EminTX

I meant to include this summary statement: "Does an application for a DV visa risk cancelling another valid visa?"

(sorry, I can't figure out how to edit the original topic post.)

I have a friend in Ecuador who wants to apply for the DV visa. He has a tourist visa but it will expire in 2019. He wants to apply but is very concerned about the application alone causing problems with his other visa. We are having trouble finding this information on any official site.

Does anyone have experience with this or can we be pointed in the right direction?

Thanks.

Oh yeah--I meant to add:

On the lower back of each page submitted, we included my husbands name and the number from his greencard.

I have worked in a bureaucratic machine for many years and it is a NIGHTMARE putting things back together when you drop a folder that explodes all over the floor. It is the worst nightmare when it is a group of folders....

I don't see how this can hurt but it might be helpful if one of our documents flies off a desk or whatever and needs to get back to where it belongs.

(To do it, we simply typed it in a document to print and loaded the printer to get them all at once and re-ran them through the printer. )

~~~

Also, I posted a thread years ago when I bought a new printer for this process--we got the HP Photosmart. We are still loving it and it is still producing super-sharp documents. The inks are reasonably priced and I'd happily buy from the same model-family again.

Here I am in 2015 looking up sample cover letters to use in proofing the one we have written and this thread was near the top of the list when searching for "751 cover letter".

For anyone who might be new to this or, like myself, come across this old thead, there is no requirement that you send no photos. A photograph of the petitioner will be taken at the biometrics interview. This does nothing to prove a relationship. If you want to send a vacation photo of your family in front of the Alamo, it could only further verify the validity of the reciept showing that you had 3 people in your room at the hotel located across the street from the land mark location. (a personal example)

The price has certainly changed and the address is also different.

I am guessing that this was the first one I opened because this was such a well written cover letter example.

Thank you again to everyone who has traveled this road before us and taken the time to share their experiences and information.

Our lives were essentially on hold for a year because of this. The first 6 months came and went, but the months after that were just downright cruel. My husband had to return to his country to finish college and because he was months late getting here, this meant that he was months late on applying for AP (permission to travel) and we were under so much stress over the possibility of having to start over from scratch completely again. (The AP took from May to August--that was with calling and begging).

The delays feel like punishments for doing everything right.

I was checking our greencard status for 11 months. April 11th, it arrived in the mailbox. We had no warning--just its arrival. (Warning--the envelope looked like junk mail. I usually stack this ####### up and deal with it once a month or so. It is good that my husband is better at taking care of stuff like that than I am!)

You didn't make a wedding announcement? What about invitations? Wedding shower? No honeymoon with souviners documents that are available?

Christmas cards addressed to the both of you? Mailing labels from official (or non official places)? Wedding anniversary cards to each other or from friends/family?

Letters from each other? Sweet notes? "Just because" examples on paper that demonstrate an ongoing committed relationship (or love/affection)?

Membership ID's that are identical except for your photos/first names to the same place bought on the same date? (We included copies of our season passes to Space Center Houston, for example. Who else would buy these together except married people?!?!)

Insurance card with the names of everyone on the plan cited on the card? Anything from a third party that includes the name of each person? Tickets to travel or events?

A birth certificate from a child with both names? (We are almost at that point--but just got the greencard 2 weeks ago!)

My husband quit his bellyaching when he went back home for 5 months to finish school. He had already gotten used to hot water on demand from every tap, Subway sandwiches across the street, having our own vehicle, his Home Depot addiction, NetFlix, air conditioning, unlimited access to all the frisky-play he wanted, etc. When he went back, of course he was delighted to be back in his element. For a few weeks. It wasn't long before he was lamenting for me to make some corn bread and mail it to him. Or his celebration when Pop-Eyes Chicken opened downtown in his city, but it "wasn't exactly right.". And he was lonely.

Since he has returned, he hasn't complained one time about how much he misses his home country. It wasn't so glittery gold after all and each place has its charms and detractions. And he knows that when we have the funds, he will be able to return for a visit in a heartbeat.

If this is a possibility for y'all, consider it.

Food is not necessary. Snacks are traditional--cakes and nuts and candies. There has been a trend in recent years to make it into an expensive affair including drinks and a party-atmosphere but this event is really about the baby more than anyone else and the focus should really stay there.

I, myself, am 18 days from my due date now and there is a shower arranged for me here in my job by my boss (a guy from India). I have a registry on Amazon.com--the easiest one I found--the others that I looked at are all very limiting and Toys/Babies-R-Us won't let you exchange defective items (we got wedding gifts from there and were treated horribly when we went to exchange one thing--We'll never go back EVER.).

If it makes it easier, something I did was include a post on my blog to show what we are doing, wanting, NOT wanting, already have, and would just like to have. I just update it as we get goodies or modify our needs. Click here: Baby stuff-What we've got, what we need, what we think would be cool

This has been extra handy for our friends and family who are practical like us.

Current trends do include guys. Since the mom is likely to have guy friends/coworkers/neighbors/etc, inviting guys is fine and easy. Dad is usually included these days, too, and is probably gonna enjoy the festivities. (My boss called me yesterday to make sure that my husband knew he was invited and that there would be peole there who speak his language.

Games are popular and some are stupid and some are funny and some are boring--like most theme-party games. My favorite has been "Pin The Sperm In The Uterus" where some photos of dad's face are attached to carboard sperms that have sticky tape on them to try to aim with. Another game that seems popular is to take both parents names and then everyone comes up with as many combinations of legit names from those two sets of letters as possible--who ever has the most non-repeated names wins a prize. A last one is to have everyone guess how many toilet-paper squares around mom's belly will measure. This one is lame and, unless mom was skinny to begin with, might make her mad/moody.

If you can ask around, especially with some older ladies, they can probably give you lots of great input on more practical things and some good ideas to keep the budget down.

Good luck.

I agree with the last post. My ex is my EX for a reason and there is absolutely zero attraction between us in any way whatsoever any more. My husband knows this and is very comfortable with the situation. He understands that in our family, the only way out is to die--you can't even divorce your way out and at holidays and gatherings, ex's bring their new spouses/kids and sometimes even their ex. The more people to love everyone in the family, the better. The more trustworthiness you can have, the better. The more community and family unity you can have, the better.

If my ex calls to invite for a BBQ, pool party, road trip, whatever--we are on it like white on rice.

My ex was a part of my past and there is no reason that he should be disposible. No one has ever been like that for me - not friends, acquaintances, or lovers (except a violent one).

Besides, if you do have some insecurity about it, you can go with him sometimes over the 2 months and see if her house is covered in momentos or photos of him or if he has clearly been replaced by someone "better" or what. If she is away training, she won't be around.

Why would anyone expect that a dog won't remember someone from 7 years ago? Dogs are especially loyal and have demonstrated this repeatedly throughout history with examples of several years of absence from their lives being forgiven in a moment.

I spent a few months making a wedding ring for my now-husband. My linkhttp://emilylikestomakestuffdiy.blogspot.com/2011/10/silver-ring-from-quarter.html

I also watched /got caught up on all the shows I missed out on while in college.

I got a guitar and a flute and began learning to play. (Skills that you can master while waiting that can come in very handy later are smart.)

We worked on making sure that we had tangible evidence for the interview--letters, postcards, real cards. (This WAS looked at in the interview.)

I embroidered little sweet-things on some handkerchiefs for him (and his family).

I should have gotten a job. Husbands are expensive!

If, for some reason the food doesn't go off as planned, order pizzas to cover the extra folks. Seriously. It would be fun and funny and memorable and you could ask the staff (teenagers) who are decorating the pizzas to make symbols like valentine hearts with the pepperonis or whatever. Or you could order BBQ plates to be delivered. Or Mexican food. Or whatever. Look around at what is locally a favorite and run with it. As long as you are flexible and flat out refuse to be stressed out by suprizes, all will be good.

I also want to add that I am glad to see you avoiding the courthouse routine. Even though it is technically legit and there is nothing really wrong with it, it always feels so wrong to me to celebrate a life changing milestone in the same place you pay a traffic ticket or sue someone. It seems belittling. I have been to a few. One, the guy went to work on his evening shift right after that and the bride returned to her house and they moved in together a couple of weeks later. Practical, yes. Celebratory? No. The last one I went to was equally depressing. The bride's adult children were in town but not invited to come at all because "it would just have been too much bother." Very depressing. I was invited as the only witness because I was off work. She announced the marriage to her children after the fact. No shock--there was a lot of resentment over that.

It is so easy do SOMEthing that is fitting the value of the occasion that I just can't see why anyone would do the courthouse routine unless there is a huge amount of shame involved.

~~~~

Edited to add:

Check out Craigslist for officiants, too. There are sure to be some verrrrry freaky ones available to "consider". Here in Houston, there is one that specializes in Furby weddings and another that specializes in Nude weddings. Yep. Considering the climate, I know which would be my preference. hahahaha

If y'all can schedule some routine activities, like meals, "together" on Skype, this has been helpful for us. Our favorite is to get/make a roasted chicken and salad here and the family overseas does the same thing. The shy brother can still be and feel like part of the group even though he is just listening and munching and Mom can feel like she is still hovering/watching over our nutrition and Dad can make his gross jokes at the table if he wants and there is no pressure. With the distraction of the yummy grub, this has worked out very well. (We usually use the laptops in the kitchens, but whatever it takes to make it work is fine. Burgers or sandwiches work just as well, too. People are different over dinner than just with the pressure of a camera and conversation.)

It is even better if you have sent a package and they can open it on camera with y'all watching--cookies or some other desert item is always a HUGE hit. With us, we once had a box with a helium balloon in it of a baby to announce the pregnancy. Oh yeah, that won some great points with the family!

When my husband first came here, his family was sweet at seeing him off, but seemed cool about it. He returned for 5 months to complete college and on his last day then, his mother completely lost it with the tears and guilt trip and everything. THAT just about killed him.

Having a cell phone with unrestricted international calls to his home country has really helped, too. They call him to let him know they wanna talk and he calls right back. I work 17 hour shifts on the weekends so they know that weekends are the best times to get a hold of him when we aren't running around so that works out pretty well.

I think, also, that the trip back helped everybody, including him, in the adjustment. They could see that he wasn't starving and that he was thriving and that they could trust me and this very foreign place (especially since they have COPS and other TV shows like that over there). He was also able to better appreciate the good things here that he had gotten so used to (hot water in every faucet, Subway, having a truck to get around in, etc).

The first couple of things we did was get that social security card taken care of and then right away was the application for a state ID card. It was easy, took all of 20 minutes, and with this, my hisband has his information as needed. I believe he carries a copy of his USCIS card in his wallet. Official ID's in this state are only for legals, so it seemed the easiest. (I asked some of the officers that moonlight at my job about what they look for and this was what they recommended.)

Don't look at package deals as hardcore requirements. Whatever your faith is, call some local churches in the area of where you want to have the wedding and ask the pastors' prices. Ours was about 20 minutes from our location and he charged 50$. We were gonna pay him double as a thank you and he refused. He even brought along a relative to make sure we had enough witnesses since we had no idea who would show up or not. Most pastors of most churches are legit and not just doing this to make a buck--like you will get with pretty much every package deal. From what I understand, having a Catholic officiant is tricky but a Baptist one is easy as pie (this is what we had).

Once you have picked your place, THEN go about looking at reception options. There is no requirement for a meal. Traditionally, punch and snacks (candies, nuts, and cake) were what was offered. With the current trends to go into deep debt for the idiocy of showing off, things have gotten out of hand. This day is about YOU and the love of your life--not about how impressed anyone is or what they will remember at all.

My husband hates makeup so I wore just some mascara that I borrowed for my son's girlfriend and some light tinted lipgloss. All the effort that I put into my hair didn't matter at all because of the veil. BTW--make your own veil. I made 3 small practice ones for the girls that would be there and then made my own. It was easy, but I would highly recommend making the practice ones first. The price for all 4 was probably about 30$--I can't remember now. The cost for buying one is comeplete BS.

I really wanted to have a photographer but when push came to shove, we couldn't arrange it. Since the best possibly help to quality photography is lighting, the beautiful weather took care of that for us. We had point-and-shoots and are very satisfied with the results.

I bought some goofy shirts for us to wear afterward that say "I love my husband/wife" that were a hit. I think they were 20$ for both, if you look online.

I really wanted to have a traditional cake, too. I planned to make it myself and practiced for a few months in advance. As the K-1 was delayed by a few months, the options just slipped away. The result of this practicing is that my coworkers got to enjoy some yummy cake experiments and my own popularity went up. When we celebrate a future anniversary, we can then do the cake routine.

Make a list of what you want, don't want, and what is negoitiable--it is easier to see it all side-by-side in black and white. And be sure to check out http://www.orientaltrading.com/occasions-and-events/wedding-party-supplies-a1-550536-2-0.fltr. Just don't buy the wedding bubbles--they come with ugly safety warning stickers on them that are all but impossible to remove to be pretty. Those are better bought at Wally-world.

Don't let anyone or any fashion pressure you into spending more than you want or stress you out. If something makes you nervous or shaky or stressed, skip it! The two of you and your vows are the important part--never let that get overshadowed.

Edited to add:

Here is the site with our pix--it shows the veils and such--you can quickly scroll through them, if you want--seriously, look at everything and copy the great ideas. Forget the ones that are too much trouble.

http://emilylikestomakestuffdiy.blogspot.com/p/wedding.html

Here, in the US, this is one of the freedoms that we chaerish--the right to celebrate our important milestones how we want and where we want--weddings and funerals being biggies. When we were planning our wedding, due to the delays and the costs, pretty much most of our budget had already been spent on the visa and traveling. When it finally came time for the wedding, getting things done in 3 weeks time means you will often pay more for last minute plans. We just adjusted our plans completely and ended up having a lovely wedding. There are some photos posted here on VJ that you can see, if you are curious.

In planning, I went to various websites where more creative people are often highlighted and budgeting are not ignored. One of my favorites was Wedinator: http://roflrazzi.cheezburger.com/wedinator

What we ended up doing was going to a little wedding chapel in another town about 3 hours from here in the middle of the week in the middle of the day. We sent out invitations the moment we knew the date and place and anyone who wanted to come was invited. It was informal and, since we couldn't make the traditional dreams happen, we made it a fun event. Our guests raved about how much more fun it was than any other wedding they had been to. The place was on the side of a hill, outside, in the open air (the chapel has no walls) followed by a dinner hosted by us in a nearby restaurant that did not serve alcohol (important to me--I have never been to any wedding where alcohol was served that everyone behaved at--plus the expense!) and then everyone was invited to go bowling. We had lots of laughter and no one except me had to wear uncomfortable clothes/shoes.

Overall, I am very pleased with it--we celebrated in a way that matched our personalities and that was not a cookie-cutter copy of every body else's wedding or anything that is commercial and designed only to separate us from our money. The things that were most important to us we included and everything else was flexible. If you can adopt this attitude, it will be MUCHHHHHHHH easier on you and your spouse-to-be.

I just asked the last 3 people who came by my desk. These were their answers: "In my neighborhood between two beautiful trees in my neighbor's front yard. The weather was perfect and it was great." " In a temple in India." " Vegas!!! Yeah, baby!"

If you are close enough to the state line, you might check the legal requirements in the near-by state and look at locations there, too.

I hadn't thought about it before, but it would be great if we could have a sub-thread in the K-1 folder for wedding discussion. It is such a popular theme that it would be nice to have the threads grouped together. Especially since we are all combining cultures and traditions and for so many of us, the visa is the single most expensive item.

Good luck. I am sure that whatever you plan, the wedding will be wonderful and a perfect official beginning to your lives together.

I see. I would guess that if the OP wanted information specific to only his/her visa, then that info would have been included in the title. As it appears, the responses here feel like teasing a room full of tigers. We have waited so long. I am seriously very concerned about our being penalized because of the delays--having to redo medical exams or whatever, for example. Costly penalties. This week marks 2 years that we made our very first steps in this process. If only we had known then...

Camping. Fishing together. Flipping over in the kayaks. Snuggling by the fire. Cabin, shelter, tent, or ground sleeping--all are good. Sooooo many places to go.

I've got a dream to hike (part of) the Appalachian trail, too. That would be some great bonding time.

The municipality where my now-husband lived re-addressed the houses (and re-streeted his corner house--effectively changing the address completely except for the postal code and city). When I called, I was told that this is not a big deal at all and calling is cool. Because it takes sooooo cotton-picking long for anything to happen with USCIS, people end up moving all the time.

Be sure that the applicant gets notifications to help ensure that you can know what is going on. Most people do have success with the online status checking and/or cell phone notices. (These are not perfect, though--some folks never show up on the online status check--if you don't it is not a reason to worry, but if it does work for you, all the better!)

Good luck!

The suggestions for tailoring, shopping in Chinatown, and Zappos are all right on the money. I have a niece that is almost 6 feet tall but wears a size 0 and for her, clothes are a nightmare, too. (To make it more unfair, she deep fries EVERYthing. Sigh. Her husband has gained 150-lbs with her.)

If you can learn some basic tailoring/sewing, this can make all the difference, too. Many things can easily be altered in under 30 minutes. Hems, reducing a plain (frumpy) dress/blouse into something fitted, or putting in darts can be awesome. The flexibility of recons opens a whole new level to your fashion searches.

You folks can't be serious. Entering the US does not get you a green card at all. APPLYING and PAYING for the greencard gets you in line to eventually hopefully be granted one. We filed in May and it is now just about April and we are still waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

We did get AP (travel permission) and work authorization in 3 months--but we had to call and request expedite to get that. As far as the right to stay here, we are still in limbo and well aware that it is NOT a guarentee.

For our SS cards (mine, too--name change), it was 2 weeks. That was actually the easiest thing we had done. I still haven't had luck getting my professional liscense changed. Sigh.

Here, in the 4th largest city in the US, our marriage certificate was held hostage until after the nationally-required-by-law-date-to-change-your-insurance-coverage (set by the IRS). You have 30 days legally to try to change insurance coverage for new spouses/children. If you pass that time, you may have to wait. 30 days can make all the difference when there is a deadline 3 months down the road.

I'd recommend going to a county outside your city--ANY county that won't have the massive bureaucracy of a larger place. Most smaller towns seem to offer to do the paperwork the same day, often while you wait. The worst that can happen is that you have a nice drive to another town. (Here in Texas, the place you buy your marriage liscence at is where it is processed--there is no option to have it processed elsewhere--just don't-get-it-in-Houston-EVER!!!!!)

Because some of us are on a time crunch for applying and getting the AP or work authorization, this information would have been worth gold for us. The stress of waiting that extra time was detrimental to our marriage. My husband had to return for a single semester of college that he had no option to do later. We really believed we were gonna have to start the entire process over again. Imagine how helpful THAT would be for your new marriage!

This is a very popular topic that is discussed regularly.

Read through other titles on this board and start making a list of stuff you can do. Slog through them as needed--many will be easy and will make all the difference in the little things. Others will require some work on both parts.

Be sure that you agree to be committed to each other, first and foremost.

My husband is not functional in English at all. He can get by with touristy levels, but that is it. He really wants to work, but every place has told him outright that if he wants a job, that comes first. One thing that has actually been helpful for us was blocking every Spanish channel that we have access to on TV. This way, there is no option to hide from English all day every day. (When I am in my husband's country, I really don't have any choice to use English at all so my Spanish has improved noticibly with each visit. This is really hard to do in Houston, though, because everyone is coddled and never has to really put forth any effort if they can get a job. Even when you go to an Indian restaurant, most of the from-India-owners speak decent Spanish so they can have cheap employees. That's pretty messed up.)

Ours says they mailed our card--the one with the work authorization and advance parole (we are in AOS-land). Is it possible that the old card was near to expiring and needs a fresh date?

Take a couple pieces of candy in your pocket to pop in your mouth in case you need some sugar.

Take something that reminds you of your sweetheart in your other pocket so that you can reach in and touch it for comfort during the questioning and waiting.

Wear comfy shoes. You may have to stand in line.