Lucybell33

Haha - you are so right. I'm obsessing over every last details when I should be doing more important things, like working, lol! I will continue with my house decluttering schedule and try not to worry so much. Mind you, I over-decluttered my wardrobe at the weekend, which means I've had to buy some new clothes this week, d'oh!

Owen778

The interview date was in my list: 25 Sep. Waiting for the interview was one of the longest parts of the process.

Lucybell33

Sorry, I meant when were you informed of the interview date?

Owen778

Ah. On 10th September, I was told by the immigration lawyer's admin to phone the embassy hotline to arrange an interview. I'm not sure if the procedure for London has changed since then.

Lucybell33

Cool - thanks. So, less then a month before you left - wow! I am going to have to find a way to put my control freakishness to one side for this process and attempt to just go with it, at least as far as I can..

HartleyHare

Hi,

We moved over in June last year and were on a similar timescale. I feel your pain . If it helps with your planning, here's how it worked for us in terms of timescales:

Jan 2013 - Transfer to US office offered.

Feb 2013 - Researched healthcare, schooling, tax etc.. Agreed relocation package and salary. Got quotes for putting household contents into storage and shipping our dog to US.

March 2013 - visit to US to check out areas to live. Arranged agents visits to discuss renting our house whilst away. Began clearing house - visits to the tip/charity shops. Signed contract for storage as they were having a promotion.

April 2013 - 3 weeks holiday to Thailand for our 20th wedding anniversary! Contract with employer signed along with contract with estate agent. Petition submitted.

On return from holiday 90% of household contents moved by us into storage.

May - Dog got her rabies shot and pet passport. Flight booked for us and dog. Petition approved (premium processing). Visa issued.

May/June - Carried out all necessary repairs to house/garden and redecorated throughout. This was the most time consuming and stressful part! Agents were also showing potential tenants around. I would definitely advise looking at your home with "renters" eyes and maybe start to get all of those little odd-jobs out of they way now. We also began cancelling all utilities at this point - most of it can be done online, so very quick and easy to do. DD had some of her missing vaccinations (others done in US), obtained medical records.

TBH, there were still things of this ilk that we were sorting out on arrival in the US!

June - Moved our car to a relative who is looking after it for us whilst away (who also happens to be a qualified mechanic).

9th June - Arrived in US. Our dog arrived the following day.

I also found the moving list from the Wiki (link below) very helpful:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/List_o...n_about_Moving

Please feel free to contact me for any further information.

Good luck with your move

N1cky

I think a lot of people have their interview within a month of leaving, as once you have your visa, the company want you there asap.

We had our interviews on October 31, and moved on November 25. Looking back at our dates the first contact we had with our movers was on November 12, they did a reccy on November 15, the same day as our flights and temporary accommodation were booked.

In that time frame we also managed to sell two cars, and place our house with a rental agency.

It really can be done. I seem to remember we made lists of things we needed to sell, and things that we would frecycle... That way once it was all official we just advertised the relevant things in the relevant places.

Lucybell33

Thank you so much - thanks really helpful. I constructed my moving checklist using the Wiki list in conjunction with a couple from other sites. I shall now overlay with yours! Already spotted an addition from your list - get cats' rabies shots!

The odd jobs and decluttering are already underway, and that's where having a reasonable timeframe is helpful. So nice to have a working cold tap in our en suite after putting up with it not functioning for so long, lol! We have got our decorator booked in provisionally for the first three weeks of July, but may need to adjust that. Not going to store anything - we're selling or giving away everything we're not taking, so that's one less thing to sort out!

Lucybell33

Wow - that's good going! Great idea to get the things not being shipped earmarked ahead - I'll do that. I did have the idea of giving people those little sticker dots, like they have at art sales, so they can bagsie our possessions. The more deserving will get more dots!!

HartleyHare

I'm not sure what vaccinations cats need - I think it varies by state. If you are planning to return to the UK I think you may need the UK pet passport for the cats to avoid quarantine (check this though).

One other thing that the move forced us to do was to finally make wills!

If I think of anything else I'll PM you, rather than clutter up this thread (unless the Mods would like the info in the open).

Lucybell33

I've already checked this with the vet - they just need rabies on top of what they've had already. They're already chipped, so once they've had the rabies jab, they'll be issued with the passport.

We have already have wills - needed to make sure the children were "left" to someone appropriate! Although, might need to revisit them - another thing to add to the list!

Thanks so much for your help.

Lucybell33

Does anyone else have any actual timescales they don't mind sharing? I have just one of just over 2 months to work with currently, but would be good to have a slightly larger sample to work with!

mfield

Hey there

I recently moved to NJ on an L1B, I've been here less than one week!
My original application was submitted back in October 2013, after request for evidence and things like that, the petition got accepted mid Jan of this year, the I had to go to the embassy for the interview, then a week later I got my visa in my passport. So for me, from start to finish was about 3-4 months

Hope this helps!

Matt

Lucybell33

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, even if it was not the kind of timescale I was hoping to hear! Good luck settling in.

hungryhorace

Show them your visa and tell them you're not coming back (they won't know it's not an immigrant visa), so they'd be wasting their time pursuing you. You'd be surprised how well it works!