woki1986

The price Nich indicated for shipping the quantity her husband brought over isn't bad at all. It sounds as if you have less.

From the way she describes the packing method, it sounds as if her husband "shared" a container with others. This method can be quite cost effective and safe.

I've emailed two companies - Seven Seas and Atlantic International Movers.

Seven Seas actually called me and left a voicemail to ask where I wanted the boxes shipped from and to! (I was kind of asleep though due to researching until 3am...). That's customer service for you.

Atlantic International said not to worry about an inventory list, as they'd be checking everything for me. I don't like the thought of someone going through my things. Just as well that I've already done one.

I'm back. I was wrong. He had 23 boxes full of stuff. He thought it was 2 cu.meters but by the time they put it on a pallet and shrink wrapped it, they said it was 2.5 cubic meters (650 pounds). He paid £1,011.00 and that included insurance and the shipping company built a custom foam lined crate to hold an antique clock that had belonged to his great, great grandfather. The crate was about £90 extra. I don't have the documents on this computer, but I think the insurance was well over half that cost. It is optional and is based on the total value you put on the items. I believe the minimum that company would ship is 2 cubic meters. Well you would pay for 2 cubic meters whether you had that much or not.

We used 1st Move International because we were impressed with how they put everything on a pallet and super wrapped it. And they band & tag it when it's packed so you know it can't be pilfered through without you knowing. See the sequence of pictures across This link. We picked up our own things since we live near the port of Houston, so got to see our actual pallet. It looked just like the last picture and was still sealed with the band they put on it so we know nothing was opened enroute. A guy brought it out on a forklift and loaded it in the pick-up truck. Then because it was so tall, they helped cut it open and stack the boxes in a more reasonable way in the truck. Everything arrived in perfect condition, but we packed carefully and used a lot of bubble wrap on anything fragile. Do fill your boxes so things can't jostle around in free space. If a box seems too heavy full of CDs or books, then half fill it and stuff some t-shirts or jeans to fill up the empty space.

Here's a link to a document that explains alot about moving your household goods to the US written by the Customs and Border Protection. It is a 35 page word document and is where I learned a lot of information http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/newsroom/publications/travel/moving_goods.ctt/moving.doc

Thanknk you very much for your extensive explanation and hunting down of info

I've been spending the evening making my inventory list. By my (crude) calculations - that is weighing myself and then me with the box in my hands, the heaviest box is 38 lb's. Everything else is less than that. I might well level that out with some half boxed t-shirt jobs, as you suggested. I might even take an extra suitcase to narrow it down further. My folks are going to be coming out to us in July for the wedding... that's another two suitcases.

I'll have a look at your links now

I'm hoping it's going to be less than £1,000. Although if it isn't, I'll just have to deal with that.

Thank you so much for your continued assistance.

I put a post in the general UK thread - didn't see this previously.

I've got 13 boxes full of... well... all sorts. Books, personal items. I've just found out that an inventory list would be the best thing to do, so I'm sitting here going through all of my boxes and writing what's in them. Will I have to write what I think each item is worth? Will a simple: Box of 30 books (for example) be sufficient? Or would I have to list every single one? (I've got 3 boxes of books...)

I get the feeling this is going to be very, Very time consuming.

I knew I should have done an inventory list. I'll have to go back through it and list everything that's in each box. I'm worried I'll lose them as well. That would be... unfathomable. Thank you for your replies, I'll start working on an inventory list.

I didn't know I'd have to wait until I was there until I sent things. I thought that if I sent them off, say, this week or a bit later on, they'd get there around about the time I would, or perhaps a little before, then I'd be alright.

I'm pretty muchly packed ahead of time with a few things not in cardboard boxes. At this very moment I have *does a quick count* 13 boxes sat next to me, with the possibility of there being one or two more. I have no idea how much each one weighs - they vary in weight. But they aren't light. 10 of these are 44 x 35 x 22 cm's, the others I haven't measured.

Now, I face a bit of a conundrum. I have been looking around at various options, but I don't know which would be best in terms of sending them on ahead.

I was wondering what others did when they sent things on to the USA. Did you get a cargo crate and ship it (literally) by boat, or did you have it sent through airmail? Also, can anyone recommend a company? Be it shipping, couriered or otherwise?

I dread to think how much sending all of this will cost, however I'm sort of prepared for it costing a fortune.

When you go to a new US doctor, share with them anything you think is important to your health. He will never see your DOS/USCIS files, nor will anybody else. You can see it as a chance to start over with a clean slate if that's what you think is best for you. An employer can not see your (new) medical files unless you give permission. A company can require you to have a physical or a drug test as a condition of employment, but they can't go through your USCIS files or your US medicals files.

Well. I think it's been long enough that I can let it go. I'm just worried something will come up. If a prospective employer asks me, well, then I'd have to tell them and everything. I think that's worrying me more than anything else. If an employer asks me straight and they'll refuse to employ me because of a month of my life that was basically the worst month of my life, all that time ago.

I've let it go. It's been... hmm. I think it's been 6 years since it happened and I've gotten over it.

I'll start over with a clean slate. I'll not mention it to my new doctor, but I'll bring the letters with me as a back up. Operations and things like that I'll let him or her know about as they will be important to my overall health, now and on into the future.

Thanks, Nich and Nick

Thank you everyone for your comments. After it was revealed at my first job (supermarket worker) that I self-harmed (partly because of stress, a friend dying and also partly because I was being bullied at work) my manager indicated that I should have informed them because I might have been a danger to other people and that I might not be suitable for continued employment there. The manager however also said to my face that I was slow (meaning a slow thinker), in not a very nice way. Lovely man, he was.

It's for that reason that I'm worried, because who would employ someone who self harmed? Even once? If you knew you employed a self harmer, would it affect the way you thought of that person? No matter what they looked like, how they acted, what other work they had done or even your impression of that person, would the fact that they had deliberately self harmed change your opinion of that person? It worries me that people would look down on me or think I'm dangerous or mental.

What if you have a 35 year old person who's had a few jobs, is moody, rude and generally not nice, and a 24 year old who says he's good with people, has had work in a pay office, experience with dealing with the military, very patient, appears well mannered and polite, oh but he self harmed. He might flip out and kill himself. Who do they give the job to?

Would I need to declare it? It was so long ago - or seems that way to me. I'm a completely different person now to who I was back then, but then people wouldn't know that.

People see in stereotypes. (Not everyone of course, just... some people. Hence my 'oh he might kill himself' line. Some people see self harming as an attempt of suicide, or just a cry for help or attention or as a more pronounced way of getting attention. For me it wasn't that at all. I went somewhere away from people and kept it a secret. I didn't want anyone to know but at the same time I felt that I needed to tell someone to get how I was actually feeling - not the fact I was self harming - out in the open.)

I basically, how can I describe it... It's almost like I cured myself? I realised that I was onto a bad thing, that what I was doing was self-destructive, so I stopped. I changed the way that I thought. That's the closest I can get to describing what I did. I've effectively given myself a longer mental fuse and I don't feel the need to self harm. I haven't felt that particular urge for a very long time.

I went to a college councellor and went to my doctor, but I never went for psychiatric care or anything like that.

I react differently to situations, I have seemingly endless patience and if I do get wound up, as everyone does, I just let it go. When I self harmed, it took hardly anything to make me angry. I have let things go now that I would have got really worked up about before. (The immigration process is very stressful and worrying, however I don't get any reaction like that from it. That's one example.)

I've never tried to take my own life, that's a plus. I don't think I was ever a danger to anyone else and the frustrations that I had were never directed at anyone else either. I directed them at myself because of my inability to deal with the problems that I faced. And even then, the actions that I took weren't life threatening.

I actually think that my experiences have strengthened me as a person. (I wouldn't recommend doing it for that effect yourself, however.) Recovering from it and dealing with things that have happened in the way that I do now has made me a stronger person and more thankful for everything that I have.

Anyway, I'm sorry, I rambled on there. I just want to make sure everything goes ok and that I've done everything 'right'. I want to be able to have some income to support me and my wife-to-be and back up her income (once we get all of the relevant paperwork filed of course) and I don't want things going wrong.

I think I'll try and get hold of everything just so I know what surgery I had and when.

As for the self harming... I want to get the fact that I had a letter written by a doctor (as part of the Knightsbridge Doctors Visa Medical) added to my history, then if anyone did see my record they'd be able to see that in a medical person's perspective I'm better. Then if it does come up, they'll see that.

Thank you everyone for your understanding. Or at least for answering my post.

Bit worried my post will be 'lost' in the back pages...

I'm looking into getting copies of my medical records, optician's records and dental records to bring with me so that if I have to go somewhere for any reason they can see what's been going on with me in these areas.

I have a few concerns on this, however.

You may/may not remember from previous questions that I had an issue with self harming. Back in 2004 I self harmed on two occasions. I brought this up at my Knightsbridge Medical, I got a letter from a doctor at my surgery, everything was ok.

Now, I've thought about bringing records with me, however there's not been anything added to my record about my self harming since I first raised it with my GP. (And no one even asked me how I was, for god's sake.)

What's worrying me is that if I bring my records with me and a doctor sees that I have a history of self harming I'll be put away somewhere, regardless of what proof that I give that it was a one off, never to be repeated incident.

I've got the letter my doctor wrote for me and I'm writing to my surgery to get it hopefully put on there that this has taken place. (Or else all that they will see if they look hard enough is that I self harmed in 2004 with no apparent resolution.)

I'm worried that if I don't do anything about it now, it'll ####### me over later on in life. I might not be able to get a job and so on.

What if I get copies of my medical history and there's been no change? I can add the letter that I got, but... meh.

I was honest about it with my fiancé, with the Knightsbridge Doctors and my own doctor, but I'm worried it's still going to follow me around.

Label watching might be the way forward. You learn a lot more about what you're eating when you see what's in something. (It's a bit hypocritical of me to say this, as I don't check either.) In terms of calories and everything that's not too bad. I have been paying a little bit more attention to that lately but I think I'll have to look even more so because of the extra content in the food there.

Although I don't quite know where I am with all of that. Hoping that someone succeeded in blowing up Parliament in the 17th Century still isn't good...

I hope everything turns out ok. That's a bit odd that he hasn't read VJ and doesn't particularly want to. Fiance and I depend on this website! It's keeping us a bit more sane. The process would be much more confusing without having guidance from here... So, why he's being so resistant is a mystery.

Hopefully things turn out for the best :-)

Well, personally, I doubt things would be a whole heck of a lot different if we didn't kick out the Brits - except we would have Universal Health Care a long time ago, and we might all have really cool accents...

My husband just rolls his eyes and gets irked by the people watching the fireworks. Of course, he does the same on Guy Fawkes day in England...

I agree, have a beer, some barbecue, hang out with friends, and be happy for the bank holiday on Monday.

Oh yeah, and try to ignore anyone who tries to sing "The Battle of New Orleans" to you...although I enjoy torturing my husband with it...

Speaking of Guy Fawkes, his name has been bandied about a lot lately. A lot of people wish that he'd succeeded, now. Funny that.

Yeah. I'll be happy for the bank holiday to spend with Cass.

no, but i did get a visit from the local public security bureau, who politely asked me to bring the flag inside. it was, coincidently, the 4th of july, 2006.

Ah. Hmm. Well, at least they did it politely.

A lighthearted question in return then...

If you can't understand the reasoning, perhaps you have not read the Declaration of Independence?

Or perhaps you skimmed over the part about "a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states"?

Or maybe tyranny is ok with you?

I know that in the past the English did some bad things, but then so has everyone else. I haven't read it yet. As far as I understood it the colonies didn't want to be controlled by the King, and wanted to be able to do things their own way.

Tyranny isn't ok with me, but it still happens today.

It can be hard to shop locally sometimes. Partly because of availability of what you want and also the increased cost of the products that you're looking for - they sometimes have to increase their markup to compete with supermarkets.

(I know that they can also drive prices down, but that doesn't always work.)

When I went out to Seattle last time, I had to go through Detroit - it was a stop off. The officer asked me where I was going, what I was doing in the USA. I said that I was going to spend christmas with my fiance.

'Why are you here?'

'I'm getting a connecting flight to Seattle.'

'Why are you going there?' Said in a confrontational way.

'I'm going there to spend Christmas with my fiance.'

'How did you meet her?' Not said in a nice way.

'Online.'

'Oh, really?' Again, like it was all some sort of hoax and I was the lowest form of pondlife.

'What do you do for a living?'

Long explanation, end up showing the letter that I got before I left stating that I had booked leave and was expected back at work in January.

I'm sure she thought that I was just going to disappear - the word 'fiance' screams 'He's going to come into the country, get married and disappear.' I hate border control because they make you feel guilty just for breathing. I know that immigration and keep illegals out and everything is important. Of course it is. Just the judgements that are handed out by people that don't know you, your situation and how you got to be there...

I hate how judgemental people can be. Reading some of these posts - wow, it's shocking. I'm glad that there IS a VJ here to vent to and that there are others that understand. Long Distance Relationships DO work.

Yes, I want a green card, however I want to get it and stay with my fiance. That's the whole damn point. No disappearing, no turning tail.

as long as you fly an American flag over it, no problem.

ask me about the time i hung an American flag out my window from an apartment overlooking a major city park in central china...

*Is captivated by the repeating icon*

Ah, see, that might be a problem I was going to leave that off. But... well. Ok, it might be a good idea to fly that too, just in case.

Hmm. Did you suddenly find a brick on your floor with Chinese scribbled onto an attached note?

Good plan! (Although I won't be able to get them into the country... Imagine that.)

'Sir, what are these?'

'Those? They are fireworks for 4th of July.'

'Uh.... huh...'

However, I bought an english flag today to proudly display

I'm wondering exactly what to do on the 4th of July when it rolls around. It's a light hearted question. People will be celebrating and as an Englishman I don't feel that I will be able to celebrate the true meaning of the 4th of July.

The holiday day, fair enough, but the actual reasoning, I can't. (They kicked us out, after all.)

To other immigrants from the UK, how have you dealt with it and how have you 'celebrated'?

Me, I might display the English flag and expect to get some stick.

I've been reading this thread and I'm sorry that everyone has been having such a hard time. I'm not out in the US yet - I fly on the 4th of June. I've been reading different threads to see what has happened to people once they've moved. It seems that this is the result.

I was expecting things to be hard but from what I see it's going to be harder than hard. Extremely hard.

Is it down to where you are geographically as to how the recession has hit, or is it literally bad everywhere? I have been looking online at jobs and will do any job, but of course there has to be jobs out there to take, first...

To everyone that's going through hardship at this moment, I hope that everything improves for you. I feel that this place is a solid community, a family, so seeing so many people in difficulty is very saddening. People that may not know each other in the outside world connect through this forum and share their experiences. Having that link and to know that you really aren't alone and that as sad as it is, there are others who are going through this and Understand, must help just a little. Not in a literal sense but in an emotional sense.

I was Looking to see what sort of Test the Uk has to become a Uk Citizen..

I'm From the uk and i failed the Dam thing ....Shameful 65% score ....If i have any excuse to fail, i did do the test in 8 mins

UK Brits going for USC test should be a walk in the park from the Uk Test..

Give it a go my fellow brits and see how you get on....

here is the Link...

http://www.ukcitizenshiptest.co.uk/?trackid=002509

Er.. I did it in 5 minutes and got 11 questions... Christ. Although, I haven't read the hand book. What relevence is data from 2001, or who emigrated into the UK in the 1980's or the population level of Muslims?

Having said that... I didn't have a hand book... (UK...)

Yaaaay! Congratulations

I imagine it was hard saying goodbye to your family, but you are doing what you wanted to do and they'll always be there for you. Maybe they'll be able to visit?

I hope your adjusting goes ok.

I've never experienced that. What part of the country are you going to?

I'm going to Washington State, Whidbey Island.

I went to a Jack in the Box on the way to Concrete and one of the tellers asked me if I was from canada...

I worked for Bank of America for quite a while. Only CASH transaction over 10k are what are reported. If you do a wire transfer of funds over 10k....doesn't matter...no cash is being brought it. It's for anti money laundering. Bring in less than 10k cash and get the other money transferred via wire and you will have nothing to report/declare!

Thank you! This is exactly the answer I was looking for. I'd probably have $100 in case I had to take a shuttle/taxi from Seattle Tacoma, if my fiance couldn't get to me for any reason or just as a back up.

I should be ok then in that case.