public transport here is very useful. I love the fact that I don't need a car. I have had a driver licence for almost 6 years but I hardly drive once a month (when I visit my parents). It's going to be strange to have to get a car and use it all the time when I get to the US!

Anyone here today? How are you doing this weekend?

I am doing alright, just studying like a mad man.

What are you studying for? Are you in college? What's your major?

I'm here this morning. I had to go get my driver's license renewed - yet another joyful brush with government workers. You'll enjoy this very much Cecile. There are many people that live in the big cities (like NY) that don't own a car, it's very expensive for insurance, parking, etc. But if you live in the burbs or outside the big cities, a car is a must. Olga's never driven a car before, and insists that I will teach her. I told her that it would probably be a good idea if someone else taught her...a husband shouldn't be in the position to criticize the driving of his wife - over and over again during the learning phase. That would make for too many nights on the couch

I agree! Even the most loving and patient spouse would not be the right teacher for driving! Especially at the very beginning. It would be so stressful! I'd be stressed and afraid to do anything wrong if he had to teach me something like this. And that would make both him and me upset! lol
Though if she insists on it, then that proves that she trusts you a lot and that she thinks you will do a good job.

Although I would agree with you, there's no way I'm going to fall into that trap. It's like the old question a woman asks a man: "do these pants make me look fat?" Any answer could get you in trouble. This is why men grunt answers sometimes - it's harder to pin them down that way.

the question about the pants isn't hard to answer: just say "No". or if it really makes the woman look fat, say "No, but I prefer the other one there"

You are wise!!!!

I am studying for a class called American Heritage and it is actually a difficult class. I am in college and attend the private university called Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. My major is Manufacturing Engineering.

Is this a American history survey course? I've been through Provo many times, my former sister-in-law used to live there and also in Sundance. Are you guys getting a lot of snow? Talking to my buddies that are still in Colorado (where I lived for 20 yrs) it sounds like this was one white winter. I don't know if you ski or not, but if not, a lot of the white stuff will only help you stay locked in and studying. Good Luck, I imagine midterms are coming up pretty quick.

This course is mainly the study of the principles that founded America and they can get pretty technical. We are not currently getting a lot of snow now but this has been a long winter. We have had snow since early November to the present date, meaning there has been a blanket of snow on the ground since then. It is slowly starting to melt away now.

Actually I am a snowboarder but sadly I have not had much time to go. Sundance is about 30 mins from where I live and it is usually where I go snowboarding.

Yes, Midterms are coming up making it hard to really have any free time. I guess that is life though and the sacrifice you have to make for an education. Hopefully it will be worth it in the long run.

Happy to meet a fellow boarder - I've been hittin it since 1996, after skiing for 17 yrs it was time for a change and I love it still, although I don't get to hit the slopes too much nowadays living in Chicago. Sounds like an interesting class, although reading the Federalist Papers can certainly encourage sleep. I guarantee the education will be worth it - especially classes like these, they may not get you the job in mechanical engineering, but, by enabling you to think in expanded terms, they will certainly help you reach higher levels in your career. Good luck! I see your SO is from Hungary, one of my favorite places. I first went to Buda-Pest back in 1982 - it was an interesting time, but the people were wonderful. My family has a number of friends that got out after the fighting in 1956 - some have even moved back. Great country, wonderful people. What brought you there, did you do a mission in Eastern Europe?

Yes you are exactly right I did do a mission in Hungary and lived there for 2 years.

That is so very cool, your experiences must have been amazing. Although not in the LDS, I have always admired this requirement - both for the benefit it provides and the benefit it provides the missionary. Great story.

Well, a quiet weekend over here on the left coast. Not one darn approval, I imagine they will trickle in over the next couple of days, like last week. I decided to take some more proactive steps this weekend by completing the D-156 and D-156k forms for Olga and getting them in the mail. I also sent the Kev-1 form that you can download from the embassy to use as a control sheet for all the documents she'll have to pull together and get transalted. From all I've read, the Kiev embassy is a stickler for organization. They actually don't seem to ask more than a couple of questions, they just wanna see that all the paperwork is together and properly organized.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and was able to get their minds off of this for a bit. I am praying for a strong CSC showing this week, after three rather mediocre ones in a row. Stay Strong!

I second that sentiment!!! Praying for all of you at CSC!!!

Sometimes active devine intervention is called for - all prayers are welcome!!

I am absolutely praying for all of us. I hope both VSC and CSC will clear up those who have waited longer and I hope they will have a more orderly way of giving out approvals.

Here's wishing CSC a very productive week.

God speed.

I would even say two rather mediocre weeks and then (for the last one) a really bad one! Yeah, let's hope this week will be better!

How can we watch what is happening with the CSC more closely? I have not found an efficient way when looking at the Immigration time lines. Are there any other sources that may be viewed?

There is this page: http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/igor/vjdata/, in case you wouldn't have found it yet. (it's only based on members from VisaJourney though)
Other than that... there isn't any information available.

Paris is grey, rainy, windy and cold... my work is slow like CSC.... i need something to feel better!

It seems that it just stopped raining. and it is a little sunny too. though it's still cold and windy.

mmm... no... finally the sun disappeared again.

Sun? What's that? Chicago winters are known for being miserable - this year's is no exception. At least it's not snowing again today.

I guess we're luckier in France than you in the Midwest (though I would have liked one day of snow). It's almost spring, I'm sure the sun will come back from its winter sleep. Bryan told me they had a few warm days in Missouri around 2 weeks ago. Like 20°C (sorry... 70 degrees in Fahrenheit) on a weekend and the next day it snowed. Did you have the same type of strange weather in Chicago?

No, we didn't get that little heat wave, although we did get over 50 degrees - helped melt the snow. Althought the summers between Missouri and the Chicago area are very similar (hot and muggy) our winters tend to be different - on average it's about 10 degrees colder and we get a lot of snow in Chicago (at least this year). Down in Missouri you get ice storms, which are actually worse. They had a real bad one this year - I'm sure Bryan told you all about it. It is actually much easier to drive on snow than ice. I think living in Missouri will be much more moderate during the winter - very much like what you're used to in France.

Did you hear that a February VSC filer got approved today - Wow.

Missouri is colder than France in the winter and a lot hotter in the summer! lol

A February filer?! They are lucky. And we are... still waiting

I don't know about the heat, I was down in Dijon one summer and about fried in the sun.


But when we do get our approval - man o man, what a celebration that will be for each of us. We'll each know that we were able to go that extra mile(s) to be with the ones we love. We'll also have faith that we can survive just about any challenge the future will throw at us.

That feb filer was only 19 days from the NOA1

People who filed in 2007 at VSC and are still not approved must be upset when they read such things.
We haven't been waiting for so long, it probably is a lot harder for them.

Yeah, I agree. The one's right now that could be claiming "unfair" are the VSC filers that have been sitting while people who filed much later have gotten approval already. At least we know that CSC is criminally slow, for the long time filers still waiting at VSC, this has gotta feel personal.

I know of at least four left on the list from JUNE that haven't gotten NOA2's yet...

That's just plain wrong!!!

Some of those June VSC filers may have just abandoned their account here but there are 2 who recently updated their timelines, one received an rfe last month...

Yes, I completly agree, it is plain wrong ... my heart really goes out for those couple, it shouldn't take 8 months for an rfe, that is just terrible.

Happy Tuesday everyone.. there are 3 approvals from CSC March 10.. i hope they will churn out lots of approval this week so you guys won't have to wait longer.

CHEERS

Crank out a bunch of NOA2's, CSC!!!

It's been a better day, I'll admit. Although when you're talking about 6 approvals in 4 days, it gets a little harder to keep the smile on your face. I was very happy to see that the CSC has finally approved an April filer, and a few July filers recently - I want them taken care of properly and not made to wait longer.

Do you guys look at your ranking on Igor's list? I know it's meaningless because it's just a small number of the total applications in at the CSC, but it's nice to see progress nonetheless. When I filed I came in at number 268 and over the last 40 some odd days I've moved to 191. Wooooo Hooooooo!!!!!

Of course moving up the list doesn't mean too much, since if you go outside the published processing times of the service center you automatically get booted down to a whole different list - the basement list - a bad place to be.

Still forward movement is forward movement - even if it's only imaginary. I take what I can get. Good luck to all of us - may the CSC get a lot of approvals done before they take their easter break (big slowdowns around every holiday if you look back).

Now THIS is discouraging. On friday my adjudication date was July 18. Now I've fallen back to July 23. See what happens when they approve people who've been waiting more than six months!!! Not Fair.

OK, I'm JUST KIDDING! Yet another meaningless statistic by which I measure the progress of my life.....

yeah I check our ranking on Igor's list everyday! We're 157 right now and I hope we'll be at most 145 at the end of the week (though as I know that might not be true, my more realistic expectation is 150).
Looking at the estimation timeline is a bad idea though. it is almost never cheers me up.

Same here, still checking Igor's list and we are moving up...not because of recent approvals but because the list have automatically moved those who are still waiting for NOA2 and are already 3 months beyond the VSC processing time.

So far, most of the recent approvals this week has been february filers, only 2 november filers and no january filer yet.

On Igor's VSC list the oldest petition is dated May 2007 but I think most of them just disappeared and failed to update their timelines, for all we know they are already having baby showers now. But there are 2 June filers who have recently updated their time lines, one just received RFE last month (8months after filing) while the other just have their papers simply messed up by VSC and a senator is now looking into the case. I think the same goes for August & September filers still waiting on Igors list, some of them may have abandoned their accounts here on VJ while others are genuinely still waiting.

And like Blake, I do hope and pray all those who have been waiting for like forever should be taken cared of soon.

I am one the very last of the November filers as far as date sent. It was so hard watching the VSC people go flying right by. The good thing is I started on the pre Igor list at over 300 and I just went below 100 on Igors list last week. Yes you see the jump when the middle of the month the over the limit people get sent to the other list. At the early stages you keep standing still because someone will add a profile for a filing earlier than yours. I have finially start to see more or less steady progess. There are hard days but the end of this stage is in sight hopefully. This morning I was 92 this evening I am 89. It is so nice being below 100. You guys should move faster because the July crush is gone and the Xmas holidays are gone. People should actually be working not having holiday parties.

Guys,

I have no idea how I got my NOA 2 already. I have not done anything different. I didn't call any numbers or do anything. In fact I didn't even find out how to check if I have been touched or not until today. For some reason I have been blessed and received the NOA 2. Hopefully this is a sign that truly the CSC is starting to pick up the pace. It is wierd because I haven't seen any Novembers approved.

When will we ever understand this process?

@BigCityDave: You got your NOA2?! Congratulations!
This is amazing!

@Sylvia n Joseph: yes it is probably hard to see those fast approvals when you've been waiting for several months. But you time should come soon As you said, now that the big July crush is gone, that should be a little better.

HI !EVERYBODY,,,,,WHO KNOWS GUYS ONE OF YOU GOT APPROVAL TOMM.OR THE NEXT DAY,,,COZ I'VED SEEN NOVEMBER FILERS AND TWO FROM DECEMBER GOT APPROVED TODAY,,,,,,HANG ON

CSC is moving!!! You guys, won't have to wait long now!

Good luck to us all....

BigCityDave, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You Guys Rock - Congratulations and best of luck moving forward. I was so suprised and happy to see that you made it through. I don't think we'll ever understand the process, but it's amazing that it has moved so quickly for you. Muchas Gratzies again.

I'm just happy I didn't fall back below 200 - holding fast at 190 (although I was up to 189 earlier today ) I don't mind people addiing duplicate accounts but only if they've filed after me. I think with July and Christmas/New Years behind us things should move faster.....oops, lets see, everyone's irish on St Pats (even in California) and then there's Easter , still I think 20 -25 approvals is doable for these guys - so you get your approval in 3 weeks, and I'll get mine in 8. Deal?

You'll all probably get it earlier, there's been a few december filers approved already, it seems there working on november and december simultaneously! I'm so excited for you guys.

Good luck to everyone.

Hello folks! I missed you all! Must admit that it was great having a few days' distraction, though.

Congratulations BigCityDave! It's fantastic seeing a December filer approved already. I wish you a speedy reunion with your fiancée.

dbears - GOOD LUCK to you, too! I was really, really hoping to return to these forums to find you had been approved, but alas. I will give you such a huuuuuge cheer when you finally are!

Ah...work tomorrow. I've had a few hectic days of rough seas, storms, baby bunnies, dog-walking, hail and grandparent-visiting. Great fun - I'm visiting my parents a lot more often than I normally would this year; feel like I have to say all my lengthy goodbyes! It's a pity I couldn't stay longer but 5 days is about all my allergies will allow me.

Thanks for the "GOOD LUCK"... that's in full caps so I might be able to catch that one now

I was actually wondering where you've been but I am glad you were able to spend time with your folks. I hope you extended my regards to gramps with the eyebrows