Mr. Borkström

Cursed be the day when I first heard of Cheetos!
Great. Like I need MORE addictions.

We got a housekey made for me yesterday at Home Depot. Tomorrow I may go out on my own for the first time. The Holy Quest for More Cheetos awaits!

Thank you. I am so relieved.

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted here.
But I have good news. It has been a long journey to get to the point where I am right now. On Sunday it was six years since my wife and I met in person for the first time. It's been over four years since we were married. It has been almost three years since I moved to the United States of America and it's been close to a year since we submitted the request to have the conditional status of my green card removed so I could become a "real" permanent resident.
Emotionally it has been rough. Going such a long time without knowing whether I would be allowed to stay with my wonderful awesome wife has been nagging at me. It has always been there at the back of my mind. The rest of my life has been depending on my legal status and that is not something that I have been able to brush aside.

Well. Now I do not have to worry about it any longer. Our request has been approved and I will shortly be getting my permanent green card. I have been granted the grace of staying with the woman I love.

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted here.
But I have good news. It has been a long journey to get to the point where I am right now. On Sunday it was six years since my wife and I met in person for the first time. It's been over four years since we were married. It has been almost three years since I moved to the United States of America and it's been close to a year since we submitted the request to have the conditional status of my green card removed so I could become a "real" permanent resident.
Emotionally it has been rough. Going such a long time without knowing whether I would be allowed to stay with my wonderful awesome wife has been nagging at me. It has always been there at the back of my mind. The rest of my life has been depending on my legal status and that is not something that I have been able to brush aside.

Well. Now I do not have to worry about it any longer. Our request has been approved and I will shortly be getting my permanent green card. I have been granted the grace of staying with the woman I love.

Wow. It's been a long time since I posted here.
But I have good news. It has been a long journey to get to the point where I am right now. On Sunday it was six years since my wife and I met in person for the first time. It's been over four years since we were married. It has been almost three years since I moved to the United States of America and it's been close to a year since we submitted the request to have the conditional status of my green card removed so I could become a "real" permanent resident.
Emotionally it has been rough. Going such a long time without knowing whether I would be allowed to stay with my wonderful awesome wife has been nagging at me. It has always been there at the back of my mind. The rest of my life has been depending on my legal status and that is not something that I have been able to brush aside.

Well. Now I do not have to worry about it any longer. Our request has been approved and I will shortly be getting my permanent green card. I have been granted the grace of staying with the woman I love.

Yesterday evening I got back to Pittsburgh. I've visited family and friends back home in Västerås. I had a wonderful time. Saw a bunch of people, ate some good food that I've missed (chicken with cashews from Spicy Hot, Abbas fiskbullar i hummersås, Swedish calzone-pizza etc.). I landed at Arlanda in the morning on Tuesday July 28 and, well, I just got back last night. The first week the weather was sort of crappy. The second and third weeks were just wonderful! I had a great time but it's also great to be back in the US with my lovely wife (who was unable to come with me on my trip).
I'm (still) in the process of applying to remove the conditions on my green card. Before I left I went to the local USCIS office and got a stamp in my passport, showing that my green card has been extended while they're handling my application. When I landed at Newark, Immigrations took me aside to verify the stamp and that I've applied to have the conditions removed. I didn't have any problems and it took maybe 15-20 minutes (on a Sunday morning). But I'm just posting this so people will remember that it may be a good idea to get that stamp in your passport of you're leaving the US before your green card conditions have been lifted.

Yesterday evening I got back to Pittsburgh. I've visited family and friends back home in Västerås. I had a wonderful time. Saw a bunch of people, ate some good food that I've missed (chicken with cashews from Spicy Hot, Abbas fiskbullar i hummersås, Swedish calzone-pizza etc.). I landed at Arlanda in the morning on Tuesday July 28 and, well, I just got back last night. The first week the weather was sort of crappy. The second and third weeks were just wonderful! I had a great time but it's also great to be back in the US with my lovely wife (who was unable to come with me on my trip).
I'm (still) in the process of applying to remove the conditions on my green card. Before I left I went to the local USCIS office and got a stamp in my passport, showing that my green card has been extended while they're handling my application. When I landed at Newark, Immigrations took me aside to verify the stamp and that I've applied to have the conditions removed. I didn't have any problems and it took maybe 15-20 minutes (on a Sunday morning). But I'm just posting this so people will remember that it may be a good idea to get that stamp in your passport of you're leaving the US before your green card conditions have been lifted.

Yesterday evening I got back to Pittsburgh. I've visited family and friends back home in Västerås. I had a wonderful time. Saw a bunch of people, ate some good food that I've missed (chicken with cashews from Spicy Hot, Abbas fiskbullar i hummersås, Swedish calzone-pizza etc.). I landed at Arlanda in the morning on Tuesday July 28 and, well, I just got back last night. The first week the weather was sort of crappy. The second and third weeks were just wonderful! I had a great time but it's also great to be back in the US with my lovely wife (who was unable to come with me on my trip).
I'm (still) in the process of applying to remove the conditions on my green card. Before I left I went to the local USCIS office and got a stamp in my passport, showing that my green card has been extended while they're handling my application. When I landed at Newark, Immigrations took me aside to verify the stamp and that I've applied to have the conditions removed. I didn't have any problems and it took maybe 15-20 minutes (on a Sunday morning). But I'm just posting this so people will remember that it may be a good idea to get that stamp in your passport of you're leaving the US before your green card conditions have been lifted.

Goodness gracious this thread is pure comedy gold.

Houston we have Cheetos.

Hehe, yeah, totally true. For me it's been the same but the other way around so to speak. My POE was at Newark on December 23 (today is my third full day in my new homeland). When I left Sweden it was like 26 degrees F and a fair amount of snow. I get to Newark and it's sunny and around 38 degrees and no snow at all. I saw a kid who looked like she was from South America, she had a hat on that looked like a racoon and the hat had long ears like you could wrap around your neck like a scarf or something. She looked like she was freezing her butt off, whereas I was like burning up! lol I thought to myself that if I'd've put the hat on, I would have melted.
My flight went very well, so far above my expectations that I can't put it into words. That said I was obviously very tired when my wife and her daughter picked my up at Pixburgh In'ernashun'l Airport N'at. When we got home, after we'd dropped her daughter off at her daughter's dad's place, I'd been on the road for about 24 hours, and even if it went well, I was still beat of course. I think it's going to probably take me a week or two to get adjusted to the climate and the time difference etc. But I am thrilled to finally be here after all this time. And hey! This morning I even slept until 5:28 AM!

Break a leg man! And if that doesn't help, break someone else's leg.

This is pure comedy gold.
Reminds me somewhat of the Simpsons episode when Homer tries to help Apu study for his citizenship test. "Now, we all know the 13 stripes are for good luck, but why does the American flag have exactly 47 stars?"

My wife and I booked our honeymoon to Hawaii recently. Yesterday morning my request for time off from my job at Target was approved. I am so happy. So the week before Thanksgiving we are going to Honolulu for a week.

Sweden allows for dual citizenship. I am very grateful for that. I probably will apply for citizenship, for practical reasons, when that day comes. But I will always be Swedish at heart and I will never give up my Swedish citizenship.

I did something similar when I visited my wife here in Pittsburgh back in July 2010. I had terrible heat rash on my legs and we went to (I think) Target to get something that would help, like ointment or whatever. The girl at the checkout asked me "How are you today, Sir?" I didn't understand that , the small talk, so I started talking about how badly my legs were itching. If you don't wanna know, don't ask, mkay? lol

Hello everyone! I started this forum for people that will be looking into and filing a I-129F application for their same sex partners. I have to say that VisaJourney.com is an extremely helpful website to gather information on how to create and arrange your K-1 package. I used this website's Step by Step guide to create my package, http://www.visajourney.com/content/k1guide. I decided to take on this venture on my own after being turned away by a local Immigration Lawyer. Another awesome website is ImmigrationEquality.com. These guys have poured their souls into fighting for same sex rights. I am extremely grateful that they fought without giving up and in huge part we are here because of their help. I have emailed them with questions about this process and they do reply back with any questions I have. They might take a few days to reply, but I can only imagine what their inbox looks like, so it's understandable. They also work with and train lawyers all over the country about same sex immigration. They can refer you to lawyers, unfortunately no lawyers in my local area participate.
I have been with my fiance for 10 years, 10 wonderful years. I can't say it hasn't been tough, but I think I have had it easy compared to other people. I live in El Paso, TX, which is just a border hop to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where my fiance lives. Jumping back and forth on a daily basis has been hard, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat if I had to. The day section 3 of DOMA was demolished I was with my fiance. I sat staring at the TV in disbelief. I was scared, excited, happy, and nervous all at the same time. I started working on the I-129F application that same day.
I filled out the I-129F application, making sure to fill in every question. Please read through the application's instructions a few times so that you feel comfortable filling it out. I created my 1-129F Cover letter, and our letters of intent to marry from the templates on this website. I only changed one thing on the letter of intent to marry letters, and that was to include that we had every intent to marry within 90 days of entry into the United States in a state where it is lawful. As far as evidence of our relationship, I knew I only had to send 3-5 pictures, but I sent 26. I included pictures documenting the 10 years we have been together. I figured what more evidence can I send to prove we've been together in an ongoing relationship than pictures that document our aging together. I did not send letters or anything more. I am not saying you should not send, every situation is different. I did go to my bank and requested a temp check to pay for the application fee. This way I would be able to see the day USCIS cashed my check.
I think I must have checked my package about 50 times before I placed it in an Express Mail package and sealed it. I did not buy a fancy folder, nor did I include fancy cover letters for every section of the package. I made things easy for whomever was going to open the package. I paid for Express Mail to have peace of mind, and to get it their faster. It turned out it wasn't going to be as fast as I wanted. I went to the post office on July 19th, a Friday. The USPS employee told me it would not be delivered Saturday because of course U.S. Government buildings are not open on Saturdays. He did assure me that delivery was guaranteed and they would deliver Monday, July 22nd. Sure enough, I checked on Monday and it had been signed for and delivered. I was not expecting USCIS to send me and NOA1 or even cash my check until maybe a week or two after. I checked my bank app on July 25th in the morning and saw that USCIS had cashed my check. A few hours later I received an email from USCIS stating they had accepted my package, NOA1. I was completely extatic! I know NOA1 is not a big deal, but still this was very exciting for me and my fiance. I did not think I would be getting more notifications until 5 months or so, but on July 30th I got another notification stating that my Alien Registration Number had changed relating to my I-129F, Petition for Fiance.
I know my journey has just started, and I still have a long wait ahead of me, but I hope this information is useful for someone else. I hope people use this forum to also document their same sex K-1 journey. I will continue to update this forum as time progresses. I really do hope I am helping someone else out with this forum. Please feel free to use this forum for your questions and to share your journeys!

Happy anniversary!
Sunday was our second anniversary too, and like you guys we didn't spend our first together either.... But since my husband has a memory of a goldfish he forgot the anniversary so we haven't really celebrated it yet... He is in the dog house ;-) but promised to make it up too me this wknd.

Me, my wife and her daughter visited my dad's cousin and her family in Detroit this weekend. It was fun.

I hit my IKEA once a week, minimum and have a plate exactly as you've described. 10 years ago, when I first tried it, I thought the cream sauce looked yukky, but the taste mixed with the ligonberry preserves is amazing. Almost better than poutine gravy, and that's saying a lot (for me).

Woooooooo..... Im so excited... Flying to US tomorrow... Cant wait to start new life with my baby

thanks, that helps a lot and I will def. test it out since I tend to freak out when family is coming and i am cooking. Gotta test it out probably 10 times hehe. but yay for meatballs !!

I've never understood that with American's eating with just a fork, never a knife AND fork. I've been called "posh" numerous times for using a knife! It's not posh, it's just normal
I know my USC hubby struggles with me calling dinner "tea".
He can now make the perfect cup of tea though, which makes me love him even more When we first met he stuffed the tea bags in the kettle then put the kettle on the stove...
Sure there will be loads more once we finally live together properly

Wallace and Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Good fun!