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The "been there done that" thread: life in the US after DV

With the October visa bulletin numbers I am terrified that I am going to get a December interview! My son is having an operation in the middle of December and will not be able to fly for 3 weeks afterward. He is 15 years old. I thought I read somewhere that someone had their interview without one of their children? Does anyone know if this is possible? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! And thanks long timers for sticking around to help us newbies find our way!
 
With the October visa bulletin numbers I am terrified that I am going to get a December interview! My son is having an operation in the middle of December and will not be able to fly for 3 weeks afterward. He is 15 years old. I thought I read somewhere that someone had their interview without one of their children? Does anyone know if this is possible? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! And thanks long timers for sticking around to help us newbies find our way!

Can you clarify - do you need to fly to the interview?
Sydney is the one embassy that it’s easy to postpone interviews at so you should be ok. He will have to be there to get a visa. The only exemptions (and it’s only a couple of embassies that even do this) are for children under 14.
 
Can you clarify - do you need to fly to the interview?
Sydney is the one embassy that it’s easy to postpone interviews at so you should be ok. He will have to be there to get a visa. The only exemptions (and it’s only a couple of embassies that even do this) are for children under 14.
Sorry thanks SusieQQQ, yes we are in Brisbane so would need to fly (1 hour) or drive (10 hours) to Sydney for the interview. Hopefully if we are in December it is at the beginning of the month!
 
Hi Britsimon, love the youtube channel! Yes, have submitted documents (with thanks to a lot of help from your website) and had the email back to say that they have been received and processed.

OK - so there is no other easy way to delay - although we have had a couple of people ask KCC to delay to a later month BEFORE scheduling and that has worked.
 
Happy to announce that, only a few months after getting my Green Card, I have a job interview for somewhere I could stay forever. Great pay, 401k, rostering flexibility and medical benefits included. Super stoked for the opportunity. Hoping it happens for me, but it's still so awesome to even be doing it, irrespective of the outcome.
I got the job! Even though I made a mess of the interview. If any of you hear an Australian accent coming through your PA on a Spirit flight, come and say hi! There is a 1 in 4 chance it will be me ;)
 
I got the job! Even though I made a mess of the interview. If any of you hear an Australian accent coming through your PA on a Spirit flight, come and say hi! There is a 1 in 4 chance it will be me ;)
Congrats Damo!!!!
 
Man I haven't met a single kiwi since I arrived in central TX (Austin area) 3 months ago. I know we are few in numbers but there must be a few of us around surely?

At this point I'd even settle for an Australian.....

;)

Have you looked for a Facebook page of local expats? That seems to be the “meeting place” for these things.
 
To people who have immigrated to the US, what was the first car u bought and how much did u pay for insurance? I read some experiences about how new immigrants pay such high insurance rates just because their driving records/experience out of the US wasn't taken into account.
 
To people who have immigrated to the US, what was the first car u bought and how much did u pay for insurance? I read some experiences about how new immigrants pay such high insurance rates just because their driving records/experience out of the US wasn't taken into account.

Yes, that usually happens. Shop around - quotes can vary widely. Insurers give discounts for surprising things (like having a college degree).
 
I'm paying $240 per month for the two vehicles. That includes road side rescue and a few other perks.

There are so many factors involved, of which insured value is obviously one, but also state, town auto crime statistics, gender, age, education....etc etc.
That sounds quite a lot compared to what we paid at first (one new German mid range car and one second hand German suv at that stage, maybe $75k total insured at the time) we were paying around $650 per 6 months. Yet, I know I was paying less than a local person with the exact same car as me with only a US driving history (clean) but he was in his late 20s, much younger.
Warning for when/if you have a teen driver on the horizon, your insurance premiums will rocket!

@Ricardo7 , if you are a young male especially under 26 (this is my impression but I don’t have time now to check post history) your premiums will be loaded and the best way to keep them down will be to buy a pretty cheap car.
 
Yeah I'm pretty sure ours were high as we didn't have US licences at the time. It's up for renewal in a couple of months, am hoping I can get a much better deal.
 
Yeah I'm pretty sure ours were high as we didn't have US licences at the time. It's up for renewal in a couple of months, am hoping I can get a much better deal.
We didn’t have US licenses either - everyone except geico wanted to load our premiums because of it but geico were cool with it. They also accepted a form statement from our old insurer back home attesting to our no claims history which no one else would. i did get a discount for having a graduate degree too.... that wouldn’t have happened back home.
 
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