It Started

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

Congrats to both Zor and Jonathan.

Now the race begins. Have fun, ask questions, and remember its all worth it.

[Brad and Vika 129]

I was going to redecorate what will become the little boy's room and she said not to so we can do that together. So I will just repaint some of the rooms (it is time to do that regardless) and I will let her redecorate the house. I have read where this is suggested so they have some connection and don't feel so foreign.

Baron no matter how you decorate, she will want to change it. Accept it and move on.

Yes, I know that. I'm just applying the base paint coat, spackle the old painting holes, etc.

This will also give her something else to do while she brushes up on her English.

Another Vjer I know left the paint unfinished for the exact same reason, and got clipped points because the house needed so much work! I guess you can't win that one either (big surprise right?).

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

I was going to redecorate what will become the little boy's room and she said not to so we can do that together. So I will just repaint some of the rooms (it is time to do that regardless) and I will let her redecorate the house. I have read where this is suggested so they have some connection and don't feel so foreign.

Baron no matter how you decorate, she will want to change it. Accept it and move on.

Yes, I know that. I'm just applying the base paint coat, spackle the old painting holes, etc.

This will also give her something else to do while she brushes up on her English.

Another Vjer I know left the paint unfinished for the exact same reason, and got clipped points because the house needed so much work! I guess you can't win that one either (big surprise right?).

That is a wonderful theory, better yet do nothing, tell he you did, that way she wont even ask for help. Then you can go hide under the couch with dima's man.

[amberdima 6]

That is a wonderful theory, better yet do nothing, tell he you did, that way she wont even ask for help. Then you can go hide under the couch with dima's man.

dima's the husband who's under the couch. when i, amber, his wife, nudged him- his toes wiggled, so he's still camping out til the greencard arrives

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

That is a wonderful theory, better yet do nothing, tell he you did, that way she wont even ask for help. Then you can go hide under the couch with dima's man.

dima's the husband who's under the couch. when i, amber, his wife, nudged him- his toes wiggled, so he's still camping out til the greencard arrives

Sorry I cant tell you two apart.

[Brad and Vika 129]

I was going to redecorate what will become the little boy's room and she said not to so we can do that together. So I will just repaint some of the rooms (it is time to do that regardless) and I will let her redecorate the house. I have read where this is suggested so they have some connection and don't feel so foreign.

Baron no matter how you decorate, she will want to change it. Accept it and move on.

Yes, I know that. I'm just applying the base paint coat, spackle the old painting holes, etc.

This will also give her something else to do while she brushes up on her English.

Another Vjer I know left the paint unfinished for the exact same reason, and got clipped points because the house needed so much work! I guess you can't win that one either (big surprise right?).

That is a wonderful theory, better yet do nothing, tell he you did, that way she wont even ask for help. Then you can go hide under the couch with dima's man.

What?

[Thomas-n-Elena 0]

That is a wonderful theory, better yet do nothing, tell he you did, that way she wont even ask for help. Then you can go hide under the couch with dima's man.

What?

Sorry ambers man but who can tell

[ZorValachan 0]

Dug up this thread, as I didn't want to start a whole new one to say I got the NOA2 today at 1:15am.

I had checked the site before I went to work (work nights) and just a touch....

I doubt it, but it kinda makes me smile to think some hard working USCIS adjudicator was up waiting to finish my case, lol.

Anyway, thanks a lot to this site and many of you members who helped answer (directly and indirectly) all the question spinning around in my head.

[Merle 458]

The ride will be over before you know it. I remember worrying and fretting that everything would get screwed up somehow and we would never be together, but it didn't take very long. It seems like just yesterday that I sent off the I-129 paperwork and now my wife is a U.S. citizen. Just don't worry too much and everything should be fine.

[amberdima 6]

Dug up this thread, as I didn't want to start a whole new one to say I got the NOA2 today at 1:15am.

I had checked the site before I went to work (work nights) and just a touch....

I doubt it, but it kinda makes me smile to think some hard working USCIS adjudicator was up waiting to finish my case, lol.

Anyway, thanks a lot to this site and many of you members who helped answer (directly and indirectly) all the question spinning around in my head.

yay

[ZorValachan 0]

Another dig up, because might as well keep adding to this thread with each step.

The medical wasn't fun. -20 C outside and they made her do the whole running from the one office to the other twice (they didn't like the first x-ray). Also they refused to make a copy of the DS-3025 (vaccination form). They told her that the embassy told them not to anymore (since Oct.) She said other fiancees and wives were saying the same thing.

Interview was worse: CO was rude. Was a man. Kept telling her that her English was horrible and that he did not believe we could communicate with each other. Demanded she show him proof of letters she sent to me, then after reading the emails brought, told her he did not believe she actually wrote it and would not look at the phone log we printed with my and her number, showing that we talk 30-60 minutes each day. She is really self-critical on her English (it is good, she was just nervous at the man's rudeness) and it rattled her in a majorly bad way.

Good news: After Hell, the visa was Approved

[baron555 934]

Another dig up, because might as well keep adding to this thread with each step.

The medical wasn't fun. -20 C outside and they made her do the whole running from the one office to the other twice (they didn't like the first x-ray). Also they refused to make a copy of the DS-3025 (vaccination form). They told her that the embassy told them not to anymore (since Oct.) She said other fiancees and wives were saying the same thing.

Interview was worse: CO was rude. Was a man. Kept telling her that her English was horrible and that he did not believe we could communicate with each other. Demanded she show him proof of letters she sent to me, then after reading the emails brought, told her he did not believe she actually wrote it and would not look at the phone log we printed with my and her number, showing that we talk 30-60 minutes each day. She is really self-critical on her English (it is good, she was just nervous at the man's rudeness) and it rattled her in a majorly bad way.

Good news: After Hell, the visa was Approved

Well congrats none the less. We all hope that these reports of easy and not so easy interviews help those down the road to prepare for anything.

[ZorValachan 0]

Well congrats none the less. We all hope that these reports of easy and not so easy interviews help those down the road to prepare for anything.

That's the main reason I'm writing, so others can learn/get help from our experience as we got help from those before us.

I forgot to add, She had trouble with understanding his English (I'm the only one she talks to in English on any basis, and we understand each other perfectly). Right away he said he didn't believe we talked to each other in English. Everything after that was 'Don't believe you'

Didn't believe she wrote the emails (your English is horrible)

Didn't believe we met in ICQ (that is an old program, no one uses it. you could not have met on it)

Didn't believe we had common interests (by this time she was shaken and answered in Russian, but he kept telling her to say it in English, which shook her up even more)

Didn't like that we didn't have a vast array of photos (Unfortunately my camera stopped working on the trip and her phone pics were somewhat not in focus.)

After reading 1 or 2 emails and saying he didn't believe them, refused to look at any more or the phone logs.

I am not sure on the snail mail letters, cards, and ring.

[SMR 368]

That's the main reason I'm writing, so others can learn/get help from our experience as we got help from those before us.

I forgot to add, She had trouble with understanding his English (I'm the only one she talks to in English on any basis, and we understand each other perfectly). Right away he said he didn't believe we talked to each other in English. Everything after that was 'Don't believe you'

Didn't believe she wrote the emails (your English is horrible)

Didn't believe we met in ICQ (that is an old program, no one uses it. you could not have met on it)

Didn't believe we had common interests (by this time she was shaken and answered in Russian, but he kept telling her to say it in English, which shook her up even more)

Didn't like that we didn't have a vast array of photos (Unfortunately my camera stopped working on the trip and her phone pics were somewhat not in focus.)

After reading 1 or 2 emails and saying he didn't believe them, refused to look at any more or the phone logs.

I am not sure on the snail mail letters, cards, and ring.

I've heard a couple stories where the CO is a jerk just to see how the interviewee will react. Think of it as an interrogation technique. Not that I like it, but it makes sense in that light.

My own (then) fiancee had sort of the same situation. He didn't like the color of the roses I bought her. He criticized this and that. Quizzed her on geography. Then he approved the visa.

Anyways, congratulations.

[ZorValachan 0]

Hmm, sounds like he was either having a really bad day, or was just tripping on the tiny little bit of power that he's been entrusted with. The fact that he approved her shows that he *did* believe her, or at least figured it was too much work to deny her. Again, there's no oversight on the consulates so it's impossible to know what the real situation is. Did your fiancee do her own translations? If she did her own translations then they would have required her to do the interview in English. If she's not comfortable with her spoken English, he might have been trying to suss if she really had been the translator of those documents. (not that it excuses rude behavior in the least.)

My wife was also treated rudely. Her English is pretty good, and the workers were constantly cracking jokes about mail-order brides and green card scammers, and making comments on their personal appearances. One of the women had a crying child, and a worker told her that he was going to make her leave if she didn't shut her kid up.

Fortunately it's something she never has to deal with again, and you'll soon be together--congratulations!

No, she didn't do her own translations (except her own emails in english-which she wrote originally in English)

She said she apologized to him that she did not understand his English very good, which he replied that he had no accent.

I did warn her about the whole 'your fiancee is criminal', thing (from another 2 threads) and to tell them they were wrong when they told lies. Well, i just found out he did pull something similar. At the end, he told her, 'You do know he is divorced?' which she replied, 'no, he is single, he was never married.' Said he just glanced at the paperwork and mutter, 'oh yeah, guess i was wrong'.

Said it was 10-15 minutes of grilling from start to finish. it was later than other people's interviews, but this guy came in at the end. I think maybe they needed extra help and he was just POed that he had do interviews.

Thanks all for the congrats, it's just a shame that the best of days has to have so much ####### splashed around on it.

How is POE? if something similar happens then, I cringe to imagine.