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DV 2019 Oceania Selectees

Mathew540 said:
When we travel in April to activate our visa's. We will fly with Hawaiian airline's via hawaii onwards to Seattle. With Hawaiian airlines you can take Two 70 pound check in bags also.
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Two 70 lbs check-in bags for each person i meant
 
So what do I need to know about the interview at the Sydney Consulate? Who has been through it, what questions do they ask? What exactly do I need to take?
 
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I assume the questions they ask and how strictly they enforce them is somewhat at the discretion of the interviewer, as it is with everything in life. Plan to get the meanest, most strict interviewer ever and you'll be right.

I've had some dealing with the Auckland people recently and they seem very friendly but who knows. Also bring proof of funds even though that doesn't seem listed on all the check lists I've looked at.
 
Life has gotten in the way, (very frantic last couple of months), and I hadn't had a chance to upload the latest-requested documents. Got emails from KCC 2 days running asking me again to upload them all. It's nice to feel wanted! ;-)
 
Is anyone here looking to rent when you land in the us or are most of you going straight to purchasing a house?
 
Mijoro said:
Is anyone here looking to rent when you land in the us or are most of you going straight to purchasing a house?
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I'm lucky enough to not have to worry about that. My boyfriend is American, so I already have a house ready and waiting for me to just move in :)
 
Mijoro said:
Is anyone here looking to rent when you land in the us or are most of you going straight to purchasing a house?
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Although I would like to "just" buy a house, I have to keep in mind the time it takes for the house purchase to settle. As such, it makes sense to rent initially, scout the area, inspect a bunch of houses, before we even make an offer. For that, logically, the option is to rent initially.
 
Would definitely suggest renting first, although it chafes to be throwing money at a landlord - look at it as investing in knowledge - not just scouting the area and finding out any potential pitfalls (example: some place looks great value on paper but gives you a hellish commute), but also doingsome research into US real estate conventions/practices/laws etc. and find a good buyers agent to help you navigate it all.
 
I’ve had fun looking at places to rent and will be getting to know my city for a year or so before I decide where to buy.

It’s starting to get exciting now, having been through the 2014 shenanigans where I was in the 2000’s for cn this time I was initially a bit numb and reserved to the process lest I get my hopes dashed again. While that may still happen at least I have some sort of a chance.
 
Who is going to America for an activation trip and then moving over later? If so which travel insurance are you looking at getting? I’m assuming if it’s an activation trip a regular travel insurance is fine.
 
Activation trip is more so on the cards for me- just depends on how much I can save between now and trip time. I haven’t even thought about the insurance part of that trip if to go ahead just for activation- would normal travel insurance still cover you?
 
Interesting question. Technically you are a resident as soon as you clear immigration at the airport so I'm not sure if travel insurance would cover you at this point?

As for me, I think we will do an activation trip and then return 5-6 months later.
 
Bob22 said:
Interesting question. Technically you are a resident as soon as you clear immigration at the airport so I'm not sure if travel insurance would cover you at this point?

As for me, I think we will do an activation trip and then return 5-6 months later.
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I’ll have a look on Simons site I know this has come up before. Pretty sure regular travel insurance would be cheaper.
 
My wife and i thought about doing an activation trip when we first received our visa's. But decided to get stuck in and start selling everything, we are only going to ship personal items, and will rent for awhile once we get over there. The hardest thing for us is going to be re-homing our family dog as the cost to ship him to the US is stupid money. My 11 year old daughter is very upset about having to re-home him as they have grown up together. Oh the joy of moving haha
 
I'll be doing an activation trip then coming back, once back here in Aus how long do you have before you have to move over permently, 6 or 12 months?

Im directing my first featute film later this year and need to get that finished or at least shot before moving over. The post Production company has a sister company at Sony and I can work via satellite from there but would prefer to actually be there.
 
@Mathew540 it is expensive to move pets, but moving our cat with us was a big help for our kids to feel at home. Just something you might want to consider. That said, renting can be harder with pets, though at least where we are it’s much easier to rent with a dog than with a cat (doesn’t really make sense to me).

@JNR007 1 year to maintain green card but 6 months if you don’t want to have to restart your 5-year naturalization clock on your next entry.
 
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