Tell me about obtaining your US-visa, what was it like?

[admylin]

Just thought I could maybe get your warnings/advice on what to expect. If dh does get his job in Dallas we are going to need visas before we go -right? Will it be a nightmare or is it OK? We are in Germany, I'm British, dh is German so we'll have to apply here. Apart from getting finger prints taken, what will happen? Did they ask you for up to date health checks or vaccination certificates?
I will be looking into it myself on the Embassy website but just wanted to hear any first hand experiences.

Ds1 moved to the US from the UK with his new American wife in 2002. Prodedures may be different as neither of you are US citizens but Istr he needed his marriage cert and because they were newly-weds had to produce photos of them together in various places to 'prove' it hadn't been a marriage of convenience to a woman he'd met on the street that day!!

He had to have the MMR vax even though he'd had the measles vax and had had mumps/rubella illnesses. (MMR hadn't been introduced when he was small). He reckons the MMR made him ill for about a year after. He also had to have an HIV/AIDS test.

I can't recall anything else atm.

Do you mean a visa or a green card?

I got a green card: they wanted a health check with vac certificates, criminal record check, lots of forms to be filled in.... I married US citizen so I had to take evidence of our marriage but in the event they never even looked at all my photo albums. Also, I had to get a US doctor to OK me, sometimes they don't accept European vaccines.

Take copies of everything because they lose stuff.

Be patient, you will get there, it is just tedious.

Would your DH's job be an intercompany transfer, or would it be with a new company?

Sorry, fell asleep on the sofa yesterday so didn't get back to this. No the job would be with a university as researcher so not much help. I suppose they would provide letters to help get a visa.
Anyone else gone to the US from UK or Europe to work with family in tow?

Well your DH's new company or UNI should already have checked out the visa issues and have sopmething set up on their side. Depends on what sort of visa they are offering, as to how much you have to provide documentation wise. Also depending on your DH's class of visa depends on what you will get. It may be a case of your DH gets a working visa B1 or the like and you get given a visa which alows you to be with him but does not allow you to work.

Its best to check with DH's new employers as to the type of visa they are proposing and then what you can get. The US embassy website is fairly straightforward, might be an idea to find an immigration lawyer who can advise you.

Also make sue you follow the guidlines they set you to the letter be really anal about things as they will!

Good luck.

He will probably be on a H1B visa. The bad news is that it can take over 6 months to get this, and it is subject to a numerical limit. The limit for this year has already gone, so (I think) it's a case of getting in early on next years' quota.

Getting this visa is a two step process. Firstly, the university in the US will have to apply for Labor Certification for him (this means they Dept of Labor checks that the working conditions are appropriate, and also that a US citizen couldn't do the job) and file a petition with USCIS.

Once this is all approved, he can apply for the H1B visa for him, and H4 visas for the rest of the family.

You will be called for interview once the visa application is processed, and there they will go over your application to check that details are consistent, take your fingerprints, etc.

I think that medicals and vaccinations are only required for immigrant visas, unless things have changed recently.

that would be next year's quota

Scienceteacher, that is very helpfull to know so dh will know what to ask his future (maybe)boss for/about at the interview. Has to get himself prepared! I am still torn between wanting to get out of Germany and being very scared of taking off to a country I have never been to before and it's SOOOOO far away! (wouldn't mind Texas just now, we had our first snow today!)

The US is a good destination, and I'm sure most open-minded people would relish the chance of spending a few years there. I cerainly am grateful of my 2 + 4 years there.

The visa thing is very tedious. If you are able to do the paperwork, then get on with your normal lives while it is being processed, then that is the ideal situation. It is a very anxious time if you are actively waiting for everything to go through.

We have just moved over this year from Scotland. My husband was moving with his company so they had a layer who took care of all the petition to work stuff and helped us gather everything we needed. It took almost a year from start to finish and that was with the company paying extra to speed it up! That was for an L2 visa so it might be different if your dh is working at a uni. Unis are used to aranging visas for students so they should have things in place to a certain extent. To get the actual visa, we had to get an appointment and go to the American Embasy (inLondon for us). Although you have an appointment, do not expect to be seen at that time. My appointment was 10am and I left the building at 3.50pm having spoken to someone for 11 minutes in total. The forms are simple and they ask a few easy questions like why do you want to go and have you been before? We got the visas four days after the interview. I dont know if you intend to work but you should check that out before you go. Even a little part-time job requires a visa and a work permit. (having a visa does not mean you can work). We are loving it here and Im sure you would too. Good luck!

work visas are easier than immigrant visas. I'm married to an american and the process to get an immigrant visa for me and the kids was a total nightmare. The London US Embassy is staffed by complete bastards.
We obtained a vaccination waiver (they keep that secret) as we don't vaccinate.
I'm guessing work related visas are much more straightforward as they treat immigrant visas like you are terrorists. Even my 5 yo had to have an interview 'Are you planning any terrosrist activities while in the US?' 'Have you engaged in lewd sexual acts?' ffs
We lived in VA for 2 and a half years but came back when dd was born brain damaged.
Hope you like driving cos Dallas is horribly pedestrian unfriendly and has a pants public transport system. you might be ok for no snow though but its very hot and humid in the summer.
Texas is huge, takes all day to drive across. Good luck

You can get a religious or medical or philosphical exemption to vaccines for your kids to go to school. Even in the US no-one can make you vaccinate. We home educated so it wasn't an issue.
When we went to the US embassy they insisted we were there with the 3 kids at 8am (like anyone living outside of central London could get there that stupidly early) but we weren;t seen till 2 (3 hungry tired kids) and we were turned down (after paying stupid amounts of money so my American husband could take his family to the US) cos the kids are unvaccinated. They just heaved us out the door despite the fact DH was flying to the States 3 days latr and we were going to join him after 2 months. I still remember the guy's unpleasant sneering face. So we hightailed across London to our immigration lawyer and she filed for waivers to the vaccine requirement. Took another 8 weeks. (and another $200 each)
Then we had to go pick them up at 8am on an appointed day and hand over another $110 each for them to be 'released' to us.
On arrival in the US me and the kids spent 5 hours in the INS office while they barked orders, took photos, bullied some poor woman who couldn't speak English, took fingerprints (again) and were generally rude and obnoxious. Luckily most Americans really aren't like that but the INS seems to be the place for arseholes.
I would never ever do it again. Because I forgot to tell the INS I was returning to the UK I am now blacklisted and can never go there again. The kids all got US citizenship after we landed (some rule about permanent residents who have an American parent, are on US soil and under 18) but I'll never go back.