stuff. i should be more greatful.

BUT: good news: i will go to a meetup tomorrow afternoon! a group of germans here in town are meeing twice a month

ahh, aly, you are a pro in getting married by now, aren't you?

i could bake a cake! cake anybody? vanilla cake with chocolate frosting?

YUMMI!!!!

thanks everybody for cheering me up!

today was the first day of monsoon-season here and it feels wonderful nice and cool outisde.

@aly: sorry hun that they tried to ripp you off! hope that you can ship your stuff without breaking the bank!

I'll go for a walk now and try to collect my thoughts and emotions and get myself together.

THANKS FOR THE LINK!

ALY

We really need to start friday night zinfandel again. Although at the moment I'm becoming more of a pool side margarita girl. Also got a new non alcoholic addiction....starbucks cinnemon dolce latte frappacino!!!

I can sympathise with the moving. I still don't have all my stuff here. I have a lot of boxes at my parents as couldn't afford it all at once.

most of my stuff, including all my furniture is still at my parents. just too expensive to ship it.

i am so homesick, its not even funny. today is the first day i really regret moving here. its scary to admit it, and i would never have the guts to tell eric, but i really do regret it.