Getting to know me......

Some interesting and some not so interesting stuff to know about me:


Where I grew up
Dunedin New Zealand




Favourite food
Sashimi



Favourite drink
Pino Grio




Favourite pastime
www.bracketsw.com

Some things to get us started

The green card lottery really does work - but it takes a while.
Green cards aren't green, they were but way back in the 70's they changed the colour - I am such a geek I looked it up.
There are thousands of websites dedicated to giving you some insight into what is actually happening with your application but the very best are the ones where people who are in (or have done) the process tell you what it was like!
You don't have to pay anyone to do anything for you - only you can describe your entire life since you were 18, only you know where you lived, where you worked and who your immediate family are.
Ulitmately you do have to pay someone, but only when you know you are about to actually get your greencard.
The people at the American Consulate are much more human than you expect - because if you are me you are ridiculously nervous......but then you get you are not special at all.......they do this stuff every day.
There is nothing you can do about the ugly photo that arrives with your residency visa and will, ultimately, appear on your green card.
You need an American address to send your green card to and it will take up to three months to arrive.
You do have to arrive in the US with an envelop stamped with US Consulate, cellotaped to buggery and labelled only to be opened by US immigation or "Public Health Official" (I kid you not) - which seems to fly in the face of "don't carry anything you haven't packed yourself".
It does all feel like a grand adventure that just gets a life of its own and, most importantly, it's remarkably freeing to be doing it by yourself!