sandgoose

Soojung,

If you DO need to get any extra shots you can check if there are any local county health departments. Sometimes they have cheap vaccinations which can be received. Ask James- he might be able to help you out with making some calls. We paid $10 for the form to be signed and stuff - if they are going to charge you $150 then find another place. Hope you guys are doing well

AOS Filed: 2013-07-19

NOA1: 2013-07-29

BIO: 2013-08-13

Approved: 2013-09-30

GC Received: 2013-10-07

I'm sorry about this situation, but things will probably work out for you! I don't have much advice other than keep calling the embassy and try to speak to somewhat of a higher-level employee. Surely they are working on it as they have your passports in hand.

For your reference there are tons of translation services located directly behind the US Embassy in Seoul. Sorry, wish I had seen this last week. I also hope you noticed the endless number of these little offices and were able to get it done.

This is all relative as it relates to my fiance's case in Seoul... but...

Go early as there is usually a line and it takes a while to go through security. Pay attention to the rules and don't bring anything prohibited that may slow you down. For example- not sure how they would react if you bring in your luggage for your Scotland holiday.

Getting checked in and the interview didn't take her that long. I think in total from the time she entered to exited it took about 90 minutes.

Hope that's all they ask for! If it's as easy as sending in a few passport photos that would be great.

Right, like others have said - if you take flight to the US Virgin Islands directly then it's fine. But if you have to transfer flights in PR or some other country, then you will run into problems on your return. Why not play it safe and travel somewhere in the US? Montana has great places for a honeymoon, also there are incredible deals on flights to Hawaii now.

I'm guessing it depends on the country and housing. My wife didn't get a text, but did get a call that they left it in the building's office.

Yeah send originals of all the signed forms and letter of intent. Other things like birth certificate, marriage certificate (later), etc. can be copied and sent. Just make copies of everything - especially things that you might get translated.

Yep, it's a great community.

Hope everything is alright. My wife also had something come up in her family that she was not able to attend to in person. I hope everything is alright.

My I-485 is submitted and i am waiting for an interview and i need to travel back to my country. Do i need to pay for a forum I-131? or can i just submit it since the I-485 fee covered it?

thanks! probably a silly question but i didn't understand what the guide meant.

Yeah, as others have posted - wait until the divorce is final.

We took the time to print off our chats and calls as well- in the end it wasn't needed. I printed skype call history as well as two apps Koreans use - Kakaotalk amd MyPeople. They both have an easy option to export the chat history to a note doc. Like I said though, they never got that far back in our packet to look. We did more photographic evidence by making photo books.

I'd say try to contact the embassy with your case # and discuss it with them. For ours in South Korea the case could basically idle there for up to one year. Not sure about other embassies. I'd suggest calling the embassy directly because chances are it could vary by location.

congrats to you two!

Yeah... as others have stated, it's kind of tricky to plan a wedding when you don't have the visa in hand. As things progress and you have an interview date and such, then it's easier to judge, but there are too many what-if's in the early stages of the application. My wife (then fiance) did plan a wedding before - which was far later than the expected visa approval date - but we both did it with the mindset that we did it on a refundable deposit or changeable agreement basis. Photographers, DJ, etc (even the majority of wedding guests) were aware of this, and worked with us. In the end our originally scheduled wedding for June 1st worked great and she had already been in the US for about two months.

Again, I wouldn't advise doing this, but we built in a backup in that we didn't have any money invested that could not be refunded or have dates altered. To each his own. It's not illegal to plan a wedding while you're in the waiting process. Just don't get married before the visa is issued. That's a whole other ball game all together.

For future reference, I would advice to bring extra copies of the BC and family relative certificate. I know in our case, while it's not necessarily hard to get those documents in Korea, you do need to be in Korea. My wife and I made copy after copy of her police record, vaccines, birth and family certificate, etc. She has family in Korea, but who knows if they are allowed to access those from the district offices or not. Anyway, hope things work out!

I would call NVC with your case number, as well as having your fiance contact the embassy in the Philippines where this is being sent.

We had the same issue as my fiance's country is also visa free. Check this website and enter all the information correctly. The i-94 number will be returned:

https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html;jsessionid=nJfBR2SB9f2xCW06S147vTJkT0TnpYLBQTnSDpXMvyG8JvskGJ6Q!-1737567978

You should be fine. Sounds like a hell of a story. Does your fiance know about it though? That might be brought up in an interview or something...

Yeah I wouldn't worry too much if it wasn't some sort of serious issue. Can you shed more light on the subject..? Really interesting

This is so thoughtful and so cute!

Thanks so much

My wife never cooked when she lived in South Korea. Her mom prepared all of her meals (and they were GOOD). Anyway, I love to cook a number of foods, and she's picked up on my hobby. I think cooking is one of those things that anyone can do without thinking about language. We are in NYC which makes gathering ingredients easy - especially Korean things. There is a fruit / veg market near my place that is run by Koreans. I didn't even know this when I signed the lease on my place. It's turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

My wife doesn't really like to go out on her own yet. I think she's always afraid due to the dramas like CSI and the like. Anyway, she likes to go to that market and get stuff. She's into pickling now. It's awesome - fresh pickles all the time. Salsa too, the best I've ever had. It's amazing how much a simple thing like cooking has helped ease her pain here. The doorman to my building always talks to her when she goes out, and he always tells me things like "your wife brought home a bag of groceries that weighed more than her!".

I love it.

Another thing, not sure about other members situations, but a lot of the ESL certification places require their students to teach a certain number of hours before being certified. There are a few of those in NYC. So she's able to go take free English classes. On the one hand, it's free, so I can't complain. On the other, it's free, so if 1% of her doesn't feel like going- she won't.

Anyway, cooking is the key for my wife. She found this hobby and she loves it. We exercise together a lot too, and go to the pool nearly every night after I get back from my day of work.

The other thing I have found recently is Hulu Plus. They have a TON of Korean dramas that are updated the day after they come out in Korea. I signed up for that in a heart beat for her, and she streams it VIA the Blu ray player. So I'll come home sometimes and she'll be on the couch sobbing, and I'm thinking something terrible happened or she misses her family... then I notice the tv is on and tune into the sound system and recognize the title music from the drama... and she'll say something like.... "she broke up with Soo Hyun".

Everyone is different, but like everyone has said... find hobbies to do TOGETHER. Not things only she likes.

CN-

Find things to do together-

Buy a couples cookbook.

Teach her how to cook, can, bake

Tango

Massage class (highly rec.)

Skype sessions are okay, but I find that if you schedule them then the spouse thinks about that a lot - leads to missing her family which could have been absent. Try to just let that happen naturally (I noticed a big change when we did that).

You will probably be working Mon - Fri. When Saturday mornings come around - cook her breakfast.

Your spouse will take care of you all week. You need to take care of her on the weekends.

Hey man, don't worry too much. My fiance actually OPENED hers! Could be worse! lol

Hello,

Sent ours in on July 19. It was delivered, but I haven't received any notice yet. Was hoping to hear something today. Also adjusting from K1.