Just call them, I did and they sent me a status letter, even though they told me over the phone it was sent

I hate western union, someone hacked into my online account last xmas and put in all these must have been stolen credit card numbers and even though I alerted them to the fact. they won't let me use the account anymore. I was dumb enough to save my debit card info and cellphone number online and now according to them its linked to fraud. Mind you whoever hacked in never tried to use my debit card number to send anything and forget the fact that I alerted them to the problem. enough ranting

I just got off the phone with NVC. The lady told me that my packet was received yesterday. She told me that they would mail out a letter when the packet is sent on to Kingston. She also told me that it would be two to four weeks before it would be sent out to Kingston. Should I expect to wait a couple of weeks before my packet leaves the NVC?

Wow, that was quick! I just called the NVC and mine is not there yet From what I have heard here on VJ, your packet should not stay at the NVC for more than a couple of days unless you get caught up in administrative review. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!

Sorry to hear about the WU horrors! Marlon wants me to send via WU so I guess I will take my chances!

For those of you that filed K1 and are now married:

Considering that my fiance's interview is 6/19 and if we estimate two weeks the visa will be delivered around 7/4, is it possible or realistic to get married immediately and still manage to file for AOS before 7/30?

I think it is entirely possible. We got married 6 days after he got here. Look up what the waiting period is for a marriage license in your state and plan on getting the license as soon as he gets here. You can basically fill out all the AOS stuff together prior and fill in any missing info after he gets here. As for the marriage certificate we got ours filled out by the pastor and opted to bring it to the courthouse ourselves. We brought it in the next day and filed it on record and got our notarized copies that same day. Within that little window of time you should get some pics from the ceremony and if you can get him added to some bills to show as evidence that is good. We also sent in congrats cards from the wedding and a statement from the pastor. The bulk of the evidence can be shown at the interview if needed.

So I say with a well thought out and executed plan you can do it

jlvr i think you just might make it there. your timing couldn't have been better. you are so lucky!

Anna its right off of I-88 (Ronald Regan) just past Route 59 - Naperville. You will see this big outlet mall shopping. You get off on Farmsworth road.

ok here's my latest question regarding the whole courier vs. app't to drop off the ds-230...

if the ds-230 is sent via courier, you will have to wait for packet 4 to arrive snail-mail right?

i'm trying to look at the big picture here. you can wait a month for an app't to drop off the ds-230 and then wait another month for the visa interview

or...

courier the ds-230 and wait forever for the packet 4 and then schedule the visa interview (which may still be another month of waiting).

what's an impatient girl to do? lol

Thanks, Jamie. That's what I was hoping to hear. I guess I better get started. Dammit, I thought I might be able to breathe for a little while after the interview!

I don't know about getting his name on a utility. Doesn't he have to be present for that?

Has anyone heard of megaphone its like voip i think? but you have a cell phone and people in jamaica can call the us or anywhere for one flat montly rate im tryin to find out more about it and where to get one.

My SO has one. He paid 2000JA for the phone and pays 1500JA a month for the service. Unlimited Talking!! Its great and it works out way cheaper than what we used to spend on phone cards.

Well that's good at least - I thought it was going to be an additional $645!! But you're right - now they're forcing you to apply for those - it's more money for them

You used the regular postal service? I never use them for anything I need to send to Jamaica. They take forever! Try FedEx next time - it will get there within 2 or 3 days.

You don't schedule the interview - the Embassy schedules it. And they won't schedule it until after they receive the completed DS-230. The sooner you can get it to them, the better.

It's still quite a bit more costly. For the AOS, AP, and EAD it costs $675. The new cost is over $1000

We use Western Union all the time and we never had a problem. Don't worry. I have discovered that if you send money online, the fee to send it is higher than if you do it in person at a W.U. place. We always use the one at our local Kroger (grocery store). You can check their website to find locations near you.

Yes, I think it can be done. Get as much of the AOS paperwork as you can filled out ahead of time. The only thing you'll need after that is the marriage certificate. Many people say you have to wait a few weeks to get a certified copy of it, but we just sent a copy of the one the pastor gave us at the church. No problem. It's worth a try. The worst they're gonna do is send you an RFE.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the marriage license I think ours only took a couple days.

we were able to get our the same day we applied...the only reason because it was not the "busy season" she said...so because you are getting married this time of the year it might take a while to get. ALSO when we sent in our stuff they need a certified copy..so maybe what you can do...this is just a idea..like what alien uk is doing send in what you got...and if you don't have that they will send you a rfe and by the time they look at your case and get to the rfe i would think you would have all the info on time...but at least you would have it in before the end of july....just an idea..

yeah now i'm starting to regret that i sent the original to him. i always send him stuff through regular postal mail and it's always gotten there within 2 weeks. i've never had a problem before.

i'm thinking we will go on and courier the ds-230. my fiance has to go to kingston for the police certificate, and we'll see if he can pick up packet 4 at that time.

Thanks for the info...but I just have 1 question: was she trying to ship the stuff to the resort or to a local post office? would that have made a difference or not? I have 20 guests coming from the states, and most of us will be there 5 days before the wedding as well, so I suppose we can bring stuff down, I just didn't want to have to deal w/ possibly paying for the stuff at immigration...

I am also going to have Donna courier the DS-230 to the embassy. Is it necessary to put a cover letter with the DS-230?

My hubby didn't but I'm thinking putting on the NVC case number couldn't hurt.

You will only pay at immigration if u say some of your wedding guests and or groom is living in JA,

I was seriously considering the same thing....but damn it is gonna be a close call. the pressure continues to build....think it is time for a drink..

That's totally not true.... I arranged the travel for 90 of her guests coming from all places in the US to stay in Jamaica for my clients wedding. None were Jamaican, although everyone of them are African American. The bride took it upon herself to ship stuff ahead of time thinking she would save money, but in turn.....literally fought with customs for 3 hours and they would NOT come down on the $400 US price. I sat back and listened and then after not getting ANYwhere, I stepped in, made a few phone calls and was able to have a Sandals rep there at the airport go with her and work it out to a reasonable cost to have to pay. It was 2 yrs ago, it was a nightmare, but .....a lesson learned by them !

She wasn't shipping to the resort, I believe it was the FedEx office. I seriously can't remember, because they did it on their own and I wasn't involved. The Sandals Rep at the airport asked where they booked their wedding/moon package from and the groom said, a travel agent and the Rep said, well.....I would seriously be upset with that person and the groom said, she highly advised us NOT to do this. I tapped the Rep on the shoulder and said.....travel agent came *with* them to make sure things ran smoothly, but I wasn't aware that they were doing this ! This was the only mishap in the 8 day trip!!

Just hide things, as everyone else said, take tags off, always say "no". I've brought sooooo many things, clothes, games, even electronic games, coloring books, crayons, shoes, deodorant, toothpaste, I mean tons and tons of stuff in the past 10 years. I was only given ALOT of grief by a woman checking....I had 4 bags and it was only me and my son. She kept saying are YOU SURE you don't have anything in there for anyone?? I said, please feel free to check. Never did and I was like...whew !!!!! Two of those suitcases were packed FULL of baby clothes and items for 2 of the girls that work at the hotel where I've been staying for 10 yrs.

ALWAYS put a hotel on the immigration forms.....put a big name hotel, like RIU Negril or Beaches. Pick one in the Negril area because that's more "touristy".

ya if you ship customs will get you!! i have tried to ship tings to mike and say Used iteam" or something like that...they must know all the tricks in the book and charged mike like 100.00 bucks....i would take kelly's advice and take it with you...PLUS you know it will get there and you aren't waiting around for the box to arrive...

She had already stated that she wasn't going to ship anything down and my comment was made in response to her having to pay if her guests were bringing down bags for her.

I agree with your advice put a hotel name and say you are getting married at a hotel or used a wedding planner or something like that. The officer I got, kept on rephrasing the same questions. Where was I getting marriend? who was coming? where were my relatives from? where was the groom from? and stuff like that.



So what happens with barrels, I've never shipped a barrell before but is the duty on that expensive?

I don't know too much about shipping barrels but I have heard it is really expensive and usually isn't cost effective. I know someone that used to ship barrels to her family from Seattle to JA and she finally quit and just brings it with her when she visits. She said for the price of a barrel she might as well just put it towards a plane ticket.

Don't know if the cost is so high because we are on the west coast...might be cheaper for you on the east coast.

Hello VJ Family.

Congrats on the recent interview dates

I was told around $65.00 to ship a barrell that would get there in 2 to 3 weeks and u could put a lock on it and send the other person the key, so no one could take anything out of it. but worried about the duty cost.

the amounts I heard where higher than that...I know she was paying at least $200-$300 per barrel. Might be the duty but it might have been the distance. I will search around a bit...

Maybe because I'm shipping from NYC, that might account for the price difference

The DS-230 has yellow high light on some of the fill-in lines. Does it matter to the embassy if this form is printed without the yellow showing or should I print the form out in color?

I don't think it really matters, I printed all of my forms in black & white.

Just an update.
I sent money to Marlon via WU and he got it okay. He sat at the doctor's office all day but found out it was just a gum infection and was prescribed some antibiotics and pain killers. I guess the infection was also causing him to have headaches. I am relieved to know that it wasn't something serious.

Now this leads me to ask how USC's got dental insurance for their SO's here in the States? Currently I work as a temporary (been here for 6 1/2 years), no benefits. As soon as I complete my Stats class next month I will officially have my degrees in August and then I can search for a better paying job.

As soon as we got married, I added Tony to my health, dental, and vision insurance through my work. It costs a little extra per month, but I'd hate to have something happen and not have insurance

It was really quiet in here today. I only had one page to read!!

I am really craving ackee and saltfish and roast breadfruit I don't know if they're pregnancy cravings or just because I miss Jamaica and can't wait for our vacation in August!! The tin ackee is about $18 at the JA store near me

From south Florida is $40 for the barrel and $60 to ship it. Although you put a lock on it, when it reaches the island your receiver has to go to the wharf (the customs place in Kingston) to clear it. They'll make you open the barrell so they can see the contents. They don't mind food and "old" clothing but they love to charge duties on new clothes, elctronics, etc

Sure it is. We got the visa on 6/6 of last year (1 year yesterday!!!!) and married on 6/29. You should get the visa sooner then 2 weeks after the interview anyhow.




She doesn't need to do all that stuff with the bills. We didn't have Andre on any bills, or even the bank account when we filed for AOS. All we sent in for AOS was the paperwork. They don't expect all that stuff with the K-1 AOS.




Someone has not read through this thread. We talked about this last week.

Thanks for the info...we will actually be staying at the RIU in Ochi...but someone said something earlier that's got me confused (again)...if they ask where is the groom from, I'm not allowed to say JA? Everytime I go and they ask me where will I be staying and I say with my fiance at his home (and they ask where), it never seems to be a problem....they do sometimes ask if I am bringing anything in and I always say "no" although I have brought him clothes, underwear, socks, etc...I just packed it under all my crap...but they never checked...so you're saying that if I let them know that the groom is Jamaican that they will charge me for bringing in the wedding favors, etc?

Exactly!!!!!!!!!!

Andre has health and dental insurance through my place of employment. The dental was a Godsend. He's had 2 cavities filled, a cleaning, and 3 wisdom teeth pulled in the last year. Hopefully, now that he has been promoted at work, he will carry his own insurance soon.




Dang......$18????? And, I've been crabbing about $10.99.

glad to hear marlon is on the mend sarah. i will be adding my fiance to my insurance once we're married, but my insurance will be more than double what i'm paying now. it is my hope that once he gets a stable job then he can get his own insurance coverage. right now i don't know how many options you really have. marlon won't be eligible for medicaid right? hopefully you'll be able to get a job that offers immediate health coverage so you both don't have to wait. a friend of mine has a teaching license but couldn't get a teaching job in our town so she's been a substitute teacher for a few years. she got married last summer (to a man who's self-employed) and she'd love to start a family but they can't affored to do it without insurance.

NOOOOOOOO.........No medicaid. No public assistance for 4 years.

Same boat here, Tia. I pay $435 a month out of my paycheck for Andre's insurance. So wanting to drop that. On the bright side, in one year, he's had 2 ER visits and a few doctor. It has definately paid for itself in the end.

i'm willing to make a 200 mile trip to get ethnic food and both supermarkets i go to don't carry tin ackee right now.

i was absolutely thrilled when i saw this large fruit at the bodega that was advertised to be breadfruit. now i've only eaten roast breadfruit, i've never handled or seen one raw before. i bought it and called my fiance for instructions on how to roast it. i put that thing on the stove, roasted it as directed, and was eager to peel off the skin....only thing is, when i cracked it, smelled really sweet. the sweet aroma was a very familiar scent too. so, i opened it up and sure enough, it was not a doggone breadfruit at all! it looked and smelled like a gi-normous naseberry! it even had the same kind of seed and grainy texture. i was so disappointed because i spent a small fortune on it too. lol

at least you've gotten your money's worth out of it. in the 4 years that i've known oliver he's never been sick. he just gets minor colds, and even that hardly ever happens. i told him he must've been a breast-fed baby because he's so healthy. his teeth are in great shape too. they're whiter than mine.

He's going to put me and my son on his insurance. Will cost maybe $200 per month more....Will definitely need doing because of the baby.....I hate the idea of paying so much for insurance in the States since health care is free here
But on the plus side, if I ever needed a major operation, I could always sneakily come back and have it here for free!!

at least you've gotten your money's worth out of it. in the 4 years that i've known oliver he's never been sick. he just gets minor colds, and even that hardly ever happens. i told him he must've been a breast-fed baby because he's so healthy. his teeth are in great shape too. they're whiter than mine.
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Just curious, what does breast-feeding have to do with never being sick?? I never breast fed my son and knock on wood, the last time he was actually sick was about 4 yrs ago. He never ever gets sick, has white straight teeth (takes after my side of the family). He had his adenoids/tonsils out when he was 5 but other than that??

Just curious.... as a parent...


I don't have health insurance, scares me and I have to pay crazy amounts for the Gonno...unfortunately it's just waaay to expensive. My son is covered on my dads plan...has been since he was 4 months old.