Angela

We met in Anarchy Online back in 2003. Gaming with hubby and the support we got from the friends we play with (from all over the world) kept me sane through our lengthy immigration journey. Since then, we've played World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and Age of Conan. We now sit side-by-side at our computers, still playing (and I can whack him upside the head when he's slow on the heals)

I find that a lot of people don't know what the deal is with MMOs and I get a lot of "Anarchy what?" when they ask how we met.

Best of luck with your interview!

Congratulations Jp and Anna

ANY IDEA WHEN HUBBY CAN START WORKING ONCE WE ENTER US?

It depends on which visa he holds. K visa holders need to apply for EAD (Clicky!), whereas CR-1 and IR-1 can work almost immediately as long as they can prove residency and possession of a SS#. My hubby has a CR-1 and as soon as he got his greencard and SS card (about 3 or 4 weeks after entering) he was able to get a job.

Doh! Anna replied faster than me LOL

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations!!! You've been waiting a long time, and I'm so happy for you!

Congratulations!!! I'm so happy for you!

I feel like such a blood sucker...FIRST..congrats...Next, how hard is your hardship?

I hate wishing I had a major medical problem.

hehe!

Hardships... My waiver had one Level 2 argument (borderline Level 1), three Level 3 arguments, and two Level 4 arguments. (Based on Laurel Scott's memo on extreme hardship http://www.visacentral.net/I601Memo.pdf)

I have a couple moderate medical conditions that are being closely monitored by a physician that I have been with for 15 years. My mother is disabled and I am her sole caretaker. I don't speak a lick of Swedish. I have a degree and a license to practice in a medical field that is somewhat specialized to the United States. The unemployment rate in Sweden is high, as is the cost of living, compared to Pittsburgh. And I would be financially and professionally ruined if I had to move to Sweden.

We also established that my husband, even though his conviction was pretty fresh, was rehabilitated and of good moral character (we had a statement from the judge in the court records noting that.)

So there it is, no major health issues and no children. It can be done! You just have to be organized and back up everything you say with evidence. Having a great attorney helps a lot

Bailey, now I know how it feels to finally have this waiver stuff behind us. We can finally move on with our life together! LOL

Elm, thanks for reminding me about my signature. Updated now, hehe! I'll be watching for a successful interview for you guys!

The embassy in Stockholm just called my husband and told him his waiver was approved in London :dance: I am so freakin happy right now!!!

Thank you to VJ, I2US, and a HUGE shout out to attorney Laurel Scott for her amazing work on my behalf.

He's coming home!!!

That's great news, Elm Wishing you smooth sailing from here on out!

Bump, cuz we went Under Review this week

I got a similar RFE from London. One of the things they requested as evidence for bona fide marriage was my US Federal tax returns with my husband's name included under "spouse." You might want to consider adding the last couple years of returns to show as evidence.

It'll take about a week for them to receive my package, and last time I emailed London, they said it'll take "about two weeks" to adjudicate the Petition. I'll definitely post the results.

I'm not sure what they're going for with all this information. I gave them most of what they asked for. I mentioned in a previous post that I was a bit lacking in the shared assets department, since we haven't lived together yet... I'm curious as to how that will pan out. In fact, in the past two years we've been together about 132 days in six visits to each other. We desperately want to be together, and thought the DCF option offered in Sweden was the way to go. The kicker is this: we filed and got approved FOUR days after the Adam Walsh Act was signed into law. So we got screwed.

I am guessing that the ten-year age difference has something to do with this (I'm older than my husband).

Here's what they asked for the first time:

1. Please provide a sworn affidavit explaining how and when your spouse had met and the background leading up to your marriage on August 31, 2005. Also submit any other documentation to support that you and the beneficiary have a bona fide marriage.

2. Please provide three (3) affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties having personal knowledge of the bona fide of your relationship with the beneficiary. (Each affidavit must contain the full name and address, date and place of birth of the person making the affidavit; his or her relationship, if any, to the petitioner, beneficiary and complete information and details explaining how the person acquired his or her knowledge.)

Exhibit A.

Affidavit from me, wife

Exhibit B.

Affidavit from Husband

Exhibit C.

Affidavits from Third Parties

1. ****

2. ****

3. ****

4. ****

Exhibit D.

Photographs: Hubby visits Wife in US (three visits)

Exhibit E.

Photographs: Wife visits Hubby in Stockholm (three visits)

Exhibit F.

Photographs from Wedding of Hubby and Wife from August 31, 2005

Exhibit G.

Wedding Guest List from August 31, 2005

Names, addresses, and phone numbers of attendees

Exhibit H.

1. Wedding ring order from Tiffany & Co.

2. Visa credit card statement showing payment for wedding rings

Exhibit I.

1. Receipt for wedding dress and shoes from David’s Bridal

2. Visa credit card statement showing payment for dress and shoes

Exhibit J.

1. Receipt for wedding dinner at Tyresö Slottskrog (Castle restaurant)

2. Visa credit card statement showing payment for wedding dinner

Exhibit K.

Visa credit card statement showing payment for:

1. Three night stay at Nordic Light Hotel in Stockholm

2. Movie tickets and refreshment for a night out in Stockholm

Exhibit L.

Hubby’s Boarding Passes showing two of his trips to Pittsburgh

Exhibit M.

Wife’s Boarding Passes showing two of her trips to Stockholm

Exhibit N.

Hubby’s passport showing three entries to the United States

Exhibit O.

Wife’s Passport showing three entries to Sweden

Exhibit P.

Phone bills of Hubby showing calls to Wife (2004 to present)

Exhibit Q.

Phone bills of Wife showing calls to Hubby (2004 to present)

Exhibit R.

Invitation for Wife and Hubby to attend wedding of mutual friend, J.H., of the UK, planned for Las Vegas in October, 2007, with photo showing Hubby, Wife, and Mr. H. together on August 31, 2005

Exhibit S.

The 2007 Hubby Family Calendar, Wife and Hubby appear in August. Photo taken in Stockholm on July 30, 2006

Exhibit T.

Order Details from Gift purchases to each other from Amazon.com

Exhibit U.

Emails from Hubby to Wife (2003 to present)

Exhibit V.

Emails from Wife to Hubby (2003 to present)

Exhibit W.

Emails between Wife and members of Hubby’s family

Exhibit X.

Miscellaneous Cards and Letters

This time around, second RFE:

1. Provide a photocopy of my old marriage certificate between me and my ex-husband.

2. Provide a chronological timeline of my relationship with my ex-husband from the time we were married to the date of our divorce, including the date of our separation.

3. Provide any evidence to show shared or community assets that support a bonafide relationship (bank letters, bank statements, insurance policies, 2005 and 2006 tax returns)

Now I will return to worrying that my hefty 1lb pack of proof is not enough... Sigh.

I'm crossing my fingers for you, Elm.

They didn't seem to think my 525+ pages of evidence and documentation was enough the first time around.

I'm off to mail my new stuff now.

Thank you, Meauxna!!! I'll send the printout of the webpage.

I was about to write to the HR people again, and being in an uncommonly bitchy mood, it wouldn't have been a very nice email

BTW, I am also including a notarized letter as "additional information" explaining that when we did DCF in Sweden back in July, there wasn't a residency requirement, thus not much to show regarding shared property and accounts.

You are not alone. I received my second RFE from London last week, for more evidence to approve a formerly approved Petition through Stockholm DCF back in July 2006.

That's even more irritating -- you're already approved and you have to prove it again? Good luck, we'll all get through this somehow!

Indeed it is irritating to say the least

They want evidence of "shared or community assets" and since we have yet to live together (the whole point of getting the visa..) we are short on those things. Never made major purchases together, not on each other's mortgages or titles, and to get him on a joint bank account with me he needs to be present in the US to show identification and signature (my bank's rules, following those set by the Patriot Act).

I DO have my 2005 and 2006 tax returns listing him as spouse, a set of credit cards (I was able to put him on as "authorized user" without the issuing bank needing ID from him), and my employment-based life insurances with him as beneficiary.

My problem: my employer, a rather large corporation, uses a Human Resources web-based system called HR Workways. All HR tasks my co-workers and I perform are to be accomplished through this website. There is a page there which lists the life insurance I carry along with the beneficiary's name.

Using the email system on the HR site, I requested a letter, on company letterhead, that documents my insurance and beneficiary information. I told them the US Citizenship and Immigration Service in London needed this evidence for my husband's visa.

Here's the response I got:

Hello from the HR Service Center: We are not able to provide you with a special letter with this information. You will need to use the information provided to you on the web-site. Thank you for contacting the HR Service Center.

Is a printout of a webpage suitable for this purpose?

You are not alone. I received my second RFE from London last week, for more evidence to approve a formerly approved Petition through Stockholm DCF back in July 2006.

Hi Misty,

I remember your case I was on the forums everyday watching what was going on, from the change in adjudication site (Copenhagen to London) to your approval. (I never posted since I was so far from beginning the process due to waiting for my husband's appeals trial)

I didn't think to get him to write a letter, but if they want one, we'll send it. London replied this week to my email inquiry about our case saying they were about to begin working on it. They are reviewing both the I-130 and the I-601. I'll post if they RFE me for a letter from my hubby.

Thanks. I've had my I-130 approved and been to the Embassy twice already for interviews. The Consular Officer told me not to trust the hardship statements to a lawyer, but I am hoping to find one that has some experience with getting a waiver through the Embassy in London. I have no idea what constitutes extreme hardship.

This Extreme Hardship outline is directly from the London Embassy website:

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/dhs/uscis/extreme_hardship.pdf

This is an very helpful guide produced by attorney Laurel Scott:

http://www.visacentral.net/I601Memo.pdf

I had to bump this cuz it was a pain to scroll to page 6 to get to the thread LOL. I think it's helpful for all going thru London, and I check the link on page one a couple times a week. You never know when they'll update the list.

I'm sure I'll hear something soon... My case was complicated by my I-130 being canceled by the Adam Walsh Act, and they now have all the stuff they needed to adjudicate both the Petition and the Waiver.

I, too, was thinking of and hoping to hear from Dwar. It's been a while since he went Under Review.

It's ok, BaileyJ, I'm very quickly set off into panic these days... you know what I mean I'm probably worried over nothing.

I was thinking of emailing them about this, but I've been bugging them with emails over this Adam Walsh thing and the I-130 RFE weekly for the past couple weeks... in fact I just sent an email to them today bugging them about a decision on the I-130. I'd probably piss them off. I'll wait and see what my attorney advises, since I just emailed her about this.

Ok, now I'm in panic mode. Our waiver is in London, but we filed in Stockholm and weren't told about the requirements of a letter from both the USC and the beneficiary. In fact, all I sent was the brief my attorney wrote, which was written in similar form as the letters that appear in I2US forums.

bump.

Still waiting since December 8, 2006.

Although I haven't specifically inquired about this at the consulate, I think the medical exam is good for one year. I looked back at a timeline for another Swedish I-601 filer who was approved and got his visa about nine months after his doctor visit without having to repeat the medical. I hope we don't have to re-do the medical... the first one cost $315 (physical/x-rays/vaccinations/blood tests)

We filed our Petition in Stockholm and were approved four days after the Adam Walsh Act went into effect last summer. It's now in London. We also have a pending I-601 in London as well. I received an email stating that they would adjudicate both at the same time.

This week in snail mail from London CIS, I got a Request for Evidence of a bona fide relationship. At least I know they are looking at our case... but now we are gathering all the stuff that we brought for the CO in Stockholm for the first approval (i.e. phone bills, photos, cards, letters, emails, plane tickets). I had left all that behind in Sweden with my husband, and now he's making copies to send to London. We're also to obtain three affidavits from people who know we are married, and one from us stating how we met and specifics about our relationship.

I have not gotten any word on how long it will take once they receive our evidence.