Hey All,

I'm back around after a bit of a VJ break. Ira and I have been busy exploring and adjusting and planning and learning etc. We got married last week in a quite ceremony. Overall, it's been a great time since she arrived, although I gained 20 lbs introducing her to all the various foods / restaurants we have here.

Now we're beginning the AOS process (just downloaded the forms), and are looking forward to stepping back into the bureaucracy. It was a nice respite.

How's everybody else doing? Did I miss anything good?

Z

welcome back and so happy to hear ur doing great

Ooooooo, that's a tough one. Did you miss anything 'good'? Hmmmmm. No idea.

But, congratulations on your marriage, if not the weight gain, and welcome back!

Congrats on the marriage.

This is where I believe the "real" Visa Journey begins. We stress about the interview and getting them here and all that stuff, but in reality, that's a cakewalk compared to everyday life together.

Good luck, and hope to see you back here.

Cant argue with you there slim, the journey to get the visa is the easiest and shortest one, now the fun begins.

Well, Ira and I have lived together for quite a while now (I did a two year stint in Russia), so the main change for us is the scenery outside (and the new growing expense of the phone bill). The visa process really did seem to take forever, especially since we were given bad information from our attorney who figured it'd be all sewn up in 2-3 months. Adjustment is Status, though, is where the real worry is. Ira wants to get back to Russia to visit friends and family and has to do another 3-week period at the university in March '09. But from what I'm reading AOS can take, in some cases, years.

But yeah, things are going well. I can now relate much more to the "picky food" threads that had been floating around. Ira agrees with [I think it was KSGoodie's post] that cheese should not start as powder, but it's ok for potatoes. She can't stand any kind of mixing of sweet with meats, as in orange chicken, steak with barbecue sauce, pork chops with apples, etc... She's also disappointed with our mayonnaise - not because it isn't tasty - but because it decomposes when heat is applied and creates a clumpy oily mess all over her favorite dishes from home. She likes Chinese food, though, and adores Burger King's chicken sandwiches.

Z

AOS is actually pretty quick and easy. Just fill out the forms using your VJ training and you'll be fine.

If you've already got her eating Chinese and BK, she's going to have no problem at all adjusting to life here! (Has she tried the Loaded Steakhouse Burger?)

You should really look into alternatives to calling Russia if your phone bill is climbing. There are lots of other threads in here that cover that. Maybe you saw them?

AOS was easy here too. The hardest part was saying good bye to all that hard earned money.

Yeah I saw the phone threads. We pay 7 cents per minute with SkypeOut, and will be switching to Yahoo which has a 5 cent plan.

As for AOS fees -- don't get me started. I've been enormously disgusted with the money sunk into this process for the government, to which I pay taxes. The notion of spending another $1200 (and more) is outrageous. And for what service? The pushing of paper through the bureaucracy?

Z

Actually, USCIS, is not sponsored by your tax money. The agency, according to law, must get all of its funding from fees.
www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/FinalRule.pdf
The real problem is that USCIS has a monopoly over immigration services and does not have to compete in a market economy for its services, thus fees never fall and service never increases.

I do know that it's not sponsored by tax dollars... Which is really outrageous in my opinion. This process has been one of my very few interactions with the government, and in each case (this included), it seems that they always need extra fees for service.

Z

I spent the better part of seven years in the military, defending the freedoms of our country...... all the while paying taxes.

I lived in a govt. home on govt. property, ate govt. food, wore govt. clothing, worked in a govt. building doing govt. stuff..... and still had to pay the govt.

Don't try to figure it out, you'll go cross-eyed!