Australian Beneficiaries - Packet 3 to Interview date

[TerriandEric 4]

On this page http://canberra.usembassy.gov/consular/visas/iv/fees.html it says:

"K1, K2, K3 & K4 Applicants

The new fee is US $131.00 Applicants who paid the prior US $100 before January 1, 2008, will be processed only if they are scheduled and appear for a visa interview before January 31. Applicants who paid the prior US $100 application fee and appear for the visa interview after January 31, 2008 must pay the difference — US $31.00 before they can be interviewed."

So it looks like it's an "each" fee. Wait until you get P3 but if he send you too much it doesn't really matter too much I think. The reason I tell you to wait is because while the fee is US$131, it DOESN'T depend on the current currency exchange. Your letter will tell you exactly how much you need to pay and it's based on whenever they sent the letter.. but even then it's only updated monthly apparently so you won't know how much it is till the letter comes.

Good luck! Getting so close!

Thanks Vanessa you are truly a gem! He sent the money through on the chance it was for each as well as the medical money...so at least that is out of the way. I have had my blood test & got the results for my immunities so I am good to go. Police Check is done, luggage sorted, compiling of the evidence is done I just need to print off the forms & fill them out so when Packet 3 arrives I can go get it all sent back the same day.

At this stage we are on track for a April 18 reunion :dance:

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Thanks Vanessa you are truly a gem! He sent the money through on the chance it was for each as well as the medical money...so at least that is out of the way. I have had my blood test & got the results for my immunities so I am good to go. Police Check is done, luggage sorted, compiling of the evidence is done I just need to print off the forms & fill them out so when Packet 3 arrives I can go get it all sent back the same day.

At this stage we are on track for a April 18 reunion :dance:

**Fingers and toes crossed** for you!!

[rosa thomson 0]

Received passport with visa inside on Friday! Will book my flight this Thursday (payday)..aiming for departure in April sometime..was wondering what people think of having a small wedding first, then having a bigger celebration in say a years time. The thought of having a big wedding within 3 months of arriving freaks me out..i know my immediate family feel like they should come over..I just dont feel its enough time for my family to come over from NZ...it will cost between $8000-$1000 for the four of them to fly over not counting all other expensives...and travelling overseas for my parents is a big deal..certainly not something they would do on a whim. I would really like them to meet my fiances parents before we marry, just so they can not worry about me too much moving overseas! Im not interested in a extravagent wedding as its not my style, but I would like to have something to celebrate us. Thinking of a small ceremony somewhere in San diego somewhere and a bbq back at fiances parents house..maybe around 60 guests (mostly matts family, and mutual friends)...but then I start to think about it too much and completely overwhelm myself (given that im stressed enough with just moving country, etc etc) so I just think Id rather elope to Hawaii just Matt and I , and have a small ceremony there combined with a honeymoon...any maybe have a bbq with close friends and his family when we get back..im so indecisive. i guess my fear of having a courthouse wedding first and a bigger ceremony in a years time, I will not have the same affect as we will already be married..does anyone have the same issues...or am I doing my own head in too much? ha

[TerriandEric 4]

Received passport with visa inside on Friday! Will book my flight this Thursday (payday)..aiming for departure in April sometime..was wondering what people think of having a small wedding first, then having a bigger celebration in say a years time. The thought of having a big wedding within 3 months of arriving freaks me out..i know my immediate family feel like they should come over..I just dont feel its enough time for my family to come over from NZ...it will cost between $8000-$1000 for the four of them to fly over not counting all other expensives...and travelling overseas for my parents is a big deal..certainly not something they would do on a whim. I would really like them to meet my fiances parents before we marry, just so they can not worry about me too much moving overseas! Im not interested in a extravagent wedding as its not my style, but I would like to have something to celebrate us. Thinking of a small ceremony somewhere in San diego somewhere and a bbq back at fiances parents house..maybe around 60 guests (mostly matts family, and mutual friends)...but then I start to think about it too much and completely overwhelm myself (given that im stressed enough with just moving country, etc etc) so I just think Id rather elope to Hawaii just Matt and I , and have a small ceremony there combined with a honeymoon...any maybe have a bbq with close friends and his family when we get back..im so indecisive. i guess my fear of having a courthouse wedding first and a bigger ceremony in a years time, I will not have the same affect as we will already be married..does anyone have the same issues...or am I doing my own head in too much? ha

Hi Rosa,

Everything you have said is justified and I can relate. I guess I am lucky that my parents have met Eric and spent copious amount of time with him & his parents on web cam. So my parents are comfortable with me going there.

The wedding stuff...totally relate to it all! We have after many discussions decided on a small wedding on the property where we will live (the blessings of 3 acres) with a web cast for my family back here to log in to view. My mother can not fly due to DVT so its not possible for them to be there...so this is the closest thing we could do. Even though we have made these choices there are still the ones of dress, flowers, cake etc. The only one I am going nuts over is a good photographer! They will be the things that last a lifetime so I want someone fantastic (without a fantastic price tag!!!)

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

So this is where you all hang out! LOL

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Received passport with visa inside on Friday! Will book my flight this Thursday (payday)..aiming for departure in April sometime..was wondering what people think of having a small wedding first, then having a bigger celebration in say a years time. The thought of having a big wedding within 3 months of arriving freaks me out..i know my immediate family feel like they should come over..I just dont feel its enough time for my family to come over from NZ...it will cost between $8000-$1000 for the four of them to fly over not counting all other expensives...and travelling overseas for my parents is a big deal..certainly not something they would do on a whim. I would really like them to meet my fiances parents before we marry, just so they can not worry about me too much moving overseas! Im not interested in a extravagent wedding as its not my style, but I would like to have something to celebrate us. Thinking of a small ceremony somewhere in San diego somewhere and a bbq back at fiances parents house..maybe around 60 guests (mostly matts family, and mutual friends)...but then I start to think about it too much and completely overwhelm myself (given that im stressed enough with just moving country, etc etc) so I just think Id rather elope to Hawaii just Matt and I , and have a small ceremony there combined with a honeymoon...any maybe have a bbq with close friends and his family when we get back..im so indecisive. i guess my fear of having a courthouse wedding first and a bigger ceremony in a years time, I will not have the same affect as we will already be married..does anyone have the same issues...or am I doing my own head in too much? ha

After getting married (and planning it) I decided I'd have preferred to elope! 3 months is totally possible, but it's pretty stressful (ask Astrid as well!)

I had a wedding with husbands family in attendance but my parents couldn't make it. I didn't (and still don't) feel it was fair to my parents so we made sure that we recorded the ceremony and when we go back to Australia we'll have a mini reception for all my family and friends and watch the ceremony while there.

I personally feel like had we had a private ceremony and then had the reception with his family & friends, and then another at home, no-one would have felt left out.

Perhaps prior to you moving you could set up a webcam or skype or something with your husband? Or his family? My sister and her husband have met my husband in person because they came for the wedding, but my parents have only met him a couple of times over webcam. Tony really struggles with dad's accent, sometimes mum too, so I think an in person meeting would make his head hurt less (he has tinnitus from when he was in Iraq). It's really important to him that they know he's a good guy and will look after me. Mum knows that from everything I've told her while we were dating and engaged and now.

It's totally and completely up to you and your fiance. Hawaii would be gorgeous but you would want to be sure you don't regret not having family there... but at least you're in a good spot for honeymooning!

What are you "feeling" right now? A private courthouse ceremony with your best buddies to witness and a party later?

[VanessaTony 3,567]

So this is where you all hang out! LOL

yep

[alex and astrid 38]

I'm MARRIED!!!!!!!

Saturday was perfect...the weather held off, it was cool but sunny, the garden looked beautiful from all the work my dad had put in with the owner, we had almost all out loved ones there, and I got a husband out of it too, lol. It really was the happiest day of my life I just can't get over the generosity of all the people in our lives, we surely didn't deserve all the love and gifts given to us. I've been crying all weekend just thinking about it!

Now, onto change of status, which will surely make me cry for completely different reasons!

Terri - It's such a hard choice to make regarding how the wedding will go down. Alex and I were originally going to elope in Vegas and then have a bigger ceremony a year or so down the track, but then I got cold feet on that and so we decided we would do a 'proper' wedding and an intimate reception in LA. Cost is a huge part of it too. Not including my dress, I think our wedding came in at under $2500. I did a LOT of stuff myself and we did not do a lot of traditional wedding things. We also lucked out that our venue was free and I had friends that called in favours for me too. So yeah, it was very hard trying to plan it from home and the three weeks in between me getting back to the states was HECTIC but I wouldn't have done it any other way now. It was right for us. So if you have decided on the kind of celebration that you want, don't let anyone else shame you into doing something else. It's your special day and you have to be the one in love with it. A lot of people go with courthouse now, big wedding later deal because it just works for K-1'ers. I don't think it decreases the effect. If I walked down the aisle again it would feel just as amazing as it did two days ago.

Anyway, enough of my blathering, lol. I'm going to go an enjoy my out-of-this-world husband!!

[Giggles 1]

Yay! I'm glad everything went perfectly for you Astrid LOL @ your last comment

[Giggles 1]

So this is where you all hang out! LOL

Oh you didn't know about this thread??? This is where all the good info is

[TerriandEric 4]

CONGRATS Astrid & Alex I am glad to hear you had an amazing day.

[Jaime and Melvin 0]

Oh you didn't know about this thread??? This is where all the good info is

I had it saved for info on Vanessa's journey, for future reference but didn't realise there was chatter going on in here LOL ... seems like it moves more than the OI OI OI one anyways. Even though I haven't filed the K1 yet, I still love talking and hearing about everyone else's journeys and going ons lol.

I love to chat too

Congrats on your Wedding Astrid Sounds like you had a wonderful day!

[alex and astrid 38]

Thankyou Terri and jaimemcd

[rosa thomson 0]

After getting married (and planning it) I decided I'd have preferred to elope! 3 months is totally possible, but it's pretty stressful (ask Astrid as well!)

I had a wedding with husbands family in attendance but my parents couldn't make it. I didn't (and still don't) feel it was fair to my parents so we made sure that we recorded the ceremony and when we go back to Australia we'll have a mini reception for all my family and friends and watch the ceremony while there.

I personally feel like had we had a private ceremony and then had the reception with his family & friends, and then another at home, no-one would have felt left out.

Perhaps prior to you moving you could set up a webcam or skype or something with your husband? Or his family? My sister and her husband have met my husband in person because they came for the wedding, but my parents have only met him a couple of times over webcam. Tony really struggles with dad's accent, sometimes mum too, so I think an in person meeting would make his head hurt less (he has tinnitus from when he was in Iraq). It's really important to him that they know he's a good guy and will look after me. Mum knows that from everything I've told her while we were dating and engaged and now.

It's totally and completely up to you and your fiance. Hawaii would be gorgeous but you would want to be sure you don't regret not having family there... but at least you're in a good spot for honeymooning!

What are you "feeling" right now? A private courthouse ceremony with your best buddies to witness and a party later?

Hey Guys, Thanks for the feedback.. I ended up having a good chat with my parents, and we all aggreed that they wouldnt fly over for the wedding

but they would thrown a party back in New Zealand next Feb when we are over there. And Dad will do some kind of blessing ceremony as he is a Minister...my parents asked me to check if Matts parents would like to come over for it too..and they are! His parents are very excited...so anyway that takes care of my whole dilemma with my family....know im still confused about to do for the actual wedding..matt is very happy with having a get together with his friends and family and then we go to hawaii and have a simple ceremony...i can see whats going to happen i am going to make no set decision..I will just get over there and realise that ####### I have 3 weeks before my 90days is up..so what the hell do we do..ha..no i hope it doesnt come to that...

and congrats alex and astrid!

[Omnivore 0]

Hey all,

Arrived in San Antonio and now Married, now trying to sift through the paper work, huzzah!

Will be popping in to Social Security on Monday to try and get a SSN, because I can't do anything without one! Now to work out if that document means I AM allowed to work or not. I'm thinking yes.

Thanks for all the help gang.