G0ds1ay3r

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

http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/09/americas-top-20-most-liberal-friendly-counties/

Portland OR? San Fran CA? both liberal :-D I'd love to live in either of those places.

awesome thanks, i have found this site where you can download free lease agreement state appropriate....and will send this too along with a bunch of other things

Cool thats what we did too :-) worked a charm.

And the other is ours!

I think yours may be the earlier one? We called and they said ours was in transit on the 5th November, so think that one must be ours. Both have arrived now though!

Desperate for them to process ours, as we haven't sent packet 3 or 4 due to bypassing NVC. Hoping I can just take it to the interview!

Yeah I am thinking monday ours will be processed :-D

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.

2008 after living in the US for 3 years we decided to call it quits also; we were having major money issues; had a house foreclosed on us, lost jobs etc so I sold a website I owned and we moved back to New Zealand..... WORST MISTAKE EVER!!!!!!

We have spent the last 4 years clawing our way out of New Zealand; in hindsight we should have moved to a different state and stuck it out instead of screwing ourselves moving to New Zealand.

When we got back to NZ it was ahh so relaxing but then reality kicked into gear and the rose tinted glasses fell off our faces; New Zealand just wasn't all that anymore; shockingly damp cold houses, rip off food markets, crappy healthcare, I didnt fit in anymore as I was too Americanized, plus loads more depressing factors.

America has its many faults BUT America is just awesome and it took us moving back to 'Godszone' to realize that.

I think if New Zealand was the same now as it was when I was growing up then it would be hard to move back to America but then again when I was growing up in NZ life in America was even better I would imagine.

If you don't like WA, move to a different state; America is huge. I suggest the Bay Area in Ca if you want to be around other Expats; the kiwi club in San Fran is pretty sweet. http://www.sfkiwis.com/

Mixxer from these forums is a kiwi and is in Seattle :-) (at least I think she is.)

The entire 3 years living in Reno I only met 1 kiwi and she was extremly rude, met loads of kiwis in San francisco at the monthly kiwi meetings though; lovely people.

I am going to try and get an earlier interview but even if I cant we are still booking flights, its will be risky but could cost more if we don't book since we will still be paying rent for a month longer etc.

I don't think they allow a letter from your mother in law (at least they didnt for mine) you need to get your mother in law to fill out an offical lease form and then you sign it; send the photocopy of this to the NVC to prove domicile.

We got RFE for our domicile after sending in a letter but accepted with a copy of an official lease from my mother in law.

Scott, I would also like to know if you've had a spouse visa before if this can affect the outcome the 2nd time around. We are in a very similar situation, had one before applying again, have not had any problems yet, but who knows!!

We have met the US consulate staff twice in the last year and the first time we met them was when we were applying for my son's report of birth (2nd was for his US passport) I asked the lady about my abandoned greencard and if it would be an issue if I applied for another one and she told me it was no problem and that I should go ahead and apply.

The reason I asked the question in this thread is to see if anybody else has abandoned a green card and then re-applied; I know it's not going to be an issue but getting closer to the interview I am sure getting nervous.

Got interview 13th December and booking tickets for 24th December :-); its a huge gamble but I figure we are in a low risk consulate; we've been married 7 years, have a 2 year old child.

We really want to be in America for Christmas and 24th is the last day.

Look like both packages are in auckland now :-) :-D one of them is ours.

Hi guys; Ive got my IR-1 interview at the consulate 13th Dec and was wondering what evidence you guys suggest I bring.

Ive got photos of the 3 of us (my wife, myself and our son), photos with my family, photos of myself and my wife by ourselves.

I can also bring joint bank account info + a joint loan we paid off.

Anything else I should bring?

Also we have been married since 2005, this is the 2nd time I am applying for a greencard; the first time we lived in the US from 2005-2008 but came back to NZ to have a baby, will they hold this against me?

I was granted a CR-1 in 2005, IR-1 2007.

Thank you for your help.

S&J

Ok cool, that's pretty reasonable then.

I saw on the website that Citymed in Auckland is meant to be $333 but I guess that must not obviously include some costs going by the above post.

Nothing about this process has been cheap though, so I decided to stay at the Copthorne at the Viaduct so I'm within walking distance of both citymed and the embassy the next morning

I am going to stay at the same place I stayed at in 2005 when I had my green card interview; ibis style hotel, its a peice of ####### but its $60 a night and 2 blocks from the consulate.

I called up the medical center in Christchurch today and couldn't get to the nurse who could give me the quote for the inoculations and when she called me back later she had all my information already there in front of her from my appt 7 years ago; prices sure gone up in 7 years though; holy #######.

I called the Christchurch medical center and price is 300 for appt with blood work and xray, 20 for flu and 26 for tdap

I also told the embassy I was getting my medical done the day before as I wanted a female doctor, and they said it was fine.

They can't issue a visa I believe unless they have the medical results. I've therefore booked my ticket for the 27th December to give it plenty of time to get to them and therefore my visa to me.

Have any of you needed vaccinations? I know I'll need tdap & the flu injection, but don't know how much it will cost. I'm going to Citymed too.

Since it takes up to 10 days for results I'm going to go to the Christchurch doctors couple weeks before my medical.

No cheap flights to Auckland my current day of the interview so I'm going up the night before on an 85 buck flight and staying in a cheap hotel.

I know they say not to book flights to the us until after interview but we have cats coming with us so we need to book now... 24th Dec flight

We need to be out of NZ by 13th Jan because that is when my wife's NZ work permit expires but we would like to be out of NZ and in the states for Christmas to spend it with her family.

If I can get the visa the next day after my interview and not have to wait for it to arrive at my house in Dunedin then we can fly out xmas eve :-)

It's legal in Alaska and has been for decades now although it's illegal with the Feds. You have to grow your own and you can't sell it. I think it's up to 6 plants per adult in said household so if you have two adults you can have 12 plants. Not that big of a deal compared to booze. With booze you have people shooting each other, beating each other, etc... with weed the worst thing to happen is an over abundance of fat foods such as pie, cake, cookies, ice creak, etc... that and it makes most people lethargic as in they don't get much done after smoking it.

It's decriminalized in Alaska NOT legal for recreational use like Washington & Colorado.

CLASSY REAL CLASSY.... Your momma would be proud.

Don't worry :-) Momma is

Will you still be posting here in 4 years?

I've been a member for a little over 4 years & probably going to be posting in another 4 :-) go Obama!

4 MORE YEARS!!! YAHOO!!

Honestly anybody that says that Obama is a socialist seriously needs to clean the ####### out of their head and stop watching faux news; Obama couldn't be further from being a socialist.

I am from a socialist country so I know what socialism is like and it's not all bad; its actually pretty good.

Anyways; to the repubs on Visa journey... hahahaha better luck next time.

Got interview date tonight: Dec 13... going to try get earlier appt though.

Have not done the medical yet; the consulate said I can do that the day of the interview with some notice.

The stink thing is my appt time..... 8:30AM if anything I need to get that changed as I don't want to spend money on hotel in Aucks.

December 13 :-) yay; it's going to mean we are going to miss Xmas in the US but it means we will be out of here by mid Jan which was our cut off date.

The Consulate said when we have our date they can probably get us an earlier time so we will try that tomorrow.