I don't know why, but I've been thrilled to meet other French/American couples here on VJ. I know there's a French-speaking thread here but lots of countries speak French... I'm curious to meet other couples where the foreign fiance(e) is in or came from France.

For the French/American couples here, where in France does/did the Frenchie live? Does the USC speak French, and if not, is (s)he learning? My fiance lives in Rambouillet. I managed to learn some French during his last visit but without having him pointing to things and being able to watch his mouth I'm just clueless... guess I'll have to wait til he's here again to learn. Written French is similar to Italian at times so I can figure some of it out. But spoken, hoo boy... I joke with my fiance a lot that the letter R needs to be obliterated from the French alphabet because I can't figure out how on earth to pronounce it!

My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL.

Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy.

Hi there Angilla and all the French/American couples.

Well I registered on VJ when I first started the K1 process and haven't really used it since then. But time has passed.
I have yet to learn how to post my timeline, sorry I've been pretty busy lately.
But just so people no more about me...

I'm the Frenchie of the couple. I live in the South-Western part of France (Pau to be more precise) and my fiancé is from Texas but currently lives in Tennessee.
I got my interview date with the US embassy in Paris a couple of days ago and I'm sooo excited.
I wish I could have spent Xmas break with my fiancé but I guess I'll have to wait because my interview is on the 3rd of January.
By the way, how long does it usually take to get the visa after the interview (if you've been approved of course!)?
Is the interview that stressful?! Personally, I don't feel too worried about it? Should I be?

My fiancé speaks French and has been studying in France for a semester a couple of years ago (that's when we met). I've also studied English so language has never really been a problem for us.

As for the French "r" Angilla, I wouldn't worry too much. I will probably never be able to pronunce the American "r" anyways!!! And American people speaking French with an accent is just so cute!

Well I guess that's all I can really say about me... I'll keep you all posted when I get approved and when I get MARRIED (man, I just can't wait!).
After the wedding we plan on filing for adjustment of status with the Dallas Program (even though my fiancé is in TN right now, we are going to live in TX). Hopefully that gets me a green card pretty fast so I can be free to plan a wedding with my family and friends in France.

laetinusa.

I'm the frenchie in our couple and I was borned and lived in Paris pretty much my whole life. My husband came to France and lived with me in Paris for 3 years before we moved to America.

He doesn't speak French and doesn't learn he just repeat a bunch of things I say all the time like "arrete", "je t'aime" or whatever comes to my nouth in French when it comes to strong feelings and emotions. Anyway I speak English all the time and i don't have the patience to teach French to him also to be honest I'd rather speak French with fluent people especialy since I'm in America.

You can see if there is a Alliance Francaise near you, they provide very good French lessons and have all kind of ressources about French culture you can call the local French consulate/embassy to send you a list of French organisations too.

laetinusa I received the visa about 10 days after the interview.

Hi frenchies!

I just moved from France 3 months ago exactly and been living in Chicago with my wife...Actually it is really cold comparing to the usual weather in Paris. With the current low temperatures, my poor feet are frozen all the time...LOL...

Well, that is great idea to creat a thread for couple like us... , so we can share our experiences.

As for me, I am now currently seeking a job, did not think it would take that long But maybe I don't do it the right way...

Where do you other frenchies live in USA?

Good luck for all of you !!!

Hi all,
I am the frenchie in our marriage. Shawn is the american one... We got my green card August 2005! YAY! That was the biggest relief in my life when I got this priceless card in the mail...

anyway I'm glad to see that I'm not the only french woman to marry a gringo!

You guys keep in touch!

-Em

Chouette!!!! I'm jealous, Shayrene - you're guy is here already. But mine will be in PORTLAND IN A FEW HOURS. He's in the air right now. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm taking a couple weeks off and we're going to Vegas to get married. He is the francophone, a native of the Comores islands off the coast of Mozambique. He's been in France 15 years, split between Paris & Marseille. We met June 2995 while my sister and I were vacationing. Language has been interesting! I had some French in high school, he some english in high school. We communicated with my travel dictionary when we first met. Since then I've taken a course from Alliance Francaise here in Portland, and a couple more classes at the community college. I enjoy language so it's been fun. I'm also trying to pick up a few words of his comoran dialect. All in all this has been a life changing experience. Bonne chance to all still waiting.

I live in Washington state, moved here 3 months ago.
I don't really like living in the States and will move back to France as soon as I have the American citizenship, I don't know what I was thinking when I moved here :-/ I guess because my husband doesn't speak French we thought it would be easier for me to find jobs in America but still it doesn't work for me, I never felt depressed like this in my whole life, it's pretty bad *sigh*

Hi!

I am so happy to read other couples' stories! Angilla, creating this forum was a great idea!

I am also the Frenchie in the marriage. My fiancé and I met 4 years ago at school in Virginia. We decided to get married in June, went through all the process... waited and waited... and finally got rewarded: I received my visa 2 weeks ago!! I am soooo excited (and cannot wait until I leave in January!!) I can now concentrate on planning the legal wedding in the US and the reception in France.

I know some more paper work is waiting for us, sounding like adjustment of status, advance parole.. yum-yum
Laetitia, I have a dumb question: you said you were going to apply for your AOS with the Dallas Program and hopefully it will be fast. Is the Dallas Program known to be faster than others? Would you have any piece of advice to make the process quicker?

Well, this is about it for now.
Good luck to everyone!!!

Hi I am the Frenchie of the couple too.

My husband is currently in Iraq for an 18 month tour. It's hard sometimes but we both work and save most of our paycheck so that we can work on hour house in Minnesota and not be too stressed before I find a job.

I am very happy to see lots of couples from France! One actually live in the same city as me! it's a small world.

Congrats on his arrival! I bet that must feel good!

What does "francophone" mean? Live-in tutor, that's a great point, I never thought of that!

My fiance's family lived in England for 2 years so at least most of them speak fairly good English. His mom is going to get the internet soon so I'm hoping to be able to talk to her over MSN a bit. I've chatted with his sister over MSN... when she hacked into his MSN to get my e-mail address and talked to me trying to convince me to convince him of something. Needless to say, I don't exactly like her. Heh. I've told him that I definately want him to take me to France, show me around, and introduce me to his friends/family. Just need to be able to afford it and get the time off from work, first.


Oh that's okay. Click on "immigration timelines" up at the top. Then on the left under "Timeline Functions" click on "Edit / Add my Entry" to set up or edit your timeline.


That's great! Congratulations! You'll do great, I know it. Let us know what the interview is like so we can have an idea of what to expect! I don't know how long it takes to get your visa afterwards, but read Shayrene's Paris interview experience post if you haven't already. Don't get nervous/worried - it is what it is, you answer questions and swear you're telling the truth and provide any additional evidence that you want to. Make sure you know a lot about your fiance - what kind of work your fiance does, how you met, etc.


That's what he tells me, too! He said the way I pronounce the French R is cute. I'm embarassed, though, and when he tries to teach me a word with an R in it I jokingly groan and protest.


Thanks! I checked and the closest one is 50 miles away in NYC. I'll check to see if there's others around here that have free/cheap lessons as I can't affod much. I would sort of prefer to have him move here and teach me, though. As bad as it is... I don't like the French language. I love languages and always wanted to learn more EXCEPT French and German. And now I'm engaged to a French guy who wants our kids to be bi-lingual, and I want our kids to know all about their French heritage too (but I want to teach them about their Italian side of it also), so... time for me to start liking French! I think I'll like it a lot more once he's here because he just sounds so sweet when he's speaking it. My 85 year old grandma told him that he has a sexy voice, LOL, so maybe that has something to do with it!


I'm American and it took me 2 months of interviewing to find a good job. Before that it took me another 1 or 2 months of interviewing to find a bad job that I had to quit. So... it's tough these days. If you'd like, send me a PM and I'll give you my e-mail address. Send me a copy of your resume and cover letter and I'll see if I can suggest any changes. Are you sending thank you letters after interviews? If so, send me a copy of that too. If not, I'll send you the one I sent out after all my interviews.

I live in New York, by the way.


Congrats on the marriage and green card!





Okay I have to get ready for work, I leave in 10 minutes and am still in my pajamas... lol... I'll respond to the rest of you when I get home later.

Hi I'm Sheigh,

I'm the USC in our couple, my husband is french. We've been married since 1999 and are in the process of doing a DCF, we just got our interview date last week.

We live in the north of the Bouches-du- Rhone and I've been here for over 10 years. We also have 2 lil boys (3yrs and 7mos).

We'll be moving at first into the SoCal region (not L.A., but South Orange County) and staying with my mom a year, the time it takes to get on our feet.

We're a bit nervous about the move though starting over from zero and all. But we'll see...We just bought our plane tickets today, sicne there's four of us we didn't want to risk having to pay too much so we bought them in advance, but it's still more than 1 1/2 mos after the interview, so it should work.

Good luck to all,

Sheigh

I'm the Frenchy too
I'm from the South West as well, I've lived most of my life in the middle of the Pyrenées and some time in Toulouse too.
The only difference compare to all of you is that we are not engaged yet. But it's a thought, and I'm trying to figure out how things work.

We met in August 2004. His cousin who is also my godfather's wife, decided to do match making and to our biggest surprised it worked. I already spoke fluent English at the time because I spent 10 months in Texas with my godparents after high-school. He doesn't speak French, well appart from "oui", "non", "merci" and "à tes souhaits" (we always say that instead of bless you). I really want him to learn though, I've been trying too, but I think he lacks the curiosity to ask for words so I feel like I'm pushing him and I end up not trying to for a while.

I lived with him 5 months last year, while I was doing an internship to finish College, then I came again for Christmas, and after 7month1/2 (that felt like an eternity ) I saved enough money to come under my B1/B2 tourism visa, to stay 6 months with him and try to look for a job. It's not working so far, so I'm opening to other options as I don't plan on being away from him for that long again, it's too hard on us and on my family (I'm a pain in the ### when away from him).
My family doesn't know him yet, so that's something I would like to do, hopefully in 2007.
I love the area where he lives and don't have any problems imagining myself living here.

Anyway,wa have until february to decide what we do. And I think this forum is going to be very helpful. It's great to know other couples in the same situation and share what we go through.

oh and Angilla
francophone means a person who speaks French (they can be from any country).

Cheers.

Hello all,

I'm the USC here, although I hope to be French soon as well (married for more than 2 years, one of which was in France, and speak the language).

My wife is from Essone (91), and I lived there with her for a year and a half.

France is an interesting place. I did a lot of cycling while I was there, so I fell like I really got to learn it.

Luckily, the 24 hour supermarket down the street from me here in Seattle has Bleu de Causses, Roquefort Papillion, and Sel de Ile de Re. I just wish I could find some of that Bretagne butter....

Hi!

I'm the American of the couple (from Atlanta), and Roland is from a city just outside of Lyon, France. We met while I was studying there, and his mother was my program coordinator for exchange students. She was the one to introduce the two of us. I speak French, and he also speaks English and German fluently because his family is a mix of cultures as well.

We started the K-1 process in October, and he is visiting me for Christmas. Thanks for starting this group! It's great to have support from people with similar experiences.

Happy Holidays!

Hey Sleepless,
It has been a long time since I have emailed you. Congrats on your FI coming today. It is a wonderful feeling. Enjoy every minute with him. We have been together for 3 days now. Everything is new to him including my driving. I never drove when we lived in France. I think I scare him a little, but hey I 've been driving for over a decade. LOL. It is funny that he has been getting more phone calls than me. It seems that all he had to do was call one of his friends and all the Togolais in the USA knows that he is here. I am happy that he is being able to reconnect with distant relatives and in-laws. I'll let you know how he adjusts.
A tout a l'heure,
Shayrene

I know exactly how you feel. It was the same for me when I lived in France with my fiance. He would come home from work in Lille and I would look so depressed because I had no friends and no job. It is more difficult to find work in France. It will get better. I know that each region of the USA is different. I think that my time in France would have been better if I had been in Paris. Maybe you could research other places to live here or visit if moving is out of the question. Be sure to teach your husband French so that when you do move back to France, he isn't lost and depressed.

Hi there,

I'm not a part of a France/America couple, but I hope I can be a part of this thread anyway!

My husband is from Algeria, but lived the past 10 years in Paris, which is where we met 5 1/2 years ago. I lived there for a year to be with him, and studied at the Sorbonne, which was the best year of my life! I speak French fluently, and French is actually the primary language we speak in our household.

Living in France vs. living in America is quite different. The French are used to free healthcare, a great public transportation system, and a more relaxed way of life. Coming to the US, the healthcare insurance system sucks, public transportation is non-existant in some cities, and most people live for their jobs. However, it's a bit easier to find work here, and I've found (in my experience anyway) that racism isn't as rampant. I love each country, and can see the plusses and minuses of both.

Having said all that, I miss Paris! Amed and I are thinking of going back to settle there once he gets his U.S. citizenship. I was there for a year, though, and had the right to work part-time, and only got one job offer out of the countless jobs I applied for. I couldn't even take that job because I was still waiting on my carte de sejour, and they needed someone immediately. I found that you almost have to know someone in order to get your foot in the door and get any kind of job.

What does the French half of the France/US couple think of being in the US? I know that KittyKat said that she's having a hard time finding work. Did you find it easier to find work in France? Are there things here you appreciate more than France? What do you miss from your home country?

I think this is a very interesting thread!

I think it's too soon to tell why I don't like it, it's an epidermic feeling that I don't belong here and I'm not trying to either. I don't like the food I tried, I don't like celebrations and holidays, I don't like Jesus, I don't like to have to explain to people that their stereotypes are wrong, Xmas makes it worse for me because I don't celebrate it and I'm just NOT into this crazy "Xmas spirit" that is so annoying!!!
The only thing I love in America is shopping because the customer service is great but that's it.

If I don't find jobs it's because I live in a small town and don't drive. I lived in downtown Paris my whole life and never needed to drive. Isolation might kill me I guess, i'm a city person but don't love the closest city either, I miss Paris badly and Seattle is really not attractive.

I made a mistake moving to America that's all there is to it.

I like being in the US, but I guess it's because I love the region where I am. I've been in Texas and Georgia before, but I really love Western North Carolina. Mountains, and human sized cities. The people are different from other areas where I've been too. It's a mixture of neo-hippies, workers and who knows what else. It has a more easy going atmosphere than other places where I've been.
My boyfriend is vegetarian, and I'm now getting used to rarely having meet. We tend to shop at a health/organic/local supermarket, and they have some really good food, and some good French cheese, so it makes things easier

I do miss French bread, croissant (I don't find them as good here) and some types of cheeses that you don't find here. I miss the news from Arte and the cheap medical system. And I miss some of my friends too.

I think it's easier to find a job (except that I don't have a visa that allows me to work yet), but they give more chances to young worker and I know that if I had the proper visa I would already have a job (I almost did, but they didn't want to sponsor a visa ).

I think it's important to find an area (geographically) that you appreciate, meet your husband/fiancé's friends, probably get involved in social activities some you get to meet more people and pass your driving license (I have mine, and it really helps).

ehehheh.... lucky you!!!!
Here in Chicago I haven't found yet any store which sell french products, I mean I have seen lots of things that brings a french label...but made in USA!!! So obviously they taste different...

Yeah I believe this thread is open to anybody who wants to leave any comment. ..So please feel free to come back so the French network is raising up

According to my short experience in USA (3 months), people here mostly live to work, there are plenty of people who have 2 or more jobs so obviously they don't really have time for hobbies. People look more hurried even "speed" with the French meaning...LOL...
I think I will lose soon the meaning of week-end here since my wife has a flowershop open 7 days/week

But the good sides are that people look more dynamic, enthousiathic...even if sometimes it is too much because reminds me the "american imperialism" something like "the world belongs to them"... !!! PAS TAPER OK...LOL

I most miss the french relaxed life, this life after work, the RTT...and definitly all my 40 days vacation!!!! ...
Also the food in general, maybe it is me but evert kind of product looks bigger here, taste different...even the pork meat looks and tastes funny

Also having hard time searching for a job but not desperate yet...

Catch you later

Hey. I got a message from you. Actually, my husband is from France. His visa was issued out of Senegal, but he lived most of his life in France. I would love to join your group.

Elizabeth

Regarding the question of how the French person likes living in the US. My husband has been here since 2000, and I've actually never been to France. I've heard a lot of what other people said about France from him, good and bad. He seems to like the US, but he can't wait to get his adjustment of status so he can travel back to France for a visit. He actually learned English here in the US, but he speaks English very well. He has excellent vocabulary with a really cute accent to go with it. I would love to learn French, but I haven't picked up much, really nothing. Our plan for right now is to stay in the US. That may change in the future, though.

Anyway, nice to meet other people with similar circumstances. I'd love to keep in touch.

Elizabeth

Hey all,

KittyKat & Cecile bring up an interesting thing from our journey.... I am from Western NC, where Cecile is now. My dad lives in a town with no stop-light. That's just fine with me I love the countryside.

My wife on the other hand, is like KittyKat - from Paris. She told me straight out that she wouldn't live in a small town, and so we picked Seattle, as it is big enough to have plenty of big-city life, but we've only got to drive a little bit to be out in the woods.

KittyKat - Can you move? With no car in a small town in the USA, its pretty darn difficult! Unless you are a super cyclist....

Cecile - Where are you? I lived in Asheville, Boone, and Crabtree (outside of Waynesville). My wife does like Angelica's restaurant in Boone and Earth Fare in Asheville. She says average French food is better than average american (et je suis d'accord) but that she is amazed by our organic supermarkets, as she's never really seen that before (et ca c'est aussi vrai, meme lorsque nous avons habite a Paris nous n'avons pas vu qqch. comment Earth Fare ou Wellspring - il y avait juste le petit Co-ops).

I do miss the 5 weeks of vacation I had in Paris, but I make SO much more money here.... And, there is so much more wilderness! But it is true that our public transport, even in a city as "left" as Seattle, SUCKS.

a plus tard,

-B

I live in Black Mountain (so pretty much right by Asheville) and last year we lived in Asheville. I really love this area. And yes I do adore the organic supermarkets like Earthfare and Greenlife, it's just so nice to be able to get that kind of food I had never seen any like that before either. I can be a vegetarian in the US because of all the fake meat, but I don't think i could in France, it's not as interesting as far as taste is concerned. But then the Asheville area is really well know for it's important vegetarian and vegan community.
I agree with your wife thought, I think the big difference is that we take more time to cook in France, and meals are a family thing where everybody sits down at the table. And with more time and the motivation of sharing a meal, I guess it leads to better meals
I've been to Boone once, I don't know Crabtree.
I don't mind not living in a big city, although I did enjoy being in Asheville, because cultrally it's so much better to drive 5 minutes to do things than 45! But we might go back there, it depends on the job I'll get I guess.

Cécile

Not French here at all, but a question.

For those of you who filed a K1, which was used at your consulate interview? I134 or I864?

I have another question. For those of you that completed the medical in Paris (physical/vaccinations, blood test, and chest xray) - are the 3 different doctors offices far apart?

In packet 3, the embassy requested 864. However, when we were at the interview, she told me that I could give her either one. I gave her th 134 so that I could use the 864 for AOS filing here.

Hi, I live in Boston, and my fiance lives in Paris.

I'm hoping someone can help with approximate time once Vermont approves I129F petition. Does anyone have some practical experience with this regarding times?

I understand they send it to the NVC, and then they send it to the US Consulate in Paris. Does anyone know how long it takes from there? I haven't seen anyone here trying to get a fiance to the US from France...

In the "timelines" on this website, on the same page one list says 58 days, the other says 76 days.

If anyone has an experience they can share, that would be great.

I'm French too, I'm in the US (Chicago western suburbs) since 2004. Originally from Metz.
Feel free to email me

Phycal/vaccinations=just go to your current doctor and ask for the required vaccinations. BRING vaccination certificate to the official consulate doctor. DONE

Blood test & chest Xray=medical center very closed to US Embassy Paris (I walked from med lab to radiology center )

I spent Christmas in Paris with my fiance and his family. I was only there for 4 days, but at least I was with him. The Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners are so different than here. I had oysters (2!), but won't try them again... there was a fish cake/fish loaf, foie gras (delish!), lamb, cheeses, desserts... it was great, but I did miss my traditional Christmas dinner. I may be the only person on the planet who lost weight during the holiday season!

We're now anxiously awaiting word from NVC that they received our packet, and waiting for Packet 3!!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

Hi everyone,
I'm originally from Strasbourg; my wife is from Cleveland. We've been living in Boston for some 2 and a half years now and I'm quite happy we chose to settle here. It's a very nice city with a history, decent public transportation, a "walkable" downtown, more than a few french restaurants and a ....harsh winter! Well usually; this year has been really mild so far.
I read through some of the posts... I can easily understand how one can hate living in a foreign country, especially if trapped at home AND without a job. You can't seriously be blaming the country for your loneliness.

Best of luck to all of you and happy 2007 -in advance.

Jean

Bonne Annee !

Another French/American couple here! Great to see this thread.

I have a question, more for research than anything else. My husband is a French chef (oh how I lucked out!). He is from the south and I have to say is an excellent chef (fortunately I haven't gained any weight because the food is so healthy!). We are currently living in New England and are looking for a city/town to open a restaurant. Doesn't have to be here, can be anywhere on the east coast. We love the outdoors but also city life so I guess we are wide open for suggestions. We have thought of everything from a small authentic bistro to a B&B/restaurant in Vermont/New Hampshire, and many other ideas too long to list here.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Any suggestions would be appreciated! Asheville was mentioned earlier and we are also curious about that area - especially the organic food part.

Now I know a lot of you are missing French food but please be objective ;-)

cheers!
amwo

Please, Boston! Kidding, of course. You are very lucky. My fiance is not a French chef, but he is MY French chef. He cooks for me whenever we are together. He told me to clean out my kitchen cupboards because when he arrives, he will need to arrange everything they way he wants. As he said, when I objected, "Who is going to do most of the cooking?"

I think because there are so many French restaurants in Boston, you'd do well either in northern New England, or further down the coast.

Salut tout le monde,
Hey, glad to see so many French<->American couples here
I'm the USC, but grew up in Paris. My French hubby is from Lyon. We started this journey back in 2004.
Feel free to ask questions. Good luck to all the couples, especially those who are just starting this whole process. Take care all
And Bonne Année !

Hi all : )

I've just now seen this thread...took me a while

Anyway, this is a lot of fun!!! It's like everybody is coming out of the woods or something!! I had no idea there were so many French/American couples out there!

Well, I'm the Frenchie in this marriage, but my husband speaks French. He studied in France for a semester back in 1995, and actually was a French teacher in the Midwest for a while. So we never really had any problems communicating. But we had our share of frustrating times

I was from the east of France, Besancon, and left in 2003 for Oklahoma. Now we live on Maui, and weare planning on coming back to the Mainland this year.

I love living here! I do miss some French things though, especially the language, as well as my friends and my family of course. But I am very happy with my life here!

Well good luck to all!! Nice to finally meet you guys!!!

Hi,

It's my first posting on VJ. It has been nice reading all of your stories.

Background
My husband (BK) is French, from Paris, and I'm the USC and live in San Francisco. We got married in November 2006 in San Francisco, just legally with plans to do a real wedding with friends and family after my hubby moves in, finds a job and gets settled in.

Our DCF Experience:
Last month (12/06), BK and I went to the US embassy in Paris to file our petition (DCF). We were really well prepared with all of our paperwork (even including the Affadavit of Support, tax records, police records, birth certificate, etc.). It was a bit chaotic in the big room where all of this takes place, but overall, we came out happy. The reason? After they accepted our petition, they gave us a packet with a list of documents to have ready for the interview (next step). We were to mail in a letter that stated that all the documents were in order. Being that we had everything, they let us submit the letter right then and there and told us that they'll try to schedule the interview in early Feb. Of course, that's after we said we wanted to get BK to join me ASAP. Sure enough, a week or so after we filed the petiton, BK received the appointment letter in the mail with an interview date of 2/7! My original expectation was that the whole process would take approx 3 months. Being that he should get his visa a week after the interview, it'll only take less than 2 months in total!! I believe it helped that BK didn't have any abnormalities like illegal stays in the U.S., anything on his police records, etc.. Now, we're starting to plan for his arrival in SF. Hope the job situation works out for him okay too.

Language
BK speaks English and I don't speak French, though I took an intro to French class a year ago. I'm signed up for another French class in a community college starting this month. BK finds my accent to be cute too so I guess that's encouraging.

A good year to you all!

Wow that's fast! Congratulations. I love San Francisco.

And welcome!

Hello all,

I'm Norwegian, but currently living in Paris , so I guess that would qualify me as the French part of the couple. My fiancé lives in Michigan, and that's where I'll be living too in not so long (or at least I hope so)
We filed the I-129 in November, and are currently waiting for the NOA 2.

Thanks to all for posting about your experiences. It is reassuring to hear from the people who haven't had any problems as well. When I first found this website I was freaking out as it seemed that everyone was encountering one problem after the other. I'm relieved to find that's not really the case.

I love seeing more people going through the process from France! I think Angilla might be the next one up for Interview (well, Saint Clair really). Can't wait to hear how it goes.

Hehehe... oh do my fiance and I have jokes about French bread, and other items with "French" in their names. Like French fries, and French dressing, both of which he insists aren't French so they shouldn't be called French. And then there's French horns, French vanilla, French braids, French kissing... and of course, using "French" for catheter sizes! He insists no French bread here is like real French bread so it shouldn't be called French. You get the point. We joke about it all the time!


One thing my fiance's not going to miss is needing to get a letter from a doctor to take even a single day off from work sick, and having to stay in his house during certain times to make sure social security doesn't show up if he does take a sick day. But getting reimbursed for medical bills, not having to let medical/dental insurance decide what job you take and cause you ulcers that need more medical insurance... yeah, I think he's going to miss that. He doesn't have a driver's license because he can get anywhere he wants by train in France. It was sort of culture shock when he visited here and you can't even walk to the train station. I personally hate the rush rush rush of typical American life - we plan to move down to Virginia at some point.


Isn't the French accent CUTE? When people find out I have a French fiance I usually get comments about two things - the cooking and the accent.


That's true. I miss the family meals. My grandparents were from Italy and Poland, Sunday dinner was a big family event each week. The family would get together from all over the island, tons of food, talking, and laughing. Even at home we always used to sit down at the table and eat together. My grandparents died when I was 8... now most of my family hasn't seen each other since their funeral, and we eat meals around the TV and computers. It's pretty sad.


Just so others reading this area aware... larig waited 5 weeks for their interview letter, recieved it on January 27th, and the Frenchie's interview is February 2nd. Orc waited about a month for their interview letter, recieved it on January 30th, and the Frenchie's interview is February 7th. So it seems to be about a month of waiting and then a week til the interview. We'll know more once bostonparis and I go through the process.


Oh tell me about it! My fiance's family has goose liver every year for Christmas... I don't particularly mind not being able to attend. I try to try new foods but... uhmmm... my limit falls around there - goose liver, tartar steak, escargot, caviar, beef head, sheep intestines, marmite... I haven't gotten myself to try half the stuff he has yet.


I agree, it's great to see!


Ooooh, Maui... what brought you there? Want a guest? We had snow last night.

hi all - Well, I might as well jump in. We are/were a DCF couple. In case you haven't heard, DCF turned into a nightmare last week..... I'm the American, he's the Frenchie. He was supposed to interview March 28 and arrive sometime in April. Now we have no idea

It's going to be a huge adjustment for him to live here -- I hope he survives! I think he will. I'm glad to be done with some of the hassles of living in France (Paris) but health insurance here is a nighmare and it's hard to readjust to the insane cost of good cheese, chocolate and wine here! (Not news to any of y'all, I know.)

Angilla, I'm DCF not K3.

All DCF interviews were cancelled because of the new Walsh law (look on the DCF thread it's all explained). I hope they will work it out soon, this is messing it up for everyone.

Hmm, what I'll miss when I move back to SoCal, tartiflette, raclette (though you can buy it on amazon along with the machine) goose liver, cheap health care and free preschool.

What I'm looking forward to, good mexican food, donuts and the beach, watching the sun set over the Pacific listening to the waves, lots of outdoor activities.

Sheigh

I don't even LIVE in Paris, just visit frequently (next trip, February 21!!), but I'll miss the baguettes (sigh!), the rillette, the fois gras, the cheese, the wine, the cafes, the palace hotels...

We decided to send our Packet 3 back early next week. Will keep posted!!

What I miss about Paris, is everything. (cheese, bread, wine and my weekly pain au chocolate, hmmm!) I also miss being able to buy food on the street (crepes avec nutella et banane o almond) And every now and then something not so French, the grec sandwich which you can buy anytime of the day. I loved sitting at cafes with my cafe viennious and people watching. Boy, are you Parisians stylish.

Oh and I miss the shopping. Visiting my Frenchie husband (fiance at the time) gave me an excuse to shop. (Which is why I was in Paris for the January sales when I met my husband 3 years ago).

My husband is so happy that he found Nordstrom's here in the US because they sell the brand name clothes from France that he loves.

Just wanted to give anyone waiting for the Paris interview a heads up if you are curious since we had ours 2/7/07. It was pretty much what the other French VJer's mentioned on the embassy info site.

Fiance went to Dr Meyers, she's next to the embassy so my fiance went and to pick up his medical paperwork there before heading to the interview. (His medical appointment was three days prior but he had to take one vaccination so she told him to return after it was administered in order to give him the completed paperwork. Also, please remember to get a copy of the DS-3025 vaccination form from the doctor - it'll be important for the AOS application later on).

At the embassy, the lady who takes your paperwork took our I-134 instead of the I-864 after looking at both. She was joking around with him a bit in sort of a dry humor way. There were two other K-1's there and the french orchestra trying to get a visa for their tour, so it's very noisy inside. It is the immigration booth you go to and not nonimmigration - they consider the K-1 as an immigrate visa even though it is technically a nonimmigrate visa. He waited about an hour and a half before talking to the officier. First he made him give the oath verbally - "You swear that you intend to marry .... within 90 days." He asked him about - any issues between our age difference (4 years), how we met, my religion, type of marriage ceremony we would be having - religious vs civil, how my family felt, where the town I lived was located. Then said we had everything and it was ok, took his passport and chronopost. My fiance noticed that since he spoke in english he was asked more questions than the previous guy who spoke in french with the officier (two questions only) - officier spoke in broken french and the other guy didn't understand english well.

Other than that it was okay. Good luck and thank you to everyone - every bit of information you provided helped a lot!

Congratulations Orc!
Thanks for the information from the Embassy. I'm getting nervous and excited about my fiance's interview. He just sent packet 3 back - how long did it take your fiance to get Packet 4 after he sent back his form?