Every time I lose my mind (10-15 times a day) I come to VJ and read other topics to sort of blow some steam. But every time I view the July AOS Filers thread in the AOS forum I see approvals from people that filed weeks after me. Interview done, everything done. I had my infopass a week and 2 days ago and he said at the latest I'd get something in 30 days, and my EAD was approved so I should get that right away.

So far I haven't seen anything update online and nothing in the mail.
I need to just SCREAM because I am losing control. This limbo phase is destroying me.

Checking online 15 times a day is counter productive I know but I can't stop. I have an OCD personality and I let little things like this mess with me.
COME ON UPDATE MY CASE!!!

I'm sorry, brad.

It drives me nuts that there are some people who razz at you for giving out wrong information. I acknowledge that I made a mistake. Now stop harassing me about it.

I'm also stuck at home with the flu, and T-minus fifteen hours until the courthouse wedding.

Oh dear! Well take care of yourself, I'm sure you are, hope you are fit as a fiddle - like now!

How exciting! Obviously not about the flu part...

Vitamin C overdose time.

yep, vit C and ecchinecea. Load up on drugs,lol Wel lbest not to load up on to many, never know how some react to certain birth control, but that just the nurse in me talking,lol

I know how you feel. I look at the spreadsheet Liz made and there's people who filed months after me and they already have interview dates! Its frustrating and drives me crazy. Makes me wish I filed later and maybe I wouldn't be so stressed, but I'm glad I have my interview next week. Hopefully you'll hear from them soon Brad.

Nini, I feel your pain. I'm also at home with the flu. Hopefully your feeling better for your big day!

That makes me crazy too!!

They do seem to be taking their time

nick & clau must be walking on air....man oh man ... they already have their interview and its tomorrow....pls pls pls ... let mine be that quick once we get our papers

brad, i certainly hope something begins to move for you ... the old cliche - patience is a virtue - must be overused but you need to keep believing ...

If you're using the INS online tracker of your status then don't bother looking at it as it is rarely updated. During my N-400 process I wasn't even entered into the system and phoned up to talk to them. They told me not to expect anything accurate from that online tracker as it's sometimes updated, sometimes not and sometimes (like me) not even entered.

Read on another board lots of people get confused with that online status as they'll be pending and shown as pending and yet they've already become citizens or others panicy because it's been awhile and they're still shown in the initial stages only to get ther approval a few days later.

So if it's the same thing, then don't rely on it at all...

Yeah, that's where the filers threads fail... because you can't rely on other people's AOS experiences. It's all dependent on several things:

- being transferred to CSC (seems like 50%+ of K1s are transferred)
- namechecks
- RFEs
- and if you're waiting for an interview date... it's ALL dependent on your local office

Your status online will not change when an interview letter is generated. Sometimes the date is updated but the status itself will not change... so stop checking your online status! Do you know the timelines for your specific local office? Some busier ones take MONTHS to issue an interview date. Some slower ones only take a month or so.

As for your EAD, did you ever get "card production ordered" or that it was approved online? Or was it only a verbal confirmation? Hopefully you get something soon!

Yeah, I know that feeling. Except CSC hasn't even deposited my damn check so I can't check online 15 times a day and I feel like I am going through withdrawal symptoms here (I checked the USPS site 15 times a day while my petition was on its way out there....).

Nini, feel better soon!!

And a completely unrelated rant: Hotmail is totally f*cked this morning. I intensely dislike its new format to begin with but now it won't send my good morning email to my fiance. GRRRRRR!!!

My uncle asked me on facebook today...

"So you gave up free healthcare eh? Oh I'd just like to know what you are planning to do when you and your son get sick and you have to pay to see a doctor"

People must think I am stupid. Yea I totally didn't think of this when I decided to move down here in the first place.

I will get health care through my soon to be husbands work...it was one of his deciding factors when taking the job. The fact that it had a plan for the three of us.



And I didn't give up free health care in Canada, I gave up extreme taxing.

Yes I loved our health care in Canada, and I loved having a system that didn't discriminate but it was hardly "free". I would love a universal system down here but I don't think it is ever going to happen.

I am just annoyed that people treat me like I am an idiot and didn't take these important things into consideration.

Oh and my family has a divorce pool going. Isn't that nice? I have never been married before, and I have been with my fiance for over 4 years.
They're being complete assholes - pardon my language.

WHOA... that's just awful!

That divorce pool thing is pretty rediculous coming from your family! I would be extremely angry at that. I get really annoyed when people hassle me about my decision to live in the US. It's like people are offended that your choosing not to live in Canada so they rip your decision.

And AMEN on the extreme taxing! lol

I am sooo sorry they are being that way

not cool at all.

Keep your chin up and keep living

Ramos

Now THIS is a vent. Yes, I also left the triple taxation country. I got sick of paying 16% on goods and then paying 40% taxes every year for HORRIBLY subpar healthcare. I only have been to the hospital twice, but if it was life threatening I have no questions that I'd be dead. God forbid I ever needed an organ transplant.

As for the divorce pool, that is actually SICK and abusive. You poor thing.

That is really atrocious of them!

My mom is being so annoying (although in a different way than that) that I'm considering telling her the wedding is off and not telling the truth until our 10th anniversary. She can't wait until we are married and can't we do something to make the process go faster---but she has not yet met my fiance and she hasn't really even asked me all that much about him as a person. It's like she just wants that MRS in front of my name for its own sake, which peeves me to no end. She also wants me to change my name, which I don't plan to do.

Non family-related peeve: A few people on here were very helpful giving me information on the stupidly long line-ups at the BC/Washington State border. There were two issues about this. One was we thought Westjet would offer him much lower fare to Vancouver than Horizon would to Seattle (my parents live in Bellingham, Washington). As it turns out, we will both fly to Sea Tac. The other issue (and here is my vent) is that a good friend of mine from Vancouver has recently returned from living overseas and I have not seen him in over two years, so I wanted to figure out when the border lineups would be least ridiculous so either we could go there to meet him for dinner or he could go to Bellingham to meet us. Turns out he's going to theGalapagos Islands and won't even be hom! Okay, that's the trip of a lifetime and it is expensive enough that you have to go when you can get a good deal, but FFS he knew I was coming. Would it have killed him to have told me he was going to be out of town? If he complains about being the last person in my circle of friends to meet my fiance, I will absolutely scream!

And CSC still hasn't cashed my check.

Dang, I sound like a really negative person, don't I?

My mother already told me she isn't going to come to the wedding. Nor is the rest of my family.

For a long time I was really upset, but now I just need to get on with my life. My son will give me away, my wedding day is going to happen with or without them. And I am not going to let it get me down. I've accepted it. It isn't my problem anymore, it's theirs.

I am sure later on they'll regret it....especially since the food is going to be realllly good.


And Sonoran: You don't sound negative at all. I'd be upset if my friend couldn't set at least an hour of time aside for me especially if I hadn't seen them in two years.

The F***?!

Granted, the other day my mother said to me, "Don't change your last name. Don't do it. Just wait until you know he's the right one." Me: "...........um, thanks for the input."

I am pretty tired of people making all these rules and opinions about people just because they live across an IMAGINARY LINE that means absolutely nothing.

Argh.

I guess that is one big advantage we have as the child and grandchild of immigrants who crossed an ocean to get (respectively) to Canada and the US.



Thank you, Sprailenes. I can't fault him for going to Ecuador, it's just that it might have been nice of him to let me know this. Basically, it came up sort of tangentially as an "I'm-going-to-Ecuador-in-5-weeks" kind of thing. Um, hello?

This is also about my third rant of the day. I wrote a diatribe about AT&T billing me for calls to Canada at the "basic overseas" rate on another board (a loooooong diatribe) and ranted to my coworker earlier about how hard it is to find jeans that fit. That's why I feel like I am being kind of negative. I mean really, it is a beautiful fall day out and (whenever USCIS gets around to adjuticating our petition) I'm marrying a wonderful man who adores me. What do I really have to complain about?

Well, I think if you vent then you are able to move on to those sunnier thoughts. (see you are doing it already!)

families can be so blinded at how much their words and actions hurt..

Sprailenes...I SO understand you! My brother thought I was going to pay for everyone in my family to come down for my wedding! What does he think I am, made of money? My mom and dad worked their butts off building a basement so that my siblings could have money, like 8000 dollars apiece, there's two of them, for school. I never got any help for school, and am STILL paying off student loans!

Not only that, but now Mom says that they're not coming for the wedding because they just can't afford it! HellO?!?!? It's my wedding! Whatever, I will probably have a better time without her anyway!

Oh yeah, and while I'm talking about my mother, when Andrew was here in August he proposed. My family happened to be here that weekend also. My mom pestered him SO much that he had to phone her (when I was in the bathroom) to tell her to F**K off or she'd ruin the surprise! I'm sure he said it in nicer words than those, but still...that was the idea. THEN when he didn't propose in this little dingy restaurant while she was there, she was pissed! He proposed to me later that evening when the family had left and we were by ourselves. When I phoned to tell her about it she was SO MAD! She couldn't even PRETEND to be happy for us. I couldn't believe the gall she had, SERIOUSLY!

Okay, so I'm mad at my mom...but man that felt good!

And what's with people getting approvals, or NOA1's in my case, before others?! Like they file in October and get their NOA1 in 5 days and I've been waiting three weeks since September and still don't have anything?! How is that fair? I mean come on! OH! And what's with the ever changing estimated approval dates?! At this rate, maybe I'll get to have an October wedding! ARGHHHHHHHHHH! Another year! That's ridiculous!

Oh my, well, this is supposed to be the place to vent. Sorry!

of course he didn't propose when the whole family was around@!!!!

sounds like the distance will be a good thing for all concerned

I'd be careful there, if I were you. Too much Vitamin C can cause diarrhea. That's rarely a fun addition to anyone's weekend.


It seems some people just don't understand that there's no such thing as "free healthcare." I suppose the reason many believe it's "free" is because they end up paying with high taxes and not having to pay at other times, so they don't readily notice the money draining. The funds have to come from somewhere, so there's no way it could be "free" and remain operational.

As for the "divorce poo," well... that's just sick. You'd like to believe that your family would want you to have a long and happy marriage; not taking bets on when and how you'll divorce! If they ever decide to quote statistics, which state that 50% of all marriage fail, make sure to point out that the numbers also mean that 50% of all marriages survive as well. That little fact gets glossed over, for some reason or another.

Liz, you have NO idea! I can't wait to move just for that fact alone! It can be so difficult sometimes. It's crazy, like my mom can't wait for me to move, but at the same time is like why couldn't you have fallen for someone closer to home? So strange.

If my fiance had proposed to me in front of my mother, that would have been a deal breaker.

The only proposal I can imagine being less romantic is the guy on "Overheard in New York" who apparently proposed to his girlfriend over the cell phone --- from a public restroom. With "biological sounds" in the background, including his own. Eeeeeeww! That one could only be worse if Larry Craig were in the next stall.

HAHAHA thanks for my laugh for the day!!


Carla

Now the CA fires are raging. I am going insane. At this point I don't even care when I am approved. It's just getting silly.

I just spent over 30 minutes sorting out my phone bill with Telus, I received $50 in credit where they had overcharged me (new 2nd line).

I got 'cut off' from the first agent I was speaking to - which turned out to be a grand thing because the second person was much more organized.

Here is the thing, I knew as soon as I added that 2nd line I was going to have to sort it out at some point.

- They charged me for 'installation' even though there was a promotion on at the time - the first agent tried to tell me - sorry there was no promotion - 2nd agent said, yes you are right, shouldn't have been charged.

- I changed features on the phone a few weeks ago - they pro-rated the phone line charge and the voice mail charge to two different dates - 5 days apart. How does that happen, don't they look to see if what they are doing makes any sense whatsoever?

It's just annoying.

/vent.

If you don't get an interview letter for your I-485 by November 11, go back to Infopass. There's not much they can do in the interim since you've been given the standard line of 60 days after they resumed processing when they received your RFE. But hopefully they'll schedule you soon. Is your local office a busy one? Maybe that's why there's been delays in getting an interview scheduled. I doubt very much you'll be approved without an interview since you adjusted from a visitor. Looks like the only ones really to get approved without interview are those adjusting from K1s.

Yeah I have a countdown sheet and time frames. Right now I am way over my EAD time line, but I have to wait for another 11 days to go infopass. Plus the AOS time frame still has until the 11th. So I have an appointment for November already. I am just antsy.

Santa Ana doesn't seem to be a busy one based on time lines on VJ.

I just unpacked my desktop computer from the packaging box today after we got our desk, and we discovered that the case is basically hooped. It's a custom-built computer which I built last year, so the case I bought for it was a heavy steel case which was purported to be one of the quietest cases on the market. (More details if you're really, really interested...) Anyway, the case is mostly intact except for the fact that my front door won't attach anymore because the plastic hinging and all the plastic bits behind the front door have shattered into pieces. There are plastic bits hanging off that I can't take off because they're the power/reset buttons wired to the power supply.

The good thing is that my computer is working. For now. Damn UPS.

Did you have insurance with UPS? If so, I'd make them pay for the damages. At least its still working.

I had insurance on the computer, but the guy stressed that it was only for loss and not damages incurred during transit. If there'd been damage insurance, I'd have paid for it - that thing's my (second) baby.

It's funny though because I've had other people ship their customers through UPS and they've told me they were able to buy damage insurance. Maybe it's different through international shipping?

Thats weird. I always thought that "damage" was included with the insurance. Once you hand over your belongings to UPS to ship and you pay for insurance, you'd think that it is their responsibility to ship the item with care. Guess I better ask them when it comes time for me to use them to ship some of my stuff.

Ohhhhh Nini...

I just went on the UPS website and found something. I can't sopy & paste, so I'll quote it.....
"In connection with a damaged Shipment, the Shipper must retain the original packaging until an inspection can be completed by UPS or its agent"

Theres a whole bunch to read on that. Heres a link and go to page 16. Hope this helps, if any.

http://www.ups.com/media/en/ca/terms_service_ca.pdf

Mary

ARGH I am almost at the end of my rope. HOW LONG DOES THIS SH-T have to take?!
July 5th - October 29th = 114 days - the average EAD comes in what 74-77 days? What on Earth is taking so long?

I have to wait until the 10th of November for 60 days past RFE receipt before I can go in to Infopass, and until this friday before it is 30 days past current processing date to 2nd level IO. I am just going absolutely nuts waiting here knowing there are people in AUGUST getting approves and here I am sitting and waiting on my arse.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!!

That is all.

All the best bradcanuck in hearing some positive news soon!

Carla

Keep complaining and take it up the chain until someone compensates you. They will get tired of listening eventually and do something. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Wiz

OK, my vent for the day - Canada Revenue! What the bloody !@$#% is taking them so so long to get D's 2006 refund to him?! We filed before May 31st and when we still hadn't heard from them after receiving D's provincial refund sometime in early summer, he called to find out what was going on. They said something about a strike (?), being backlogged and to call back in 8-10 weeks! So September rolls around and D calls back and gets told, "Nope, still working on it, call back in a month." Grrrrr. So last week D calls AGAIN, and get told, "Oh, we had a question about your residential status (since D lives in the US but works for the Canadian government he was declared a non-resident for tax purposes). But it's all figured out now and you should be hearing something any day now." Well, duh, he was declared a non-resident A YEAR AGO! This should NOT be an issue!

I wouldn't mind it too much except it's a pretty substantial refund and would come in really handy right about now since we have to pay for his I-751 soon.

But in a strange twist of coincidence, we still haven't been billed by our accountant, so I guess it all evens out.

Just got our Virginia State tax refund in the mail yesterday!! lol But they did give us $9 in interest!!

We actually owed a little VA tax so that wasn't an issue for us.

And yes, the Canadian government better be forking over the interest too!

I've always had the Canadian government forking over the interest. I don't think you have to worry there. Hope you hear something soon!

Carla

Vent for the day:

If anyone repeats the following to me today, I will go homicidal:
q: "Oooooooh.... so you're from Mexico?!?!?!" (looking @ me as if I had 3 legs)
a: Yes.

q: "Oooooooh..... I've been to Cancun"
a: Hmmm... (as in: if you think that's all there is to my country, more power to you)

q: "Ooooooh.... but you ARE LEGAL RIGHT????"
a: "No, actually I crossed swimming" OR (Bren's favourite) "Yes, my husband bought me from my parents for 100 USD so I could come and perform sexual favours for him and his buddies"

q: "So you WILL teach Spanish for a living right?????"
a: Uh-oh.... don't know.... maybe I could do that.... or become a stripper (wait, I'm too old for being an exotic athlete), or make use of my graduate degrees, what would you recomend?" to which people usually take offense and give me "the look".- FKKKKK THEM.

ARGHHHHHHH. God Bless Mercer Island
End of vent.

damn, that Bren is a nice guy!! Those crazy canucks always sharing!! lol

HOLY FLIPPING NORAH LEN!!!

Bren is the USC dahlinnnn.... and he keeps asking when will my dad give him the dowry LOL