Living in America... visitors welcome

[SuperBunny]

East Coast
MaNanny - Boston
Twinmommytobe - Boston
MuminCT - CT
Greatgooglymoogly - NY State
Yesthereare4ofthem - NY State
Brooklynmom - NYC
alarkaspree - NYC
MKG - New Jersey
Mummimamma - PA
Poetmum - PA
Twirl - MD

South
Earlybird - TN
jabberwocky - AR
Sunchowder - Florida
Marls001 - Bentonville, AR
Tinpot - NC
MadameDeathStare- AL

Midwest
SuperBunny- Chicago
Dodgykeeper - Dayton, OH
Chocchipcookie - Ohio
MonkeyLover
KickAssAngel - Ann Arbor, MI
MumofFivemeanschaos

Rockies
Alipiggie - Boulder, CO
Ribena

Northwest
AnnieLaurie - Seattle, WA
Dooneygirl - Oregon City, OR

California
SittingBull - nr San Francisco
Califrau - Milpitas
loopsngeorge - Brentwood, LA
Syd - Manhattan Beach, LA
SofiaAmes - LA
LATyke - Redondo Beach
CarmenSanDiego - San Diego

Texas
Texan - Dallas
Tiggyhop - Houston
Vixie78 - Houston
BananaPudding - Austin
Cosmicdust - East Texas

Canada
Hellish - Ottawa
Shouldlistenedtomymum - Hamilton
Nooka - BC
Jacksmama - Langley

Exotic Islands
Anorak - Bermuda
cp - Trinidad
Barefeete - BVI

Brazil
Albert

well done. it shows your bosses they can trust you, and what your morals are.

i've just done the most awful thing
i spilt tea over the paperwork i took to the accountant, including our passports.
of course, the ONLY page from all that paperwork to have been really damaged, is dh's passport, the end with his picture on for his visa!!
he is just a soggy blob.
he will have to go back to uk, get new visa, maybe passport as well? days of queuing up & telling them what an idiot his wife is.
i have already told him. i feel so awful
all the numbers etc are clear, but you just can't see his face!!

Does Boston not have a nursing shortage like out here? You know I know nothing about green cards and all that, but there's a severe nursing shortage out here, which I thought was fairly representative of the country, which should make you a shoo-in for the job, experience or not.

does anyone know how to replace damaged visa?

No advice, Mananny, sorry. I have my own visa saga so am no help at all. But I really sympathise. It is all very worrying and a bit shit.

The other situation sounds messy but I'm glad it is over.

Dooney, there are also teacher shortgaes but they won't allow very qualified and experienced Britsih teachers work

Embassy, Kickass? Or Consulate?

Well, obviously that is because there's a language difference.

I tried to Google it for you, kickass, and all I could find on the Embassy website was how to replace a passport. And I couldn't really find anything anywhere else. Unless you are from the Philippines or Bangladesh.

Why do you need to replace your visa? Do you mean renew? Or that your visa page has been damaged?

Embassy won't help will they, since it is issued by the US not the UK. You'll probably have to contact INS or whatever they are called these days.

language difference

Actually, I went to a school fair the other day and one of the stalls was the Waldorf school, where my friend was working. I stopped and said hello and, in front of everyone, she said, "Hello Bunny! Do you have an accent? Because we don't allow people with accents at our school. No foreigners allowed "

I know she was joking but it seemed like such a weird thing to say and it left me standing there not quite sure what to say.

yep, a bit odd as a greeting

yep, i have wiped out the pic of dh on his visa page in his passport, so they won't allow him back into the country!! also, part of the date stamp washed off.

why do they use washable ink? why? WHY?

so, he has 2/3 of the visa and about 7/8 of the I-94 but with some important bits missing, and a bit of water damage on the rest of the assport. dd's is a bit 'wavy' as well.

I am gutted. I don't know how strict the rules are, but he may need to go to the UK for a new passport AND a new visa, then wait a couple of weeks to get it mailed to him before he can leave the UK. which will mean the cost of travel, and possible no salary for 2 weeks, and, and... getting a bit panicky.
then i think, we have a notarised copy, does that help? maybe we can just post it over, get it restamped?

i have no idea how to do this at all.
will be buying a fire/storm/alien proof storage box from now on.

Don't forget for it to be zombie proof, either.

yep, am beginning to wish we had a zombie plan now.
i remeber that thread. dh just looked when i aksed

What on earth did you do to it, Kickass? This must happen all the time but I can't imagine the INS being very helpful.

I suppose I should have a Zombie Plan. My to do list is looking even more tedious:

Do taxes
Write will
Get divorced
Find new mortgage
Make Zombie plan

our list isNOW
sort out visa
do taxes
change all addresses that haven't yet been
get driving licences
sort out insurances
get me a work permit
get us some kind of credit card
new mortgage
write wills
start looking for work
get a life
kill zombies

the first FOUR need to be done by easter, so that we can shop round for cheaper ins for cars & house in may.

but visa issue now at top of list. i warn you - the ink on your visa stamp washes off VERY easily, e.g don't sneeze near it, and def don't look at it in the rain.
i have spent hours on internet trying to find out how to sort this out, but can only get the emergency number for the nearest consualte. think i need to phone the Us emabassy in london.

btw, has anyone registered with the consulate so they can get hold of you if there's any probs? suddenly started wondering if actually a hurricane that affected family back home, they might want to know where we are? or ami now over protective & paranoid?

oh dear lord
after hours of trawling the website, i found the right people to phone
the ONLY way for dh to get a new visa is to travel to london, do that whole lining up at the embassy thing, and then WAIT until they post him back the passport in the next couple of weeks!!! so that's his entire year's holiday used up, sitting in the UK, just sorting out my cock up.
i feel so awful. there is NO way round this. i have just wasted his complete year's holiday allowance, so we can't go on any trips etc for the whole year, cos he won't be able to take any more time off.
we can't even turn it into a 'bit of a holiday' in the uk, cos he will have to be at a certain address to take delivery, they won't let anyone else sign for the package, it has to be him!!
i am hoping his boss will think of something he can do workwise in the uk, and at least he will do some days work, not just lose all that holidya. it is also going to cost $$$ in airfares
crap

That's awful kickass, can you claim it on your insurance? "Lose" the passport?

Oh Kickass

What a mess.

dh's plan is that he just doesn't go abroad until we need to renew the visas in summer 2011, then pretend it just happened. i suggested that he might want to show his face to his mother, but he seems to think she can wait.
oh dear, so now i must lie through my teeth to her in the summer when we go there.
lsing the passport will only result inhim having to queue up for a day to get new passport, then go through the whole visa thing anyway
arse

Kickass I'm sure you could travel around the UK as the Embassy ring you before they deliver the passport to se where you want them to send it.

I managed to forget ds's passport when we went for our Embassy interview (passports were my ONLY responsibility). His visa which was a postal application took 3 weeks and DH ended up starting his job late, flights had to be cancelled and I was nearly too pregnant to fly. Oops.

I seem to remember ours were returned really quick after the interview but of course it can take weeks. A real bummer.

you have to give the address to deliver it to when you hand in the passport, they will only deliver to the person who signed, and at that address, and as it can range between days & weeks when it arrives, you really can't go far.

dh is delighted that he can't go home to visit his mother!!

you must be hopping mad then!!
sorry.
i have just been doing too much paperwork this week & am going a little crazy.

oh, dooney, from sb's other thread, BSE is mad cow disease, human form is CJD, and the reason why none of us brtis can give blood over here.

Sorry its not simpler, Kickass

And sorry for Cali's crappy day/ week too.

Are we really not allowed to give blood over here?

Cali, I'm selling my cello. I'd rather not but I have no space for it and could do with the $ so, and I know this is an impossible question, how much do you reckon would be reasonable to ask? It has no distinguishing features, other than 'Carmen' stamped on the bridge. It has a hard case and a bow & is in good condition. I really can't be arsed trekking across the city on the train to get it valued. I was thinking $350, which is at the cheaper end on Craigslist. What do you think?

Kickass - maybe being dim here, but why cant your DH get a new passport from Embassy in Washington?? Just posted my boys ones there to renew. Surely they can do that for your DH too. And see if maybe they can sort out the visa too from this end. Accidents must happen and its not like it's expired is it.