WOW!!! 5 more days!!! Getting very excited I bet.

You guys will be getting married soon. you will all be MRS. before we get there. I am very happy for all of you....

Right now, I am busy organizing my half sister's 18th birthday.. i will be scouting for wedding dress design after my sister's birthday.. I still have 3 months to have a custom made dress anyways so I hope I could really find the design that will be perfect soon.

I've found some gorgeous designs on ebay...all for women whose body shapes and sizes in no way resemble mine! I'm probably going to end up with a jacket/skirt combo.

You are not alone there.. future step daughter actualy offered to accompany me to go dress hunting when i get to NC but i declined coz I am sure it will cost more to have alterations done for the dress. That is the main reason why I am opting to have the dress sewn for me at least it will really fit me not some stick figure they call a model.

Okies Im gonna claim winning the Jackpot if my scan is clear on Friday, lol.

Suzie, where are you from in MA? I'm in Leominster...all my life. How exciting that you're almost done with this part of the journey!

Nicole... WOW, that came fast! Have a wonderful wedding!

Sally, i'm quite sure you'll be cashing in on Friday! We'll be thinking of you.

8 weeks today that we sent our petition off. You guys all just teased us with your 4 week approvals! It's a good thing i'm a glass half full kinda gal but my patience is wearing thin!

Thanks Kim, Im sure youll get yours soon, some of us Janarieans just wanted to show off, lol.

It will be here before you know it Dawn. I'm still looking for a dress for our civil ceremony. We aren't doing it at the courthouse, the minister who is doing our family wedding in September, is also doing our civil one -- we just have to decide here at the house, or some park, or on the lake, etc.

Hope the time passes quickly so you can be together!!!



Woooohooo, very exciting!!!!!!! Congratulations to you and Marco!



You are in our thoughts Sally ... I feel everything will turn out OK for you and Jay!!!!!



I bet it's just around the corner Kim!!!!! Can't wait to see you get your NOA2!!!!

Ty amanda, i hope so too, really dont want to start the visa process over again to bring him here.

I'm sure everything will turn out fine.


On a side note for us ... we went to the Social Security Administration today (11 business days, 16 days) since Stephen arrived. We got there before they opened, we got ticket #207 (#8 in line). So we waited 20 minutes outside the building, then got the number, then waited another 15-20 minutes, got up to the window, hand over the application, and his passport with visa & I-94 in it. We sit there quietly for a few minutes and she then looks up and says, sorry, he's not in the system, we'll have to file paperwork with DHS/INS to find his file. "How long will that take?" --- 4-6 weeks .... Umm, NOT! North Carolina requires a SSN# to get married (he can sign a waiver as a last resort)... but he prefers to have the SSN#, because without it, the license will take longer. So instead, we took the SSN# application back, and she gave us a phone number to INS, to find out where his file is, and perhaps we can go back in a week to apply.

Every state is different ... even all the SSA offices are different .... let the waiting continue

kim I live north of boston in north andover

cool... so not quite "Pah-kin' ur ca' in hava'd ya'd" but not too far away!

Evrything will be ok... I will be praying for you.




I am hoping and praying that you will get your NOA2 before the month ends.




OH GOLLY! I hope you get SSN# for Stephen soon. I will be arriving @ NC Sept. 4 and we plan to get married Oct. 3.. i do hope there will be enough time for me to get the SSN and then apply for license before then.

Good luck to you and Stephen, I hope they won't keep you waiting too long.

So the SSA gave us the number to USCIS - who can't help at this stage, once they approve the petition they no longer have case status updated (which I knew, but took the sheet the woman gave us for USCIS). I figured we would need to contact the local USCIS office (not the 800 number they gave us). Anyhow, got a helpful woman at the 800 number for USCIS and she indicated we would need to goto the local office (thank goodness the Raleigh/Durham office just opened last month, otherwise would have to drive to Charlotte!). Anyhow, we went onto the Infopass site, to set-up an appointment, not the most user friendly site to set up an appointment, but we found a way through. And we figured it would be a week or more for an appointment ... but to our amazement, we were able to make an appointment for 8:45AM tomorrow morning ... yay!!! So we are going to "kick some butt" tomorrow to find out why he isn't in the system yet. The woman at the 800 number said he should have been entered by the next business day after he entered the US! Hahahaha ... didn't happen!!!!

Gaye, I'll let you know how things go, at least our experiences might help you and Ricky move along faster!

Pls do, I would really appreciate it.

OMG!!! That had me on the floor laughing!!! My dad is from New Hampshire, and when he's talking fast, he sounds just like that!!!

most of 'us' do!

lolol kim ur so funny I work with a pharmacist who is from boston and we give her a hard time sometimes

Russell tells me that my 'boston' only comes out when i'm talking loudly or speaking to the kids. When I travel, people often think i'm from NY which is just an awful thing to say to a Bostonian!

Paul just got his visa in the mail ! woooooo he will definitely be here on the 18th!!

Suzie that's wonderful!!!! Congratulations!!!!

Congrats on the VIH (visa in hand!!!)!!!

Ricky tells me there is no standard american accent coz every state and even every city speaks in different twang... but I think, you guys would all be speaking at the same time and I wouldn't even know the difference or would never be able to tell which state or city your from. .. but I would want to learn how to distinguish it someday.

Congratulations Susie!

I'm terrible at placing accents. So I don't. I'll either wait until I find out where they are from, or, if I am really curious, I'll just ask where they're from!

England has a great many accents for what is a small country. There's a different accent for almost every county. As most people tend to move to attend university many end up with a mixed accent and so it's not always apparent to anyone where you are from.

Here in the Philippines we don't only have different accent, we have different dialect for every region... as of last count, there is more than 170 different dialects & languages spoken here. Our only unifying language is Filipino and English.

I know...Darren is originally from Essex, but has been in Devon for over 20 years...never heard an accent like his, but, boy, do I love it!!!

Hooray!!

Congratulations on the VIH!!!


We went and applied for Damian's SSN today. waited about 10 min and we were out within 15. said it'd come in the mail within 2 weeks yay!

Good luck to Sal tomorrow for the scan!

Thanks Rachael, be glad when its over and at least I will know if I will get my visa or not soon.

I'd love to hear what his accent sounds like!


I bet it'll be a huge relief! Here's to you finally getting your visa.

OK, so yesterday was of no help. The Raleigh-Durham USCIS local office just opened in the last month, they are barely up and running, and the employees barely trained. They didn't even listen to what we were saying, and told us to get SSN we'd have to file EAD (which we already knew to file EAD after marriage). So they went round and round with us, and then gave us a big folder full of information (stuff we already had) and said that we were wrong and he couldn't get a SSN until after EAD (which isn't correct). Even told them we weren't trying to get it for work, we just want to add him to the bank account and health insurance, etc. and they just wouldn't listen, said he had to have EAD. I figured they wouldn't be any help, and they were not. We went there to find out why he wasn't in the SAVE system, which is USCIS responsibility, if not in the SAVE system, no SSN can be issued (or you can have SSA file an inquiry to manually verify the entry, etc., which takes 4-6 weeks to process -- which we opted not to do!)

So I obviously had nothing to do at work, and made a few phone calls, also not helpful!!! Every agency immediately says, "Not our responsibility, call [fill-in-the-blank]" (for any other government agency). Well after a few of those answers I hung it up for the day. This morning I decided to call the main DHS line, and I got a helpful operator who told me that if he wasn't in the SAVE system yet, that I need to speak to someone at Customs & Border Patrol. He patched me through and I was on hold about 15 minutes and then got a helpful woman who gave me the phone number to the Raleigh-Durham CBP office and name of the department I needed to speak to and a person's name. I called shortly after that, got a lovely man who was very helpful. Since we only live about 5 minutes from the airport, I offered to come down to the office with Stephen. He said that would be great. So we went an hour later. He was very helpful, looked up Stephen's I-94, confirmed it wasn't in the system yet. Explained since Raleigh-Durham was a smaller airport, that it might take longer for the I-94 to be processed, etc. But he had us fill out another I-94, and changed the number on it to match Stephen's entry I-94 and submitted it today for entry into the system. And suggested we wait 1 more week to check again. Although he didn't really do much or give us any definite answers, he has been the most helpful person we have come across thus far. So we learned, don't enter through an airport that has only 1 international flight a day ... haha!!

It's not really slowing us down any, just a little frustrating .... so Gaye, if you are flying into RDU as your POE, beware, it might be a little slower for things to get moving

We are going to the courthouse tomorrow to get our marriage license!! Yay! And we are planning for a June 20th civil service .... *fingers crossed*

Thanks Amanda... my POE would be Detroit then connecting flight to RDU. I hope I will be ok then.
I hope everything gets resolved soonest for Stephen's SSN.

Sally, it is Friday morning here and I just sent a prayer that everything will turn out fine on your ct scan.

Thanks dbears im really scared.

Hoping for a good result for you, too!!!

One more day!!

thoughts and prayers with Sally today

Sal, thinking of you too! Come back and tell us how pretty you are on the inside!

In a few hours you would officially be MRS MARCO!!!

Learned from the DOS that we FINALLY have an interview date!! it's still over a month away, which puts his possible arrival well into August. But at least we got one. I want so badly to start making concrete plans now, but I am so afraid there will be yet another delay. An RFE, lost visa, something. I wish we could buy his plane ticket now, but can't take the risk that he won't have the visa by then. At least there is an end in sight!


I've been silently following everyone's progress... my computer is one of those affected by the mysterious 'log-off' problems some members have had wiht the VJ site in the last month or so. I can't stay logged in long enough to make any posts, so I just lurk instead.

Sally, I hope all went well today. You are in my prayers.

And congrats to everyone who has gotten their visa approvals, and to those who are already reunited with their loved ones.

P.S. I just looked at our timeline and realized it will have taken 3 WHOLE MONTHS from our NOA2 to the interview. That's 90 days for us. The processing time now is listed as 61 days, and I know of several who only had to wait 3 or 4 weeks.

Now you know why I expect some sort of delay with the visa. If there is any sort of delay to be had, it will happen to us.

It's so frustrating. It takes all the joy out of it.

We are married!!!!

We can't thank everyone enough for all of your support. We are looking forward to seeing everyone get married!

Hopefully we will have some pictures posted in a few days......

Congratulations to you!!
I'm impatiently waiting for the pics now!

Congrats must be a lovely feeling

The grand feeling lasted until this morning.. We woke up and our septic tank is backed up........Isn't this one of the reasons I bought a new house?

The plumber is here..... I'm continuously looking at my watch since he charges by the 15 minutes!

Congratulations Nicole!!!!

Sorry about your septic issues...eewwwwww! Ahhh the pleasures of home ownership!

Ok I had my ct scan today, omg i was terrfied. The injected me with some fluid because the doctor wants to see if the fluid is coming from anything else.

I feel very well and in my heart I truly think that If I had something nasty in my lung that I would feel something, maybe I am wrong but thats my belief.

Now again its the waiting game for me till I get my results next week, I will keep this thread updated.

Thanks to all of you for your care and concern, it is very heartwarming when you are scared for your life.

I have been in this relationship with Jay for 7 years and all we want is to be together, we are both so worried about what the resullt might be and also if I will ever get my visa released to me.

Hey Sal, already responded to you in the other thread but just wanted you to know that i'm thinking of you and still counting on that clean bill of health next week! The added stress can not be easy for you but stay positive... you're almost there!

Thanks Kim, no its not easy spend most of my time crying, I cant beleive after actually getting my visa this may stop me emigrating.

Big hugs for you Sally!

I'm in no way a doctor but you did say you were sick with the flu shortly before your xray. That infection creates fluid that blocks the alveoli and makes the fluid build up around your lungs. I've had pneumonia and that build up takes a while to go away...even when I was feeling much better it was there. IMO...It would explain their concern and the need for additional images on your lungs. Again, it's just a guess on my part and i'm sure you've considered it but perhaps being reminded will help ease your tension a bit.

The only thing you have control over right now is your own attitude. I can only imagine how difficult it is just considering all there is to think about but for now... try your best to keep that positive energy flowing! It could be anything... but it's also likely that this is nothing but another bump in the road and that next week this will all just be a horrible memory for you and you can be on to rejoicing and celebrating as you should be!!

Feel free to PM me anytime if you need a little glass of optimism until then!

Also praying for you to have a clear CT scan, Sally!!!

Congrats, Nicole!!!


I bought my wedding dress yesterday!!!