Stephanie, the approved petition is valid for 4 months... so 4 months from NOA2 date. Consulates will routinely extend this period without much hassle or any paperwork on your part but usually due to their not being able to interview in that time frame. If you're going to go beyond the 4 months until his interview you will most likely need to file for an extension with the Consulate. Good luck.

Suzy, congrats hon!! I hope the visa is there in time for you to travel together. Did ya get that boy some thermals????

Good luck today Dale.

Raff, be thinking of you. Keep us posted!

Congratulations mama Nich and errr papa Nick! I hope you posted more about in the March thread!

Awww Gaura, Conrats to you as well. What a good feeling, eh?

Well we're still living in bliss and still feeling as though we were never apart. Weird, that is. We're very busy trying to get our yard/gardens ready for our ceremony. You know, the one that was suppose to be just a few people? Well it's turned into quite the event but i'm not stressing about it one bit! We're getting AOS paperwork ready this week as well.

Hope everyone else is well.

Thanks!! I'm pretty sure we'll make the 4 month mark because that will be around the first of December. If I see that we need and extension, I'll get info on that when needed. Thanks so much!! And Congrats guys!!

Stephanie

Congrats Suzy!!! We were all rooting for you!

Congrats susita!!!

quick question for all off you who have done ur flight to the US- VJ.com recommends having a layover of 3-4 hours 'just in case' - ie if the immigration people take forever to proess you. I will be catching my connecting flight in Atlanta, and I have two options- a flight with a 2.40hr stopover, or a 4.25 hour stopover- which do you think is the better choice??? I've read info on the Atlanta POE and some people have gone through in 10 minutes, others have had to wait around for hours and missed their flights!!!

I gave Alyona a kiss on USA soil last night, all went well threw JFK and she also received her EAD stamp , she did not have to ask.

At last the wait is over (very big big big sigh of relief).

Gaura, it's so hard to know how many other flights will be coming in that will need proccessing. I'd opt for the 2+ hour wait only because i'm impatient. Russell had only a couple of hours at LAX before his connecting flight to Boston and what held him up was that he was still on the watch list from being denied entry. Ended up making the flight... just.

Congratulations Dale and Alyona! Very happy for you.

Well we sold our souls to my aunts jewelery store this morning and my family has taken over preparations for our ceremony next week so all is well. Now.... what to wear????

Gaura mate, take the 4.25 option - if the price of that little extra peace of mind is 2 hours, then it's a bargain. I always look for the longer connection times whenever I go over there, if for no other reason than international airports are great fun, and it gives you longer to get pi$$ed in the wide selection of bars.

lol, thanks for the advise!! I have booked the 'peace of mind' flight, (even though, like Kim, Im soo impatient but yeah, I decided I can wait another 2 hours to see him after 3 months!! ) That will give immigration all the time in the world to deal with all the cocaine smugglers and deportations they need to (would be kinda cool to see them deport a cocaine smuggler!) However, I betcha I'll be out in record time, probably 15 minutes- and then have to bum around the airport trying on every perfume, sampling makeup and drinking too much in airport bars so that by the time I meet my fiance again I'll look and smell like a bargain priced 'lady of the night'

Only 48 days to left of this life ahh...then I'll be in a whole new world! Kinda scary!!!!! I cant even drive and Im moving to America lol!! Soo much to do including memorizing road rules!

Driving was one of the big things I was worried about as well (wrong side of the road and all that) but I had it nailed in a couple of days. And if you haven't driven on UK roads, and your first experience of driving is gonna be over there, then you'll take to it naturally.

As as for being a "lady of the night" nah, that happens in Prague airport!

SUZYY!!! AWWW... there is a problem about DHL delivery here.. DONT wait DHL to deliver Luis' passport..
they dont deliver passports in this case and they dont even notify u. Go pick up the passport right noww//!!! DO0NT WAIT ANYMORE!

Finally approved!!!! We had our interview on October 1st and it was approved, but he lost his birth certificate and police report... I was going to kill him.. We went again today, with everything (they are only open Wednedays) and it was all approved... Soo happy!!!

Congratulations Kristen!

We applied for our marriage license this morning... should have it on Monday.

I took ours in on Monday to have the marriage recorded with the county and got a certified copy to send in with AOS. It only took a few minutes. I love the face-to-face handling of things rather than mailing and waiting. Yes, another impatient one here.

It's nice reading all the good news in this thread. Keep it coming.

Ha, my love's never driven either. I wouldn't worry too much - the rules aren't so hard here, which may actually be the reason for the REAL problem: the drivers. I don't even live in a huge urban centre and I can't tell you how many unbelievable idiots there are out on the road - kids flying around in the sports car Daddy bought him, soccer moms yammering away on their cell phones in huge SUVs, you name it.

Although I don't agree with it being government regulated in theory, I can see WHY insurance is a requirement to drive now.

WoW!!!! so your fiance can officially go to the USA!!!! congratlutalions!!!!



Verito!!! did you get your passport ?? when are you leaving??? so much happy for you

vicky!!!!! I was waiting for it to come til today.. This morning I just realized that they dont deliver passports when I read a message stating they r waiting for me to go and pick up it. Friday is your day!!! omg I wish you all the best.. and congratulations on your visa amiga!!

Thanks all for your support, waiting is such torture!!

I know this waiting is such a torture!!!! Thank God tomorrow it's tha day!!!!! i had dreams about my interview LOL...Thank God the outcome of the dreams were positive

[quote name='Abe -n- Verito' date='Oct 8 2008, 09:40 PM' post='2286759']
vicky!!!!! I was waiting for it to come til today.. This morning I just realized that they dont deliver passports when I read a message stating they r waiting for me to go and pick up it. Friday is your day!!! omg I wish you all the best.. and congratulations on your visa amiga!!
[quote name='vickydeutsch' post='2286718' date='Oct 8 2008, 09:25 PM']

I know!!!! i am so anxious for this to be over!!! I cant deal with the stress anymore!!!

OK, got back from Naples a few hours ago, and I guess you can all see from my signature that everything went well.. The long-awaited visa is stuck to a page of my passport, and it still feels sort of unreal, after such a long wait (eight months all told). Though the preparation was nerve-wracking, the interview itself was one of the funniest moments in my life - all the CO (whom I suspect was none other than the consul himself) wanted to talk about was the area in Rome where he used to live and near which I live myself, and the disappearance of a particularly beloved street market. Talk about a piece of cake!

Anyway, if there are no snags, I am planning to leave in the early days of November... I'm so very happy!!!

I just love hearing that from you. Raff, I am so pleased that you have the visa in hand. Woohoo
It's such a great feeling to know you can control your own timeline now. Congratulations, my friend.

Congratulations!!!!! i am very glad everything went smooth for you!!!

Well....I was approved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! today was my interview and I was very nervous but everything went well, people were nice> The only thing was the waiting......three hours of torture!!! but at the end everything was perfect!!!!

^{CONGRATS ON UR VISA VICKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}

CONGRATS VICKY..........................

Congratulations Raff!!!

Congratulations Vicki!!!

Very happy for you all!

We're still very busy trying to plan for our 'part 1' ceremony next Saturday. Oooo exactly one week from today at this very time we will be married. yay! It's funny how the days just seem to fly by now after they dragged for so long... not fair!

Still waiting to hear from Suzie and we've not heard from Graham and Meagan or others in a while either.... where are you all. I want updates!

Update from Mama and Papa NichNick~~~
Married Sunday
Mailed AOS/EAD/AP Thursday
Social Security card ordered Friday
US bank account and ATM card Saturday (today)

Yep it does go fast.

Congratulations Vicki and.... yes, Susita hurry up and report in!

Congratulations to all.

Well, I think we are the last ones for the interview from the April board. His interview is not until Oct 21 (10 more days)
I am very anxious and worried. If all goes well, he will come home on Oct 27. We have optimistically planned our
wedding for November 8th. Hopefully all will go smoothly..

Congrats to all on your visas, your entry in to the US, your reunions and your weddings! We hope to join the ranks soon.

JILL and Jamerson

Hola a todos soy nueva en este foro: he buscado por todos los sitios web donde me han indicado y no he podido tener respuesta a una inquietud que tengo.

Mi novio envio los documentos el dia 15 de septiembre 08, a la oficina de Vermont que es la mas cercana al sitio donde reside, y aun no hemos recibido el codigo. quisiera saber cuanto tiempo debemos esprar para tener el codigo. sabemos que este proceso demanda tiempo y paciencia, pero nos inquieta saber cuando obtendremos este codigo, ya que a los dos dias que enviamos los documentos el cheque fue cobrado por ellos.

Agradeceria toda la informacion que puedan regalarme al respeto.

Les envio muchas bendiciones y un monton de felicidad para Ustedes y sus parejas.

Marybell

Ok...

So sorry for not giving you guys all the details, we had a CRAZY experience. So I'll start from the beginning:

We had our interview on Oct 2nd (Thurs). We were approved, no problems, no crazy questions, everything easy as pie.
It was a bit of a wait, we were called into a room by the consul but he was really nice and everything, everything went fine.

They said we would have the visa in 2 days, to pick up at the DHL office in San Isidro. Well, they kept giving us the runaround and it never arrived there when it was supposed to. We went to the embassy the day before the flight and I called the consul begging for them to let us pick it up there because otherwise we would lose the tickets. The security guards outside helped us so much, and they were all great, we wound up with the visa, thank god, and were able to leave the next day at 6am. We had to wait until 6pm outside the embassy for DHL to give us the visa though.

So the next part of our adventure starts when we board the flight to NY. We had a layover in Miami, and our flight arrived late to Miami. Then, someone in the immigration office was in the process of getting deported so we waited there for about 2 hours and missed our flight to NY. American Airlines was nice enough to rebook us the next flight but switched us to LaGuardia. We got to NY at 7:20 pm, picked up some Chinese food and went home.

We went shopping on Thursday to get everything we needed. Yesterday, I worked and he stayed home and reorganized everything in the apartment (bored, lol). Today he stayed home while I worked and watched the kids. Things have been interesting... but good. It's more natural then we thought it would be.

Thanks to everybody who helped me along this process. We're just adjusting right now, things are coming along little by little. Yesterday we went to a supermarket and we bought Inka Kola, Chicha Morada, and Cuzqueño (his beer). So he feels a little like at home.

Suzy: You can find Inka Cola in the US????? I've ALWAYS wanted to try it and its's stupid how you can find it in the US and not in Brazil, since Peru is right here!! I wanna tryyyy it!!!
So what does Luis think about America so far? I imagine it's a huge change for him.

Leaving on tuesday, changing the way I feel about it every 5 minutes!! I feel excited about it and then devasted because of the people I'm leaving. I thought I'd get rid of the airport drama once I was with Joey forever, but I realize it now, never gonna happen. I'll probably be crying just as much for friends and parents.

Bueno eso a veces tarda pero si ya viste que el cheque fue cobrado no hay de que preocuparse, llegara pronto. En mi caso demoro como 2 semanas y media para que llegue el NOA1 (la primera notificacion). Paciencia, mucha paciencia y buen humor!!! y muchisima suerte en tu proceso!!!!

Suzy!!! I am so glad everyhting went very well!!!! I was approved last friday and i have to pick my passport on Wednesday!! I hope i dont have to deal with DHL .....Fortunately, I will be in New York on October 29th!!!! and I am sooooo excited and sad at the same time. i will leave my family, cousins, friends, etc but very happy to start a new life with my baby boy !!!!

heyyy... Im so happy for you Suzy.. finally Luis n u are together.. I just saw ur hi5 message.. cool!!!
Vicky.. ar u going to NY??? omg.. Suzy is NY with Luis.. and my honey too!!
We met Suzy and Luis at the embassy.. they r such a cute couple, very nice guyz!!
Our wedding will be on January 09.. I just want to spend all my time here with my family and be with them in christmas.. our last christmas together AWWWWW. My baby is ok.. he is working as I am and we r sooo happy we r gonna start the new year happily married. Kim n Russ = Congratulatiions on your wedding!!!!!

Lots of kisses for you.. and my best wishes

Congrats to everyone getting their visas with little to no problems! I guess I'm one of the latest interveiw dates - the SO has his on Thursday. There's been a mixed bag of interview experiences out of New Delhi over the last couple of weeks. I hope hope hope [did I mention hoping] that we get an ok CO and that it goes smoothly. I'd love to hear that we are good to go but am prepared to hear name checks/ap.

It really it great to see such positive outcomes!

Good morning April. Boy, we are all moving along, aren't we?

Suzie, so glad Luis is finally here and it sounds like you are all adjusting well.

Lauren, good luck to your love on Thursday. I will keep my fingers crossed that you get a CO that wakes up on the right side of the bed and is fair.

We are still preparing for our garden ceremony on Saturday morning. It's a lot more work than we wanted, especially after all we've been through, but it will be wonderful to celebrate our union with our family and friends. We should be right at peak fall color here in North Central Mass this weekend. I just hope it's not too cold. One good thing about doing all of this again in 6 months... if we don't get it all right this time...we'll get another shot at it. Really, it just wont feel totally complete without Russell's family there to join with mine.

Russell is working p/t for now until his EAD comes through and the headhunters can place him in a job in his field. We plan on filing for AOS within a week or two. Still not been to the social security office. I guess we'll add that to our 'to-do' list this week too.

All these months/years of waiting and now everything feels so rushed. How weird that is.

Can't wait to be done with all this bureaucracy and onto living!

Happy thoughts and well wishes April.

Hi kim & Russ !
congradulations on everything !
Is it ok to work part time without the EAD?
that would be cool.
my SO will be here on october 29.
Rock on April !

Hi Jer, thanks.

No, it's not 'ok' to work without EAD. Shhhh!

He is just helping to fix computers for one of the companies I work for.

He has his masters in Geological Engineering and a degree in Chemistry as well so he will not work in his field until he has EAD.

ok thanks
so as long as it is shhh ! its ok.
take care !

Hi All,

We got the officitial approval on October 8th and have been trying to wait patiently for the DHL package to arrive with his passport / visa. I am seriously stalking the DHL website and since the 8th it keeps saying "En espera de retiro por destinatario como solicitado." Assuming that just means we have to wait more... They said between 5 - 10 days, but as he lives in Santiago, I thought he would have gotten it sooner, and I sure would have thought they would have shipped it already............... waiting again, gosh, I can't wait until he is here!

Good afternoon Kristen ....and all you lurkers

I'm sure it's on it's way Kristen. I know, every moment seems an eternity. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Well Saturday is looking a bit chilly but eh, we'll have a fire going and extra blankets for our guests. Can't wait.

I hope the rest of you come out and play soon.

Kim you're lucky, you only had to wait 2 days for the visa! I am definitely not looking forward to the cold weather, but at least this year I will have someone with me to keep me warm, as we all will..

"En espera de retiro por destinatario como solicitado"
Is what it said the entire time it was at DHL. Call them. The website never updates.

At least not in Peru.

Good luck Kristen!

Hi.. That message means your fiance has to go to DHL office and pick up his packet himself. Here, we had to pay 16 soles.. (USD4) and we thought that the payment included the delivery so I was waiting for so long.. then I called them for ask about my packet and they told me : we're open from 9 til 5.. come now..

as I said before.. tell him dont wait anymore.. good luck guyz and congratulations on ur visa again

When I paid DHL in the embassy, I asked if they would deliver but the lady told me that I needed to go to DHL in 3 business days. So tomorrow I will go no matter what!!!!

I spoke to DHL and they said they didn't yet receive the Visa, so I guess we just have to wait. I also contacted other people who went through Chile and they said DHL delivered the visa to them.. I just have to wait - oh how much I love that...

Overall, I was unhappy with the DHL service in Peru. I actually complained about it to DHL here - I work in a DHL authorized shipping center so when I called to order supplies from corporate I filled them in on the fact that DHL in Peru totally sucks. Not like it's going to do anything, it just made me feel happier to vent.

Luis is watching my kids today because they're both home sick from school. He gets along so well with them and he's such a big help that I don't know how I did it before he got here!!!

I went to DHL today (according to DHL at the embassy) and I picked my passport up!!!! sooo happy!!!! no problems at all!!! I also received a brown envelope which is sealed The lady told me not to open it. the immigration officer will open it up when I enter the USA...so i can officially enter the USA!!! i will flying to my baby's arms on November 5th!!!!

Hi everyone,
I couldn't bear to read about everyone's interviews and fiance/es finally coming because we were stalled waiting for the interview (6 weeks wait time)...so I just avoided the whole site! But...I'm back because things are finally rolling again...

Simo had his interview today (finally!!!) I figured out that the Casablanca consulate pretty much closed down for all of Ramadan (the whole month of September) and so even though I am soooo frustrated that we had to wait an extra month to get to this point, I know that it is all worth it, and we have been so strong supporting each other. He said it went really well, things out of Casablanca have not been good recently, so many reports of rude COs and rejections for no reason, but Simo says his interview went really smoothly -- the lady said no need for evidence or financial support or anything, just wanted to know where Simo had traveled, how we met, where I lived in Morocco, what I was doing now. That's it!

She said it "wouldn't be long" which is great! Of course being Moroccan, we have to go through mandatory AP -- but it seems like the good kind, where all is asked is just a little time. Let's hope its really a little time, not a lot!

So, we are thinking, the next week or two he should get the visa, and a week or two after that, boarding the plane! I am so excited, and adjusting well, I'm in my first year of PhD program, so balancing the multiple stresses is hard...but luckily I have a whole week off for Thanskgiving, so we are thinking that is when we will do the quick courthouse wedding/honeymoon and just get Simo settled in.

I can't wait. I know we have been so lucky, as I was living in Morocco for so long that it really hasn't been THAT long since we've seen each other, but this whole process just seems to drag on and on...boo!

Ok, just wanted to let you all know that things are going well for us! And I can't wait to go through the whole EAD/AOS process with you all! You have been so supportive!