Abolish fiancee visas

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

On the other hand, I would be just as happy if they eliminated the silly affidavit and just make people ineligible for welfare and such for 10 years after the green card is issued.

Maybe you should include a prepaid ticket back home in the filing requirements.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Yep.

back then I said all that and many people wrote that i was 'unromantic' because I planned and saved and made sure as much as I could that all was set in place ( health insurance..practical stuff) before I even filed. That caused a delay of a couple of months.

But in hindsight it was the very best thing I could have done... because that time before they can work is difficult and expensive. It just is and although it's not ' romantic' to mention this truth...It is non the less the truth and I am really happy Mark and I took the time to prepare as much as poss. Helped us thru that really difficult time financially and emotionally and the 'romance' is so much better when you know you have the money for AOS saved up and food in the cupboard.

You mean you didn't just file the petition, check the update website every hour on the half hour and post complaints about how long it takes? You actually prepared for a life with another person from another country? Clearly you are not REALLY in love. Please tell me you AT LEAST waited 5 months until the NOA2 and then posted the question "What do I do now?" And "How do I get a co-sponsor?"

[tmma 467]

You are not very romantic, but 100% correct. I look at it this way. If one of my sons lost his job and needed help, I would gladly give it, and that goes for his wife and children also. But if one of them came to me and said "Will you co-sponsor my fiancee?" NO WAY!

On the other hand, I would be just as happy if they eliminated the silly affidavit and just make people ineligible for welfare and such for 10 years after the green card is issued.

I'm very romantic but I'm practical too.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Maybe you should include a prepaid ticket back home in the filing requirements.

Do you think people that voluntarily bring a spouse from a foreign country should be able to collect welfare?

I didn't even say anything about them leaving. I do not care if they leave or not. Even after they become citizens...10 years from initial green card until eligible for welfare.

For that matter, they can just end welfare altogether.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

You do realize, that the tax benefits alone more than cover the cost of the fees, and even the plane ticket. As far as waiting for the spouse to get a job, that sorta happens with many new relationships, not just a spouse fresh off the boat. Matter of fact, the K-1 spouse is more likely to take any job, just to alleviate the boredom of being left alone all day long.

I guess this depends on what they leave behind. For the USC, their spouse not working may not be a financial issue. But if they've left a nice job back home, both parties are going to have to adjust to having less money than they did before, as well as additional expenses (a car for example)

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

Mark had a job before he got here too....We'd spent years flying back and forth every few months, so him immigrating actually saved us money...lol.

My point is that I was attacked for delaying our visa filing a couple of months to use that time to check that my Health insurance would apply to him & other practical stuff as well as ensuring that we had enough liquid $$ in the bank to cover all expenses up to and including AOS ( after which he was working himself ). I said all that and got a whole load of ####### about being unromantic....

I made sure I had all the upcoming fees covered before Wes got here. And I made sure there was enough money in the bank to cover us for several months till he got work.

I didn't have health insurance for him though. We made arrangements instead with the asthma clinic so he could be seen for half-price. After he entered on the visa and had been seen there a couple of times, they referred him to a local clinic (for his general care) who saw people for a very reduced rate.

I think there are ways to plan ahead that don't require public assistance. You just have to look for them.

[tmma 467]

You mean you didn't just file the petition, check the update website every hour on the half hour and post complaints about how long it takes? You actually prepared for a life with another person from another country? Clearly you are not REALLY in love. Please tell me you AT LEAST waited 5 months until the NOA2 and then posted the question "What do I do now?" And "How do I get a co-sponsor?"

It's like you know me...wow. I'm impressed...lol.

Seriously what I wrote earlier was BS - in actuality I flew there for a 5 day jaunt around Amsterdam, fell madly and truly in lurve, proposed to him there, came home, filed, got Bubba that works at Walmart to co-sponsor ( Bubba has been laid off...dang), called USCIS everyday and got a real person everytime because I hijacked the RFE line, Mark borrowed the Embassy fees from his Granny, came here despite his dodgey heart valve, found out he was not eligible for SSI or Medicaid and I'm unemployed.

It's fab and the ' romance ' is phenomenal because we fight like cat and dog due to the stress of it all.

Edited February 4, 2011 by tmma

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

It's like you know me...wow. I'm impressed...lol.

Seriously what I wrote earlier was BS - in actuality I flew there for a 5 day jaunt around Amsterdam, fell madly and truly in lurve, proposed to him there, came home, filed, got Bubba that works at Walmart to co-sponsor ( Bubba has been laid off...dang), called USCIS everyday and got a real person everytime because I hijacked the RFE line, Mark borrowed the Embassy fees from his Granny, came here despite his dodgey heart valve, found out he was not eligible for SSI or Medicaid and I'm unemployed.

It's fab and the ' romance ' is phenomenal because we fight like cat and dog due to the stress of it all.

Try KY Intense. Tell him NOT to put it on his toast.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I guess this depends on what they leave behind.

True. That affect would some of the rest of my thesis as well. An imported spouse from say Western Europe would have a different, perhaps more realistic, expectation than one coming from Southeast Asia.

Edited February 4, 2011 by Some Old Guy

[trillium13 84]

Mark had a job before he got here too....We'd spent years flying back and forth every few months, so him immigrating actually saved us money...lol.

My point is that I was attacked for delaying our visa filing a couple of months to use that time to check that my Health insurance would apply to him & other practical stuff as well as ensuring that we had enough liquid $$ in the bank to cover all expenses up to and including AOS ( after which he was working himself ). I said all that and got a whole load of ####### about being unromantic....

To me that only makes sense. "Romance" should have nothing to do with the practical aspects. "Romance" isn't going to get anyone through a difficult process. Good planning, good communication between the parties involved, an expectation of hard work, and NO WHINING, will.

I of course have no data to support this, but I bet the "less romantic" couples probably have much more success in their marriages than those who throw all caution to the wind because they just "have" to be together.

[tmma 467]

Try KY Intense. Tell him NOT to put it on his toast.

I love the adverts for that stuff....

[tmma 467]

To me that only makes sense. "Romance" should have nothing to do with the practical aspects. "Romance" isn't going to get anyone through a difficult process. Good planning, good communication between the parties involved, an expectation of hard work, and NO WHINING, will.

ITA

[tmma 467]

I made sure I had all the upcoming fees covered before Wes got here. And I made sure there was enough money in the bank to cover us for several months till he got work.

I didn't have health insurance for him though. We made arrangements instead with the asthma clinic so he could be seen for half-price. After he entered on the visa and had been seen there a couple of times, they referred him to a local clinic (for his general care) who saw people for a very reduced rate.

I think there are ways to plan ahead that don't require public assistance. You just have to look for them.

True.

It just seems that some people on here don't seem to do the most minimal of planning or even researching the process..... and the next thing you know they are scrambling around in a panic over something that could have been taken care of before their loved one left.

O/T Glad you are back posting on here, RJ!!! but if you don't mind me asking, why you using the old JohnnyQuest ID?

[Fandango 1,439]

Sorry but it is entirely true. There is no law against entering the US with the intent to get married, as long as you do not stay and try to adjust status based on an entry intending to get married. Thousands and thousands of people enter the US with the intent to get married every year. As long as they do not overstay and do not attempt to adjust status without the proper procedure, all is well.

Enter on VWP, with the intent to get married, get married and go home to wait for the CR-1 to be approved. No problem.

Don't change what you said now.

You said:

To be clear, getting MARRIED on a tourist visa or VWP is NOT breaking any laws. Doing so AND attempting to adjust status IS fraud

It's not fraud to get married and attempt AOS on VWP if at the time of crossing POE, there was no intent to do so. Unless something's changed in the laws in the past week that I don't know about

Edited February 4, 2011 by Lisa C

[Fandango 1,439]

Tmma is bang on right, and ITA. I also took sh!t because I was 'unromantic' in my filing. My then fiance was a year off being heavily vested in his company, which he worked at for 19 years. We decided to hold off on filing because of such...and I too was told I was skewered in my priorities

Granted, a month before the interview, I gave him the boot, but I don't ever regret making the choice at the time. Money may not be romantic, but neither is being broke