pothergavel

Hi Sam, congrats

I got the official confirmation letter today, so hopefully it won't be long til the card is in hand

Congrats to all.

Glad the interview went well, I hope the stuff I posted made it a little easier if only by putting your mind at rest a bit!

I got the email this morning too, so I guess the guy wasn't fibbing yesterday at the interview We really are all systems go!

Good luck Magpie and co. They really didn't ask us for anything other than what was on the letter. Don't worry, youll be fine!

Congrats Ellie, that was pretty quick!

Also, guys, I'm not quite sure how to phrase a letter for proof of the relationship (for others to sign). Any suggestions?

Magpie.

Not sure if this is too late, but we didn't have any letters or anything like that. This is what they asked for from us:

The guy took our passports, ID's, my EAD (which he gave me back when he was done), then our SSN cards.

He asked when we met, so we talked for a few minutes about that.

Then he asked what we had brought to show him. We had our tenancy agreement, bank statements, and utility bills (we split the bills, so my name was on 2, and Katie's was on 1, but it showed we have the same address), car insurance docs with both our names on it. I think that's all we had.

Then we gave him some of the stack of photos we had, he picked 5 I think, and that was about that.

He didn't ask about the AP docs until I said about it, and then he said "oh yes, I forgot to ask about that. Well you won't need them anymore". I think then we knew we were safe!

He definitely said it was 2 years from the date of marriage. I even asked him by repeating it, and asking if it was the date of marriage and not the date of the interview and whatnot, and he said it definitely was the date of marriage.

We were out of the building and all done by 8am!

Just a quickie....

Interview this morning, all done and dusted, easy peasy and all that. Hardest bit was getting up to get the train at 5:40.

Back to it now, still no jobs for either of us. On top of that I need a root canal and a crown which is $800 (we said the initial price of $940 was too much, so they came back with that estimate. Gotta love haggling for health care) and the missus laptop just did an automatic update thing and killed it all. Only option was to format her hard drive so she lost all her photos, music, work, job apps, etc. And it still doesn't work. Awesome. Off to get her something to replace it, I guess.

Yay to all who got their interviews, not needed interviews, etc Looks like we all get 21 months without government interference (the guy this morning said the 2 years is from date of marriage rather than date of AOS)

Haven't had time to think about it yet, but it means our finances don't look especially friendly. And the interview is 2 weeks today.

I'm genuinely worried about that, but at the same time trying to do the whole "don't worry, we'll be fine thing" with the good lady. I'm gutted for her, I really am. She was working her tits off at a place which paid $10 an hour, hating every day but never really complaining (much, anyway) so that the savings were stretched out further, and now this.

Anyway, sorry to bring the thread down.

Congrats to all who need them

*Insert huge string of expletives here*

Mrs PG just got laid off.

I believe the technical term for our current predicament is, 'screwed'.

I found crumpets in Trader Joes t'other day. Didn't get any, but they had a Union Jack and a silhouette of Big Ben on the label, so they must be genuinely English ones, right?!

Good news! John and I made a test drive out to the Application Support Center and all the roads to there are open and in good condition. He should be able to get there tomorrow without any problem, assuming that no more torrential rain falls.

It's worth noting that I did try to call this morning and I couldn't get a single human being on the phone. USCIS really is the bureaucracy to beat all American bureaucracies, which is saying something.

We're safe and dry, by the way-- thanks for your concern! We're on the east side of town; the west side was the hardest hit.

Glad you made it ok Good luck for tomorrow!

On a side note, is there an approved "what I should take to the AOS interview" anywhere? Or is it safe to assume it's just what is on the letter? Stupid question I know, but I searched on VJ as a whole and there are 98798798987 variations with varying recommendations!

Marmite on toast with your melted cheese?

Surely it's Worcestershire Sauce not Marmite?!

You're all mad........

Funny - my husband always complains about the bacon & the cheese while he's here...I thought he was being overly-critical, but now I'm not so sure.

My first-ever trip to England is coming up in December, so I guess I'll find out first hand!

Related: I am NOT a fan of Marmite - yechh!

I refuse to believe that ANYONE is a fan of Marmite

I couldn't get a Capital One card because there was no credit history at all.

However, I was able to get a $500 credit card with only a $99 deposit and a $39 annual fee from my account with Bank of America.

Hopefully that will be good enough to get the ball rolling in establishing a credit profile!

Ah ok.

I guess as you had a provisional from the UK, that's what you get here.

I had a full licence from the UK, and then got a temporary licence here until I got to take the test.

In that case, it means that the list you found above seems about right - there are state dependent rules regarding driving on a temporary provisional.

Only thing I will say is that I had a 5 week wait for a driving test date here - if you only have 60 days to do the test you might want to think about booking one sooner rather than later?

thing is I know I'm not ready yet, if I book online and there isn't a spot till after the temp licence ends can I extend the temp licence till I have an availiable appointment? do I have to take the written test again in this case?

I'm genuinely not sure when it comes to a provisional. For mine, they were happy to give me temporary licenses up until the "visa" ran out. I think i'm on my third now.......

Ah ok.

I guess as you had a provisional from the UK, that's what you get here.

I had a full licence from the UK, and then got a temporary licence here until I got to take the test.

In that case, it means that the list you found above seems about right - there are state dependent rules regarding driving on a temporary provisional.

Only thing I will say is that I had a 5 week wait for a driving test date here - if you only have 60 days to do the test you might want to think about booking one sooner rather than later?

Yeah, that's why I was asking if you had a learner permit or not.

Surely if you have a temporary licence on the back of your UK licence, then it's not a learner's permit as such?

Nothing spectacularly original, but for us:

I had Sky tv and phone, so it was £5 a month for me to call any number in the US for up to an hour, but as often as we liked. The only problem of course is that it used the missus' minutes with the whole cell phone ridiculousness in the USA.

Then I got a mobile contract on 3 purely for the whole free Skype thing. Cheapest contract was £15 a month, 6 months, free phone. The phone was actually perfect. Means you can call people on skype for free, and they can call you for free. So I used to call Mrs PG as I commuted to work in the morning. Skype phone + bluetooth speaker, ftw.

Slingbox is good.....

I got sent a programme the other day, which you just install onto your pc and if you have vlc set up as your video player, you can pick any UK TV channel to watch live.

I'll dig it out - seems to work with most of the channels almost all the time. I watched the England game the other day on ITV.

EDIT: Here you go......the email I got in the first instance

Thought you might like this, this bod has written a programme that allows you to watch 19 UK channels online, no problem

http://www.myp2pforum.eu/live-tv/41045-british-tv.html

You need to have VLC as your default player

Then download the zip file from the myP2P link, extract the .exe file and copy it to your VLC programme file (I think it just needs to be on the same drive, but I stuck it there anyhow, then copied a direct link to desktop)

Open, type in the Channel number from the menu, hit enter and voila.

wow ...thank you so much for this, with little pc knowledge i didnt think i was going to be able to get it to work but got it going fine. It has my fav and most missed music channel scuzz on it too...Im so happy ))) LOL...ive missed it so much over the past 2 years. You have made my day.

Haha, no worries

It is really easy, isn't it? Lots of channels to choose from too. Scuzz as you say - I usually have the music channels on when working away on the laptop.

Enjoy!

You'll be fine. The cars might be bigger, but the roads are HUGE compared to England - it's all relative!

As far as I am aware, the temporary license works in exactly the same way as the permanent, but obviously on a shorter time basis. So mine, after I passed, is as good as the plastic card I just have to wait for the postman to deliver the real thing. It's not a learner's permit you have is it? I am sure that a full licence is recognised in all states.......

I'll google a bit and see what I can find.

The new USCIS website is nice and shiny, isn't it?

Very pretty

It is pretty! I even signed up for the new mobile alerts that are now available on our cases!

It's about time they updated that website....it was awful.

You're right, it was pretty bad before. I haven't signed up for the text alerts as they don't seem to be too hot on updating anything - on our case at least. We've had no email alerts at all, and apparently my AOS application hasn't been touched since they received it on the 3rd. And yet we got the letter for interview yesterday! Besides, it leaves a little element of surprise when I go to collect the post each day

Thanks guys!! :dance: and good luck pothergravel for your October interview!

So now I have a couple questions! We leave for our Canada holiday on thursday! Woop woop! Do I need to take anything additional other than our marriage certificate, as passport is still inaiden name and greencard is inarried name. Also I have a temp ca driving licence or permit I'm not sure what u call it valid

till October.26th I think. I'm not ready to take the practical test yet but hopefully will be when we get back plus there's no time before we leave. Am I allowed to drive with this temp licence in other states and Canada? There will be other people with me in the car at all times I just wanna get some practice in and confidence back. It's been a long time . :s

Hey Hannah, thanks for the wishes. Hopefully it will be a-ok! Could be a lovely day in my favourite city in the world, all being well!

Have a great holiday Driving here in the US is easy, peasy. You'll be fine!

The new USCIS website is nice and shiny, isn't it?

Very pretty

Blimey, eventful few days on here I see.

Interview date came through today - 19th October in San Francisco. At 7:45am! Ouchy. Looks like the 6am BART for us then

Thanks, I haven't heard of Fiesta, i'll look into them right now

Ok, I'm obsessed with food, but incase people out there are looking for British products and haven't heard of this site, try:

www.jollygrub.com

If you order a fair amount the shipping is actually fairly reasonable. I'm off to order my treacle and digestives

You can get digestives at Cost Plus - saw them yesterday

Has anyone found a British food website that ships over here without charging an arm and a leg? The cheapest I have found so far is 31.99 pounds for up to 5kg weight, which i'm not prepared to pay. Any ideas? I'm specifically looking for just my baking stuff, syrup, treacle, chocolate etc. Or if anyone knows where you can get it out here?? Oh, if anyone has found puff pastry PLEASE tell me where

I was actually wondering last night about the possibility of opening up a British foods shop here. Still not sure that my thoughts will get past the initial idea phase, but it's very tempting!

ok so im really pissed off right now.. ive been trying to get my drivers licence ive been to the stupid office like 3 times.. and the twats just make life difficult.. i went in with ALL the documentation and the return pass they gave me so that i can get my driving permit.. so they make me wait for an hour.. because they were going to "verify" the information, only to tell me that they are waiting for homeland security to confirm... #######??? did anyone else have this BS?? the woman behind the counter obviously didnt know what she was doing... do u think it would be wrong if i called and complained??

I got a temporary licence here in California using my UK drivers license. Did the theory test and passed ok. Had to wait a month for a practical spot to come available, so got another temporary licence. When it did come available, I took that test and passed it too. However, as there was less than 60 days left on the date they stamped in the passport, they wouldn't give me a license beyond that date. So even though I had passed the test, I wasn't allowed to drive. I went back with my new NOA1's, all sorts, but they told my visa had expired and I shouldn't even be in the country, was now here illegally, etc - after waiting an hour to speak to someone, that wasn't exactly nice to hear.

However, I got my EAD yesterday, took that down today, waited another hour and finally they have agreed to give me a proper license. Until the end of October 2010 when the EAD expires anyway. Oh, and I have another temporary piece of paper in the meantime. Which at least means that I can get to this "interview" tomorrow.

Hannah, that sounds about right actually. 6 in 36 it is!

About to head back to the DMV soon to try and get my proper licence now that I have my EAD. Should be back by midnight if i'm lucky!