L1A / L2 interviews tomorrow + house hunting etc
Apr 12th 2010, 5:17 am
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 54
L1A / L2 interviews tomorrow + house hunting etc
Hi All,
Interviews in London tomorrow - yikes!
Just back from a 17 day trip to Florida with my wife and 3 children. We spent a lot of time in the area we will live in central Florida (subject to tomorrow going well!) and pleased to report that we have an option on a lease property we are more than delighted with which we will confirm should we get the green visas. We decided not to buy a house in the end due to 1) foreign exchange risk - taking 20% / 25% deposit from the UK only to sell up and return the deposit in 4 years back to the UK we felt risky 2) cost of selling a house in the US seems incredibly high at an almost cartel like 6% 3) property market risk - still one huge amount of short sales and foreclosures along with 10% unemployment didnt convince me the market would see an upturn any time soon 4) buying a house before we entered the US using our Visas was going to be very difficult - no SSN etc etc. 5) good advice from people with experience on this forum ie rent first and see what the area is like- fantastic thanks.
We did get pre-approved by Wells Fargo at 4.75% for 30 yr fixed for around 2.5x my salary which helped enormously get a rental property as prospective landlords could see we were 'good for the money' (yes not cast iron but was enough).
We visited some local elementary schools and identified the house we want is in the catchment for the school we want and visited twice and were impressed with. The elementary has more than 700 children, unlike the 93 at our village primary school - the children were somewhat daunted but the headteacher was great and we went back a second time so they could meet some teachers, go into some classes etc and they even gave the kids a map of the school. All the school stuff was a huge relief for us.
Much more to report and some questions to ask too - later.
Interviews in London tomorrow - yikes!
Just back from a 17 day trip to Florida with my wife and 3 children. We spent a lot of time in the area we will live in central Florida (subject to tomorrow going well!) and pleased to report that we have an option on a lease property we are more than delighted with which we will confirm should we get the green visas. We decided not to buy a house in the end due to 1) foreign exchange risk - taking 20% / 25% deposit from the UK only to sell up and return the deposit in 4 years back to the UK we felt risky 2) cost of selling a house in the US seems incredibly high at an almost cartel like 6% 3) property market risk - still one huge amount of short sales and foreclosures along with 10% unemployment didnt convince me the market would see an upturn any time soon 4) buying a house before we entered the US using our Visas was going to be very difficult - no SSN etc etc. 5) good advice from people with experience on this forum ie rent first and see what the area is like- fantastic thanks.
We did get pre-approved by Wells Fargo at 4.75% for 30 yr fixed for around 2.5x my salary which helped enormously get a rental property as prospective landlords could see we were 'good for the money' (yes not cast iron but was enough).
We visited some local elementary schools and identified the house we want is in the catchment for the school we want and visited twice and were impressed with. The elementary has more than 700 children, unlike the 93 at our village primary school - the children were somewhat daunted but the headteacher was great and we went back a second time so they could meet some teachers, go into some classes etc and they even gave the kids a map of the school. All the school stuff was a huge relief for us.
Much more to report and some questions to ask too - later.
Apr 12th 2010, 2:46 pm
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 37
Re: L1A / L2 interviews tomorrow + house hunting etc
Sounds like you got a fair amount sorted then. Glad you found your property and school, thats a huge chunk of the work done, we travelled miles for days deciding where to rent and its such a relief to settle on one in the end.
Best of luck in London
Best of luck in London
Apr 13th 2010, 2:15 am
#3
member of little note
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 526
Re: L1A / L2 interviews tomorrow + house hunting etc
No I will have missed you, unless you check in before you go, I know I was so stressed I wouldn't think to do it, but we where recommended to take our 2 yr old twins by friends, as they are quite family friendly, we arrived for a 11am appointment in March at 10.30 as they specified the queues where unbelievable! a few staff where rushing up and down the lines, to find the appointment times, and for us the lady told us, to go and return in an hour, it had started snowing!
We ended up in the nearest place open which was a StarBucks! anyway over the hour, we got to meet a lot of American's and other Brits waiting, they seemed very selective on the people the chose to tell to leave the queue, those with young children, both American's and British, and student's renewing visa's, that's all we met, returned and the queue was longer, we joined the end! worried! and obviously they are really security conscious, so walking down the US lane we felt was a bit risky to ask, in the end after 10 min"s I said I will go down and ask the lady down there, with the boys, she did start wildly gesticulating at me so I stopped, and she then recognized me from earlier, we got taken in, keys, mobile's everything taken, we even ended up having to bin the Gruffalo and a Squash and a squeeze's books! it is scary but once you get out, having been through it you realise it wasn't that bad, it's not private, I heard 2 sob stories whilst my husband was being dealt with, both I thought, No way are you getting in! and they where both approved on extended holiday visa's, so they aren't that bad.
down side's food! water is available, and no seating when you get to the interview areas... which is like going to the post office, and later in the day, forget it in the main area, they are not much interested in spouses, so when you have 2 near asleep 2 year old's not funny, as I was having to hold them, whilst my husband was dealt with, but then after about 20 minutes, a chair was brought out for me to sit with them, so they are not heartless, just overwhelmed, only Babies where allowed prams when we went, and they where strip down.
Oh and it is slow, but I suppose that's to be expected, and the loo's expect to queue.
Good luck and despite what it may sound like, it wasn't all that bad, I think the worry is worse
We ended up in the nearest place open which was a StarBucks! anyway over the hour, we got to meet a lot of American's and other Brits waiting, they seemed very selective on the people the chose to tell to leave the queue, those with young children, both American's and British, and student's renewing visa's, that's all we met, returned and the queue was longer, we joined the end! worried! and obviously they are really security conscious, so walking down the US lane we felt was a bit risky to ask, in the end after 10 min"s I said I will go down and ask the lady down there, with the boys, she did start wildly gesticulating at me so I stopped, and she then recognized me from earlier, we got taken in, keys, mobile's everything taken, we even ended up having to bin the Gruffalo and a Squash and a squeeze's books! it is scary but once you get out, having been through it you realise it wasn't that bad, it's not private, I heard 2 sob stories whilst my husband was being dealt with, both I thought, No way are you getting in! and they where both approved on extended holiday visa's, so they aren't that bad.
down side's food! water is available, and no seating when you get to the interview areas... which is like going to the post office, and later in the day, forget it in the main area, they are not much interested in spouses, so when you have 2 near asleep 2 year old's not funny, as I was having to hold them, whilst my husband was dealt with, but then after about 20 minutes, a chair was brought out for me to sit with them, so they are not heartless, just overwhelmed, only Babies where allowed prams when we went, and they where strip down.
Oh and it is slow, but I suppose that's to be expected, and the loo's expect to queue.
Good luck and despite what it may sound like, it wasn't all that bad, I think the worry is worse
Apr 14th 2010, 6:43 am
#4
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 54
Re: L1A / L2 interviews tomorrow + house hunting etc
We have been accepted - interview went smoothly - 1 1/2 hrs from start to finish - big relief. Some details on the immigration forum. Thanks for the support.
Now we need to get stuck into planning logistics,flights, houses, cars and life stuff - i will be reading a lot of previous posts on this but may well have some questions too. Confirming our Florida house lease today -excited now!
Got to write my first US check later - that could be an interesting task!
Now we need to get stuck into planning logistics,flights, houses, cars and life stuff - i will be reading a lot of previous posts on this but may well have some questions too. Confirming our Florida house lease today -excited now!
Got to write my first US check later - that could be an interesting task!
