shayrene

Congratulations Savanphil and Wasino. Welcome to the club! I am a first timer too.

Eveline, I hope the baby comes soon. Do you think that got your due date wrong?

We were told by the civil surgeon here, that my husband needs the following:

MMR (measles, mumps, rubella)

tetanus

varicella (chicken pox)

You will need proof if you have had the chicken pox before. (which I think sucks. I had it when I was in kindergarten and took out my whole class. Can I prove it? No) So, the doctor can check your blood to see if you have had the chicken pox. ($64, here in Baltimore)

I like Angelique Kidjo from Benin and Habib Koite from Mali. I will ask my husband for some more recommendations.

Try North American Airlines. I haven't used them. A friend of ours going to Togo left yesterday out of BWI to Accra. (Accra isn't that far from Lome) I think she paid about $1000. Another friend is leaving this week to Lome through Accra via Amesterdam from Atlanta on Air France/KLM for $1000.

I am so sorry Canadalaura. I know how disappointed you and your husband must be.

I had some bleeding last night and went to the doctor this morning. She said everything is fine. But I was very nervous beforehand. I am only 13 weeks. I shed more than a few tears last night. But my husband was so supportive. This morning I saw the baby moving all the time. S/he is fine.

You saw the baby moving already or did you have an ultrasound done? 13 weeks is a little early to see it moving, right?

@Keltic: I hope your body will adapt to the medication soon. Hang in there...you are almost done. All the best.

Yes, I had an ultrasound. It is not too early. The baby has arms, legs, feet, hands, etc. S/he wouldn't keep still. My nurse practitioner would not move the ultrasound machine around and you could see her moving her/his arms around and swimming. Very cool. It is too early to see the sex of the baby, but I have pictures of my little one now.

Congratulations Nizzy on your new baby!

I am so sorry Canadalaura. I know how disappointed you and your husband must be.

I had some bleeding last night and went to the doctor this morning. She said everything is fine. But I was very nervous beforehand. I am only 13 weeks. I shed more than a few tears last night. But my husband was so supportive. This morning I saw the baby moving all the time. S/he is fine.

Good luck Irisheyes, I will be thinking about you this morning.

Good luck to all those trying.

Thanks so much for the well wishes. I know that the next 28 weeks may not be like the first 12, so I am going to definitely enjoy it. Originally, I wanted to wait awhile after our marriage before getting pregnant. Well, Surprise. I have learned through the visajourney process not to plan anything. And, I am perfectly ok with not being in control. lol.

Good luck on your pregnancy and the delivery. I see that some of you only have a few days/weeks left. Congrats!

We are expecting a new baby. They are giving a date of August 17, 2007 right now, but babies tend to come when they get ready. I go for my first ultrasound Thursday. Since I am not sick just tired all the time, I asked my doctor several several times was she sure. Is this what pregnancy feels like? Well, 28 more weeks to go. (Never realized pregnancy is 40 weeks or practically 10 months!)

I am not sure if this has already been said but can we add a list of civil surgeons by area that will do the vaccination supplement. (sort of like the embassy ratings page).

When USCIS forms are updated, can the instructions be updated as well. I am not sure how it is done now.

I like the new member profile page, because it is easier for me to watch a thread that I have posted to or created.

Oh no. I was hoping that you would be successful. I haven't had a chance to call around to MD just yet. That is ridiculous.

What I miss about Paris, is everything. (cheese, bread, wine and my weekly pain au chocolate, hmmm!) I also miss being able to buy food on the street (crepes avec nutella et banane o almond) And every now and then something not so French, the grec sandwich which you can buy anytime of the day. I loved sitting at cafes with my cafe viennious and people watching. Boy, are you Parisians stylish.

Oh and I miss the shopping. Visiting my Frenchie husband (fiance at the time) gave me an excuse to shop. (Which is why I was in Paris for the January sales when I met my husband 3 years ago).

My husband is so happy that he found Nordstrom's here in the US because they sell the brand name clothes from France that he loves.

That is great. Congrats!

That is wonderful American Woman! I am so happy for you. I am preparing my husband (yes, we got married on Tuesday, 3 years to the day we met) AOS papers. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have been reading the steps for AOS, etc., but please let me know if there is anything extra that you did. I appreciate all the help that you gave us during the interview at the French embassy.

It is great to see that the recall IMBRA's are receiving their green cards. I hope that some of your French luck rubs off on me. Ha Ha Ha!

I won't be able to take a honeymoon because I am pregnant. (He works fast doesn't he?) I have learned not to stress as much and we are settling into our life together here in the USA.

Yes, my fiance received an EAD stamp. He didn't have to ask for it. They just stamped his I-94.

Although the K-1 is a non-immigrant visa, it is processed with the immigrant visas. The embassy schedules all immigrant visa interviews for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 1.

What I meant about agencies do not talk to each other is that they can not help you with your problem. They can not call someone at the other agency to help you with your problem. Being able to look on a computer screen to see the problem, but not communicate with that agency to fix the problem is not working together.

Here is what I found out to help anyone who this may happen to:

I called USCIS and they told me to make an INFOPASS appointment. Made the appointment today and went to the office downtown. USCIS said that they could not help me. We would have to go to the POE and have them correct it there. I told them his POE was JFK. Did we have to go all the way to New York to fix the problem. She told me no, that I could go to BWI. So, we left and went to BWI. It was difficult to find someone to help point us in the right direction. We went to the Immigration and Customs Border. We told him our problem. He had him fill out a new I-94 form and corrected it on the computer. We will have to wait 2 weeks again for it to be in the system for the SSN number. However, when I was at SS office this week, I got a phone number and contact so that we won't have to go back to the office to complete the form.

Hi VJ,

We went to the SSN office yesterday after 2 weeks of my fiance being here. They were unable to issue him a SSN number because Immigration had him in the system as a F-1 Visa and not a K-1 Visa. She told me that it will be 4 weeks before this is resolved. She can not issue a SSN number because his status is incorrect in the computer. I can't believe this. I am going to call USCIS now and probably make an INFOPASS appointment. My Fiance has several possiblities for temp work in computers, but he needs a SSN number. URGH!

Agencies do not talk to each other, which means that we are screwed in the end. I don't think my Fiance can sit around the house that long.

Any other suggestions would be most welcomed.

Not French here at all, but a question.

For those of you who filed a K1, which was used at your consulate interview? I134 or I864?

In packet 3, the embassy requested 864. However, when we were at the interview, she told me that I could give her either one. I gave her th 134 so that I could use the 864 for AOS filing here.

I live in Washington state, moved here 3 months ago.

I don't really like living in the States and will move back to France as soon as I have the American citizenship, I don't know what I was thinking when I moved here :-/ I guess because my husband doesn't speak French we thought it would be easier for me to find jobs in America but still it doesn't work for me, I never felt depressed like this in my whole life, it's pretty bad *sigh*

I know exactly how you feel. It was the same for me when I lived in France with my fiance. He would come home from work in Lille and I would look so depressed because I had no friends and no job. It is more difficult to find work in France. It will get better. I know that each region of the USA is different. I think that my time in France would have been better if I had been in Paris. Maybe you could research other places to live here or visit if moving is out of the question. Be sure to teach your husband French so that when you do move back to France, he isn't lost and depressed.

My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL.

Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy.

Chouette!!!! I'm jealous, Shayrene - you're guy is here already. But mine will be in PORTLAND IN A FEW HOURS. He's in the air right now. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I'm taking a couple weeks off and we're going to Vegas to get married. He is the francophone, a native of the Comores islands off the coast of Mozambique. He's been in France 15 years, split between Paris & Marseille. We met June 2995 while my sister and I were vacationing. Language has been interesting! I had some French in high school, he some english in high school. We communicated with my travel dictionary when we first met. Since then I've taken a course from Alliance Francaise here in Portland, and a couple more classes at the community college. I enjoy language so it's been fun. I'm also trying to pick up a few words of his comoran dialect. All in all this has been a life changing experience. Bonne chance to all still waiting.

Hey Sleepless,

It has been a long time since I have emailed you. Congrats on your FI coming today. It is a wonderful feeling. Enjoy every minute with him. We have been together for 3 days now. Everything is new to him including my driving. I never drove when we lived in France. I think I scare him a little, but hey I 've been driving for over a decade. LOL. It is funny that he has been getting more phone calls than me. It seems that all he had to do was call one of his friends and all the Togolais in the USA knows that he is here. I am happy that he is being able to reconnect with distant relatives and in-laws. I'll let you know how he adjusts.

A tout a l'heure,

Shayrene

Felicitations Cecile. Isn't it a great feeling. Bon Chance with everything.

My fiance just arrived on Tuesday. He is originally from Togo, a francophone country in West Africa, but has lived in France for almost 10 years. He has lived in Paris, Lille and Caen. I am trying to learn French, but it has been difficult. I was with his family this past week and felt lost. But, it is ok because now I have a live-in tutor. LOL.

Check out the foreign embassy forum. I just placed a review of our experience with the Paris embassy.

Hello Vjers,

I wanted to post our experiences to help others as you have helped us through this process.

Background

Fiance is a French national, but his citizenship is in Togo. We applied in March and our case got recalled in the IMBRA fiasco. Timeline below:

Medical

Fiance did the medical the day before the interview. It is best to do it then so that you can have your results and plus it is alot of running around to different offices. The doctor's office, the place to get the x-ray, the place to get your blood drawn. He returned that afternoon to get his results. The fee was 160 euro and not the 150 euro that was on the embassy letter. He also did his vaccinations earlier. (He did not have his vaccination records so took them all over again) You will need tetanus and MMR (ROR in French)

Interview

My fiance and I arrived at the Paris embassy at 12:40 for his 1 pm appointment. They do not allow anyone in until 1 pm. (All K-1/K-3 interviews are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 1) We went through security where they take your cell phone and return to you after your interview. There were not alot of people there on this day. My fiance went up to the window to ask a question as to where to go. They told him that they will call everyone up to the window. (Since he was there first, his name was the first to be called).

He went to the first window where they inspected his documents. It really helped that I was there. They asked me for my financial papers. I told them I had the I-864 and the I-134 and which did she prefer. (My fiance's appointment letter requested the 864, which was different from others who had gone through Paris). I gave her the I-134. She gave us back alot of the papers that were extra. She asked me if I had my employee id on me. I did not, it was in my baggage back at the apartment. She also asked me if there was anything else I wanted to add. She did not look at any of our proof of a relationship documents. I guess because I was there.

She asked about the police certificates and the letter of intent to marry. We had prepared 2 letters. She took the one from me to update the old one she had from the first approval. However, she wanted the piece of paper that was included in packet 4 of the letter of intent. (which of course we didn't have). She went to the back and brought another one for him to sign. (BTW it looked just like the letter we prepared)

We went to our seat and waited for him to be called for the interview portion. FI went up to the window alone. They asked him these questions:

How and where did we meet?

What do I do for a living in the US?

What do you do for work in France?

Will your children be coming with you?

The CO called me up and asked me what I did for a living, where we met and how was I going to do since my fiance smokes. (Very weird that everyone asked about his smoking and living in the US as a smoker. They also asked this question at the medical and at the first window at the embassy)

We had gotten the Chronopost envelope that the embassy needed to mail your visa back to you. But it was the wrong size. You need the 2 Kilo envelope with the padding. The CO said that we were approved and to bring back another envelope. My FI did not hear this. When we left the embassy to go to the Post to get the envelope, he hadn't realized that we were approved. When we went back to the embassy and gave the envelope to the first lady, she said we would have our visa in 2 days. That was what my FI needed to hear.

USA Arrival, JFK POE

Visa arrived in 2 days with the passport, a sealed envelope, and the documents from the K1 petition. His brother and sister could not sign for it, he had to pick it up himself from the Post. We left for JFK on Tuesday on different flights. (Air France was tripping on the price of a last minute ticket, so he flew AA and I was on Air France). He purchased a round trip ticket on AA to JFK and a one way ticket to DC for 3.5 hours later. The POE was quick and he had a long time to wait after this. He said that JFK immigration is very efficient. They let him know where to go from the time he stepped off the plane. They took him to a small office. They informally asked him about me while they processed the paperwork. For example, When we would be married? They also asked him why he came through JFK if Baltimore is his final destination. He showed them his flight info for his connecting flight, which was sufficient. They gave him the work permit stamp on the I-94 in his passport. The immigration/customs took less than 30 minutes.

Hope this helps! Things to remember. Relax! Be patient! Be calm and don't look nervous. I wished we had purchased his tickets earlier so that we could be on the same flight and just changed it later if need be. But I am happy that we are finally together.

Now the long road ahead to AOS/EAD/AP.

Thank you Visa Journey for everything. We were approved today at the US Consulate in Paris. It has been a long journey to now. I can hardly believe that it is true. Now just the short wait for the visa to be delivered and Bienvenue aux Etats Unis.

B)

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are approved! I will tell you all the details when I get back to the USA. I think that it helped that I was there. Thanks for your help.

ps we bought the wrong size envelope. and had to return it and get a new one at la poste