Looking4Wife

3. The income you are using to qualify is based entirely onyour salary or pension and is shown on one or more FormsW-2 provided by your employer(s) or former employer(s).

I'm self-employed and therefore don't have W-2 income. I think that disqualifies me from using the "EZ" form?

I knew that I was going to need tax transcripts for my I-864. I had to retrieve a tax transcript a few years ago for one of my customers, and I was able to walk right in and get it while I waited. I expected to do the same thing for my I-864...

WRONG... I filled out my request form (printed online), and went down to the IRS office... and waited in line for about 30 minutes. When I finally got to see somebody, the lady told me "Ok, I can SEND THAT OFF FOR YOU". I'm thinking, aren't you the IRS, who ya gonna send it off to? It reminds me of the time I stood in line at KFC only for them to tell me at the counter that "we're out of chicken"... WHAT?

When I asked about "same day service" the lady gave me a fax number, and made a point to tell me that this fax number was posted all over the waiting room.

Came home, tried the fax number... OUT OF SERVICE.

Did a google search and found the following... since October 2003, no IRS office is doing walk-in transcripts!

Moral of the story... budget extra time in your visa journey to obtain your tax transcripts.

Good Luck!

When I go the USCIS website and locate the link for the I-864:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/men...00045f3d6a1RCRD

The document I end up with says in the upper right hand corner: "Expires 09/30/06"

Has anyone sent this in recently?

Is this really the most "current" update for this document?

Thanks in advance.

I also had a problem with using my mouse to do a copy and paste on my computer.

Therefore, I literally did an old-fashioned cut and paste: I printed the barcode by itself, and got scissors and cut it off of the printout (leaving some white paper around the barcode), and got some glue and pasted it on the AOS fee bill.

I mailed it in via USPS Express/Overnight mail, and they received it and processed it... no problem!

I hope this answers your question!

Your signature shows that you are married, so please forgive my ignorance, when I ask: Who the heck is Mike and Lily?

Did you miss the whole drama that unfolded here last week?

The joke's over, I'll remove it now.

Clearly I missed the drama. I had no idea.

mawilson:

Your signature timeline says "Nov 25, 2006 Mike's fiance Lily makes out with someone else".

Your signature shows that you are married, so please forgive my ignorance, when I ask: Who the heck is Mike and Lily?

Anyone have any tips on how to deal with it?

Necrotica:

One more thing to keep in perspective...

There are many women walking around today with expensive engagement/wedding rings, and a DVD / photo album from an expensive wedding, and in the final analysis all they have to show for it is... an unhappy marriage and/or divorce papers.

If you and your fiancee are truly in love, then you will be much further along investing your emotional energy into building a happy, life-long marriage.

If you and your fiancee are truly in love and happy, there are a lot of women with expensive rings who are unhappy in their marriages and/or divorced that would trade places with you in a heartbeat.

Focusing on things like this may help you deal with it better. Good luck and God bless you.

I'm back to looking at wedding rings again, and I can't help feeling like a selfish b!tch. Réjean (my Canadian fiancé) isn't going to be able to afford to get me a wedding ring. If I want one (or at least one that I can tolerate), I'm going to have to buy it myself. He can't afford one on top of the costs he's going to incur for the medical and the visa fee... plus who knows how on earth we'll get his stuff here...

I guess I'm just really disappointed. I shouldn't be... and I feel terrible that I am, but I can't help it. I should be incredibly happy that I get to bring him here and be with him... still... arrrgh.

Anyone have any tips on how to deal with it? Anyone been in the same situation? Even knowing that I'm not alone will help.

Necrotica:

First of all, I applaud your honestly and transparency. Its not easy to admit personal weakness to people whether privately or publicly, even if the communication only exists in cyberspace.

As a practical matter, you already know that the rings should be insignificant in comparison to your love.

Fortunately, my wife didn't want expensive rings. But she did want a wedding that was a financial stretch for me at the time. Easy for her to ask when I'm footing the bill for everything, right? Anyway, she sweet-talked me into the wedding that she wanted. HOWEVER, unlike the picture you have painted for your fiancee, I had the financial ability to come up with the funding (even though it was a stretch at the time).

Nonetheless, when money is limited, pressure from a wife on a loving husband to provide material things (other than necessities) really attacks a man's self-esteem. It also makes the man question the motives of the wife/girlfriend/fiancee in the first place. Even if the woman never articulates the concern, so the man never feels the pressure, the existence of this inner conflict is not good for the long term happiness of the relationship.

Also as a practical matter, I would challenge you to ask yourself if your focus on material things, to the point where it is causing you internal conflict, could be a stumblingblock in other areas of your marriage?

My wife is a terrible money manager. She does not think practically about money. Her Carribean culture (and US culture isn't much better) tends to have a "don't worry, be happy" attitude. That works great for reggae songs, but not so much when it comes to meeting financial obligations.

Her non-practical (i.e. careless) attitudes about money have caused us a few arguments, and she is now learning to deal with the reality that the idea of "immediate self-gratification" can be financially and emotionally disastrous for a marriage.

I bought her a book about how to think about money, "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". She has been studying it and it has helped her a lot.

Just my 2 cents... hope this helps in some small way...

If a country had less convoluted immigration laws than the US laws (not that hard to imagine), then the hours of labor needed to process visas could be a LOT shorter.

They only work for a couple of hours on your paperwork, but it takes many months for your paperwork to get to their desk. If a country hired enough adjudicators so that they could, on average, process applications at a rate slightly faster than the applications came in, then there wouldn't be a big backlog, and the time required to get a visa wouldn't be that much different than the time required to get a passport or a driver's license.

Well said!

NOTE: I strongly suspect my wife has been grossly misinformed...?

Nope, buy wifey a drink--she wins.

A spousal visa to the UK takes one day on a walk-in to a UK Consulate. Have your papers and $500 ready.

Of course, the downside is that you have to *live* in the UK <ducks>.

The other group you're looking for is britishexpats.com or uk-yankee (google, don'thave the URL)

WOW... thanks for the info, meauxna, and others who have responded.

Why in the world has this been moved to "Off Topic"?

My guess would be... that the IR-1/CR-1 discussion board is only for US Citizen-to-Foreigner marriages?

If that is the case, does anyone know of a discussion board where I can find people in England marrying other folks?

Thanks in advance...

My Colombian wife says that her Colombian friend is marrying a man from England. She says that after the wedding in Colombia, they will simply go to the Colombian emabassy and receive their visa in 2 days.

I told her I had never heard of anything like that. She said "England is different than the United States".

She also says she knows of an English girl who married a Colombian man. Presto, change-o, visa in 2 days (although that was in the past, not sure how long ago).

Is this Visa-2-days-after-marriage thing real? And if so, in retrospect, did we really do the right thing breaking away from the "motherland" with all that Boston Tea Party nonsense?

NOTE: I strongly suspect my wife has been grossly misinformed...?

Has anyone paid an AOS Fee Bill recently and is it still $70?

Mine was generated yesterday and I'd like to send it in today (via James' Shortcuts).

Thanks in advance.

NOTE: Yes I did do VJ searches, Google searches, and reviewed the Guides and Timesavers prior to asking this question. Unfortunately, its a difficult topic to pinpoint the info via searches and isn't covered in the guides.

2 Quetions Concerning Emailing NVC:

1. I thought I read somewhere where somebody actually emailed BEFORE NVC generated the DS-3032 (Choice of Agent form). Has anyone out there tried this?

2. Also, and this may sound a little paranoid/####### retentive, so I ask your forgiveness in advance: if my wife (beneficiary) sends in this Email indicating me (applicant) as Choice of Agent from "my" computer/email address, does NVC care or does it even matter? Do they question whether "she" really sent it?

Thanks in advance...

Haven't been touched in 1.5 months (since 7/26/06). NOA-1 was 7/21/2006.

Is this normal?

Has anyone else experienced this lack of attention and affection?

...it looks like you have to apply as soon as you reach puberty-just in case !

Now that is funny, sad, and true all at the same time!

How does it feel to be touched?

Or more specifically, what does it look like on the USCIS website?

When I check my status on the USCIS website, the only thing I see is the following:

Good post, and good question...

I'm not sure coping is the right word for us... surviving may be a better word for us...

We pray, we talk about each other to our friends all the time, and tell them how much we miss each other.

We try to stay busy with work, and I also get diversions from my (inconsistent) exercise.

We talk on the phone usually once in the morning and once at night. We also do an internet chat once per week.

More often then not, she falls asleep talking to me on the phone at night. After she falls asleep, if I can't get to sleep, then I check VJ and/or do some more immigration prep/research.

I try to visit her every 2 months. I will visit in August, but the airfares after August thru Jan 2007 look scary...

In fact I think I will call her now...

Have any other transferees tackled this problem?

I filed my I-130 in Nebraska for the CR-1, which is where USCIS website instructed me to file.

My I-130 was transferred to CSC. I still have not received info from USCIS about my transfer, but I did just receive my NOA1.

So do I now file my I-129f (K-3) with CSC, or send it to Nebraska first, only for it to be rerouted to CSC?

Congratulations!

IMBRA's the law. deal with it. This is a different discussion

Point taken, I acknowledged my digression in the discussion, and I apologize for veering off topic.

However, since you addressed my off topic rant...

IMBRA is the law. How do we in the USA "deal with" laws we don't think are unfair, inefficient, or problematic? It all BEGINS (not ends) with voicing that our concerns.

At one time slavery was the law also...

At one time the law was that women couldn't vote...

The law is NOT almighty... thank God!

Almaty:

Great post! Do you have any references to site?

This is exactly why IMBRA is STUPID! Instead of fixing the current immigration process domestically, some special interest groups (match.com, tehrih justice center, etc.) have sent up this IMBRA smoke screen under the guise of protecting women and immigrants... ironcially making it harder on those of us who are actually working on LEGAL immigration.

The immigration process was and is broke to begin with, and IMBRA just makes it "broker" (it wasn't a word before, but it is now :-)

Now I digress...

I have seen arguments from those on VJ who say "I think its great that you can find out if your fiancee has a police record". OK, fine, no problem, but why didn't the IMBRA architects construct a law in the USA that makes DOMESTIC COUPLES submit police records BEFORE EXCHANGING PHONE NUMBERS or contact info... that's what IMBRA does... now do you folks see how STUPID this is?

This poll is interesting:

1. The poll is somewhat flawed because the votes adamantly opposed to IMBRA are divided up among the first 3 voting selections.

2. Based on that, there are more people VOTING that are adamantly opposed to IMBRA.

3. But, so far, the ones vocal enough to actually post something are those who are actually in favor of IMBRA, even if they don't like the delays it causes.

Just an observation...

Aussiewench, Yodrak, Simple_Male:

Thanks for straightening me out on the difference between the USCIS "Receipt Number" and the NVC "Case Number".

Sometimes when reading through the plethora of information, I begin to think of them as one and the same and, as you guys pointed out, they are not.

Thanks Again!

I think I know the answer, but I need to be sure...

When James first mentions creating your own barcode, its for the DS-3032. In this instruction he says:

Type in the case number under "Data to encode."

In subsequent barcode creation instructions, unless I overlooked it, he doesn't mention what barcode number you are creating.

For those of you who are creating barcodes, am I to presume the ONLY barcode you create is ALWAYS for your case number?

Or are there ever any other barcode numbers that you need to create?

Yes, that is your case number which should start with 3-digit letters followed by a 10-digit number without and space, dash in between. The 3-digit letters stand for the consulate. Example: MNL2006123456 where MNL is Manila, Philippines.

Scanning the Receipt numbers from the link below, it appears that the 3-digit letters may be more a function of the service center rather than the consulate... or am I missing something...?

http://www.***removed***/tracker/citizenship.do