Betti

I am born and raised in Germany as well. I grew up in Oldenburg and lived the last 3 years in Bremen, which is both in the north of Germany. Bremen is about an hour away from Hamburg.

The Americans I meet always seem to have been to the South, nobody ever goes to the North. I wonder why that is...only because Munich is so popular?

The North is pretty flat and the Wadden sea is amazing! It's worth a trip...

We plan to visit next year in summertime and then hopefully every other year or so.

Thank you, that was helpful. If they deny my AOS, does that mean that I will have to leave the US? I think if that is what is going to happen, it's a sign, and clearly wasn't meant to be. I miss home so bad, I am becoming desperate.

From what you write I understand that you can't even imagine living in the US, why do you try to get a greencard? I don't mean to be rude or anything like that, please don't get me wrong. But you say you can't go "home" any later than July, because you will go crazy. And the quoted sentence says it clear...you already know it wasn't meant to be.

If you choose to leave the US without the AP, you abandon the AOS (instead of them denying it as you put it). So it really is your choice! Good luck on the journey!

One main difference between germany and America in my opinion is the option to change your career. In Germany you have to do a vocational training for everything that doesn't require a college degree (I did a vocational training in a hotel for 3 years) and if you ever decide to switch careers, you will have a hard time finding an employer who is willed to teach you a new field, and doesn't expect you to go back to school again for 3 years (and therefor have no income in this time, or at most very little).

Here in the US it seems a lot easier to get into a different career than the one you went to school for and also climbing up the career-ladder seems a lot faster and easier to me.

I am the German in the relationship and must say that I love this thread!

I live in Texas since 7 months now and must say that I enjoy being here a lot. My SO has a degree in German and lived in Germany for 2 1/2 years all together, so there are no language problems in our relationship; if I forget the English word for something I want to say, I just say it in German and he still understands.

Regarding the cultural differences I can only recommend this site: www.nothingforungood.com, it's hilarious and soooo true!

Betti, do you have a "regular" license or does it have the Temporary Visitor designation? I'm still trying to find out what to expect...

I have the temporary license, because at the moment I am in the USA on a J-1 visa that will expire in september. I was told that they only let you take the test and therefor get a license if your visa is valid for at least another 6 months. They wanted to see my SSN, DS 2019 and visa in passport.

Thank you guys for the nice welcome!

I just got my drivers license in TX in january and would like to add to be careful with the stop signs. You should stop way before the white line, so you can still see it from the car. I had 2 deductiond because I only stopped on the line, not in front of it. I passed the test anyway, lucky me :-)

Congratulations to you!

Hi there!

My name is Bettina, I am 27 years old and from Germany.

I moved to Austin, TX last september and am currently here on a J-1 visa, working as a management trainee in a hotel downtown Austin. My boyfriend John (who is originally from Oklahoma City) and I met in Germany when he was there for work in 2007. My visa will expire on 09/20 and we plan on getting married in july/august. So my way will be to aply for AOS some time in september this year.

I am currently reading through the whole topic of adjusting status from J-1/F-1 visa here on this site as well as the guide for this. I must say that it helped me understand the whole process a lot better and I am confident to get it done myself now, without hiring an expensive lawyer.

That's it for now, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself

Have a great day!