COSPhil

Hello All

Alot of the threads on here are asking for advice on specific matters pertaining to particular issues people have. That's all well and good and this forum has definately been invaluable in quite a number of ways to me personally.

I'm quite interested though in the human side....what's the story, who are you, why are you moving to/have moved to/have come back from the US?

I guess I'll kick off;

My reason for moving is to be with my other half, who after an admittedly very quick romance during her time here for work (July to September), we are going to go ahead and get hitched. We are people who would usually not even have marriage on our radar, but found such a connection in each other over that period that not carrying on feels wrong.

She was over here as part of the Team USA delegation working on the Olympics and subsequently Paralympic Games. I was also working on the Games, our main role was hosting the USA base (High Performance Training Center, Media, Athlete Services, Friends and Family Services, Ticketing, Team Processing, Housing and Catering).

It will probably be no surprise that I expect to work in sport upon moving.

So was I before all that? Well, I was born a Canadian father and British mother, but mostly brought up in the UK before being adopted by a Brit-Australian Stepfather.

Since then I've worked in Professional Ice Hockey and the Higher Education sector all over the UK, but have never lived abroad as an Adult (although did live in both Canada and Australia for a year as a child).

wilba1234

I like the idea of this thread, its interesting to read about other peoples situations and goals.

Well here is mine...

I was asked to go to the US (Houston) for a project that I was working on back at the end of 2009. I travelled to and from the US for most of 2010 and in July of 2010 I met my future wife. I was offered a transfer to the US company and grabbed it with both hands.

We found out that she was pregnant late September 2010. I proposed shortly after. My fiancée and I rented an apartment together in October 2010 while I was in the US (on the VWP). My wife has 2 children from a previous relationship, I feel in love with them also. So we were living happily as a family together in the apartment.

In February 2011 I was arrested for a DWI in Houston. I returned to the UK and applied for an L1-B visa.

Applied for a L1-B visa on March 21st 2011 – denied March 30th 2011

Applied for B1/B2 visa to attend the birth of my son May 9th 2011 – Denied May 9th 2011

My son was born on June 9th 2011 watched it on Skype. As I’m from Newcastle it was nice that my son was born on this date (people form the north east might realise the significance of this date).

Applied for L1-B with waiver of ineligibility August 3rd 2011

Fiancée and son visited me in the UK for a week in November 2011 (my son was 5 months old).

Denied the L1-B visa on December 2nd

Fiancée and son visited again for a week in January 2012

Married my fiancée on July 17th 2012 in Cyprus, we had 2 weeks in Cyprus with my son and family from the UK. It was fantastic!

Filed I-130 in the US on October 5th

Received NOA1 receipt on October 9th

My son is now 16 months old and I have only seen him 3 times, my wife and son are coming to visit the UK at Christmas and I can’t wait! I have not seen my step-children since March 2011 (except for on Skype).

So I have been trying to get a visa to return to the US for almost 2 years now with very little success. Hoping that this application will be more successful, I hope to be “home” by Christmas 2013 so that we can have our first Christmas all together as a family (that’s if the world doesn’t end on December 21st which is coincidently the date that my wife and son are flying out to the UK!). That’s pretty much my storey up until now.

Noorah101

The title of your thread, and your comment above, lead me to believe you are asking about people moving FROM the USA, TO the UK? Is that correct?

If so, your thread needs to be moved to the "Moving Back to the UK" forum.

The rest of your story seems to involve why you are moving to the USA, though (from the UK). In which case, the thread title should be changed, and you probably mean "UK" in your paragraph above.

Rene

COSPhil

Well, I actually meant both - mostly those who are/have already moved to the US - the people behind the keyboard as it where.

Jerseygirl

OK I will change the title so it's a little clearer.

Noorah101

Since my long-distance other half could not get a visa to the USA to visit me (due to him being Iranian), and we couldn't afford for me to keep going to Turkey once a year to visit (plus once a year just wasn't enough time together), we also took the plunge and did the K-1 fiance(e) visa.

So, his only reason for immigrating to the USA was so we could be together. He was earning more money doing less work in Turkey, so definitely money was not a factor! lol

He immigrated in 2004, been happily married since then. Turned out to be the best thing either one of us did, the risk paid off.

Rene