Jack&Ana

He's the one who changed his entire life to be with you. He left everything and everybody he knows to build a future with you. Be patient, there's an adjustment period and we went or are going about it in different ways. For me it has been the same as BlueBonnet.

He realizes that after having a highly professional life, being at home all day long can be a little rough. We go out all the time, he makes an extra effort not to crash when he comes home from work but instead go out to dinner or a movie. America, like any other new place takes some getting used to. Could you imagine yourself being perfectly adapted to his home country after a few short weeks?

In general, I think the level is low but it should take into consideration the situation of the applicants. If they're students or very young, it would be unreasonable to demand for more.

I don't think it's politically incorrect to ask of a couple of grownups to be responsible for their actions and I agree with Leatherneck. The Income Poverty Level leaves very little room for emergencies, especially when kids are involved.

Hey

So, I went to my interview with some documents in English and some others in Spanish. I didn't have any problems with either one of the people who handled my file. The 1st helps you to get your documentation in order. She was a Colombian woman, very friendly and helpful, she did not have any issue with them. Then the CO (American) reviewed my entire folder and it was the same. She didn't have any trouble with them and was also very nice.

What I think is an issue is if you have any documentation in another language, other than Spanish or English. In my case, I have papers in French, so those SHOULD be translated by a certified translator. Even if you both speak the languages fluently, you have to think that anything you present to the Embassy become official documents and it's better if you treat them as such.

Informality is not the best policy in this case, IMHO.

Good luck!! (Let me know how you guys are doing )

Shameless bump

alone even in a room full of people.... that is the truth for a lot of people in a LDR i think

Indeed it does. When we actually bring ourselves to go out with others we go back to constantly IMing each other, sending pictures of the party, etc... So much so, that we had our phones sometimes get "confiscated" by friends when we go out . I've become this annoying person who doesn't turn her phone completely off during a movie in case it blinks... and the texting starts again. He also has a collection of social faux-pas under his belt.

People take for granted to have their significant other with them. When the happy time comes and we're together for good, I'm never leaving his side ever again.

(The Holidays are kicking me in the butt )

We received the instructions for package 3 and 4 a couple of days ago. So far, we've been running down the list and gathering the documentation that need a certain time to get prepared, ask questions about specific requirements, etc BEFORE scheduling our interview. I thought it would be best to get those out of the way and prepare the rest of our folder while we waited for the interview.

It made me wonder, is there a specific time limit between getting the local case number and the scheduling of the interview at the Embassy?

Thank you so much for your replies.

J&A

We also had that "problem", not in so many pages. What we did was leaving the date and time of the conversations, start and finish. Skype also has a time counter that appears at the end of each logged entry.

...We actually sleep with SKYPE on so we can hear each other breathing (and even the snoring helps me to sleep) crazy but true.

hehe, we do this too!

We can all relate in a way or another. Jack and I spend every minute of our spare time videochatting with Gtalk (I find it has a better call quality than Skype), with that, your social life can dwindle faily quickly.

Try and make a point to spend time with your friends and family, it's hard but not impossible. In our case we end up sending "wish you were here" text messages and all I want is to go back home and hang out with him.

Still, it's very important to see your loved ones because once the AOS process starts, who knows when will you be able to be with them.

The impatience you build up by wanting to start your life with your partner is normal but don't let it get to you. The last thing you both need is stressing over being apart and put a strain on the relationship. The fact that we have LDR has made us extremely creative people when dealing with things. I feel that, as strange as this may seem, Jack and I have acquired a tool set to deal with anything life will throw at us in the future and it's an encouraging thought

I can't wait for my next visit though, nothing beats having morning coffee sitting by his side and I'm looking forward to do this for the rest of my life <3.

I wish you the very best and hang in there!

So was your signature and date on the Letter of Intent at all? The reason I inquire is because my fiance.. signed next to his printed name and dated the form at the top. Thanks.

It was signed but I think they also want you to put your name and the date you signed. That's what we've understood from the RFE letter. This time we're also making sure to sign in blue ink, it seems silly but apparently this also a big deal.

best of luck to you both.

We got an RFE last week and got the hardcopy on Tuesday. We have to resend/rewrite our Intent to Marry letters. We're assuming that what they need is for us to change the way it's drafted. I think te best course of action is taking the item list described on the RFE and address them in the same order.

Honestly, I can't think of anything else to do on that subject besides signing them with blue ink and all that. They specifically requested our names and date under our signature. Is that really all there is to it?

Has anybody else had a similar case?

Thanks!

OK, this sucks... I didn't get to the last post before replying. >.< Ignore this

Good luck to you both

As long as you're within the 5 month frame you can't really ask for a service request. Waiting sucks but they have their processing times for a reason. The fact that CSC is sticking to that time frame is a bit frustrating, especially when you see that the VSC is being extra efficient.

Wait until the 5 months are up and ten start calling them before taking more "agressive" steps, like contacting your congressman. We tried calling the USCIS last week and we only could get a machine, talking to a eral person for a change must be great!

Crossing my fingers for June filers!!!

Honestly, the 1st time I saw this post I didn't say anything, "if you don't have anything good to say" and all that. My outlook has changed though, a visit, even a short one, does a world of good.

The waiting time has served a purpose for a couple of reasons in my case. I can't say that I'm grateful for it and it has sucked but it's unavoidable and taking "my fate is in another's hands" road will drive you insane, been there done that... It makes the waiting even harder than it needs to be.

Sadly, we all have to go through it and there's nothing for it. When you talk with consular officers and realize that some of us come from high fraud countries you just have to accept the fact that everybody needs to be screened, checked and double checked.

I'll say it again, it sucks... I can't wait for our lives together to actually start.

Una pregunta siguiendo la de Johana. Si el novio de ella viene a Colombia para estar juntos durante la espera, hay alguien que se ha ido para pasar la espera en Estados Unidos? Claramente dentro de los términos legales apropiados, visa de turista y pasaporte vigentes, etc, etc.

Thank you Diana. It does help to have cold, hard AND written down facts about the whole process. By now I think all the freaking out is due to the lack of any news and the slow pace the CSC has at the moment.

Mainly, I don't want to have any surprises when we get to the Embassy.

Again, thank you so much for your replies

Skyoe is a good option if you want to call to a phone in Colombia but if it's video chat you're looking for Gtalk is way better.

I think they also added a phonecall feature but I haven't tried it yet.

Diana, this is my point exactly. There is much confusion on the subject.

What they are not asking anymore is precisely the DAS certificate for neither petitioner or beneficiary according to some. The website hasn't been updated so far and after calling, searching etc, I went looking in an unorthodox source: twitter. The Embassy in Bogota announced the changes that I mention but didn't specify to which visas those applied.

As some VJ members mentioned said changes (they are/were petitioning a K-1 visa) I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the matter while we patiently wait for the website to be updated.

June filers here!

It seems hurry up and wait is stretching it's current boundaries. The CSC couldn't be any slower and there are administrative problems at the Bogota Embassy? JHC!!! This patience thing is not easy...

Crossing my fingers for all of us.

Apparently, there have been changing procedures at the Embassy, as much as I've looked for hard, written information on the subject I haven't had any luck.

If, by any chance, I find out something I'll post here. I wish you two the best of luck resolving this thing.

I haven't yet but I think I will soon. I prefer to exhaust every single alley I can before calling for information. There is nothing that infuriates me more than having a question answered with a "have you visited our website?" and not being able to say that I have and found nothing .

Thank you for replying. If I find something out I'll let you know.

A.

What I've gathered so far is that the changes come from the Embassy, not the USCIS or any other "in house" government office in the States.

I've read that, for example, the documents given by the DAS are no longer required. However, this is the only specific clue I've found and it was in question form (posted by another VJ member). The rest has been more as an off comment on several posts... I'm getting nervous because I can't find a thing and I thought it could be a good idea to focus a conversation on the topic.

Hello everybody.

I've been reading a few posts on VJ about some changes in the K-1 process. So far I haven't been able to find a solid piece of information about what are they and what they entail. I've searched on the Bogotá US Embassy website for anything related to this but found nothing.

As some of you have had recent interaction with the Embassy, could you please enlighten us on this matter? Is there a link, website, phone number that we (the waiting crowd) can go to and find out?

I thank you all in advance (so does Jack, who is listening to this as I type ).

Ana

We are starting our 5th month waiting. While it's still within the expected time frame, we're going up the wall with impatience. In any case, no RFE so far or anything of the sort.

I wish there was a reliable source to find out what the speeding up/slowing down of some service centers are about. The USCIS must be overloaded with case number checkers... and I know I'm not helping on that front

Hola a todos!

Soy otra nueva en el foro. Llegué a esta página después de buscar durante mucho tiempo información completa, confiable y que no tocara pagar millones para acceder a ella.

Estamos apenas terminando de reunir nuestros documentos para enviar nuestra petición a USCIS. Si tiene algún consejo, es mas que bienvenido.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello everybody!

So, I'm another newbie in the forum. I finally found this website after a very long search. I was so happy to find reliable, thorough and free information.

My fiancé and I are just finishing up getting our paperwork together to file the application to the USCIS in Dallas. If any of you has any advice, it's more than welcome.

A.