amaciar

My heart goes out to you Lisa. I know how you feel. It is extremely hard and heart breaking. This year, i was in two minds about going to see my SO, as like cdneh said, it is just so hard, the leaving part. But I told myself that this would be the last time that we would have to do this, as we filed the 1-129f while i was there.

And it's GREAT news that you have sent off your forms today!! Just keep telling yourself that soon you will be together for good!!

And i have a quick question here about the interview at Auckland consulate. I know this sounds kinda lame but was just wondering to those that have been there. Is there a set dress code one has to wear for the interview? Do you think it is ok for women to wear jeans to it? or is that too dressed down?

Ana I made Nic wear a nice pair of nice pants and a button up shirt...but after th interview we realized it wasn't necessary. Not sure what everyone elses take on this is?

Lisa it is the hardest part about being in love with someone from the other side of the world! You are a step closer to not having to live apart. I used to joke with my husband and say that people divorce over less stressing things than this process......so if you can make it through uscis and nvc you can make it through anything.

Hello everyone! =)

I'm new to the board and wanted to say hi and introduce myself. My name is Lisa and I'm a US citizen and my love is Tim and he's from New Zealand (soo creative on the name here, right? =p lol). Our ages are 24 and 19. We are just filling out our I-129F and G-325A after getting a run around from people on how to go about this. I've cried so much over these forms let me tell you. It's been a huge stress with everything going on. But he's worth it =). This board makes it seem like I'm not alone in this.

Welcome. It sounds like you have found this site early on in the process. It is great having others who know how you feel and have been there. The paperwork is intimidating but you will get through it.

Kim...where I am...heh..it's tomorrow! You must be absolutely thrilled !

I think i'm in shock. In 5 hours we 'chat' for the last time long distance then he'll be on his way back home. Because of our circumstances, our visa journey has been several years in the making. It's surreal to think we can finally be on with it.

After years and years of flying between NZ and Canada I will never go through LAX again going last year through SFO. So much friendlier and less stressful.

One bright spot of news..I've been worried about my Canadian police clearance expiring before I even get to the interview process, now that things out of VSC are going at a snail's pace. I emailed them and they got back to me straightaway. As long as I stay out of Canada, it will be good !

Doesn't air tahiti nui fly NZ-US as well? Russell found cheaper rates for them on expedia.co.nz earlier on.

you guys know there is a bus shuttle that runs constantly between the LAX domestic/international terminals, yes? With only two hours between connecting flights we're hoping Russell doesn't run into any problems. We haven't yet (knock, knock, knock) .

Woo Hoo you have gone from counting the days to counting the hours! Awesome

Yep know there is a shuttle but I find it a bit quicker to just go it on my feet. I hate sitting in the shuttle and having a group of ten take 20 minutes! I am a bit of a stress case with things like that. Plus my legs can use the stretch by then.

Air Tahiti Nui lets you stop overnight or for a few days as well for not much money. Great if you are traveling with your Kiwi

LAX has been a thorn in my side for a few years now. There is no easy way to get to the east coast from LAX when flying from Auckland. I just wait the 11+ hours though. I have missed two or three flights and the airlines are nowhere near as accomodating in the US as they are in NZ and the united terminal is at the opposite end of the airport! And I am going to rant a bit here but I just don't understand how it can take over an hour for them to unload one flights luggage. I understand when there are multiple flights but well Auckland needs to give LAX some lessons on unloading. I had four hours between flights on one occasion and still would have missed my flight. Lucky me though Denver was under 3 feet of snow so barely any flights were getting in or out of LAX and my flight was cancelled. It was no fun trying to find a flight but since I wasn't screaming or being rude the lady i was dealing with tried for about half hour to find me a flight and it was first class! Okay rant over

Hey amaciar! I fly from Auckland - Kansas a lot and I've discovered that Qantas + American Airlines is much better and easier than using Air NZ + United when you have connecting flights. When you fly with Qantas to LAX, you pretty much go out the door and up the stairs to the American Airlines terminal. This is much easier than going from one side of the airport to the other as with Air NZ and United. PLUS when returning to Auckland, you arrive at the American Airlines terminal in LAX and then just go out the door and into the next building to the Qantas terminal. I found it's so much easier!

Another reason why I find Qantas and American Airlines better, is that they pass through Dallas instead of Denver (which is usually banked up with snow in the Winter so there's alway a chance of a delay/cancellation). Where abouts do you fly to in the US anyway? It's nice to know someone else has been on the exact same route as me lol.

I fly to upstate New York. The airport is pretty small so we have very little choice with airlines. Usually I catch the red eye to either Chicago or Washington Dulles. Unfortunately United has a major hub in Denver.....so even if you don't touch it a storm there messes everything up Thankfully we are done with the NZed flights for a while. We are hoping it will be two years baring any weddings or deaths! @ years is heaps better than the every six months I was doing for the past 4 years We will have to check out Qantas next time at least fro the LA to Auckland portion.

LAX has been a thorn in my side for a few years now. There is no easy way to get to the east coast from LAX when flying from Auckland. I just wait the 11+ hours though. I have missed two or three flights and the airlines are nowhere near as accomodating in the US as they are in NZ and the united terminal is at the opposite end of the airport! And I am going to rant a bit here but I just don't understand how it can take over an hour for them to unload one flights luggage. I understand when there are multiple flights but well Auckland needs to give LAX some lessons on unloading. I had four hours between flights on one occasion and still would have missed my flight. Lucky me though Denver was under 3 feet of snow so barely any flights were getting in or out of LAX and my flight was cancelled. It was no fun trying to find a flight but since I wasn't screaming or being rude the lady i was dealing with tried for about half hour to find me a flight and it was first class! Okay rant over

Kim I am sure your friedns and family are just as excited as you. Good idea to go on a little trip just the two of you .

You must be so relieved! Great to have that package and passport in your hot little hands? Not long now try to get SOME sleep on the flight over

Thanks again everyone. We are counting down the minutes!

Amy, what does nic do? Sometimes a job recruiter (aka headhunter) can help a lot. If you get close to Central MA you'll have to let us know.

Nic is a town planner but he wants to get into a company dealing with wind technology. There appear to be planning jobs out there but I am not sure what they think of hiring someone not trained in the USA. It has only been a month though so we can't be too frustrated yet. Funnily enough we just looked at a posting for a job in MA it would have been right up Nics ally but they are looking for more experience than he has So the search continues We haven't thought of a recruiter. What do they do?

Congrats to Kim and Russ and Shawn and Lu too! Lots of things happening.

Amaciar - How long did it take for Nic to get his SSN? Did he wait for it to be sent by mail or did he go into the office? I'm trying to get a good idea of the timeframes so that I know if I need to go in to apply. Lots waiting on getting that SSN!

Nic has had a social secutiry number for a few years. He was here on a work visa and so he does not have to worry about that step. We called a while ago just to make sure. I would suggest going in though. Just to change a spelling on Nics name on his card he would have to send in his passport plus his green card. So as you can imagine we don't really want to let go of that little card! We did send in the SSN sheet provided from immigration and the lady on the phone at SS said they had not received anything. Yet another reason to go in I would say. Sorry I couldn't of been any help.

Woo Hoo Congrats Kim and Russ.

Nic and I have been back in the states for a little over a month. Nic's not so green "green card" arrived in the mail last week. He has been showing anyone who will look at it ever since. There is a on going game to find all of the holograms on the card.

No luck with jobs yet but we are waiting for Nic to find a job in New England somewhere before I can start my search. There seems to be plenty of positions but I am sure there are plenty of people applying. One site I have foudn that has been great for just general work and apartments is Craigslist.com. There are heaps of apartments added daily and many people appear to be adding jobs on the site as well.

We send money from Nics bank to mine. You need to have the routing number and a few other details for the account the money is going into. Both banks will take a bit of a fee but it is safe and relatively easy. When you do send money try and send a larger sum so that the fees don't feel as bad. Good luck! I know that from BNZ and Kiwibank you and do international transfers online and there is no need to go to a bank.

Sounds like those were two successfule interviews. Congrats

Kelvan- Great to see that your packet arrived. You must feel relived

Nic and I have just arrived in upstate New York. We bought tickets the day his passport arrived in the mail and it was go go go from then til now. Nic said that the process in customs was a formality really and all they did was open his packet to make sure all the detaisl were there. Then he was fingerprinted. It took about 20 minutes and when he was finished I was still waiting for our bags. Now it is time to get on with out lives til we need to remove the conditions of residency in two years

Hi Everyone

Nic had his interview yesterday. It was probably the strangest hour of my life. The lady we spoke to first was great. She was cheery and was impressed with the way we had put our forms together. We had each set in their own bundle clearly labeled. Basically what happened was we had our case switched to the NZ consulate once the I-130 was approved so we needed all the documentation you usually send to NVC ready and organized. Then after the lovely lady made sure all our forms were in and the correct evidence was there we sat down and waited to see an officer. Now I was thinking here comes the grilling and the intimidated feeling! Nope the gentlemen asked us when we wanted to leave for the US and we answered ASAP and he asked what our plans were. Which we told him and then he explained what would happen once they approved us. So in total we were at the consulate for an hour. The majority of the time we were being told what we needed to do once we entered the US! So Nic was cheeky at the end and asked if we could go have a celebratory drink and the kind man said everyday is an excuse for a celebratory drink He dodged the question but when we arrived back to Palmerston North today we checked to see if our Courier Bag that we gave the Consulate had been sent......sure enough it was picked up today at 2:30. So we are hoping that means all is well and his passport will be back tomorrow with a shiny new stamp on it. Our theory is they wouldn't send out a request for more evidence in our Courier Bag. So the Consulate was heaps better than i thought. Now sure if it helped that I was there with Nic or not but I hope everyone has the type of experience we did. Hopefully tomorrow I am not back on here crying because they sent us some horrible request notice.

RubyRed- I know exactly how you feel but in reverse. My first year in NZed was not always the easiest but by my second year I was feeling like I was home. Just don't let the bad times get you too down and enjoy the differences.

Kim- Great news. Not long now til you are Stateside.

Everyone looking for jobs Good Luck. Nic and I will starting that process near the end of September. We hope to be home in about 1.5wekks and then spend some time with my family. I feel like I haven't seen them in forever! Anyone found any good job search websites?

Nic and I are on our way to Auckland tomorrow. His interview is on Weds and I am ready to have the interview done with so we know when we can go home. The process sounds like it is a little less overwhelming in NZ and that the ladies are looking to help you. So we are just hoping we have all the info we need as they are processing our I-864 at the same time. Will let you know how it goes.

There are a few people with interviews next week aren't there?

Are you a UK resident? If so you may be able to file in England. Have a look at the US Consulate website in the UK because it can be much quicker. I am in New Zealand with my husband until he is approved but I filed in the US by mistake. Didn't realize I could file in New Zealand. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

Congrats Michelle

How is the job hunting going Gshennen?

My hisband and I are starting to feel the stress a bit now. Our interview is next week and there is no reason we shouldn't sail through but the little things are starting to stress us out. The doctor we went to is not helping the situation. At the moment I can't remember his name as my husband has been dealing with him mostly but we found out today he only works one day a week! We thought it was a bit strange when we went in that he said the medical may take 6 weeks. And then today we called up to have my husbands vaccination requirements faxed to his family doctor and we learn he won't be in the office til the day before the interview We should have known when he said that it was no big deal if the paperwork made it after the interview and "whats a few extra weeks really"!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I am sure you all know what a few extra weeks is in this whole stressful experience. But we are being positive and hoping the medical makes it in time. So I guess what I am trying to say is don't go to the doctor in Wellington that is listed on the Imigrations list! Vent over

kelvan- I think if my first packet had gotten lost i would have ended up in tears! How did you find out? Good luck with this package. I hope you sail through the process

We don't know when we will be flying home yet. We are going to wait and see how the interview goes and then change our plane tickets. We have some that are booked for December. We want to be home early September though so once we get the green light we will change our tickets and buy our american flights.

Kimand Russ- I hope you receive some good news soon.

We went for my hisbands medcial today. We are located two hours from Wellington so we went there for the appointment. It was $500 which sounds expensive having read some of the other posts. I suppose if we had had to fly to Auckland it would have been way over $500 so we are okay with that. The doctor did think it was strange that we received an interview date so soon but we aren't going to question it.

Yankiwi- It is frustrating traveling with heaps of bags especially when you don't know where you will be making your home. Let us know if you find a airline that will ship your bags for you. Would be great to know as my husband and I will be living out of suitcases for the forseable future and at the moment I am pretty over it. Nothing worse than sitting in LAX for twelve hours with all your worldly possesions!

Kelzm- It is great to see that someone is done and on their way to the big MOVE. Good luck with the garage sale.

Just received our letter from the Auckland Consulate saying that my Hubby's interview is on the August 13th. Crossing our fingers this all goes well. I am ready to be back home. The interview is a week before our 1 year wedding anniversary and I am hoping we will be celebrating both the anniversary and Nics residency

As for moving belongings back to the States it seems like a bit of a nightmare. We had been looking to send home two bikes which are pretty small and only about 50KGs all up and it was going to cost 1200 each bike! So we have flagged that idea and are again selling off three quarters of our belongings to meet the 2 bags limit. Thank god for Trade Me We have become good at this as we have been doing it for the past 6 years. My family thinks I am nuts when I pack my bags to fly back to NZed. The scale comes out and my bags get packed and repacked till the weight in each bag is perfect If the books are worth the money i would say try and put as many in your bags as possible and pay for the excess baggage. I am starting to think the excess baggage fee is less than the shipping cost. Also have a look on amazon and try to determine whether he will be able to buy some of the books second hand and if it will be cheaper in the end to rebuy the books. Probably not but it is worth a try!

Hi Everyone

I have been away from the computer for a wee while and man did I have some catching up to do! It is good to see that everything is going smoothly for some.

As for New Zealand Residency it is pretty easy in comparison. My husband and I had been together for just over two years when we applied. I sent in a huge packet with pictures and e-mails that we had written while apart. Plus we had documents saying we shared a bank account and all. The hugest issue was timing to police report with the medical but once we sent in the one package it was a waiting game. I think it took 5 months and I sent in my passport and could work and continue on with life. At the time of filing for my NZed residency I had been working here for a year though and had a company willing to keep me on.

As for our progress with USCIS we have hit a wall it feels like. We called the consulate in Auckland to see what we could do about speeding up the porcess. Now we are all sorts of confused. They sent us the medical packet along with the police check release. Now we have no idea if we need to conitnue with NVC. They said we didn't but the lady seemed cranky and distracted. So the question of the moment is do we need to continue with NVC or do we bring the I-864 and the rest of the info to the interview. We also spoke to a lawyer and that confused us as well.

To add to the fun I had an accountant sorting out my tax returns for while I have been working overseas and after three weeks of us stressing he sent back the incorrect info and kept saying that if I haven't worked in the US then I have nothing to worry about. WRONG ANSWER!!! So there was lots of crying and it was a bad day yesterday. So now I am freaking out that we will get an interview date and not have the correct tax information.

Wow that was a giant vent! Anyone have any advice? We are going to call the American Consulate in Auckland on Monday to try and get some answers so we don't mess these next few steps up!

Amy

I have been saying since this began that Nic and I are lucky. I have my resideny here so at least we can work and be together while immigration takes its time. It has been hard coming back to NZed after i thought i was finally going to be home and around my family. It is amazing the amount of money you spend trying to keep a marriage together when you are from different sides of the globe!

I have seen so many beautiful places and am counting the small blessings. Well thats when i am not crying cause i am frustrated and want to start having kids and a house. ha ha ha. My husband has a lot on his plate

Your time will come and you will hopefully come out stronger as a couple because of it. Thats my minute of positivety for the day. I will now spend the rest of it telling people not to fall in love with a foreigner. He he he should have listened to my mom 4 years ago.

I am feeling heaps better. Thaks everyone. I noticed that some people state that they paid their NVC fees online. I thought the only way to pay was with a bank check?

DCF route? Sorry I don't know what that stands for. I am really new to this. In truth we have done the whole process the wrong way. When we sent in our packet way back in November I was in the states. We were going to wait it out but when we realized the process was going to take almost a year I couldn't take it and moved back to be with my hubby. Would have been done by now if we had realized we could have filed in Auckalnd. Problem with this process is you aren't an expert til it is done!

Thanks for the tips. Very helpful

Hello Everyone

Good to see there are some NZ/US couples out there. I just found this site and was pleased to see this thread. My hubby and I are both in New Zealand at the moment. I have been here for three years and I feel like we just finished getting me residency and now we are moving on to Nics US residency because the US is where we want to be for. Must say that the New Zealand process was much much much easier! It took 7 months and only involved one payment and one packet. Ohhh well if it was easy everyone woudl do it.

It hs been great reading everyones stories and feeling like we are not alone in our frustration and excitement.