I have vonage - which is $24.99 a month with unlimited calling to the UK on land lines. Also, for $5 a month more I have a 'virtual' number that is a local london number that she can call that rings to my home phone. Also, she has BT international plan for like £6 a month its unlimited calling to USA (only catch is it's good for an hour, the like .02p a minute after...so we just talk for like 55 minutes and hang up and reset and call back lol).

the part that kills us is texting. It's not as bad as its been in the past. T-mobile is really good on this side and that side as well. I only play $.15 per outgoing text and incoming is free (since i have unlimited texting) for international texts. I think her's is 20p for outgoing text and free incoming for international...

With cell phone usage she basically calls me...and we do the whole talk for an hour, hang up and call back...etc. It's complicated...but it's our system that works

Oh, and we use MSN all the time! Besides emails, and snail mail letter/cards etc. I do have to admit, I look forward to when she's here - my cell phone bill will thank me!

when I'm there i think many things will thank me.

We got Vonage as well but before we could even use it I blew it up by plugging the charger in without checking voltage. So it took a lot of hassling to try and get it replaced, and we cancelled the service before we even used it. I can call Chris from my cell for B. 4 a minute (B. 30 = 1 US dollar) and with a phone card that's down to just B. 1 a minute. Chris can call me with a phone card for a few cents a minute as well. So it works for us. Texting is definitely kicking my ### because it's more expensive per text than calling directly each minute, but it's what is most convenient for us.

We e-mail rarely (mostly so we have evidence for the interview) and send cards and stuff every few weeks.

woh yeh five more feb filers approved.!! congrats guys.

Bleh, don't ever try to update forum info while drunk. Made a mistake and a bad one at that so had to re-register.


I'd love to pay that much! I'll be visiting Athens in December and I'm looking at $1600 minimum. I just hope to get the ticket before prices become even worse.

I certainly feel your pain as well. Just hang in there!


I get it easy I suppose. I have Vonage, like you, but I need a Call Europe plan which is another $10-$15 on top of the $25. Doesn't count if I call her cell phone rather than land lines. Ouchies. The easy part being on cell phone. International plans to Greece I find are at minimum $0.25/min on normal cell providers, so I had to go with Metro. It was $0.03/min to call, then it went down recently to $0.02, which basically gave me 33% more talk time for the same price, which is also quite a help. Problem is, their coverage sucks, so does their selections of phones (which they bank on). Like you guys, my wallet will be thanking me when she's here for good!

We spend time doing a lot of stuff online as well, like synchronizing movies together, playing video games, etc., but none of it will compare to all of the better stuff in person.

Is there any special way to get a touch? Or do they just do it randomly? Just want to make sure they're alive and it's been a month now.

SRVT that must be hard. I rooting that you hear from them soon.

sorry i shouldnt post when i'm groggy with a cold either, I read that wrong.


SRVT I doubt you can instigate a touch unless it cased by you getting in contact to update some error or change like address which involves them doing something to your file but even then i doubt it will stay out or get given to an officer ahead of its time. I'm guessing that when its not your turn yet it waits in box with others in your time frame.

we only had one touch that i can see but i'm thinking its a touch cost the last update date is the fourth and our no1 is the first but i think it coincided with the checque clearing so im guessing that was them boxing it.

I 've also seen people post that prior to getting informed of their noa2 they didn't get touches, so I would worry. just watch all the prior months get theres and get excited as it gets closer to mays turn, then the nerves will be at an all time hi

Bump!!

we got a touch on the 4th of this month do you think thats them amending our names? (missed the apostrophy in his and my hyphen) cos Vito phoned them ages ago about that.

Possibly I'm 100% certain our only touch was registering my change of address when I moved to Edinburgh from the US. And it appears currently only VSC seem to get random unexplained touches.

bumpity bump bump

Arghhh anyone get their Noa2s yet???Anyone??
haha...in an ideal world..............

i wish

I'm still hoping that septemberor poss even late august is our month.

has anyone been following the approvals lately? is it me or has out put slowed a little? please say its just me.

well the touch we recieved this month has been explained.

Vito just showed me an evelope from uscis not opened yet. my heart just stopped

its was just explaining that the reason his name is the way its set with no apostrophy is cos they dont have an apostrophy in their system. ok i can pick myself up of the floor now

I try not to follow the approvals on here *too* much, mainly just to see where the average date for filing is at...because the system is only as accurate as it is updated (i.e. members updating their profile). So i dunno if I'd say I've seen a slow down...we'll get there though, seems to be moving pretty steadily.

I'm hoping for end of September for us...god I'm getting so heart sick over this...I just want to be with Sarah...it's so hard not having anyone local really understanding the process or the strain...

Hey Jason, I know exactly what you mean about no one understanding. I have a friend who is closer than a brother could ever be, but he is marrying his high school sweetheart, and no one else understands either. The waiting, the distance, the not knowing....sometimes it just rips a guy apart. Sometimes when Melannie needs help, or just a hug, and the best I can offer is words over the phone, I just want to scream. I can't get very far away from my cows, but should you ever get up in west Michigan, and want to commiserate, get ahold of me. We can pat each other on the back for the blow we are striking for international relations!

I'm not really local to you, but hey, just hang in there and know your not alone in this process. I add my ache to yours, and maybe CSC will take pity on us and bring our ladies home soon.

JOHN

I hear you there man. This past weekend was killer. Sarah went away to France with 16 of her girlfriends for her friend's hen do. I went up to see my buddy in Mass, but ended up playing 3rd wheel to him and his girl (i can't fault him TOO badly as they just started dating and still in the honey moon phase), but it was rough. Little to no contact, and both of us today were just clinging.

Where abouts in Michigan? I have lots of friends up around there. Definitely up for hanging out some time, and when the girls get over here, it'd be great to have a victory party for us all! lol

I'm having a hard time of it all right now, today I just really feel the distance, and while I have September to look forward to, days like today our 6 month hopeful time line for her being here seems so far off. I try to break it down to easier time frames, like 54 days til she's here for a month....then only 2.5 months til Christmas when I'm there for two weeks...then hopefully she'll be home not long after that.

I've kind of exiled myself from friends too, as I don't like planning stuff for time when Sarah and I can spend it together...like I won't do anything except at night on weekends, as that's when Sarah and I spend most of our time together. I've been loathe to actually do any kind of outings, because as bad as it sounds, I just don't enjoy it much without her.

Does anyone have photos of you and your other half? Maybe we could start sharing some of our photos and stories to help pass the time! Any plans for when you're finally together?

http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn306/JasinNaedys/ <--that's a photobucket account we started for pictures of us and our visits and things like that. all just pics from March when I was in England for three weeks, after September we'll have more of us, and what not!

When people ask me how the visa process is going, all I can say is, "We're just waiting now." And we are. I really don't dwell on it anymore because there's nothing we can do at this point and it will happen when it happens, and the distance blows, but we are strong as a couple and know we're going to be together forever, one way or another. And that--not having to worry about the relationship itself--makes the waiting much, much easier. We talk sometimes about how, if October rolls around and there's no approval, we'll start thinking about another visit. But for us (Bangkok and St. Louis), visits are expensive, especially as we're saving for our life together. Anyway. We're holding on. Life is quiet and we're both busy with work, and that keeps us distracted.

As for pictures, some of ours are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3642...mp;id=504478551

Quite honestly, I just set my expectations low or get rid of them entirely. In regards to this, my expectations I think are far more than reasonably low, since I told my fiancee I'm expecting this to go through by May of next year. So a September approval or any way she could get her hands on her K1 this year would literally blow my mind. Preparing to deal with another lengthy time apart (if it drags on past the end of the year I'll be paying nearly $2,000 to fly out to Greece for Christmas/New Years), and making sure both people do their part to have as thick of skin as possible, and be there for each other even more.

I'm sure John will get back to you about the rest of your post. But he is in SW Michigan smack bang between Kalamazoo & Benton Harbour. - Melannie

Hey, a victory party sounds great, esp as that would mean this process was over lol! I feel the same, I try to isolate myself on weekends so I can be free to speak with my Melannie. We have found Skype "dates" to be great on the weekend, except it is a bit rough to be able to see her, but not touch her. And we try to get 30 mins each afternoon before I start milking, and another 30 at 1 am my time, she wakes me up for a bit. So that means i get to bed early, and dont go out as much as I might.

hi guys, hang on in there!

I agree with jason about the september approval thing, but i thinking september should bring us noa2s for us may filers, after that i'm a bit fuzzy I'm hoping that by the end of september the embassy should have our paket from the nvc well i'm hoping but i'm not so sure about reading the timelines for the bits after noa2. if we get the visa in time for an xmas wedding wow we will be stoked but its prob gunna be in time for next year hopefully early next year.

as for the photo

I think summer time is hardest for everyone...I was speaking to a friend of mine who went through the process a couple years ago, and she said the same thing...it was hard during the summer.

I'm really feeling it though, Sarah's got a wedding to go to next Saturday, and it's her Brother's birthday as well. So I'm going to lose her for the day. While I completely understand and all that, I'm frustrated because it seems like everything just wants to cut into our time. But I'm clinging to the hope that 6 months from now I'll have her in my arms and this will all have been worth it!

Cute couples everyone! Hannah - a Xmas wedding would be awesome for you guys.

thanks jason, i would love a xmas wedding, dunno what my family would think of it though what with the cost on what is already an expensive time of year but hey
we will get married when we can, we already have to organise it round the school holidays

I dunno about LAX, but it seems to me March is a very affordable time to fly between US and UK. That's when I got my airfare from Columbus for like $500. Fingers crossed for you though.

And I just found out one of my buddies is working for the FBI in D.C. on the background checks specifically for the USCIS. He can't help our cases, but well i thought it was kind of cool

Hey Jason

John asked me to add some pics he sent to me. Check our profile - melannie

We have finally hit 250 on Igors list. Yay!!

Now there is a chance we will go up agian but right this minute it feels ace!!!!!

I'm just going to ignor the fact our timeline estimate has blown out another 3 days.

i know we have hit 246 earlyer lol. its nice to see igors cos you can see what dates are really being approved by the uscis but i'm gunna ignore the timelines a little and just use as a basic cos its still giving six months to noa2 not full adjudication and thats not what i am seeing on igors and in the other month threads. they seem to be starting 4.5 months and up though to be honest the timeline is only off by a few weeks. oh well

ok now i feel gloomy my workings out has gone from 4.5 months to 5 months but still its not 6

ahhh rats went from 244 to 246 again. and why is it that every single person whose sent date is exactly the same as ours is above us even those that added their timelines after us, plus thier noa1s are after us too i dont get how that program organises things.

and to put me in an even worse mood i just found the estimated date currently being approved according to this sites timeline front page, which is appently feb 9th. so that puts it at 156 days bang goes my dreams of noa2s in september.

deffinatly not in a good mood tonight.

Well it finally happened we cracked 250 and are now 249.

No knowing how long this will last, as another day has been added to our timeline.

235 an it was all people updating their noa2s not a proccessing date shift. thats gotta be good huh?

and did anyone see the two march fillers? congrats to you guys!

We're 280...

long ways to go! But we're getting there...

you will get there when we started we were 310 in may

holy cow! We jumped to 269!

I just checked it!

and Hannah, where did you see teh 2 march filers?

if you scroll up to the last 20 noa2s on k1 its the first list on that page
they are like three or 4 from top and updated on 14th

I missed it!

Wow! lots of late Febs and 3 March's. Grats to them! Keep'em rolling

5 merlin & nubianprincess 2008-02-25 2008-03-04 2008-07-14
7 d & e 2008-02-27 2008-03-04 2008-07-14
8 vdm& dsm 2008-03-03 2008-03-04 2008-07-14
i stand corrected there are three march fillers!
and now we are 231

if march is starting to roll in, then perhaps you'll see your target date, Hannah. I'm still putting my money on October for us, cruddy divorce took far too long to get finalized!

I was thinking, wouldn't it be awesome if you and Sarah got the same interview date? That'd be nice so not to be going it alone!

that would be cool!! I'm not looking forward to doing the interview and medical in london on my own at all. especially not the medical.
it would be even cooler if my medical and interview could coincide with Vitos trip here on sept25 till oct 9th. we are planing on spending the nite in london too! but ho hum i think thats a long shot but yeh i think september is still apossibility for us may fillers.

4 marchies!!! looks like it is picking up again
but so many feb lot still waiting

maybe they just haven't updated their timelines...

but at least march is coming through...it means they're processing them and people aren't stuck in limbo....has anyone gotten a touch? Last touch we had was back on May 30th

we've had two total, first was 4th may must be the filling away and on the 4th of this month cos vito phoned them about our names

Hannah, what are you doing up at 4:30 in the morning? lol

i'm nite owl, i'm chatting to vito

hehe, ah yeah - LA time...it's only 8:39pm there. Sarah should be up in about an hour and 1/2...

yup
i've got tomorrow off so i will be busey doing dress alterations and trying to remember to go to the bank (i'm awfull for that) but i often stay up quite late/early as i like to speak to Vito, it keeps me sane and i dont work till 6.30pm normally anyhow lol.

now we are 229 what a crazy day this time last nite we were 246 i think

I know...lots of updates! We just jumped to 264.

well that's my shift at work coming to a close

be safe all and let's hope this week continues like this!

yup i concur jason enjoy the rest of your nite