coatsy

I think i got it easy, I had lessons in London learning to drive stick in the autumn after work, so I learned to drive in a manual, in the dark, in the rush hour, in London

driving an auto on the roads of Idaho is bloody eassssssssssy by comparison

i am however a bit worried about the winter

Just thought I would give everyone a bit of an update

I've been pretty absent since I left the UK on the 4th of July, things have been a bit hectic as I'm sure you can all relate to, but I got a PM recently and it reminded me to let everyone know how its going

The POE experience couldn't of been any easier, I lined up as usual (was asked to line in the visitor line as I expected) and once I saw the first officer I was told to go and sit in a waiting area where someone would process my package

The embassy had only attached one passport photo to the application not two, but fortunately I had all the extras with me, which was a relief as they needed it

The lady asked me a few questions about my ex wife, my current wife, how long we had been together etc, and then stamped me in as IR1 (was about a month after my 2nd anniversary) which she made a note of telling me, and I thanked her a fair bit

The whole process there took less than 20 mins I'd imagine, and my bags were then sitting around waiting for me, almost the last on the baggage belt, grabbed those, walked through customs and re checked them for my internal flight

The wait for the next flight was only about 90 mins, so I had a few beers in the pub, then boarded without problems, no delays this time either, landed an hour or so later to lots of fireworks and fanfare, I didn't realize I would get such a personal welcome

The first week I was here I went ahead and visited the SSA, the lady at immigration told me sometimes even if you tick the box they never turn up, so it's a good idea to go and see them

I went on the Monday after I had arrived and I wasn't in the system yet! eek (July 4th was the Friday, and a public holiday, so it was not a total shocker), so I went away and came back a few days later and I was in the system! I was given a receipt with my number on, and told I could use that at the DMV which is where we headed straight to, unfortunately the lines on a Friday afternoon were shocking, so I decided to come back the week after

That weekend we drove 450 miles to Portland to see friends, and do some shopping at Ikea, unfortunately with my permit less status the wife had to do all the driving, her first long trip, we made plenty of stops though, although we almost hit a chair (I know, who leaves a chair in the middle of I-84 right?), ahh well, the trip back was quicker and less eventful, even with 200lb of furniture onboard

The DMV was probably the longest of the processes, its a small county in a small state, and I imagine the number of legal aliens here applying for licenses is quite low, and unfortunately every visit resulted in a different officer seeing me, which meant a lot of repetition, getting my permit was the easiest part, a quick test (2 wrong answers) and an eye test (no glasses required!!!!! unlike in the UK) and I had my permit (with a quick call to verify my documents were ok, they were telling me I needed my birth certificate but my visa acted as a temporary I-551 which was considered primary evidence, so I had not brought it along, the phone call set everything straight though

A few weeks later I was back to pay the state the $3.50 for my driving test, and had it already booked for the following Monday, more confusion as my alien number was written in my passport without a preceding 0, causing problems with there computer as it did not recognize the shorter number, another 20 mins and that was sorted

That weekend I went boating and played some disc golf in about 90 degrees, so by the time my test came I was suffering from mild heat exhaustion (throwing up that morning and an awesome headache) managed fine though, with a -3, then it was back to the DMV for round 3

This bit took the longest, as the officer was kept on hold for a while when he made the required call to verify he was doing everything right, first he did not get that the visa was now a temporary I-551, and the fact that the Visa was a CR1 and was stamped as IR1 confused him a bit as well, as he was unsure if I was conditional or permanent, and thus couldn't be sure how long to issue the license for, eventually it all got sorted and I got an 4 year license (not sure I will be here that long, so 4 years seemed fine, no point paying for the 8 year if I move to Oregon next year

And that was that, all sorted, and really didn't take too long considering, I expected a little bit of confusion in all fairness

This last Saturday my green card arrived in the post, and now all that's left is to find a job which I have a few phone screens lined up for this week and next

It's pretty weird for me being able to drive, its the first time I have ever had a license and the flexibility it gives me is great, wish I had done it sooner!

That's my first month story, hectic as you can see, but a great first month settling in, I'm off camping this weekend, then ATVing in a few weeks

Good luck to everyone else making the move! once my computer is back up to scratch I'm sure I will be back more often

Wheels up in 11 hours

15:05 BST out of Heathrow to Seattle

should hit immigration by 17:00 PST

See you all on the other side! literally...

.. now to finish packing

It's moving day for me, still not finished packing up all my stuff.. only a few days to go! #######

I called a local small place in Clapham and they told me airfreight was going to be much cheaper for what I was shipping

about £1.88 p KG to Seattle and £1.98 to Boise

I filled an entire shipping drum (55 gal) with about 500 DVD/video games, and it weighs in at 70KG

the other one has lots of AV gear / screens and the extra DVD/video games lol, not weighed it yet

Allfreight wanted to charge me £2.00 p/kg for the BRONZE service which takes 21 days, my local are saying 3 days

awesomesauce!

Wow I hope I don't end up with that guy when I go through on the 4th of July

I'm going via Seattle on my way to Boise, and I only have about a 3h layover

Fingers crossed! glad he mate it ok though! peace and quiet from immigration woes for the next 85 days

Thanks for clearing that up for me guys

As for duty, I thought i didnt need to pay duty on personal items over a year old? or something *blinks* I'd hate to not be able to get adequate insurance just because i put too low a value on the items?

Hi guys

I recently got some containers and stuff to get ready to pack stuff for shipping, as well as a bunch of forms for customs

my first question is, there is supposed to be an inventory, sure, but for those of you with hundreds of books or videos/dvds, are you just putting, x videos, value ~ $x or are you listing each one individually, because oh my god that would suck!

I am reluctant to start packing until I know so I don't have to unpack everything just to inventory it hehe

Whats you going on about " the worst advice I've seen " I bought mines for less than $40. It worked perfectly.

Oh, just 10 years of computer hardware experience.....

i'll second that and toss in my 19 years worth of computing experience on that.

as the computer will more than likely stay in the usa, it's worth getting a new power supply and ending the hassle of a transformer. transformers do btw use power even if the computer isn't turned on. costwise over time, it's best to swap out the power supply.

now if the computer was going to be here in the states, or if the situation was reversed, go overseas, in both cases for less than 3-4 years, then a transformer could be a worthwhile deal.

Right,

except that most US power supplies still have the voltage switch, meaning you could use it in the US and abroad with far less hassle, so it might make sense to get a US one anyway

I would advise against the voltage converter as well

buying a new power supply will be a far safer and more efficient option (the reason some UK power supplies don't have the switch is due to optimizations for the UK grid)

One caveat, if you have a branded pc (dell, HP etc, double check it actually takes an ATX format power supply, some of them have this awful habit of using proprietary form factors for certain components, including the PSU)

Good luck

I'm currently pulling my main workstation apart and working out how to fit it, and a 24" LCD into my hand luggage! lol

I wonder if it's stocked in the booze isle

and I bet they still sell it after 11pm

In order to get a permit to learn to drive, my wife will need to provide documentation showing that she is not eligible to receive a Social Security Number.

She is here in a K3 visa and will not be eligible, obviously to us, until she gets her EAD.

Does anyone know where among US government websites I might find a statement that would constitute documentation of this fact?

Thanks.

My understanding was going to the social security office and presenting your visa would allow them to supply a document

I had to get one when i got married, to avoid putting a SSN down on paper

some states won't issue the letter if its for a drivers license though, at least back in 2000 they wouldn't

Might be worth paying a visit to your local SSA office to discuss your needs (hell even the DMV may be able to point you in the right direction, it was the courthouse that told me I needed to get a letter from the SSA, which I went and got the next day)

Flight finally booked

I leave on July 4th! how poetic!!!

guess I will never forget when my GC needs to be renewed by

Grats too all the recent approvals!

Just noticed that the US Embassy in London is now on twitter (as @usembassylondon)

Seems to primarily have news for citizens abroad and stuff but who knows what it might be used for in the future

If anyone else is on twitter I'm @ryancoates

The question now is

What's inside??????

Amanda and I will initially be in Nampa ID but not sure for how long

Well SMS delivered mine today (they did remember to txt yesterday too)

On one hand I'm so much more at ease now that it's in my hand, confirmed, approved, etc

on the other, OMG i have to try and move 10 years of being a geek (that = a LOT of #######)

time to get cracking, I plan on leaving late June!

Congrats to everyone who's recently been approved, and thanks to everyone on VJ for being such a tremendous helping hand, it would be quite a lonely journey without you all!!!

I've been looking at various shipping options and whilst the fees themselves are not huge insurance can almost double the cost in some instances

I have about 600+ DVDs to ship as well as a lot of IT equipment meaning I need about £10000 coverage, will cost me over 500 quid with most the shippers (ouch)

got a good mind to buy some Peli cases and pay for some extra baggage with BA

as I am looking to fly Club world I get 3 bags to begin with, and extra bags are only £60 when booked online, at 32KG each thats a fair percentage of my bulky stuff I can ship (IT books, monitors in peli cases, A/V gear in peli cases etc) and with my REI XXL Duffels I can get a few pelis per bag

Thats the option I am looking at at present, and then just ship the stuff that really wont fit anywhere else (although the value will of dropped significantly if I can get my monitors and AV gear in my bags

Coatsy - have you contacted SMS couriers?

They attempted delivery to me and i didn't realise it, because they didn't call me or leave a card, and were simply waiting for me to call to rearrange delivery!! How I was supposed to know to call them to rearrange delivery I have no idea, since I didn't know they had tried in the first place. I would suggest giving SMS a call to make sure the same thing hasn't happened to you.

I noticed the issues you had in another thread so gave them a buzz this morning and they don't have anything for me yet, they said try back after 4pm as that's when they get the last batch of stuff from the embassy

if I don't hear anything today I'm stuck till Tuesday (boo hoo)

Amanda has already flown back to the states to start getting settled, it's kind of boring waiting around without her

I had the medical results outstanding but also required a W2 form, they gave me back the passport for that and I couriered it and the W2 form back a day later

as the medical results go direct to the embassy I cant see why they would give you your passport back, knowing them it would take a month before they told you they had received the medical results and can you post back your passport lol

I'm sure everything will go to plan, although with pending information it seems it can take a bit longer (still waiting for the embassy to send my visa to SMS!)

I hope you guys get your text soon!! I'm eagerly awaiting mine, my interview was last thursday and I was approved pending additional documents (a W2 and the medical results) all of which were at the embassy by Monday this week, i think I'm being half impatient and half worried sick

Hope you have something in time for Wednesday, I'm not on such a time scale (don't plan on leaving till after June 9th, our second anniversary)

Why don't Americans do Debit cards. That secured credit card thing sounds like nonsense. You have to leave the money in there??? At least with a debit card you can use your money, it's not sitting doing nothing in an account so you can have a card.

I'm pretty sure they do, my bank card is a Visa but its a debit card, i cant use it to get credit (go overdrawn) but I can use it at places that require a credit card, it just debits my account

of course the 4 years good banking I have with them wont count towards anything as i have no SSN so it will not tie up once I get one (I assume)

Big Congrats! and good luck to everyone who is in line this week, I'm sure it will go great

Just got a copy of my medical sent to me, the doc ticked 'Applicant may be eligible for blanket waiver as vaccination(s) not medically appropriate' hope thats no big deal for me still holding out for a call from SMS before Friday

Well it seems like ages since yesterday, my blood pressure is down apparently as well

Unfortunately we did not get approved on the spot, our medical results had not come in and a slight complication in the I-864 cropped up

Our sponsor filed joint returns so he needed to send us his W2 to prove his individual income was still high enough to meet the guidelines, he emailed it over to us yesterday and we printed it out (which the CO said was fine if the quality was high)

SMS are scheduled to come pick up that and my passport again today

All the things I was worried about were no big deals, it really was the anti climax!

and why is it the COs are so much more chirpy than the consular staff? lol

There was a fair bit of waiting around, it seemed like it was 'Camp America day' at the embassy so all the potential CA wannabes were getting NI visas.. while waiting for my ticket to be called (I was 5009) they saw over 100 NI apps lol (1086 - 1224)

Anyway based on what the CO said we are pretty sure I am good to go, just need those forms in

Just wanted to wish good luck to Coatsy for the big interview tomorrow!!

Thanks so much

We are both nervous wrecks at the moment

the medical was a bit of a nightmare and I had to pay an additional 150 for some blood screens to check my immunization due to rather lax NHS records, unfortunately they wont be prepared until Friday so if anything good happens it will be 'pending medical' lol

Hopefully that won't change anything

hope I can get some sleep tonight lol