ladyynara

We arrived in SC at the end of March, so I guess you can take the red off our names? Thanks!!

Hi there, I just moved (back) to SC a few weeks ago. I actually lived here before, about 8 years ago, then lived in Florida, then back in the UK and now moved back to SC for a few months before we move on to Kentucky. We're just outside of Columbia right now.

The humidity in the Summer is pretty icky, it's kinda swampy here. But on the plus side almost everywhere has air conditioning, so as long as you're inside it's ok Everything is in bloom at the moment, very pretty, but the pine trees are driving my husbands allergies crazy.

I mostly like Southern Food, and Cracker Barrel is yummy! I don't like Grits though! But biscuits and sausage gravy are good.

South Carolina is kind of a slow pace of life, it's quite nice. Most people are very polite!

Don't forget also that once you are approved and have your visa you have 6 months to enter the US also.

We were originally going to delay ours a bit before doing anything more after getting the I-130 approval as we weren't planning to go until this autumn, but our plans had to change and then we were in a huge rush to get done!

Our flights have ended up being £330 each, which wasn't too bad...originally we were looking at £550 per person (for 4 of us, erk!), but going to an airport 2 more hours drive away has saved us over £800. The kids will probably sleep on the drive anyway. I'm feeling a lot more excited about the move now the major hurdles (visa, flights booked) are out of the way. Our house is mainly empty now, going to be sleeping on the floor for a couple of nights but c'est la vie. We have a hotel booked nearby Friday so we can come back here for the inspection on Saturday, and then a hotel booked for Saturday evening at Gatwick. Hoping immigration on entry won't be too much hassle!

Yay, my visa came today!! Flights are booked for Sunday! The shippers came today to take the stuff we're shipping, so all that is left now is to finish packing and cleaning the place for the inspection Saturday.

Wooo, just noticed a text message saying I should have my visa tomorrow morning by 10am! Phew!

I know what you mean Babblesgirl! We even had the same American lady interview us at window 16 We must have been in the same room, as we were still queueing for the courier at 10:30am.

Grats on your approval!

I got approved today!

They had the hardest time doing my fingerprints though! 2 different machines and 3 attempts. Hopefully this won't delay the visa actually getting to me as we're in the last week here at our rental property, eep!

Can I really not take my phone with me? My interview is tomorrow, and I'm travelling from Berkshire leaving our two under-five year olds with my mum, I really don't want to be completely out of contact with them while I'm in London. I don't mind not having it while I'm in the embassy but before and after is another matter. What happens if you do take one with you, I assume security does something with it?

I have a company called Doree Bonner coming to pick our stuff up on Tuesday, I'll let you know how they are!

Eep, I'm getting nervous! Interview in 2 days. I'm not worried about the actual being approved part, we've been married 10 years, had a green card before, never lived apart and have two kids so I'm pretty sure they will believe we have a legitimate relationship! I am mainly nervous about any delays with the visa, we have to be out of our rented house next weekend (not our choice) and don't want to hang around in a hotel for too long as it'll be expensive and a nightmare with two small children. The fact we can't book our flights until I have it is driving me nuts!

Add me please? We should be in Columbia, South Carolina at the end of next week (all being well with my visa interview on Friday), we'll be in SC until June and then moving to Louisville, KY.

Kate (Thames Valley, UK) and Rick (USC)

We are with USAA, but unless you have military connections you can't get membership with them. They're apparently one of the highest rated companies in customer service in the US, and so far they have been fantastic. We opened a joint account over the phone with a free number in the UK, had a starting balance transferred from our UK account and have full online access to it. Previously when we were in the US we had credit unions, you have to be really careful though as lots of US banks and credit unions are sneaky with their charges. One we had we got charged $10 a month if our balance was under $500 (which it always was, we were lucky if we had anything left at the end of the month!).

Thanks for the replies! I think my husband is trying to push me over the edge by thinking of random things to panic me in our already stressed out state!

What about http://www.megatrains.com ? I just looked up a pretend journey from Leeds to London and it was on average £1-£5 per seat. You could go the day before, get a hotel in London, go back the next day.

My husband just mentioned something to me that I had not thought of before and now I'm panicking. My passport was issued in 2003. Do I need a biometric one to be able to enter the US on an immigrant visa? My interview is in less than 3 weeks so now has not been a good time to think about this!!!!

Lack of parental discipline is everywhere, even in the US...since I am a teacher, I see it every day...most parents are good, but the ones who abdicate parental responsibility to someone else (teachers, church, the state) are the ones that cause the vast majority of the problem...I'm sure it's the same in the UK as well...

I wasn't saying it's perfect in the US by any means. My Mother in Law is a teacher in an inner city elementary school and the things she tells us these little kids do are horrifying. However, it seems like because the UK (particularly in the SE of England where I am) the population is so concentrated there is no escape from it. There are always kids hanging outside the local shops making trouble and scaring people and the police don't seem to care. I hardly ever see a police officer around here. I don't remember getting harassed like that anywhere of the many places I lived in the US.

We moved back in 2003. The only way this was a good thing was because 2 weeks after I moved back I discovered I was pregnant, so I got to have all my maternity and birth covered for free, and then did it again quite quickly after the first one. In all other ways, it has not been a good move. We've ended up in enormous debt trying to keep our heads above water, can't get on the property ladder so have had to rent at very high rates. We ended up having to file bankruptcy as it was spiralling out of control. We have no been able to afford to run a car, so have been without for 5 years - not that this is necessarily a bad thing, as there is good public transport but it's also expensive and we've felt rather trapped as a result as we can't just pick up and go somewhere for the day without spending most of it on public transport. Everything costs too much, house prices are ridiculous. Vandalism and crime in my opinion have increased in the years since I left the first time, gangs of youths making trouble seem to be everywhere. I've been horrified at the lack of discipline in the schools (and from parents), it seems to have got a lot worse since I was at school and speaking to one of my old secondary school teachers confirmed this. Honestly, I wish we'd just stayed in the US.

We're moving back to the US next month.

Can I be added to the interview list please? March 14th @ 9am

I went to my GP's a week before my medical last month and had the MMR and Dtp (it's diphtheria, tetanus and polio all in one) done for free, and I didn't have to have any extra at the medical.

The P in DTP stands for pertussis which is whooping cough not polio

The polio vaccine is known as IPV

You're right, thanks for correcting my mistake!

I went to my GP's a week before my medical last month and had the MMR and Dtp (it's diphtheria, tetanus and polio all in one) done for free, and I didn't have to have any extra at the medical.

Well after grumbling yesterday, I got my interview date through today, March 14th at 9am.

This does cut it a bit fine though, as we're being evicted the following week...does anyone know how long it takes to actually receive your visa after you've been approved! Obviously don't want to book our tickets until I have it in hand, but that might only give us a couple of days to find 4 seats on a flight!

Can anyone advise me how long it is taking to be assigned interviews?

I'm stressing a bit as we are technically going to be homeless after March 22nd, and I was really hoping our family would be able to be on our way to the US a day or two after that, but I need to have my visa in hand before we can book tickets! I sent a letter with my statement of readiness that this was happening and proof ('eviction' notice) so I was hoping they would get back fairly quickly with a date. Camping out in a hotel for goodness knows how long with two under 5's will not be fun...nor would it be much fun my husband trying to take them over on his own while I wait behind!

Out of interest, how much are you paying to use UPS? We're just going to have few boxes of books, cds, dvds and maybe a couple of boxes of other stuff. No furniture. We've been looking into shipping companies because I figured UPS would probably be more expensive (especially as the boxes of books will be heavy)

I'm waiting for the interview date and the wait is awful! I'm particularly nervous about it because we're being 'evicted' from our rented house March 22nd (rotten landlords want to re-rent it at a higher price!) so I really want us to be on our way to the US a day or two after that. I made sure I put in my cover letter the situation.

One thing I'm not sure on, does my husband need to be with me on point of entry? If we don't get my interview date in time it would be much more convenient for him to go over to his mums house in the US with one or both of the children rather than us all hang out in a hotel while we wait for everything to be done. I'm not sure if he needs to be with me when I enter the US though.