Visa stuff. ugh.

So the letter telling of the approval of my I-130 petition said that I should allow 30 days to pass before contacting the National Visa Center about my case. So I did, nothing happened during that 30 days. Then I e-mailed them, and the same day I already got the instructions needed. I needed to tell them the address they should send my mail to regarding this case, and got a request to pay for the handling of the affidavit of support form, .....needs to be paid from a US account. Real easy when you still live in Finland......

So now we're chasing down some relatives whose account information we could use.... And the one time something is urgent, it's impossible to get a hold of anyone! It stinks, because before this is paid, the case is not moving anywhere.

It's nice that I have had to become an expert on this, since now I can help others. The family who are also moving around the same time is going through this same stuff... So I felt good that I was able to relate to the wife my experiences and what I have found out, and what is going to go down next.

Also I got some help back, because I had been wondering if there really is no other way for me to stay in the country a bit longer than the 90 days that the visa waiver program allows - no use in asking the American embassy here in Helsinki, they are less than helpful.... So our friend had contacted a lawyer who deals with this stuff, and I got my confirmation that I am doing this the right way; at least I won't worry that I could have done something differently.

There is so much to remember to do when moving out of a country... cancel apartment, cancel electric, cancel home insurance, dog insurance, cancel TV, this and that! 

But in the middle of all this I have a little break to look forward to tomorrow, a Garden Party concert including Charlotte Gainsbourg and Regina Spektor. Yay!!

We have an address!

Suddenly everything feels so much more real. We have an ADDRESS!

It turned out that a 2 bedroom place opened up in the same apartment complex, and we were offered that one. It was unrenovated though, so we turned it down. Then our contact person there e-mailed us and said that "I talked to my manager, and she said we can have it renovated for you guys before you move in if you still want it." Awesome! It will be about $150 more per month, but hey, one more room, which will be pretty good when we have guests, and brand new carpet, wall paint, AND kitchen cabinets and appliances! Sweeeet... Plus I think that was pretty good service from these people.

We also have the flight tickets now, so official moving day is AUGUST 7th. 6 more weeks. YIKES!

Also we got awesome news; our good friends - family of 4, Finnish wife, American husband -  are also moving back to the US around the same time! They have been living in Finland for about 6 years now, and it was time for them to get somewhere sunnier too... ;) So now they will be living in Houston, "only" 17 hrs drive from us! :D Funny how the distances change from being "OMG THAT'S SO FAR" to "not bad at all" once you move from a tiny country like Finland into a HUGE country that is  bigger than my old continent ;)

It's also funny how much it made me feel calmer when I heard about our friends moving also. It means that we are not the only "crazy" ones to leave the "perfect" Finland behind. It means that someone we know from home will be there, a driving distance away. Feels good.

I was supposed to get my visa application papers within 30 days from my I-130 petition being approved. 30 days has now passed... So now I have to start e-mailing them as asking where the heck my papers are?!

I need to get my papers in before we leave... otherwise it will mean one MORE trip back just because of this visa stuff.

So now moving on from apartment and flight ticket stuff to visa stuff. *sigh*

S T R E S S !

We should buy our flight tickets today. The prices are going up.... have to hurry! We need to fly Lufthansa, because that's the only airline with just one stop on the way there where our dog can for sure come with us. So let's see, hope we still get an ok price for the tickets tonight.

Deep down I do believe that my husband will find a job quickly, otherwise I wouldn't be even leaving without him having one! That still doesn't make me stress free though.... I'm constantly counting pennies and wondering how much we'll have when we get there, and how long we'll be ok; it's really hard to make a budget and estimate how much money we will be spending living there.

For a while we'll be living without any furniture :D I guess the first thing we'll have to buy an air mattress or something cheap, later on I guess our guests can then use it.
Othewise, I've been just hooked on Pinterest looking for cheap / free DIY ideas for home so I can try to make it at least a bit cozy until we have more money to get some furniture :)

So yeah, stressed and worried right now.

Things to do still:
- buy flight tickets
- buy a kennel for our dog
- sell our stuff
- save more money
- make sure I have my visa papers sent by the time we leave
- husband to look for jobs
- address changes

EEEEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!

 

Decisions and an apartment!

For the longest time we were settled on the idea of moving to Colorado. Then my husband got a job interview for a job in San Diego, and suddenly that became an option. Ever since we've been confused with what we really want! 

San Diego... Always perfect weather, beaches, summer year round. Sounds cool. But then again... expensive housing, you'd really need to have a good job to get a half decent place to live.

Colorado... Good weather, beautiful nature, cheap housing. But we've never been there, and yes, there is also winter.... WHAT TO DO?! 

Now that there is no job to go to yet, it's been challenging, because as awesome the idea of being able to go where ever we want to go is, it's so hard to decide... I think both of us would love the beach life and the year round summer, but it has been extremely difficult to find a reasonably priced nice apartment - we don't want to waste our money on the rent too much before having a job.

So. We finally decided. We will be moving to Colorado at least at first, live in a cheap place, and my husband will continue his job hunt both in Colorado and in San Diego. I guess that means that we just end up whereever the wind blows, whereever he finds a good job first.... That's kinda cool I guess :D

It really stinks that the houses in San Diego are so expensive! With the same amount of money as you get a crappy one there, you get a mansion in Colorado! So i guess you just kinda have to think about what you really appreciate the most, summer or a nice house... Seems impossible! :)

But anyways, we have an apartment rented now in Colorado, so that's one care less, and we have at least decided to fly to Denver :D  

So here's a cute new 1 bedroom place in Lakewood, CO. Hopefully as cute in person.... This one seemed to also have the best reviews from residents, so should be good.

We almost got a different place first, but then I found this website with apartment community reviews, and what i read was quite disturbing... neighbors had a meth lab, gunshots are heard daily, people are being beaten........ yeah, maybe not our place! If the only problem according to people that have lived in this place we now chose is thin walls, I'm totally ok with that!

So in a bit over a month's time, this will be our new home! We considered it a little too long, so we missed the chance to get a  2 bedroom apartment, but they promised to let us know if any become available before we move. Good service i thought. 1 bedroom is fine otherwise, but if we end up having visitors, a guest room would have been cool. 

YAY! An apartment!!

Dogs & airplanes

So I've been trying to find out how to bring our lovely labrador with us. Not so simple!
I don't want him to have to fly any more than maximum of two flights. So that narrows down the airline options quite a bit... AA, LH and BA are really the only options. 
AA however has a restriction of max 45 kilos with the kennel and the dog, so that will be tight. Probably our dog will be a couple of kilos over that.
LH is the most expensive, flights are about 200-300 euros more per person.
BA I stopped caring about when I was too tired to read all the fine print -  apparently it's not so easy to travel with an animal through a country which basically is an island - plus it's expensive.


Also there are temperature restrictions, meaning that if the weather forecast for any of the legs of our journey is saying it will be more than +32 degrees Celsius, he will not be allowed on the plane.


So. Do we take the cheap flights, take the risk that he is not accepted on the plane because he is too heavy?
Or do we take the expensive flights, and have it be too hot on that day, so that he is not allowed on the plane, and we wasted our money?
Decisions decisions.... we came to the conclusion that we'll go for the cheap one, since a hot day is too likely anyways. I'll have to come back to get my visa a couple months after our move anyways, so I will then bring him with me if he is too big for the first flight or if it's too hot.
It breaks my heart though to leave him here for over two months!!
Look at this face, I mean look at him saying "please don't leave me!"

But maybe we get lucky and he is accepted on the plane with us on the first try :)

Where to start....

My plan is to keep myself sane, up to date with our own plans, keep my friends informed, and hopefully end up helping someone else in the same life situation by writing this blog.


So after over one year of pondering over this move, planning, wondering where we want to go, we are finally settled on what we want, ALMOST, and things are starting to happen!


By the end of summer we will be living in the US! 
I started my visa process in the beginning of May. I was really stressed out to think that it will take several months, and I will need to keep traveling back and forth many times even after we have moved if I have to stay there without a visa. The regulations had changed since the last time I was looking into that stuff, and I wasn't aware of the fact that the papers needed to be sent to the US instead of the embassy in Helsinki, and that meant A LOT longer processing times. 
The first paper, Petition for an alien relative - or I-130, as any visa smart person will so affectionately call it - was supposed to take 5 months. I got it back approved in 10 days. I guess it paid to be super careful that all the papers were perfect! 
Now I'm waiting to get the visa information package which I should be getting by Midsummer, and after that I can start that process. It means that I will have to be coming back from the States to have a doctor's checkup and my visa interview at the consulate, and pick up my visa.


Another interesting factor to add to this is that my husband doesn't have a job yet. We should be having enough savings by the time we move that we can live there for about 6 months. So I'm counting on him finding a job by then... today he will be having some kind of an interview. Exciting!


So now we are in the middle of the confusion about whether we want to live in Colorado or San Diego,  what stuff to bring, how to get rid of stuff, where to get a job, how to get an apartment and where, and how to get our dog transported with us! Lots to think! Lots to do! 
I have not been sleeping properly in one whole year because of my work schedule, and that really is taking a toll on me. Add to that this stress, and you get a crying mess who can't do anything! Another reason why I wanted to write all of this down...


So, here we go!