KLS2010

A truthful generic reason for visit is appropriate. No need to mention any specific agenda items for the visit, even if one of them is your own wedding. If he has come and gone before, no reason to really use any different answers to questions than the ones he's used before.

Both of you are lucky in that it's a short distance to Canada, and he, as an American can cross over as many times as he wishes, and cheaply too. I don't know how many people here can say the same. Cost of Airfare alone is a deterrent for multiple visits to see their spouse. You guys can see each other every month if you so wished.
All in all, I am happy for you. Best wishes on your journey.

WOW and imagine the people who are separated for more than year because their husband or wife is sent to war and faces being killed every day. I hope none of their wives/husbands are talking like this. My father went overseas in November 1942 nd did not come back for three years. Good thing the generation at that time was not like this one.
For better for worse...til death do you part...unless it takes 7 months for a piece of paper to be processed. The hurdles of life are far more difficult than waiting for a piece of paper to be stamped and maybe it is a good thing to expose such weaknesses. The visa is nothing really, compared to caring for a family.
Good luck.

I understand why there is whining/complaining you are talking about, but it's not so much the wait; It's being away from their loved one for the wait. You're from a VWP country so you can visit freely, but many on here aren't. It's not so easy for many on here to be together.

Yes, they hate us so much.... That's why they've been FLOCKING here!!!

El Paso, is that Texas? I thought it was part of California.
No problem if people don't like Texas, when too many people like a state, they move there and ruin the place
Look at California now, too many people moved there and wrecked the joint.

There is nothing wrong with what you are proposing to do. I myself did it. I came to the US on the VWP, got married and returned to Australia 2 weeks later.
Coming to the US to get married and then leave is perfectly fine. Coming to the US to get married with the intention of staying is not!
Here is a link to a similar question asked a few days ago. Their fiancee is Canadian, but Canadians don't need visas, and the UK citizens can (in most circumstances) use VWP so they are somewhat similar. I'm sure you will find more threads from search on VJ. You will see that many people have done what you are planning.
Just make sure your fiancee brings ties to home, just in case. Maybe enrollement information from her school would be helpful, as would any lease agreements, etc, although I doubt she will be asked for anything.
Good luck!

NO intent to get married is absolutely not a problem. The problem is an intent to STAY. If the fiancée comes to get married and then goes back to her home country, then there's no problem at all. It's legal and unless she is specifically asked at the port of entry if she is going to get married during her stay, she does not even have to volunteer that information.

I couldn't agree less. I've been volunteering as a teacher in Central America for the last two years, so the only income I have for that time frame is from working over the summer for 8 weeks. I met and fell in love with my fiance while being here, and when my commitment to my school ends this year I'm returning to the US, where I have essentially nothing. Will it stay that way? No. I have a 4-year degree and I'm bilingual and hardworking. So is my fiance. So, just because I don't have any money right now I should be barred by the government from marrying my foreign finace? Especially if I have a whole network of family members that are willing to help us get started? Or taking away freedoms and rights is ok as long as it doesn't affect you?
I will be starting over again in a few months whether I marry him or not. Why not build a life with the one you want to be your partner at your side?

There are far too many variables at play here, and I think anyone who takes a black-and-white view fails to see the whole picture. I, for one, am grateful that the USCIS understands the great variation among its petitioners and tries to accommodate these differences.
I have lived abroad for five years, and would now like to return home to the USA to enter into a PhD program. As a PhD student, I will barely meet the poverty guidelines. I met my husband abroad, and while there are arguments floating around here stating "You could have found your love in the USA," this was not the path my life took. Should I have stopped myself from falling in love with him, because I somehow should have known that I would struggle to meet the poverty guidelines if and when we wanted to move the USA?
My husband's earning potential is high (fingers crossed he will find a job quickly), but is it possible for the two of us to survive on 125% of the poverty line? Absolutely. I have lived on less. However, if the USCIS did not allow me the option to have a co-sponsor, I would probably not be approved and my husband and I would look elsewhere to move.
I think it's fair to say that no two cases are the same. Are there people getting married who can't even support themselves? Sure, but I don't think povery requirements will stop that.
Anyway, I'm just grateful that the USCIS sees each case as individual, and does not apply a one-size-fits-all policy. I would likely fall through the cracks that way.

How can people make it on 125% of poverty level?
I do just fine. I have four kids,(two teenagers and two early elementary) plus me and I make $34,000 a year. We're not starving, no one is wearing rags, my kids have everything they need and some things they don't.
How do I do it? I'm responsible with my money. I own my home,(well the bank technically owns it) I own my vehicles. I pay cash for everything and I have savings for emergencies. I even mange to put a little away every month for retirement.
Sure someone living in New York City probably couldn't get by on my income, but I live in small town, backwoods Tennessee. Where I live the cost of living is cheap.
Do I think the requirement is unreasonable? No.
I make $4,000.00 below the poverty level requirement to sponsor my husband. Would one more person make things difficult around here? Maybe. But we could always tighten the belt and do away with the cable and internet, not eat out, and not take trips until my husband found a job here.
USCIS does not take into consideration I'm a responsible adult who knows how to budget my money. They see my adjusted gross income on my 1040. We had to get a co-sponsor. My sister had no qualms about helping us out. She knows we'll be fine and she will probably never have to help support anyone here.

so how should it be then...would it be better that they lived thousands of miles away from each other instead of together just because they are poor Dont be so quick to judge we are all a day away from losing everything ....people are people rich or poor black or white

Even though I am a UT alum I had to admit that also.
HOOK 'EM ...OWLS. OWLS???????? #######????? They still haven't changed that?

I did CR-1, so my experience with F2A visas is limited, but imagine that the PCC requirements would be the same.
This link is to the US Embassy Canberra website and details the process for obtaining PCC for each state.
They are valid for 12mths.
Hope this helps

Ok...I did a quick search and this is what I found. Now, I know that your fiancee is Canadian, and this is referring to B2 visitors, but I figure if it's ok for them, then I can't see why it would be any different for Canadians who don't require visas in the first place.
(Note: The highlighted section in red was the main part I wanted to show, but put the rest in to show the context )
This came from the Department of State's Foreign Affairs Manual. Here's the link.

We had some similar issues with my husband's family.
I am 20yrs younger than my husband, so I got the whole 'she must be a gold-digger after a green card' deal thrown at me. Before we were married I had his mother tell me to go back to my own country because she couldn't see any reason why I would want to be involved, and couldn't possibly have anything in common, with her son, and that I was interfering with his relationship with his children.
For these reasons his parents and sister were not invited to our ceremony. In fact, they didn't even know we were getting married. My husband called them afterwards and told them.
I'm not saying that my situation is the same as yours, just that I can somewhat understand where you are coming from in not wanting to tell your family. However, I can see also why some other posters are concerned that hiding your marriage from your family might not look so good to a CO.
I wish you the best of luck and hope everything turns out well for you.

!!!
p.s. Im american...and I don't believe in God...


This is true!!
My husband always says - he isn't 'American' - he's Texan lol!!

When our laptops need charging--
He plugs the lead into the mains. (That would be pronounced leed not led.)
I plug the power cord into the socket.
He's bemused we say "I need to run to the store", yet we always go in the car.

All of the above are the same as we say in Scotland lol. Im lucky though my husband is originally from my hometown so he is familiar with all of my funny sayings. ;-)

I think this gets to the heart of what stereotypes are. Stereotyped comments are based on perspectives formed from preconceived expectation - either negative or positive, either valid or otherwise. This can also be called 'a prejudice', as the expected view point has a preconceived expectation - a prejudice towards a certain expectation - about the culture involved. I think, though, the use of the word prejudice here implies that there is an intended negativity, that the comments were meant to be insulting, rather than expressing someone's personal observations based upon their own cultural background and experiences. I do not see any intention to insult in the comments under question and suspect that this response has more to do with the reader than with the poster. Sometimes this is difficult for those on the receiving end of the stereotype to accept- that maybe the stereotype does have some truth to it.
The thing is, when one person is expressing their observations based upon their personal experiences and operating from their own different cultural background, you don't need to see it as an attack on you personally or even, in this case, on the US. I found it interesting that some felt that they needed to jump to the defense of the US against certain comments by attacking other countries rather than saying why the stereotype is or isn't true. It is somewhat ironic, actually, that in a thread exploring stereotypes we had a nice illustration of another American stereotype ' blind patriotism'. That is one of the stereotypes I had about Americans - a lot of it based upon Canadian-American relationships over the years. Americans were never able to hear anything 'wrong' about the US even if it was in their own best interests to know it. I still don't understand this type of blind patriotism. If my country is wrong on something, I want to know about it, see it, discuss it, and hopefully find a way to fix it. I don't want to be viewed as 'unpatriotic' for raising the question that this 'flaw' or problem exists. That, to me, sounds like the ultimate unpatriotic thing to do - to pretend that the problem doesn't exist and to threaten others if they suggest it does.
To explore stereotypes in the other direction, someone mentioned joining a Canada forum and insulting Canadians - that's occurred here on VJ and the interesting result was that a lot of the Canadians agreed that there was some truth in what the attacker had to say, discussed the pros and cons about whether they comments were justified or not, and finally the American involved became so disgusted he launched into a TOS violating tirade that got him suspended. In the meantime, I got apologies from some of the Canadians involved in the discussion, hoping that their comments had not been inappropriate.
Now, this is one of the stereotypes Americans have about Canadians, that we are generally overly polite, and it has a germ of truth in it. Are all Canadians polite at all times - of course not! Are most of us polite at most times? Yes. This is part of our acculturation, and when we come to the US we do find Americans rude, not because Americans are necessarily being rude, but because of the differences of our cultural backgrounds. For example, the standard American response of 'umm humm" instead of a thank you sounds rude to my ears but this is based upon my 'foreign' expectations. I realized soon enough that there was no intention of being rude and they did not see themselves as being rude, but were just responding based upon their acculturation - but this is how the stereotype of 'rude Americans' is formed.
Stereotypes are based upon 'relative comparisons' to other cultural perspectives. Instead of complaining that the other person's experiences or perspective is wrong and attacking them and their home country for their comments, this thread is a good place to explore first why the stereotype exists, and if it exists for more than one culture, and what can be done to correct the stereotypes. It might also be a useful exercise for those who find themselves reacting strongly to examine why this is a hot button for you. I have found that we tend to be most reactive when something strikes too close to home and we don't want to see or accept that there may be some truth in the observation. This often shows up as the 'best defense is a good offense' response, trying to deflect the discussion into another area. It is a tool politicians use all the time.
So, please people, lower the weaponry. We are allowed to disagree with each other but it doesn't make sense to attack someone for making comments based upon their perspective because it is not a perspective that you share. It doesn't necessarily make their comment wrong - although it may - nor does it make their comment right. It is their perspective, their experience, that is what is being discussed. While stereotypes often do have a germ of truth at their core, they are generally very inaccurate in providing any sort of realistic view of the culture involved and that is why stereotypes are often at the heart of racist, sexist or otherwise inappropriate comments. It is good to explore them and expose them to get them out into the light of day so they can be revealed for what they are - a simplistic one size fits all preconceived expectation, which will never be accurate for everyone.
btw, one way to tell if a comment has struck too close to the bone is to monitor your own response: If it provokes a strong reaction in you, you probably recognize some truth to the comment and don't want to look at it any closer for fear of what you might find; if there is no emotional reaction, or you find it amusing and can laugh at it, it isn't one of your personal emotional 'hot buttons' and your response is likely to be more objective.

I didn't realise how bad the health care system really is (or should that be LACK OF health care?!!) until I moved here. Like Vanessa said - it is scary to think about having a baby here - to the point that I am seriously considering if/when the time comes to go home and have it.
I am in Texas, and have had a lot of the sterotypes about Texas and Texans thrown at me from people who think that all Texans are in oil or cattle, that they are all millionaires because of that, that they are cowboys who all walk around wearing cowboy hats and boots. In some parts of the state some of that is true, but not where I am.
Conversely, when people learn I am Australian - alot of them start the whole 'Throw a shrimp on the barbie' comment (thanks Paul!), or ask if I know Crocodile Dundee (ahhh, nooo....he is a movie character, NOT a real person!), and ask if I have had a koala as a pet, and do kangaroos really jump down the main streets of towns. Some people have had trouble understanding me, to the point of my husband having to translate for me (my own father-in-law couldn't understand a word I said the first time I met him, even now, 3yrs later, he still has trouble sometimes).
Also about religion, as Penguin and Vanessa have mentioned, I haven't really met anyone here that doesn't believe in God to some extent. I say sometimes I think I'm the only person in Texas that doesn't believe in God!! Unlike Vanessa though - I don't bite my tongue and refrain from saying things like 'Oh my god' and 'Jesus Christ' or - really Australian here - 'bloody hell!'. Nobody has given me any grief over it - but maybe I haven't been here long enough yet lol! Some people have jokingly told me - 'This is America - start speaking like an American!' - but that won't happen - I am NOT American - and I don't think there's anything wrong with that!!

Please remember this thread was started to examine stereotypes, not to demonstrate them. Please do not take these comments personally - they reflect the observations individuals coming from other countries have about Americans and the US. There are differences between countries; there are differences between states, there are differences between cultures, there are differences between people.. This thread isn't meant to be 'competition' for who is the best or 'most right'. The thing about stereotypes is that stereotypes are labels that while often have a basis of truth, are not indicative of the whole country. It is good to look at why labels do or don't fit but please don't attack others because their experiences are different than yours. Don't turn this thread into a confrontation or a competition about who is 'most right'. That's not what this is about. It isn't necessary and it detracts from the discussion at hand. If you find an individual's comment offensive or out of line, then report it to the Moderation team and we will review the comments. Don't enter into a 'battle' with them.

This isn't a thread to whine about how fat Americans are, it's to post the stereotypes, right or wrong, that you thought about America before you got here. Yes it is light-heart and meant to be fun.

Have to say, I'm not a big fan of flouncy over reactions like the one above.
This is a light hearted thread - with posts from people who are possibly a little homesick, venting about things that annoy them. You can try as hard as you can to assimilate, but sometimes you just need to let off steam.
You also need to remember that there are significant cultural differences at play here - what you may see as wonderful patriotism (flying the flag) doesn't always translate to people who have grown up in environments where national flags are used as hate symbols to terrify and attack minority groups. Eventually such people will get used to the fact that America isn't like that - but in the mean time, try not to criticise their struggles to adjust.
And frankly - If banter about how fat Americans are, is really such a terrible attack on the U.S., this nation is buggered.

I noticed people were bigger yes, but what I noticed more was the large number of people 300lbs+. I also saw really skinny people so I can't say "All Americans are huge". I can say I saw one such person at home, but here there's many of them. I thought it was good though that the stores actually offered more sizes.
I noticed the religion. I knew religion was big here but until I experienced it I didn't realise how big. I also noticed a lot of hypocrisy in that. I have seen true religious people, good people. I have also seen a lot of people who claim to be religious but break many of the commandments during the week and think just going to church on Sunday makes them good people. I've also noticed that I can't say anything involving the word God. I consider the terms "god forbid" and "thank God" expressions, but I don't say them anymore because people think I'm actually referencing God and I don't want to open that door. I don't want to get into that discussion. I haven't met one US born person who isn't religious in some form.. that is a shock.
Patriotism and arrogance. Again I heard about it, but until I got here I didn't expect it was this "bad". Flags are everywhere. You have to be careful about what you say, especially being an immigrant, that you're not perceived to be "attacking" the US. A lot of people haven't left the country, some not even their own states yet "America is the best country in the world"... They haven't been anywhere else, it's great they feel that way, but it's rarely open to discussion.
I never thought Americans were all millionaires, but I didn't realise how bad the government support was. I didn't realise there were so many homeless people. I never expected that having kids here would be as scary as it is (financially). I knew the healthcare stuff was bad but until I was able to learn more I just didn't think about it. I realise a little while ago that if Tony and I weren't together I couldn't survive here by myself... not yet anyway. I don't have enough of a credit history (it's getting better though), I don't have enough US work experience, I have no accommodation references (in order to rent by myself). It makes sense now why people jump from relationship to relationship... they need to in order to survive.