emma&sammy

Hi Guys!

Well I finally had my interview on Thursday - it was easy as, I was there for about an hour and a half, mostly waiting. The first lady gathered all my papers together for the interview, & told me a few things about what would happen next. And the Lady who interviewed me was really nice, only asked a few questions like

where we met

when we met

what our wedding plans were

& about all the visits i'd had

all in all went pretty smoothly, I had a bunch of evidence of our relationship, but she didn't really look into it too much, she could see I was well prepared anyway. So i'm picking up my passport on Monday, & flying out on Tues evening ! Finally!

Best of luck to you all!

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.

WOW sounds like you had it rough with the medical, Actually I was thinking of going to CityMed, but ended up going to Dr Marcus Stone in Remuera instead, he was really nice & so was the nurse. He didn't check my eyes, breasts or to see that I definately was a girl.... but i'm glad that you had a good experience at the interview, mine is on the 17th so i'm getting a little nervous!

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

justine, so glad you're enjoying the picture.

emma...any packet 3 yet???

Mark..are you getting ur packet 3 in Scotland or are you handling it all when you arrive back in NZ?

Kel, anything new?

Maybe you guys will all meet up at the USEM!

Well, it's t-minus 5 weeks and 2 days for us! Pathetic, I know!

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend!

Hi all!

Nope no packet 3, however I did speak with the embassy and if Sammy can fax the approval letter to them, then they will send me pkt 3 so I can get started on that while we wait for them to receive the docs from the US. That way I can get my medical etc...done, so hopefully soon i'll be back in NY ! YEY

Not long til you can file now - hopefully you'll only have to wait a month for your petition to be accepted, seems to be speeding up over there now....

will let you know how i get on with packet 3

emma... Russell has already contacted the consulate regarding this and this is the response he got....

You require a Police Clearance from your country of Nationality, and Residence, when you have resided there (ie NZ) for 6 months or more. And from any other country you have resided in for 12 months or more. So if you only lived in Australia for 9 months, and are not an Australian citizen, you won’t need to obtain one from there. (of course, if there was any conviction, you would have to obtain the court records!)

>

> This office obtains the NZLD one for you, once we receive your approved petition/case file.

>

I got it! we got approved on the 05th! i'm so stoked, but now I have to wait to receive packet 3. I have a question... Do I have to wait til I receive pkt 3 for the I-134 or can Sammy print it off line and then send it to me? That's the only form that he needs to fill in now right? the rest is up to me?

Thanks guys!

justine, i'm glad things are happening for you! Is there someone you could email to find out where the interview is? $35 is a lot better than $500! If we weren't broke enough from all the travelling over the last 3 years, we certainly will be after this whole visa business is done with! Do your folks even know that you're planning on coming to America? btw...Russell and I were thinking you and Jordan should have a photoshopped image of you both together. Let us know if we can help you with that.

emma&sammy.. great to see you here. You guys seem to be in that last lot of older petitions at VSC! Makes you wonder just how they're getting things done over there. Not too fair with all these January filers being approved but i'm sure your time is just around the corner. I hope you can take some comfort in that and in the fact that the NZ consulate is so effecient. Where will you be in the U.S. once you're here? I'm in Massachusetts.

Kel, nice to see you. I'm not sure if the consulate works at the same pace for the CR-1's (would imagine so) but if they do you should be hearing from them very soon. Did you put your house on the market yet?

Hi Mark, nice to see you over here too! I'm so excited for those of you who are so close to 'the end' of this, the most arguous, process of it all! You also look like you're about 'ready to pop' out of the CSC very soon! We'll be keeping our fingers crossed for you! Are you, or your SO in Chicago? Good to know i'm not the only one freezing my @ss off!

btw..any of you lived anywhere else for 6+ months and need a police clearance from that country? Russell worked in Australia for close to a year and we were wondering if the NZ consulate would handle that police clearance as well.

I'm not sure if he will need a police clearance, I lived in the UK for 9 months and the longest I stayed in the US at one time was 9 months, so i'm not sure if I need to get police clearances for either of them? I'm going to call the AKL embassy tomorrow so will let you know.

*bump*

how are you ladies???

Hi Kim

Thanks for your email - I didn't realise that NZ's didn't need to get the police clearance! Good to know, I guess one less thing to worry about right!

Thanks

Just wondering....does anyone no how to print the page from Skype that shows the call times?

Thanks!