Nywoek

What are your experiences using a moving company to move household items from your home country to the US? I have been in touch with one and since i will not be bringing any furniture we settled on 5 cubic meters, which should be ok. I think. It is really expensive, but I can't just tell my kids to replace everything they own, and we can make it work with the cost. But you have to make an itemized list and then later on customs will inspect it, but since I am moving countries you don't have to pay for it if it falls within the right categories, right? I read something about documenting that you are moving, just not sure with which papers.. Have not decided yet if we should send our stuff off a month early, or wait until we move, we will be packing suitcases anyway so we will be fine for a while. Plus I already have a good amount of my stuff at my fiances place since the move has been in the works for the past year and I have visited several times. Any advice, knowledge, something? 😅

It took me a while, but randomly there were available dates in june, so I snagged one right away! It feels pretty crappy when nothing is happening for weeks at a time, but eventually it works out. Goint to Stockholm with 3 girlfriends the weekend before the interview, can't wait. ^^ (Had a swedish bf in Stockholm in highschool, used to visit him there a few times a year so I really enjoy the city).^^

Second with the chocolate. I find that I do not like most american milk chocolate, Reeses is nice but that is mostly peanut butter. Also.. plain cheese. I like the cheese in the US, but for certain things I need my norvegia. But chocolate, mostly chocolate.

I watched a tiktok about a study that found that flatulence within a family can be beneficial for the people who aren't farting (i.e breathing it in), and now my youngest tells me she is just protecting us when she toots. 🙈

When I was doing my vaccines at a clinic they told me that even if my kids are american citizens, most schools will require certain vaccines if you want your kids to go there, including the hep b, so i got my kids that.

Thanks for the resource! My issue is that I am flying from a smaller norwegian city to oslo, it adds a bit to the cost and makes the planning harder with the connecting flights. I always get the whole trip from one airline (with partners) in case of of delays, christmas 2023 I was 25 minutes late from my first flight because of bad weather and they set me up with a hotel, free dinner and a new flight the next day with no need for any discussion or insurance involvement. But since this is a special circumstance (and we don’t have winter storms in july 🙈) if it’s cheaper to buy just the first trip the day before and then buy a night at the airport hotel+my usa trip the next day I will do that. I see your point hplusj, definitely seen some weird stuff happening with pricing at different times, just a bit concerned we wouldn’t get seats together and the kids would would get all stressed out about it. Or just full flights due to summer. But it’ll probably be just fine, I am just an anxious person. 🙈

I see all of your points. 😕 I think my biggest issue is that it is kind of like not knowing when we are moving, and things have been SO up in the air for the past year that it frustrates and scares me. But you are right. And maybe it gets cheaper. I do think the one way tickets were messing with us though, the price was like 4000 dollar for the 3 of us for one way tickets, and only a few hundred was the cancellation thing. X_X But it is what it is, this whole experience is expensive. Lol. But if we can order both ways and cancel and get either credits with the airline or money back that would help a lot.

I know this varies a lot, but I was wondering what you guys think or what experiences you have. After you finish the K1 process or at least see the end of it, when would you order tickets to move? My interview is june 16th. I am looking at one-way tickets for me and the kids in the later part of july and the prices are outrageous. I would wait until mid august, but I really want us to be able to settle in for a while before school starts. But when is it "safe" to order these? Spending a little extra, I could order tickets that can be changed, but due to the time of year I fear there wont be a lot available, especially for 3 people. I asked people on a discord, and some people say I should wait until I have the visa in hand but I mean.. that might make this even more expensive. X_X Also.. anyone have any experience with buying round trip tickets and the second ticket being like... 6-7-8 months later? I guess you just end up with the same problem because you would want to go back. Lol.

Got back yesterday, man am I exhausted. Trying very very hard not to sleep after I sent the kids to school this morning. Right now it is 11, and I am still up! Lol. Leaving was sad. I wrote a note and hid easter eggs with jellybeans all over the house so it would cheer him up when he found them. He loves jellybeans. ^^ Got my medical scheduled on the 13th of may. It was the clinic that picked the date, so there should be more than enough time before my interview. Lol. I am currently ordering plane tickets. Going the day before and staying most of the day, since the appointment takes a while and the ride to the airport takes some time too. Next I need to plan the Stockholm trip, but I have two friends who might want to come along with me, and we can make a weekend out of it. That would be nice since I probably wont see them for a while after. I now have around 3 months to pack up my house and get everything ready. Crazy! O_O

Do not get too discouraged, just keep trying. Depending on their mailing date, you might get lucky and a lot will happen rather quickly. Just keep messaging them every week or so, eventually you will have the number and see your case reach the embassy. ^^ I managed to schedule my interview for june btw, so it did not take months and months (although I guess june is still a while away and technically 3 months since our case went to the embassy.. lol)

We didnt get a specific date, but we asked the week after they told us they did not have it yet so I would not wait that long. XD As long as they have responded to the previous inquiry, I don't think there is an issue asking for another, as long as you wait at least a little. XD I am having a nice time here. Going through the passport control was a little scary, but I brought all sorts of documentation just in case. We are just hanging out and having little adventures together while setting things up at the house. ^^ My interview is the 16th of june. I could have gone for a week earlier, but I wanted to make sure I have enough time to go to my medical after my new passport arrives.

Decided to write an update for you guys since you will be using the Stockholm embassy. ^^ Basically they release interview dates in a pattern I am not sure about. I have been trying for a while and randomly I got an appointment. It was kind of late during the work day in Sweden since it was before lunch here in the US (I am currently visiting). There were only dates available in june when I checked, and only mondays. The day I picked had 2 appointments 8.30 and 8.45. I know someone who got a may appointment on the first of april so I do not understand their pattern unfortunately. So the best advice I have is to check once in the morning and once before the office closes maybe. They do not have a lot of appointments, but that is probably because there are not a lot of people needing these interviews, so don't get discouraged and best of luck to you!

I had this same problem because I am going to Stockholm even if I live in Norway. The shipping option only shows shipping payments to Sweden and I was very confused. The website's wording is pretty counter intuitive, but you have to click "Pick up" and it will let you set your address. I think i finally found instructions on this in the ftp letter. Or maybe it was somewhere else, but yeah I know it does not make much sense but if you click the pick up option it will make it possible to pick shipping to other countries outside the embassy one.

Okay, update time. My trip to Boston went well. Felt bougie using business class, it's good I'll be flying coach going home so it wont go to my head. XD No extra issues during the passport check, I mean the officer asked me a bunch of questions, but they usually do. No use for my stack of documents I had ready in my backpack, but better safe than sorry! Wonderful to see my love and his cat again. 🥰 So the tariff stuff has been spooking us a bit, so we decided to invest in a desktop pc for me since my laptop is getting up there. No matter what happens with he economy the graphics card situation has been annoying for years and most likely will stay that way anyway. It arrived the day after me and a few days later we had it set up with a new desk and everything. Apart from installing some games the first thing I did was go to the scheduling website to check for interview dates and what do you know they had some open in June! So now I will be in Stockholm for my interview june 16th. I was so excited, I ran upstairs to my fiance who was working in his temporary office (he is using the room that will be my littlest' bedroom while he finishes building some rooms in the basement) and gave him the good news while jumping up and down in excitement! It feels like such a relief, we got it the month it will work the best for us and it will give us time to still move during the summer so my kids can settle in before school starts. Still no clue how Stockholm actually does it.. because the lady who got an appointment in may said she got it april 1st. So I guess the advice is just to keep trying. At this point I had taken a few days off checking because the website did not load properly on my phone, so it felt really cool and special that it finally worked on my new computer. ^^ I still have to schedule my medical, but I have to make a plan with my parents since they are looking after the kids. For the interview I sort of felt like I did when we got Taylor Swift concert tickets: just click whatever you can and be happy with it, but I am hoping it wont be a problem with the medical. I should do it sooner rather than later though, because there are only 2 doctors in the country (at one hospital) that does the medical, so I would not want them both to be on vacation or something. O.O Not sure if I need my new passport ready for that though? I have my appointment on May 7th and it usually takes 1 to 2 weeks to get it sent in the mail. I have spent my days here putting away the 3 suitcases of stuff I brought (my fiance brought one after his christmas trip) and getting the house ready for us. This place is starting to feel more and more like home and we are both so excited to finally be together and not have to think about the fact that one of us has to go home by themselves. My fiance will make one more trip to Norway, either sometime in june or right before we move so we can all go together, but other than that it will be amazing not having to say goodbye for months at a time.

To answer my own question, I got the FTP letter 4 days after it reached the embassy. 😃 Now I am wondering if anyone have any experience with how long it takes to schedule the interview? I have been logging in a few times a day to the scheduling website, and when i talked to someone who got an appointment recently she said she got it april 1st and there were only 2 dates in may available. X_X