kiwibelcanto

It's 5 years minus 90 days from the "resident since" date on your green card, so yes you're eligible since you had your green card 2010. As for your DUI it's not a crime involving moral turpitude, so you'll be fine. However, you must send documents showing court disposition along with your application as well as a separate sheet explaining the circumstances of event and eventual discharges. If you can't send now you'll be required to have it on your interview, but I highly recommend you getting it sent now and also take a copy on your interview.

Thank you! That's what I thought but I wanted to double check. I sent in all the documents I had regarding my court case, and a cover letter explaining that it was dropped and deferred and that I was detained in county jail for 12 hours, so hopefully that will suffice.

So I became an LPR in October 2010. I got my conditions lifted October 2012. I sent my citizenship application checking the "LPR for 5 years" box, but I accidentally put 2012 instead of 2010, so of course they sent it back. But now I'm wondering if it's 5 years from when I became an UNconditional LPR though? Or just 5 years from when I became an LPR overall?

Also, I had a DUI in October 2012, but it got dropped down to a negligent driving charge and deferred, will that hinder my case?

Thanks

Same with the last part too. There are time when I know for sure I don't "belong" here. The rudeness, even though apparently now I'm just a "rude American" as well, still gets to me. The lack of common courtesy. But what's funny is it's not usually intentional, they just don't know that specific behaviours that are common here, are rude to me... so that's my "fault" really... and probably why I changed a bit too, because I'm adopting the "rude" behaviours that are rude back home in order to survive.

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad. It was quite stressful when I went back home because I brought four Americans with me, and so while I was trying to show them a good old Kiwi time and trying to catch up with and introduce them to every single friend/family member I had, I was also seeing NZ through American eyes for the first time, and the whole thing was quite overwhelming. I do feel like they think I've changed (Mum was the only one brash enough to say it), but here in the US I'm still as Kiwi as you can get! I think friends and family back home would accept my Americanized ways if they came to visit me, but I live quite out of the way and if it's not LA or NY, they're not terribly interested, which is a bit hurtful, just quietly.

I agree with you on what we consider "rudeness", have you noticed that people reply "mhmm" when you thank them? It really irks me, but I find myself doing it as well and it drives me nuts. Same with coworkers walking past my reception desk in the morning without so much as a glance, let alone a "good morning". I've definitely gotten used to it, but occasionally it will get to me a little more than usual. I feel like Americans are for the most part very shy and reserved, so a talkative, outgoing and approachable Kiwi/Aussie is a bit much for them. I've had women dislike me because they thought I was being attention-seeking. So I've had to tone down that part of my personality until I'm really good friends with someone.

Clearly I'm a bit late to the party, but I was looking around for a thread like this one. I just had my three year anniversary of living in the US, and I will be applying for citizenship in October. I used to be extremely homesick for New Zealand before I went there for a visit, and it was definitely a wake-up call. Nothing and nobody had really changed, but it was pretty apparent that I had, I even had my mum tell me that America has "hardened me", whatever that means.

Anyway, I don't really relate to friends and family back home anymore, which is a shame, but it's almost like they think I'm a traitor! I have a special few that I'm close with who I know would be very supportive if I moved back, but for the most part it would be like moving to a new country again. I love living in the US now, but it doesn't feel like that long ago I had no job, no car, no friends. We have a mortgage now and I've made some amazing friends through local theater and karaoke, but there is still that feeling that I don't really belong here, because I just can't seem to grasp the American mentality of making a big deal of everything, living to work instead of working to live, and the weird concept of everything needing to be better than it already is (how will they ever be happy?!).

I don't want to move back to NZ for fear of reverse culture shock, but I also don't want to stay in the US forever. So I'm a New Zealand American who doesn't really fit in anywhere. I want to establish my own town in the middle of nowhere and inhabit it with heaps of hybrids like myself :-)

San Fran is the number 1 liberal city in the USA; Seattle is pretty well up there to though.

http://dailycaller.c...endly-counties/

I would love to live in San Fran! Maybe not IN the city though, I think my perfect area would be a smaller center near a bigger city, kind of like how Bellevue is close to Seattle but is still a small city on its own. It would be weird not having any friends or (his) relatives close by though, but if I could meet more Kiwis that would be a consolation.

On another note, can anyone tell me how long it was after they filed for removal of conditions that they had an interview? Thanks!

Thanks for your input guys Sometimes I think we should have moved to a bigger city (Seattle would be the closest), but all of my husband's family and friends are in this little isolated desert town so here we are! I am super liberal so I feel really out of place in a conservative, religious, gun-totin', deer-huntin', truck-drivin', country-music-lovin' area. I've honestly just about had as much as I can take. It's hard to stay positive when it's been nothing but struggles since day one. I think once I get a lot of these loose ends tied up I'll consider moving back home or at least to a bigger city in a different area. The hard part will be convincing my husband to come with me!

I see you're living in WA - which is where I am going to be but only for 6 weeks. When I visited my (then boyfriend) in May I felt out of place there. Conversely, when I visited him when he was sent to the East Coast, I felt much more 'at home'. This is despite WA and Christchurch having pretty similar climates and landscapes!

We're a year apart in age. I don't know if it's weird or not, but when I'm there for 6 weeks (we'll be moving on to San Fran and then to Germany for 4 years) would you like to catch up maybe for a coffee or something? Sometimes all it takes is to hear our accent to feel a little happier again. I even get that here in Aussie!

Yes! That would be so nice, thank you I haven't met another Kiwi here in the time that I've lived here, and obviously the ones back home have no idea what it's like. I love my American friends and they try so hard to help me fit in, but they too don't really understand. All the immigrants I've met are either a lot older than I am, and/or they've been here 20+ years. I really enjoy living here from a superficial and materialistic standpoint - unlimited broadband & smartphone data, cheap food, cheaper alcohol, affordable clothes, makeup and shoes. I would never be able to afford a brand new car in NZ. But when it comes to feeling like you really belong, and having people "get" your sense of humor, NZ wins hands down. I don't feel so judged and pressured over there.

Whereabouts in WA will you be? Are you looking forward to moving to Germany?

Hi all, just wondering if any of you have had a hard time fitting in like I have? It'll be 3 years in March since I've lived here and I absolutely hate it. I went back home in September for a few weeks and even though it's incredibly expensive, I miss the laid back attitude and the culture. Americans are too brash and rude for me and take everything so seriously. I want to move back as soon as I can but we're having money problems and there are legal issues that might take a while to get through. It's literally one thing after another and I've just about had enough, I miss my family and friends in NZ. This was a very eye-opening experience but I wish I would have moved back home sooner.

Kind of a random thing to come to mind, but I miss mince and cheese pies and V energy drink. Yum.

Oh, and being in a bar/pub/nightclub past 2am and not having all the lights switched on and told to leave, what a buzz-kill!

I suspect you'd feel a lot more at home in Seattle... and you don't even have to leave the state to get there.

Yup looking at that pic of aukland i would agree and right across the border is vancouver which also looks like that.......

Exactly! I've been to Seattle a handful of times now and every time I don't want to leave. It's so nice to start seeing evergreen trees lining the road instead of sagebrush, it's so opposite from where I live that it really FEELS like a different state, which is nice. But you have to get over the Snoqualmie Pass to get there, which from November-Feb/March is pretty dicey. It's so similar to Auckland, even the layout, that I could really see myself living and working there and loving every minute of it. It would be a lot harder to get a job though, because you're competing with so many more people.

I would love to visit Vancouver too, but we'd need to find the time and money to take as many trips as I'd like to take! I thought living in the US was going to make traveling easier, but so far I've been to only WA, ID and OR. I haven't even been to a beach in two years! I totally took it for granted when it was 15 minutes from my house.

We were also not prepared for the price differences in New Zealand.

We wished we had have come back to New Zealand for a visit before making plans to move but we didn't do it that way unfortunately because if we had we wouldnt have come back to New Zealand to live at all.

I understand what you mean, I'm so used to the prices here now (even with sales tax and tipping which at first threw me off completely) that the prices in New Zealand, even though your salary reflects the cost of living, is enough to make me feel sick. I'm really looking forward to going home for a visit in September, because it'll be my first time viewing NZ through American eyes, and hopefully I'll miss the US too much to move back there permanently. I just feel like I'm moving backwards here, two years and I'm still in the exact same position I was in when I first arrived. That's pretty disheartening!

I am from new Zealand also and lived in Reno for 3 years before moving back to new Zealand because I was home sick.

The moment we got back to new Zealand we regretted moving back and have been stuck in new Zealand for 3 years now but are moving back to Reno in December thank fully.

New Zealand is too small and backwards compared too America and even though I was raised in new Zealand it now feels like a prison to me.

I know what you mean about feeling like you're in a prison, that's what this town feels like to me. The mentality here is really conservative and backward, really different from Auckland which is so diverse and liberal. I'm glad I'm going back to New Zealand for a holiday first, to see whether I really do want to move back there eventually or whether it's just feelings of "the grass is greener on the other side". But I have more friends and family back there, and my job skills go a lot further than they do here, so hopefully I wouldn't regret it because it would be awful to feel like I don't belong anywhere. My husband won't move right now so I'm stuck here for another year and a half at least. It's interesting to hear from another Kiwi who didn't enjoy returning to NZ though, maybe Reno is the place I oughta be! Lol

be able to go over the speed limit without a bloody speed camera taking pictures of you

being able to drive around at night without a breatherliser straw being poked in your mouth

I do not miss speed cameras at all! I think they are far more sneaky in Aus & NZ about things to catch you doing things you shouldn't with all of the speed cameras and having to speak into a breathalyzer at a strategically placed checkpoint - I love not having those things here! You can just drive around normally here without feeling like cops are "out to get you" like they are in NZ. As long as you're not speeding, blowing through stop signs/red lights or not turning from nearest lane to nearest lane, they pretty much leave you alone. Which is nice because American cops are terrifying.

The falling asleep the minute his head touch the pillow is so annoying, I'm jealous I can't do that.

I know what you mean! Maybe it's a male thing or something, because my husband will literally fall fast asleep within a minute or so of turning out the light, whereas I'm still laying there thinking about all sorts of things in my head, even if I'm super tired. I'd give my right arm to fall asleep that fast! Lol

LOL Zeddess your in the tri-cities ...... me tooo No that river does not do it for me at all I was used to being surrounded by mountains and lakes,the wind and dust there is enough to kill you also haha

I thought I had the perfect life before I met my husband and now he has my heart so as long as I can visit the places I love I will be OK. Yes I learned a hard lesson but it was good for me in the end to find out what I really wanted and some day I hope to have the man I love and the place I love.

I also feel like I dont have a place to call home so I have decided that home is where my heart is.

My wish for you is to find total peace in your heart with where your at and dont lose your dreams just because of where you are....PS I didnt feel any of those hot temperatures when I was there last summer....I have air and I didnt even use it Maybe humid air feels hotter ???

Good luck to you may all your dreams come true!!!

Are you living here right now or still in Canada? There's hardly anyone else even close to living here, it's such a random place to immigrate to - I'm forever having people ask me "why on earth are you in Tri-Cities?!" and it's all I can do to stop myself from replying with "I ask myself the same thing every day" haha. Yes I'm used to a more humid heat, but our summers are about 75 with 95% humidity which was more than enough for me! So these 100 degree summers I experience here are just unbearable for me, I actually find the winter is easier to deal with. You're so lucky that it's relatively easy to visit Canada whenever you want to - I wish that was the case with New Zealand I still feel very unsettled here even two years later, but my heart is wherever my husband is so I'll tough it out until I can apply for citizenship, then it's on the first plane to NZ. If he doesn't like it there then it'll be easier to move back to the US... but thanks so much, your support means a lot to me and I hope your dream of living in the place you love with the person you love comes true too!

I searched for jobs for almost three months before I got offered a job at a stand that sold cheap cellphone covers in the mall. By that point I just had to take anything! I went from being a legal assistant in New Zealand making $24 an hour to making $9 an hour. A while later I got a job as a bank teller which was better but still not making much more than that. I really want to move back to NZ in a couple of years as there's hardly any job opportunities here, it's pretty disappointing.

OP: Happy birthday, si man. Let us know how you celebrated.

Thank you!!! Halfway to 50 The time has gone by so fast! Seeing as I'm not currently working (I could get used to this, ha!) I went and got my hair done, had dinner with my husband and then later on went out to my favourite karaoke dive bar with my regular karaoke group of friends. They all insisted on buying me more shots than I should have had, really feeling it today LOL! I still feel like I'm 18 but my hangover says otherwise

She has seen shoedazzle but prefers Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik. There are outlet stores an hour away and she gets her shoe fix there. 200k a small town? That's huge! You will feel right at home in Los Angeles or New York. Karen grew up in Scotland but came here from Dorset, England. She has been here since September 29 and is looking at starting up her own business. She so wants to be an American!!!

Oh wow, little bit more expensive taste than me then!! I am super indecisive so shoedazzle is fantastic for me, $40 a pair so I can get a few at once and not feel too bad about it lol. I only came from a city of 1.5 million so not too big! I suppose it just feels small to me because of the lack of traffic and no actual central business district, you know? I think that's what I miss the most, skyscrapers towering over a harbour. It really seems like a town is missing something without that, no matter how big it is. I would LOVE New York, but the job market may be a little too cut-throat for my liking! But to visit over and over, it would be awesome. I can't believe Karen has left Scotland behind! I would give anything to go and spend some time in the UK! I think if I become a citizen I will still feel like a Kiwi at heart, no matter how much my accent changes and how long I live here... I'd be a New Zealand American at the most

@ KLS2010 - Yes, that's how I feel too. I know my husband would follow me if I told him I was moving back to New Zealand, no matter what. But I would feel so awful! If I'm having this much of a hard time adjusting to American life (and I've been exposed to that culture my entire life), imagine what it would be like for him trying to figure out New Zealand culture, even though he's been there a few times to visit, he would probably like it even less than I do here. You were not at all out of line, I totally understand what you mean about their family - American families are very close and don't really like it when their kids leave the nest. It's completely normal for Kiwis and Aussies to travel the world but it's a really strange concept for small town folk in the USA. Going off to college in another state is enough to make them faint. I definitely know that NZ is out of the question (at least for now), but his mum thought she'd never see us again when we moved 15 minutes away! Lol.

@ arren - I would love to move to the western side of Washington, it reminds me so much more of home! Even just the chance to meet other people from different countries would be fantastic (I know there's a meetup group in Portland which I would love to attend, but a 4-5 hour drive isn't so easy). Every time I've met someone from Australia or the UK I trip over myself trying to talk to them, but they're usually older and have been here for 30+ years, so not too much in common with them either. I would love to go traveling around Europe as well, which is what I was going to do back in NZ (especially to Italy!!!), but I kind of feel that now I'm stuck here my dreams of going on an "overseas experience" are trampled on by the day-to-day grind of the American workaholic mentality. I was so excited the first 8 or so months of being in the U.S., now I just feel so jaded by it.

@ JacAng - Aww I'm sorry to hear that, I'm a little nervous about feeling that way too, what if I go home in September for a visit and it's really not all it's cracked up to be? Then I will really feel like I belong nowhere! I used to think eastern Washington wasn't so bad because it was such a different landscape than what I was used to, but now the novelty has worn off and I'm still in a dusty, dry desert with nothing but freeways and sagebrush. I'm hoping the summertime will make me a little happier, but then again it's like 100 degrees and I don't have air-conditioning in my car haha, so not very pleasant in that regard.

@ Robert&Karen - Tell her to visit shoedazzle.com, it's amazing!! That is a really tiny town though, a small town to me is about 200,000! Whereabouts is she from in the UK? How long has she been here and what does she do for work? I'm always on facebook if she wants another ex-pat to relate to.

@ Pinoylover - I appreciate your idea but the thought of living in Texas almost terrifies me half to death! Lol, I watch too much crime channel that gives me nightmares and a lot of the stories are from Texas. Probably a good idea to stick to the Northwest

@ chastitynjoel - You are so right!! I hope you guys do get approved, I'm sure you will. You must be so excited. I'm sure if I wasn't approved to live here, he would have moved to NZ in a flash. But the fact that we've come SO far and bought a house and have jobs (or did, LOL), moving back there now would almost be like it was all for nothing, ya know? I think I should probably continue to remove my conditions, get citizenship and then we'll be able to move back and forth between the US and NZ to hopefully figure out where it is we both want to live. Thank you so much though, and best luck to you as well!

@ Krikit - Thanks! Duly noted

@ Widsy97 - Oh my gosh the beautiful Irish picture you just painted makes me want to go there!! I love Ireland and feel like I would just totally just slip into belonging there with no worries. That's another thing, I feel like visiting other countries was a lot more possible in New Zealand than here. I had 4 weeks paid vacation every year, and if I wanted to take off another 3 weeks unpaid to go overseas they didn't bat an eyelid. My friend even left for 3 months for an O.E. and still had her job when she came back. That is completely unheard of in America, they look at you like you're insane. Two weeks paid vacation, if you're lucky, and they might not even let you take it all at once. One week vacation overseas - what is the point of that?! Anyway, you would LOVE the Pacific Northwest, it really is gorgeous (I have NO idea how eastern Washington even squeezed its way in to being considered the "Northwest" lol). I think if my husband had lived anywhere else, northeast, the south, the midwest, I would have straight up refused to come here. When are you moving to the U.S.?

@ cdneh - My fellow Kiwi! I didn't know you were originally from Canada! What a funny small world it is, I'm from Blockhouse Bay We probably know some of the same people. I couldn't imagine what small town Arkansas would be like - I know what you mean about the heat (even though it's a dry heat up here it's still incredibly miserable). I'm also worried about if I leave here to move back to NZ, having to give up my permanent residency, so in case we ever wanted to move back to the U.S. (for whatever reason) we wouldn't be able to. I am so sorry to hear about your husband, I'm sending my love over your way, I hope everything works out for you both, please keep in touch

@ Justine+David - Thanks so much, what's the cost of living like in Tacoma? I've been near that area a couple of times (Puyallup - I love saying that word lol) and it seems a far cry nicer than Tri-Cities. You're right though, I think it would be best to wait until I get citizenship (next year I'm eligible I think), so if we wanted to move to NZ I wouldn't be throwing a long and expensive immigration process out the window! Lol

@ DeeDee&Sam - What city did you live in in Romania?? That would be so amazing to go there!! I guess I'm lucky in that the American culture is very similar to my own, did you have a hard time feeling like you fit in? You should try getting your license! It's really a lot easier than it looks. Except the DMV, that is literally hell on earth lol. My husband tries to be so supportive of my homesickness, but I get so demanding for a prettier and more exciting environment sometimes. He really is wonderful though, and I'd rather be in this town with him than in New Zealand without him.

@ J&N - I would love to move somewhere with beaches, the river that runs through this town just isn't enough lol. The dry heat is what bothers me, the four seasons are a real novelty and I don't really mind the snow because it's so rare, but in the summertime it's like 100 degrees and I can barely stand to be outside for very long. I'm really liking the idea of Seattle or Portland since it's so much closer to the climate I'm accustomed to. I've never heard that saying but I know exactly what you mean, I feel like my old NZ life is gone forever and things would be so different if I went back and that's something that scares me a little. There's been a lot of good times in the last couple of years so I should be thankful for those. Thanks for understanding

@ Brother Hesekiel - Wow it sounds like you've really been around! I really hope I get the chance to visit even half of those places you mentioned. The weather is a big factor for me too, but even though my town gets 300 days of sunshine a year it doesn't make up for the landscape and the people. I have a feeling I would absolutely love Hawaii, but that's probably a bit of wishful thinking lol. Portland and Seattle are very close to my hometown, with their unpredictable marine climates and rainy weather haha, on the rare occasion that it rains here I feel happy because it reminds me of Auckland. Thanks for your wisdom!

Whew, longest post ever!!

I'm sorry to hear you're going through this! its so hard to make such a big life change. Too bad you can't move to Canada (west coast) we've got lots of all of the above people you mentioned! lol! In all seriousness, I hope you can convince him to at least move to a different city where you'll BOTH be new so that you don't feel so alone in your struggle to find your place. Good luck to you! I hope life turns for the better soon.

Thanks, I feel so much better now I would totally move to B.C. or something in a heartbeat! I think a lot of my homesickness is, in a funny way, the lack of trees over this side of Washington. I don't know why but I need a lot of water and trees to feel happy lol. Is it possible that my environment could be making me depressed? It really is an awful landscape! I definitely think a bigger city with more interesting surroundings and access to other ex-pats would really improve my outlook on life, without having to resort to an extreme move like New Zealand.

To everyone that has replied, thank you for being so kind! You've all been a huge help and I really appreciate your thoughts and advice.

@ LlamaInvasion - Thanks so much, it's nice to know I'm not the only one I'd feel so bad about taking him away from his friends and family, but then I think to myself, hang on, didn't I do that for him?! It's mostly my friends that encourage me to come home if I'm not happy. My mum is very understanding but she doesn't give me any opinions on it, just listens when I need to vent. I know she'd love for me to come home but is also a big fan of "giving it another go and see what happens".

In a way I'd be pretty nervous to move back to New Zealand, figuring out how to drive on the left again, trying to catch up on everything that went on while I was away. I worry about feeling like a foreigner in my own motherland. It does make more sense financially for us to stay in the U.S., our house was soooo cheap and we'd never be able to afford a house in Auckland. I'm just glad we don't have any kids yet because I would be extremely conflicted about what to do and where to live, etc. It kind of feels like I'm going to be stuck flipping burgers for the rest of my life here, it was so silly of me to think that I could just waltz on into any old law firm and have them welcome me with open arms.

Yes, my husband's been to New Zealand a few times, and he loves to visit, but wouldn't like to live there. He doesn't like the way our government is run, with the universal healthcare and whatnot. I admit it's pretty socialist but that's the way I grew up and that's what makes me a Kiwi. The sales tax and income tax is enough to make you faint but the quality of life is totally worth it in my eyes.

Seattle would also offer more opportunities than where you currently are, and it would probably be easier to find a work environment you are happy with.

Your husband's point is a valid one, but you aren't moving halfway around the world - just a few hours away.

That's what I'm thinking, and Seattle is so diverse as well that finding some other Commonwealth people to hang with probably wouldn't be hard at all. I guess we could rent out our house and try finding something in Seattle, or just outside of it. Maybe that would make him finally understand what it's like to move somewhere where you have no roots, in a safe and familiar American environment lol. Then we could be in it together, rather than one person having an advantage over the other, and I could get my fix of big city excitement that I've been craving!

Thanks you guys, I've tried talking to my friends about this but I thought the best place to get some insight would be on here. I've suggested a bigger city like Seattle to him (we live on the eastern side of Washington - vast, desolate, conservative place that isn't like the western side at all), because Seattle really reminds me of Auckland and I feel happy there when I've visited. I'm just worried the job market would be even more cut-throat than it is here! I'm just not that career-obsessed, corporate-ladder climbing employee that most Americans are desperate to be, for some reason I don't find that appealing. I like to work, but I like to enjoy my job and my colleagues, not try to stab them in the back to get to the top. Anyway, my husband brought up a valid point in which he said that we would both be without the friends and family in both places, and I guess he's right because it would be pretty scary to move to a big city without any support network there. I like to travel and go new places, but I can literally count on one hand the times we've left this town since I moved here. I think if I gave him an ultimatum he would choose to come with me to New Zealand, albeit reluctantly. But any kind of moving away would mean I'd have to face the wrath of my mother-in-law, which is terrifying! So yeah, I really do feel stuck

I've been living in the U.S. for two years now and I'm still homesick. I've just lost my job (the third one I've had in 18 months) and I'm not sure how we're going to pay the mortgage or have medical insurance, seeing as it takes me months to find something in this small town and he doesn't get benefits at his job. I'm originally from New Zealand and I used to be a legal secretary for about 6 years at inner city law firms, and they were nowhere near as cut-throat as the American workplace is. The best jobs I can get without a degree is customer service, which is awful because people around here are rude and miserable. And most of those jobs require you to be bilingual. I've only made a few close friends but I'm fairly independent, I have my own car and love driving around (though you only have to drive 15 mins max to get anywhere). My husband doesn't really understand because this is his hometown and this is all he's ever known. I really do love how cheap everything is here, and the only hobby I've developed that makes me genuinely happy is a shoe addiction, lol. But the lifestyle, the attitude, the mentality of this place (a desert in the middle of nowhere) is so close-minded and different to that of New Zealand and I still just can't seem to fit in, no matter how much I try to convince myself that this is my home now. It makes me really anxious to picture myself living here permanently (oh, the horror!) but I feel like I'm stuck here because my husband refuses to move to NZ, even though I moved halfway around the world for him, and he's the only reason I'm still here. There's no other Kiwis or Australians or Brits around this area, which is a shame because I think it would really help me to have a friend I can relate to. All of my friends and family in NZ want me back home and it is SO tempting to just jump on a plane and go. We're going for a visit in September (for only two weeks, why do Americans think that's an eternity?!) and I'm hoping that he'll take a shine to it and agree to try it for as long as I did here. Is it unusual to still feel this depressed (of course losing my job didn't help much) after such a long time?

I'm also in the same situation - my GC expires on October 12, but I'll be returning from New Zealand on October 3. I'm going to apply long before that, in July, but is there a chance I might not be let back in so close to my GC expiring? How do they know I've applied to remove the conditions but don't have the 10 year GC yet?

Same here, haven't been on here for months until I got an email asking me to update my timeline lol.. I'm waiting to apply to remove conditions in July sometime, hope nobody has faced any major obstacles and life is treating you all well! Congrats to rubyred for getting to the end of the immigration road, that must be awesome. Did anyone see that Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords won an Oscar for his Man or Muppet song? Proud Kiwi moment right there!