Adnams

Finally OH received the I-140 approval today.
Now its onto the next step.
Guess this is gonna be another long and weary road, but one hurdle down.
Going to be a good Friday night coming up!
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Mallory

Congrats! Stay off the road though - busy week with July 4th coming up.

Adnams

Thanks!!

jumping doris

Congratulations!!!!

Adnams

Ta muchly. That bottle of champers in the fridge will be opened tonight!

Elvira

WOW!!!

You've only been waiting, what - 5 years?

Now for all the form filling

But you'll get there in the end. Which is good if you still want it...

DollyLlama

Congratulations!

Adnams

Yep bang on five years because 1st July is our anniversary of arriving here and they filed straight way. We have all (i hope) paperwork already filled out for the 485's and the meds done so they should be ready to go today. But, with our attorneys.....

Now for the next wait I guess, but one down many more to go. Roll on EAD so I can becopme a road sweeper - career down the tube after this wait but hey ho. Its still a gooooood day. And I had a plumbing disaster this morning but today I jsut dont care!

Adnams

Thanks Dolly lama!

Elvira

What is your career, and can it be resurrected?

The main problem for me was getting myself motivated again. After 20 years of working non-stop (kids and all...) the gap kind of sapped my drive.

Plus the work environment is so very different here. I find it hard to go out and sell myself in the manner which seems to be expected here.

Anyway - good luck!!!

Adnams

Well my last job before coming here was as a general manager for an engineering firm. i was sent out to indonesia to set up a division of a uk company. All admin, ISO (which I also did in m,y previous role), sales and accountancy functions, it was somewhat hardwork especially with the different language and work "practices". Prior to that I ran my own sales team for IBM. So I have a mixed bag of experience and I just couldnt imagine what I want or even could do now. I certainly dont want to go back into sales, I actually used to hate it and only realized I'd spent about 7 years from Uni doing something that I actually despised when I got out of it.
Where on earth do you start after such a long break. How do you answer the question what have you been doing for the last five years. Err, well.....
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Elvira

Are you saying you have *not* spent the last 5 years polishing up your resume and putting together a business plan?

Explaining the gap could be an issue - it's something that employers here seem to be paranoid about. What's more they are unlikely to understand WHY you were not allowed to work for all these years - a completely foreign concept to them, I imagine. I would not even be surprised if some idiots might conclude that you had been somehow 'not quite legal'.

It really is a tough nut to crack. Are you good at networking? Have you thought about self-employment, starting some kind of business? Maybe joining the local Chamber of Commerce might be a start?

Adnams

Yikes! I thought the gap would be an issue and also that no one would understand. US friends I have fail to understand the situation even after I have explained it 100 times and they're friends!!

Well I used to be good at networking but you lose confidence after such a long gap. You feel like a spare tyre. I also dont know if I really want something thats 100% demanding and time consuming, I have become rather lazy after five years. OH says I would prob have opportunities at his place because of my industry experience in Indo and its hard to find people with the specific industry knowledge, but I dont really want to work with my OH.
Thanks for tip on the C of C though I wouldnt have thought of that.
I still have to wait for the EAD so I am starting to get ahead of myself a bit. They said 3 months for that but who knows.....?
How did you approach it? With gusto I'd imagine.

Adnams

Self employemnt? Perhaps I could start doing pampered chef parties.....!!

jumping doris

Southern Living.