Oh goody!! I know the expiry was an issue at some point in the process but couldn't remember if it was K-1 or AOS - at least that is one less thing to worry about


I'm not sending any photos as evidence as they don't require it - it is just the passport ones they are after and I am not sure if we only need two or if we need two each for AOS/EAD/AP so six in total...


w00t Debz!! Great news that your parents are coming over to visit in October! I'm not going to see my mum until Easter BUT because my brother got his promotion, him and his GF are going to come out next year now as well so that should be cool! I'm not worried about what to do - more that if I have a job, am I going to be able to get time off!!

I think I am going to send the DS894378932 or whatever as well - I mentioned it to my mum and Jeremy and we all figured that for the sake of a potential RFE, we might as well wait and possibly be able to save some money - especially as it looks like I might not need the HPV vaccine after all as I had my medical before June 1 2008. Here:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...0004718190aRCRD


Oh I am glad there are a few of us taking the chance on not sending the I-693... I think I am going to do the same Naughty me!!

I LOVE WM but it is sooo expensive - AND they don't have the patio furniture I liked anymore - that made me really sad

well - i got the I-693, it wasn't too much trouble, and i didn't want my GC to be delayed because of my decision to be lazy. i wasn't working at that time, and it was only 10dollars to get it, so it was no big deal.

@ aly: about the pictures and stuff: i'm gonna send you the cover letter for my AOS with a list of stuff that was in the package. no guarantee for trouble-free filing, but so far we heard nothing negative, the interview is wednesday

I think I want to leave out the I-693 purely because of the new TB regs and the HPV annoyance - if I can get through it without having all of that then it will likely save us over $200 - All I am reading about with getting the I-693 though is that most physicians are insisting that people take another medical!!!

Maybe it is a bit lazy But I figure I can research it more once I have sent things off and if there are any problems, they will be easily rectified I *really* would love to avoid the HPV if I don't need to get it though as it is so expensive

The checklist would be cool I have one myself already but it is always good to compare

yeah, it was fairly easy to find a physician here in town that only charged 10 bucks for it, and i didn't have to do the HPV, so it was a nobrainer for me to just do it. but in your case-----i would take the risk, too
eric and i had a competition: he did the K1 without a RFE, so I had to do the AOS without RFE. well, we're just super-nerds.

@ babbles... sent I864 (again too many form numbers so might be wrong but you know the one I mean) for both Nick and my co-sponsor, didn't send I864A for either.

At this point I know I'm at least getting 1 RFE for w2's but hey, can't change it so what's the point in moaning for sake of 2weeks? I know this sounds strangly unstressed and calm for me but trust me. I'm boiling over with financial stress and other stress just now.

With regards to world market being expensive...I don't care. I don't have anything like it here. I have to drive 3hrs to Omaha for it so it's a treat for me to get anything from back home. Not had a hobnob since march!!! I've had mixed reports regarding the Irn bru issue. My dad's hand luggage in October is consisting of my flute and 6 packets of hobnobs. My mammy bringing an extra suitcase with more of my clothes that I couldn't bring back in March.

Whoops, yeah, I think I confused myself there and was thinking of the photos we took to the interview.

We also didn't send the 693, didn't even think about it, as our lawyer put our stuff together and she didn't even mention it. It seems to be the general case that if you get an RFE it's in the early stages of filing, and I think we're past that. Course, now that I've said that watch it come back to bite us in the arse.

i absolutely agree. we have a kinda worldmarket here, and I absolutely do not feel bad at all to spend 4$ for a pack of german chocolate cookies.

Hahah - but nerds are cool! And Eric and Jeremy seemed to have a lot to talk about I bet by the time you come over he will be bursting at the seams to talk linux again and by the end of the evening I am sure he will have aspired to decorate our entire tiny apartment with things involving tons of wires everywhere


Aww hun - I can relate to the financial stress - although I found out that Jeremy hadn't divided the credit card repayments by four on the spreadsheet we are using for our budget. So now I figured that out, our weekly expenses are just under his income for the week which is better than the $40 over we were originally!! Phew!!


I want to go to World Market now... I am so glad we have one near... Debz - when you get online you can actually shop online with them as well So it might be easier for you to get things from there than from home even I signed up to their e-mails as well

i don't want to go to work tomorrow......the weekend was over WAYYYYYYYYYY tooo fast.


dang!

I saw chocolate Hobnobs at Wegman's on Saturday. $5.99 for a small packet. Nearly fell on the ground! We didn't buy any!

I think I sent 2 for each

I got a letter from you know who today concerning the EAD service request and it says that the card production was ordered on 08-09 so I went and checked their website and there it says it was done on 08-14. Well in any case I guess I should receive it soon. So we will see.

Sorry guys I wasn´t able to attend on Friday. I swear I hd a bottle of water ready to bring But time is running against me these days. I have a lot of thingsto finish before the trip

hi all, sorry I've been away for a bit... been really busy

the place where I volunteered to tutor English asked if I could do some more hours - general office work, admin, assisting a program director, and helping co-ordinate a symposium coming up in September... all pretty simple, and pretty close to what I was doing in my last job (well, one of my last jobs ) in London, so it's been good, and great to be doing something and meeting people and all that
as well as teaching ESL to people who need it and are motivated enough to come to classes; it's great

still haven't filed for EAD
feeling really stupid about that now... at first it was because we were getting the cash together, but now it's just me dealing with things the way I sometimes do when I feel overwhelmed by them - by ignoring them and pretending that by so doing, they will go away... it's dumb of me, and just delaying when I can start actually earning some money (which is even dumber, cos we're starting to need it) so I'll make the effort in the next couple of days
if anyone wants to help me out in any way...

omg, I totally do this too!

Want me to fill out your papers for ya? I charge waaaaay less than my lawyer! heh heh.

Just as I needed it...more stress. Had to rush my kitty Oscar to vet this morning for emergency appointment. He had a very bad and smelly case of the double buckets (stuff gushing out both ends). Now I have a grumpy biting kitty at the best of times. I now have to medicate him twice a day for the next 10 or so days. It took 2 vets 45 mins to get the first doses into him so I'm thinking it's going to be a 3 person job. He looks funny as he had to get his fur shaved off his butt where it was matted with yuck so he's a long haired cat with a baldy butt just to add kitty indignation to his already grumpy demeanor.

Debz, I feel bad for your kitty, but that description was quite funny.

So, I went wedding dress shopping today. For those of you who didn't know or had forgotten, Scott and I will be having our "real" (real to me anyway, though non-legal) wedding sometime next year in Montreal, after he has AP of course. So I went to the new Pronovias flagship store here in NYC and ooooh... it was fun. I consider myself to be extremely picky; most things I've looked at in magazines I just don't like for one reason or another. But actually putting the dresses on, feeling their weight and beautiful material... wow! I really enjoyed myself. The first thing I did when I got there was flip through their beautiful books of pictures, and I didn't realize they pretty much had them from most expensive to least expensive. So I'm looking at all these $10k & $8k dresses & kind of freaking out! That's way out of my budget. Most people's, I'm sure! But I was good and didn't try on anything out of my reach and it was awesome.

haha! i can TOTALLY relate to this wedding-dress problem. i got a really nice dress from davids bridal because the dress that i REALLY wanted was 6k and i realized that it wouldn't be my dream-dress anyway.
I just couldn't possibly kill my savings for the dress, knowing that we would need that money for the first months of living together. sometimes I regret not having my dream gown and a slightly fancier wedding, but - I am unfortunately not cinderella......


oh, we have our greencard interview tomorrow and i really don't feel quite prepared......

Actually I think even if we could afford my "dream wedding" I would actually feel like I was being really wasteful & throwing $$ away. The only thing I wish I could have unlimited resources for are to make it as green and eco-friendly as possible. It kills me that soy candles are like a billion times more expensive than regular ones! Ah well.

Best of luck on your interview tomorrow. I'm sure it will go totally smoothly! So just get a good night's sleep.

Well, our church ceremony in germany and the reception was really really beautiful, i guess i just really really would have needed more time planning and more time for us as a couple. Erics family was staying at my parents house for 2 weeks and we took them on trips around the country until the evening before the wedding.
it is such a sweet and smart idea of yours to have your wedding eco-friendly!

we just tried to have not-wasteful wedding and to have a great time with everybody.

Hey StP, good news on the volunteer job. We were struggling for cash too, and I was panicking about the cost of AOS, then I got overwhelmed and now I feel stupid because a friend has offered me a really good job and whilst he could probably wait on me for 6 weeks it's unlikely my EAD will come through in time. I am still working on the final bits of the AOS package and feeling really despondent about being so ridiculous about it.



Good luck with that!

Awww - My weekends are filled with cleaning so that we can enjoy Jeremy's days off on Mondays and Tuesdays... thing is, I get back online and everyone is overjoyed at "hump" day and to me it is just like Monday


Aww Marta - when is it you leave? You must be sooo excited


I wondered what had happened to you!! I am hoping to get all my forms off today (I have everything I am going to send here - I just need to put it together and hope Jeremy gets home before 5pm...) so if you have any questions then give me a shout - I have had bunches of questions and feel like a complete n00b all over again so it has been pretty funny You can be an August filer too if you get your finger out - there are bunches of us July-ers there


Seconded!!! I was giggling at the poor little kitty's misfortune!

As for dresses - why not try them all on? Even the expensive ones!! I mean you don't have to buy them and it is fun - I tried on this nasty looking pink sparkly thing with feathers and it didn't look too bad on if you were going for a Katie Price-esque wedding I tried a fishtail one on too and looked like I had tried to cram two oversized sausages into a sock - so not a good look for a wedding!! Heheh I should really post some piccies of our wedding up now that it is all official


YAY!! Good luck! I've been keeping an eye on the date because I knew you had it on the 20th Let us know how it goes!!!

I loved the dress shopping too. It was so nice to be able to wear such beautiful dresses. We had a fairly small wedding as my family didn't come over for it so it was just 45 of Nick's family (he has a huge family). We had it in a lovely old church (stuhr museum) and had a small understated buffet reception in a function room of a bar in the oldest part of downtown Grand Island that my mother in law knows the owner of. Everything was kept simple. I made my own invites and reception flower displays. My cake was amazing and only $200 from Hy-vee. I loved it all and it cost less than $4K for everything. At the end of the day, we wanted everything to be nice but didn't want to turn the wedding into a show that distracted from the real meaning of the day.

Totally agree Debz - ours prolly cost a little more than yours (not including my family flying over) but what really killed us was the honeymoon in Hawaii we're still suffering the credit card bills for that but it was so worth it as we had such an amazing time

I think smaller is better - I see some of these HUGE weddings and have to wonder sometimes if it is a bit of a popularity contest My cousin had a huge church wedding and there were prolly people there she hadn't seen in years. To me I find it a bit weird - I just wanted the people I cared about around

So Debz - any news on the net yet?!

Hehe - look what I found in our local news:

http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...ce=nletter-news

Now I want to get the book!!

Haha, Aly, I think your attitude about the dresses is awesome. But the reason I can't try on the super expensive ones is that I just know I'll fall in love with one and I will somehow try to work it out in my head that I could maybe have it -- when I can't. And then I'd be crushed. And all I want is to feel really happy with the one that I do choose, and not have that overshadowed with what I can't afford. I just can't tempt myself!

I agree that smaller is better. If Scott and I had things truly our way ONLY the people we really care about would be there and it would be really small. But... when parents give you money, they get to have some say too, and I just know his mom is going to want to invite people I probably have never even met (I hate that). We are looking at maybe 125 guests. That's WAY more than I would like (my list is like 30), but at least it's not one of those superhuge 300 guest insane affairs! Sorry, I don't mean to offend anyone who wants or has had a huge wedding. I think every person should get to have just what they want. I just want a small one! I'm starting to learn that a lot of compromising is going to be involved... but it won't be all on my part!

I still don't think you could have a smaller or cheaper wedding than ours

I hate clothes shopping... it was a relief to me not to have to buy a wedding dress

Looks like you and Gretch will be having babies within days of each other. Congrats!!. great way to bring in the new year !.


Chris

Haha Thanks Nice to hear from you again What´s new?

Agnes good luck with the interview tomorrow

Well Friday and Saturday we are attending a 200+ guests wedding. I think it´s gonna be beautiful even with lotsa people there There are gonna be about 6 of us with big bellys, so we are gonna get a pic with the bride Then have to get back sometimes on Sunday and pack and stuff and fly on Monday. Pretty busy

I don´t like clothes shopping either. But went and picked my wedding dress in like 5 or 10 mins. So I was very happy with that. And they were beautiful I didn´t want any other. And they didn´t even cost thousands of dollars. It was about 600 I think

So Rach, are you saying you don´t feel like you are married or something? I can´t imagine to do a legal wedding and not feel like being married and be more excited about a wedding that is like a year later. Aly did it the other way round and her fake wedding was the real one cuz it was the first one. I am confused

Hahaha - well given a choice we would have just had the one, but as it was, we had to do it our way and I wouldn't change it for the world - to me, marriage is about making a promise to someone you love, not just the legal paperwork - that is all our second wedding was

I *do* feel married, but I do not feel that I ever had a wedding -- because we didn't have one. I want the ceremony and the reception with the people I care about there to celebrate with me. Although my life with Scott feels right and I know he is my husband, what we did at City Hall was purely legal and we only did it that way because of the rules of the K1. So I am still looking forward to the party part of it all.

Ok, that makes sense But you look pretty on your wedding pic

I have some updates....

Our Biometrics appt was August 13th at the Milwaukee office. I see that there is a spreadsheet on the AOS. Sorry have been away from VJ for awhile.

We have moved and are all settled in and also the wedding reception was held last Saturday. So glad that is behind us now and we can finally just go day to day without planning. Whew....

So I hope all is well with everyone - I have missed you all and I'm trying to catch up on all of the news on this thread. I'm sure it will take while as it appears that a lot has happened.

I am also trying to figure out what happens next

awww, thanks Marta.

So which anniversary will you celebrate? I joke that our August one will be for if Jeremy forgets in February


AUDREY!!! Fill in your timeline girl!! I've updated you as best as possible but haven't got your filing date/wedding date etc etc Am so glad things have settled down for you at last and I really hope that you are around more!! You've had such a rough time of it and I am sooo pleased that you made it I bet all the hell you went through seems a million miles away now

Ok - I'll try and give you a brief summary! Marta is pregnant - due on Jan 1st or 3rd... I can't remember which but it is on the JBP tab (that's July Baby Progress for you and me ) on the spreadsheet Chris & Gretchen are also pregnant and I believe due on New Year's Eve - but again, I might have gotten that wrong.

It seems that the hell us Julyers went through last year (and this year!) has really paid off - we are now so loathed to fill in more paperwork that although most of us are married, a good portion of us are yet to file AOS And there was me thinking I would be filing alone It's been busy here catching up on the bugs, bills and weather but I think for the most part we are all settling in

So how are things with you? It's been AGES!!!

I have no idea!! Maybe it will depend on what date we end up getting married on. I think I'd prefer to celebrate that one, but then again, once June 20 rolls around next year, I know I will have it in my head that that's also our anniversary! Though yeah, I could also use both of them for when Scott forgets. Our other anniversary (pre-being married) is October 4th, and this year it'll be our 6th year, and he still can't remember that date! I suppose I am asking too much for him to remember all 3, realistically, and will have to settle on one of them. Maybe I can wait a few years and test him to see which one sticks in his brain the best.

Haha We only have one date to remember since we were so tricky and got married the day we met...just a couple of years later

Haha - I can't remember when we first met online but the day we first met in person was New Years Eve so I guess that is pretty memorable

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED

it was fairly easy.
we had to wait for an hour, but the interview as over in less than 10 minutes.
she didn't even want to see the cert. copy of the marriage cert.
she asked for pictures and stuff that we have in both names (like bank accounts).
the only thing that caused confusion was that my J1 visa and the two-year-residency-rule and other stuff connected to it.
and she wanted to see some pictures, but it was more of a "i'm curious, lets look at pictures".

I was really overprepared, but it was really easy. i asked for the stamp in my passport and got it, even though she said that the GC would be in the mail in 2 weeks.

anyway:
DONE WITH USCIS FOR 2 YEARS!!!!!!
we went to our favorite mexican restaurant to celebrate and I ate WAY tooooo much and feel really sick now.

Oh hun that's awesome!! I am soooo happy for you *hugs* Well... apart from the feeling sick part anyway

I was in the middle of writing my fears of tomorrow and the power cut out so I lost everything which is really annoying I start my volunteer work tomorrow and I am nervous, but moreso about the fact I am cycling a couple of miles when I have a) not been on a bike since I was a kid and have not braved the wrong-side-of-the-road thing. I know I will be fine and when I am there I will have a blast, but I will be glad when it is all done!!

And I am fed up that the pool is still not sorted out - AND the Mexican kids all go in there anyway, despite there being a big sign on the gate from Riverside County saying it is not to be used I swear, the Mexicans here really rule the place - don't get me wrong, they are lovely people when I have spoken to them, but you NEVER see any of the other neighbours...

Plus I think I need to learn Spanish

Congratulations Agnes You must be thrilled Careful with those beans

ah, aly, i'm so proud that you get out there and do volunteer work! it's such a big step to do things like that!
and be assured that i didn't ride my bicicle for a LONG time either, and now it's such a fun thing!

i hope you will have a great day tomorrow! do you have a helmet for your bike?

i still can't quite believe that it's finally over!!!!!

BIG HUGS FOR EVERYBODY!!!!

Aww thanks It was kind of a big step - it's like I am finally living here instead of it being a holiday - part of me wanted to just not do it, but Jeremy worked really hard to find me something when I was going a little crazy and I felt obliged. I went to the orientation and everyone was really lovely so I am sure I will have a great time when I stop worrying!!!

I have a helmet *and* a lock for my bike Thing is my bike has crazy suspension stuff so the lock can't be attached to the frame like it should be - it will have to go in my backpack along with the ten gallons of water I am going to need to replace the fluids I sweat out because I am so unfit!!

Agnes - you surprise me, when you said you cycled to work I thought you were a pro!!! I feel a bit better now knowing you are getting on ok even though you didn't cycle for a while Still haven't seen what I look like in the helmet... am thinking that might be a good thing

It must be such a weird feeling to know that next time you have to do anything will be the last for a long time! And it's not even like K-1 where you know as soon as you move you have more paperwork in a few months - this is YEARS!!! Just make sure you don't forget!!!!

congratulations, Agnes
lovely to hear of an easy approval

and Aly, you'll have a great tine... just stop worrying and enjoy it
my experience - both here and elsewhere - with volunteering is that the people are usually SO happy and grateful to have the help, if you're halfway pleasant to be around and halfway competent they'll love you forever

Congratulations Agnes!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Agnes.

CONGRATS AGNES. (hehehe...enjoying doing these congrats messages again!!)

Must feel so good to know you don't have to deal with USCIS for a matter of years now.

I'm looking after Nick's grandma today so I'll be on and off most of the morning. My eldest sister in law (I have 1 brother and 4 sister in laws) headed off to her first year in college this morning. My mother in law and brother in law gone with her to help her move in. She kept saying the only reason she isn't breaking down about leaving home is that she looks at me as inspiration. If I can leave all my friends, family and all that is familiar 5000 miles behind across an ocean, then she can move 2hrs drive away where she can come home when she wants and where she still knows a bunch of folk. I'm really proud of her, she's gone to do a double major in music and theatre studies. She has the most amazing voice and learned the song and sang at my wedding with 48hrs notice as my singer got broncitus. Grandma needs round the clock care and I think my moher in law does an amazing job, she is her full time carer and gets paid by grandma's insurance to do it rather than her go into hospice care.