GnomeGrrl

I'm such a slack bunny not updating, but in my defense, it's taken a while to catch up with hubby and his lot after being separated for 20 months!!

Anyway, we're all settled in to the new house, the kids are in school (only part time, going for their GED's) and things are pretty good. I'm very grateful to be heading in to winter ... it was averaging around 45 degrees (celsius) when we first arrived. That's painful for most New Zealanders, but for a Southland girl? LOL.

My experience at the POE was interesting. We were held up there for close to 3 hours, just waiting and waiting and waiting. One of my teenagers is a smoker, as am I, so you can imagine the thin ice we were skating on! Anyway, we were told to go in to the visitors line (I did try and argue with the lady, to no avail), but they'd just opened up a new counter so we snuck in to that and were escorted by the officer to secondary. A woman took our papers, told us to dump our carry-on and told us to sit. I think that was the most frustrating part. There were officers there wandering in and out, and she was unwrapping our MBE's in between receiving others rather than just hand it off to someone else. It was horrible watching her. She'd start to open one of ours ... process someone else in to secondary, open their packet, go back to ... no, someone else at the desk ... After about an hour and a half, she finally came and took my fingerprint. 20 minutes later, she did my oldest ... 15 minutes later, the youngest ... then she told us to wait ... again. LOL. In the meantime, other officers were wandering off, two and three at a time.

Eventually, an officer I hadn't seen before (and I was watching them all like hawks) came in, picked up one of our packets and wandered off. 10 minutes later, he came back, handed me my passport, said "There's 2 more, yes?" and disappeared again without waiting for an answer. It was only a few minutes (although it felt like a lifetime!) before he came back and handed me the boys passports, ran through the line about going through the residents/citizens line in future and how the stamp was proof of our residence until we got our green cards, and waved us on our merry way. We weren't asked any questions nor taken in for an interview.

Our bags had been set aside for us so our only issue after that was the customs guy that threatened to close down the airport because I had 6 jars of marmite in my suitcase. I can laugh at it now, but at the time I was far too stressed.

After I finally caught up with Jeremy outside, I discovered that the official that had finally stamped our passports had been pulled aside by him. He'd seen him wandering through and asked him about secondary inspection, telling him we'd been in there for more than 2 hours already and he was really worried. The officer told him it could still take a while, but obviously came straight through and dealt with us. He was a very unusual looking man, so there's no doubt it was him. If I bumped in to him today, I'd undoubtedly give him a big sloppy kiss. LOL.

Anyway ... hope everything is going well for the rest of you. I'm thinking about you all and sending very positive thoughts your way!

Hey everyone! Wow, lots of news and updates for everyone.

Kim and Russ, I hope you guys hear soon. Kel, how'd everything go for you with the house? For those about to be interviewed, GOOD LUCK! We are very lucky in NZ. Our Consulate people are awesome!

For my part, I'm wandering around my house trying to figure out how to fit everything in 2 suitcases. I have to figure it out quick, cos we're flying out August 10th! I don't know who's more excited ... me, Jeremy or the kids! LOL.

It has been tough. Can't wait for it to be over! LOL.

It does make sense, actually, in more ways than one. The amount you need to earn to be the sponsor isn't all that high when you break it down, particularly not when you've got kids. I wasn't asked for my CV, but I was asked if I intend to work in the US and he pointed out that while Jeremy does earn more than enough for the sponsorship requirements, we would probably struggle on one wage.

I was about to ask you which one you were talking to - if it was the blonde American ... but you wouldn't know that by email. LOL. All the staff in there are lovely, but she really stands out.

I wasn't asked for one, but then, different visa I guess, so possibly different guidelines. If they've suggested it'll be helpful, then have Russ take it for sure!

I also sympathize with everyone missing their honey. I haven't seen mine since December 2006 - not even a flying visit.

The process changed a little recently as far as what was required for you to submit etc, so it's probably a pretty recent addition.

Either that or they got sick of people calling them to ask for clarification. I had the direct number too ... might have helped them add it in

Good luck for your medicals, you two!

Kimandruss, I answered you via PM, but I'll add it here too.

Both the ones we talked to brought up dual citizenship and gave us examples of why it was a good idea. Some of the examples were pretty elaborate, especially for the kids. I don't know why they did it and it surprised me, but it actually eased my mind a lot about it.

Grant, and whoever else asked about the recent payslip, it wasn't noted on our forms either. I called and asked because it did mention the Affidavit of Support, which of course, had already been filed in the US, and was told to take the payslip. I was told it was because it takes a long time for the packet to get to the Consulate and things may have changed between the time it was filed and the time you're interviewed. Hope that helps clear it up a little.

Our big news is that we'll be away in around 6 weeks. Finally!!!

Looking forward to your reply here as well...I'll be going through Auckland..one day

One question you may be able to answer...is the Police check done by them, or can you get one yourself?

First of all, congratulations Mark! The staff in Auckland are lovely, aren't they?

They do the police check. When you first get your packet from them, they include a form for you to fill out which gets returned to the Consulate by post.

My house isn't moving it all, in the last month I've had only one person come through and take a look, hope you're having better luck gnomegrrl.

The good news is that this time next week I'll be in California, yippee. I'm now starting to put together anything I can think of to convince people at the POE that I'll leave again so they'll let me in!

I'm sorry to hear that. Mine isn't actually even on the market yet. I'm still doing all the painting and wallpapering and fun stuff, and doing it on my own despite being ill. My boys are living la vida loca behaving like they'll never get to talk to their friends again and that they'll never, ever be coming back to New Zealand, going out all night and sleeping all day. In other words, they're as much use as tits on a bull.

Though Jeremy annoyed me greatly yesterday, so I told him I had another 5 1/2 months til my visa expired!

That's awesome! Congratulations Emma!!

Hey Russ and Kim, big congrats to you both. Seems to me like you've made it through the hard part, hopefully the rest will be smooth (and rapid!) sailing from now on.

Gnomegrrl - question for you about your kids and your ex. Do you have legal custody of your children? If not, did you have to get a notarised letter from your ex to get permission to move the children? I havent' applied for my son yet but that's going to be happening soon, I'm thinking that I'll need to go to the family court and get a custody order so I can prove to the US govt that I have permission to move my son.

First of all, grats Russ and Kim!!! Fingers crossed for a speedy reunion!!!!

Kel, I'm afraid I can't help you there. One of mine just turned 18 and the other is about to turn 17, so they're too old for custody orders or for their father to be able to stop them leaving the country. Having legal custody will definitely help, but your ex can throw a spanner in to the works any time he likes until the kids are 16 unfortunately

Thank you Gnome girl! You needed your new husbands paystub? Or your ex husband for proof of child support? We're K1...so my info still goes to Auckland for Russell to take with him. I'll be sending along lots of copies of checks.

Justine! You have a date!!! That's wonderful news. How great of your parents to help you out with their points too. I know how expensive it is to fly domestic in NZ! Sorry Jordan will be so busy when you get there but I really dont think it's going to matter too much! btw..did you get my last email?

Kel...I see ya lurking! Did you get your house sold yet?

Well, if you can believe this, I have three calls into the registrar of deeds last week to confirm that I can go pick up my divorce decree from the courthouse tomorrow and still no call back! I am legally divorced as of today and a couple months ago he told me to call back to confirm I could get my certified copy as early as 'the next day'. If I don't get a call back today i'm not going to be happy. I've been patient enough! I printed out almost everything I need all day yesterday. 10 years worth of 'everything'! Had just a few things left....when I got an error, tried to reboot... and got a bios error on startup! It's just my luck! Good thing I fix computers!

So, today promises to be crazy. Tomorrow all I want is to watch my bank account drop!

Jeremy will love being called 'new'. LOL. It was his paystub I had to take. I didn't have to provide any proof of what I earned at all whatsoever. My ex owns his own business and fiddles the books so he pays the minimum amount of child support possible. It's also not done through the court here. Our IRD (IRS) take care of it and work out what they have to pay by their taxable income from the previous year. My ex (I never married him, fortunately) hasn't even seen or spoken to the kids in 4 years despite the fact he lives in the same town, so I'm sure if it wasn't through the IRD, I'd have huge problems getting him to pay.

I hope you get everything sorted today and definitely hope you get your paperwork away tomorrow!!!

Kel, I'm hoping I'll be lucky in that respect. Invercargill seems to be bucking the national trend. Only one house in our street hasn't sold quickly and it's way overpriced. I'm still busy painting, but it should be ready for market next week, fingers crossed. Good luck with yours!!!

We received our passports back today with the all important visa. Yay!!

I'm curious about just one thing ... each of them have the words "Annotation" on them, which I'm sure is standard, but one of my sons and I had two asterix (*) beside it, while my other son only had one. Again, I'm not concerned, just curious and wonder if anyone knows what that means?

Thanks!

Gnomegirl... CONGRATULATIONS!!!! How exciting for you! Hope your house sells quick!

cdneh... are your papers here in the US yet?

Mark, are you home in NZ yet??

How are you other folks doing?

K, so I have a couple questions for you guys...

1.) what does the NZ consulate ask for in regards to the affidavit of support? I'm self employed (build, design, maintain websites, fix computers, tech support...etc). I'm always busy but I work for a lot of different people and my income varies greatly from week to week...and ummm I only claim what I have to...and therein lies my issue. I do have a couple company's I work for daily who pay me with company checks (no paystubs..but I can get copies of my cashed checks from that employers bank if I need to). This is only about 10-20,000 a year but it's money I have to claim, therefore it's on my tax returns the last three years. I know that is not enough for a family of 4 but I also receive child support that was ordered by the court last December. That, in itself, is about $10,000 more than what is needed for a family of 4 so I know i'm set as long as I include that. But i'm wondering if they have specific policies regarding the affidavit of support and what is needed.

I'm thinking i'll make copies of my checks each week or maybe wait till they're cashed and get them from the employers bank(?), include at least one employer letter proving about 15,000 of my annual income, my court papers ordering child support...bank statements showing the money is going into the account bi-weekly... tax returns from 2 or 3 years? Anything else?

2.) i'd like to know if your visa's are available for pick up two days after you are approved as has been the case with most (here anyway) that have gone through Auckland?

Still waiting on a call back from the registrar of deeds to confirm that I can pick up my divorce decree on Tuesday as he previously stated. I will not be happy if we are made to wait any longer due to even mnore bureaucracy!!!

Thanks Kim! I hope so too!

As for your questions, you'll have to file the Affidavit in the US, so the standard rules apply. The only thing I was asked for in regards to that was to take one of hubby's recent pay slip to the Consulate interview.

I'm not sure on the pick up thing. We weren't given the option, but perhaps that was because of the fact that our medicals weren't back and we lived so far away from Auckland.

The petition was approved. The missing letter of intent is not the issue it's help up so please don't worry about it. Some adjuticators are just more particular than others. As stated above, you will want to have a new original letter of intent dated sometime after the NOA2 to have available for the interview.

The case is held up because CSC holds newly approved petitions until there are enough to send a large shipment. If you look around VJ you'll find people who have waited more than 60 days!

Yes, it's very wrong and grossly mismanaged in comparisson to VSC but it's nothing new and no reason for concern.

Hello

thanks a lot for ur response. I got nervous cuz I just found out someone got approved 3 days after me, just got their case number generated. whats wrong? they shall process case per case by order, as they mentioned. can anyone pls explain here?

Hi Ranie and Glen, I think you are saying that some body who got approved 3 days after you, already has their NVC case number, right? If so, the more important question is, did they file at CSC or VSC? If they also filed at CSC, then we have even more reason to be concerned

Russ and Kim, I think they mean some body already has an NVC case number, and they are not talking about NOA2 approval order.

Yes they also filed at CSC that's why I am concerned, can only wait now! Pls wish me luck!

I'm fairly certain that they do them in alphabetical order. Mine and my sons were sent on at the same time, yet my case number was assigned 2 days after theirs. The only reason we could think of is that they have a different surname and theirs comes a few letters before mine. Of course, I could be wrong and it could be a fluke ...

They do actually advise you to wait from anywhere from 4-8 weeks for each part of the process (which can be so frustrating!), so if you're still within that timeframe, then you shouldn't panic too much.

Tried to edit to add that our medicals finally got through to the Consulate on Tuesday.

We were approved!!!

Now, to sell the house ... /sigh

And sure enough ... our medicals still haven't gone to the Consulate.

Hi GnomeGrrrl sorry to hear that your medical was so expensive!

Wondering if you and emma can let us know which doctors you went to etc. That way I can make sure to go to the cheaper one!

Sounds like you're nearly all done though, that must be a relief.

We went to CityMed in Auckland. The medical itself was $180, $31 for bloods and $80 for the X-ray.

We had our interview the day after the medical, so we expected a delay - just not as long as it has been! The doctor was excessively thorough. As well as the usual heart lungs, blood pressure etc, we had our eyes checked and she pretty much looked at every crevice. I had a breast exam and all three of us had to drop our pants so she could look at our bits. With me, she even looked for scars so she could satisfy herself that I'd had the operations I'd said I had, as if I'd lie about that! We had to have quite a chunk of jabs despite the fact that I'd provided evidence that we were current with all but tetanus. I honestly think the doctor has you by the proverbial short and curlys. If they say you need to have the vaccinations, you can't exactly argue the point. You also can't really argue with the fact that the doctor gets the nurse to give them to you and you're charged an extra $20 (each) for the nurses injection fee.

The ultimate hold up was that my youngest (my sons are 16 and 17) had had mental health problems in the past, so they insisted on getting a letter from Invercargill, which was fine. Except for the fact that it took CityMed 2 weeks to send the request (which was actually for his entire medical file) and over a week to look at it once they had it. We talked to her last on Thursday and she said she was signing off on it that day. I'll be calling on Monday to make sure she has, but I'm not really liking the odds after the experience so far.

The good news is that my interview was a dream and I have nothing but good things to say about that experience - well, except for finding the fact that the actual interview was conducted in the main area at one of the little windows more than a little bizarre. LOL.

That part lasted a grand total of 10 minutes and most of that was the signing of papers and getting fingerprints that hadn't come out clearly at the first window. I was asked 2 questions (how long had hubby lived in NZ and did I intend to work in the US) and that was that. I offered and started pulling out the evidence I'd brought along and he didn't want to know. Apparently if you can put up with someone for 9 years, it's proof enough that you're not in it for the green card.

FYI: We filed last March and because I've put up with him so long, it's straight to IR-1.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I don't intend to be dishonest about it, and I'm all for my son facing up to his actions.

As of today, there are still no charges. He wasn't able to be questioned at the time of the accident as he's a minor and had no parent present (I arrived at the scene with just enough time to jump in the ambulance). There's some doubt as to whether he was actually driving as his injuries aren't consistent with what he should have if he were in the drivers seat, and the three others that were also in the car bolted with him saying he'd 'take all the blame'. I'm hoping he'll see sense before long.

For now though, it's still a waiting game and I'm torn between utter relief that he's OK and an overwhelming desire to throttle him.

I have interview on April 6,

Ihave a son 16 yrs old, he also need immigrant visa. Should I take him to go interview ?

Thanks

Yes, your son will need to attend the interview.

Good luck!

So...had my medical interview today, went pretty smoothly, the doc was really nice,

he just checked my heart and lungs

reflexes

made sure I didn't have any strange lumps in my tummy

measured my weight and height

and that was it.

I had to give a urine sample & the only vaccination I had to have was Tetanus ( because i hadn't had one in the past 10 years), he didn't even mention the others....

then I went for my chest x-ray, which was fine

and blood tests.

He gave me my x-ray back, & said he would send the results & paperwork to the embassy on Monday.

Also sent off packet 3 toady, so hopefully i'll get an interview date soon & finally get back to America!!

Doc was $110

Tetanus $20

Bloods $31

x-ray $80

Wow! Lucky you! I shelled out around about $430 each for my two sons and I and we had a much more thorough exam. 4 weeks later, it still hasn't been sent to the Consulate. Between the flights from Invercargill to Auckland, the hotel and the medical, it was one expensive trip!

/sigh

We had our interviews at the Consulate 4 weeks ago. We're just waiting on our medicals to be complete, which required extra paperwork from our local hospital (public health system = sloooooow). They have that paperwork now, so we're expecting it to get to the Consulate next week at the latest, and for our passports to be back with The Almighty Stamp soon after. I've been almost ready to breathe a huge sigh of relief and concentrate on selling the house and packing our bags for a wonderful reunion with the husband I haven't seen in almost 16 months ...

Until tonight when I got one of *those* phone calls from my 16 year old son saying "Mum, I'm alright, BUT ...". It would seem he was driving stupidly on a gravel road and was in a head on collision. He came out of it with only a gashed head so he was very lucky considering he wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I arrived on the scene in enough time to jump in the ambulance with him and left my father to talk to the police, who said that they'd catch up with us in a couple of days and that my son would be referred to Youth Aid.

He doesn't have a drivers license and admitted to driving recklessly, so there will probably be charges but we have no idea what. It's up to Youth Aid. Through that system, he probably won't wind up with a criminal conviction so long as he complies with everything the court asks him to do (bail, reparation, community service etc) and because it's juvenile, it's sealed regardless.

I know I'm probably getting ahead of myself since we don't know what's going to happen yet, but I'm panicking about the embassy. What ramifications are there and what should I do? Should I fess up, or keep my mouth shut and hope for the best?

My apologies for rambling. I'm a little bit stressed right now ... particularly when in true teenage style, he screws up and he's grumping at me.

DS-230 is supposed to be filled in/signed by by your wife (the immigrant). Not you.

That's the way it worked for me. It was my signature that was required, not my husband's (the USC).

No. The I-130 is just the first step. That approval basically says you're allowed to move to the next step, which is dealt with by the NVC. Lots and lots more waiting and paperwork, I'm afraid.

I know it's confusing. I had a bear of a time finding relevant information on exactly what happens - so much is conflicting and there's not much specific to NZ.

In my case, my sons (who are 16 and 17) were processed somewhat separately to mine. I got stuck in administrative review, whereas the boys carried on. We didn't send in the payments or any forms for them until we were able to do all three at once, but even still, it leaves a 2 month gap between some of their dates and some of mine.

All that said, I've been assured that they are still flagged as being together and will be dealt with that way once they hit the Consulate here.

I met my guy in a Yahoo chat room. Love Stinks, to be exact. It was quite shocking to a lot of people, particularly back then. So many said we were making a huge mistake, but our 9th anniversary is end of next month and we've outlasted a few of their marriages. LOL.