Living in America 2015

[rootypig]

New thread. In honour of:

1. allegedly Irish bangers discovered I saw in Trader Joe's today, which made me think of you lot and especially you Want2b, you pork fanatic - I will report back; and

2. taxes bloody argh! do I have to do this? NOW??? My green card was granted in August last year and I didn't earn a bloody penny. What am I supposed to put on a tax return

How else is everyone's American odyssey going?

yours chaotically, as ever,

rooty

DH and I both have very fucked up complicated relationships with our parents, and being far away is better than being close to them. We were never closer than 100 miles anyway, which was a deliberate policy on our part. Emigration can be a brilliant solution to toxic families.

Hi all, glad everyone's doing well. We are in DC where it is finally starting to feel springlike after what seems like endless weeks of snow disruption.

Taxes, we gave up and got an accountant and we've stuck with him. Got our rebate through the other day - he always seems to save us something and given we have property income in the UK, it seems the most straightforward way to do things.

I don't eat meat so sadly can't comment on the TJs sausage topic but I do love TJs in general!

Randomly - has anyone renewed an H1B or H4 visa? We are in the process right now and I just wondered how long we'd be without passports (if at all). Who issues the new visas. We've been told we don't need to leave the country to go the embassy in the UK, as friends on L visas have had to. Thanks in advance for any advice!

We never renewed ours as we went straight for green cards, so can't really help you, sorry.

And YAY to sunshine - due to be 50 F here this week. It's been so cold for so long that this is v exciting.

Kickass here too! Our outdoor temp is 47.5 according to our monitor . This is exciting after weeks of very low temps! It felt balmy yesterday hovering around 32! Still a load of snow on the ground but I can feel spring (and will be even better now the clocks have gone forward!).

Amazing weather today. Walked up and down the hoboken waterfront without 10 layers on! Oh my it's beautiful weather wise today.

Also got a maxi dress from anthropologie for $7.96. Reduced from $168!

Sorry everyone, it was a very glorious 26 in SoCal

We just had our H visas renewed, they didn't need the passports to renew but then we got our green cards only a few months after renewal so I don't know what happens when you next travel, our new visas aren't physically in our passports

you're talking C, not F, aren't you?

We've had weeks of -10F but this week it will hit the 50s!!

Thanks Americas!

I am loving the spring like weather here - got up to a high of 54 today and 62 predicted tomorrow (that's 17 in C - I've learned to use F for when chatting with people but keep C in my weather app, since that's what I really understand and means I can keep my weather-obsessed irish mum up to speed with the weather goings on!).

And every day we have a bit more grass visible. The snow will be gone soon! I planted early daffs last autumn (after last winter's months of snow and cold) and I can already see some poking up. Actual flowers soon I hope!

Hi Flip I am walking over to port authority in a moment. Can't wait! Lovely weather today. just perfect. I hope by tomorrow 99% of the snow will be gone.

I saw grass today - hurrah!

Quick Q re phones: what's the best provider / package anyone has found re cheap calls to the UK other than through Skype / Messenger ?

Thanks!

I use google voice. It cost 1 cent a minute.

Our front lawn has even more grass exposed...I even saw some kerb today for the first time in months! Saw some crocuses starting to peek out. Hoping the snow is (mostly) gone by the weekend.

I'm going to take the kids to walk around the local reservoir after preschool. Haven't had a decent outdoor walk in ages!

It's gorgeous here in OKC, 19 degrees and sunny (that's Celsius, I don't do Fahrenheit). I'm conscious that we have to make the most of it because in about 10 weeks time the crazy heat will be here!

I use skype or DH's phone which is paid for by his employer! Bit cheeky of me but my brother is in the middle east. Skype calls fail all the time. I really feel for military families where DC can't talk to their parent stationed there.

Closer - I applied for my EAD towards the end of June last year. I was called for fingerprinting in mid-July but deferred it for 2 weeks as I was out of the country. It got done on 31st of July. My EAD came through at the end of October. I was told that 3-4 months is about standard and as I had put a 2 week delay on mine end of October seemed about right. I am surprised that you have been told you can work without one - I am also on an L2 and was told very clearly by our lawyers and relocation agent that while the visa allows me to work, the EAD is still required by law.

Has anyone ever had a parcel delayed at customs?

My MIL sent a largish parcel with easter eggs for the kids and some other sweets, crisps and biscuits for us all last week. She sent it via a courier and it was due to arrive today. I have done the tracking thing and it says "your package is delayed at export and is awaiting release from customs" Anyone got any experience of this? We have never had a problem before and I know there is nothing in the parcel that would be an issue. (wotsits, sensations, minstrels, twix mix, jaffa cakes & hairbo along with 4 easter eggs) Is there any way of finding out why it has been delayed or how long it will take? The only thing I can think of is that the customs form hasn't been filled in properly or that she has written "easter eggs" rather than "chocolate eggs" and somehow they think it is real eggs. I daren't ask her though - questioning her would not go down well.

Ah Your parcel has food in it. She should have put Easter gifts. Due to it saying 'eggs' they have to check that they are not real 'eggs' as in a yolk etc. Certain words are triggers and grannie sending any sort of eggs is likely to trigger a search. The good news is that at an air cargo 'port' the time to clear these items is 1-2 days normally. If at the ship 'port' it can take 2-3 days.

DH deals with customs all the time. They don't care about chocolate eggs so will pass it through. Only problem is them wrapping it back up again. Sorry to say this but expect broken eggs that you might not want to eat if they have been opened in full. Those guys do wash their hands but the surfaces can get a bit icky.

Thanks Supermum. My DH emailed his mum to ask what she had written on the customs forms and she did infact write "Easter Eggs" rather than chocolate eggs or just chocolate. Grrrr! I'll bet that's what it is! It is now apparently being held at the clearing agency awaiting further release. We're going away middle of next week for spring break so I hope it arrives before we go, otherwise it'll be a soggy, melted mess by the time we get back as the courier drivers will just dump in on the porch.

Ah not sure what part of the country you are in but I saw easter eggs at Walgreens this morning. You can also buy easter eggs at places like Myers of Keswick and he will ship them to you if you are outside of the NY tristate area.

I hope everyone is doing well. I am loving the warmer weather. I applied for a 16 week sabbatical at work and hope they approve it. I don't know when I can expect to find out but I asked to start May 1st. I would go back August 22nd.

Hello everyone! I have come for a whinge. Everyone in LA is dressed in green and if I hear one more AMERICAN call themselves IRISH I will screeeeeeeeeeeeam!

As you were

Random question - we still don't have a will (I know I know) should we get a British as well as American one done or can you get one that fits both countries? We still own property in the UK

You can include UK assets in your US will but on death, the US will i.e. documents of probate would have to be registered in the UK for the disposition of the UK assets. For the cost of doing a will in the UK (low), for simplicity's sake and because you have more assets there, I would execute there too.