SantyAndAllie

That's great news!!! It's the same for our consulate, too! It's good because after waiting all this time we want the rest to go by as quickly as possible, hahah! You should be okay for August then, but be prepared to make other plans just in case! You'll be able to get a better estimate once you actually get the NOA2, I'd think!

Have you checked your consulate's time frame of scheduling interviews? I know you think 5 months will be enough time, but it may not. You may end up putting down deposits and later being disappointed if you have to cancel. For my fiance & I, August would seem pretty doable realistically since the Ecuadorian consulate only takes maybe a month or two from the NOA2, which I don't think any of us Oct filers will be seeing later than June. However, I don't know how Ireland's consulate is. I've heard a few consulates can take monthssss just to get an interview, and then there are small chances of rejection and having to do another interview. Sometimes applications get stuck at NVC, as well. Happened to an Oct filer at CSC! He was approved a while ago and has been stuck in limbo for months. You never simply know.
Some June filers ended up waiting up to 8 months just for a NOA2, since a small percentage still end up waiting after the majority has been approved. Ireland could take very little time to do an interview, but you should really research that, because you may end up being surprised at how much longer the process still is after the NOA2. NOA2 doesn't equal having the visa in your hand right away. There's still much more (and possibly much more time) to the process than the annoying NOA2!
If you feel like the risk is worth taking and wont lose the money if you have to reschedule, then I would say at least wait until you have a NOA2 to book anything or put deposits. Seriously, it's REALLY not recommended to make solid plans at this stage- not just by us, but by the government, too, hahah!
Good luck to you guys!!

I've written this a million times already so everyone's prob sick of me saying it hahaha. but you do NOT have to plan your wedding around the government! If you want it to be when YOU want and not when the government decides to, then plan it for later! We planned our wedding separate from our civil ceremony because that's all it is to us. Our real wedding will be the church ceremony and celebration with friends and family.
Some people prefer to plan their civil ceremony and wedding in one, but we are doing them separate for several reasons: 1. Money. We'll have time for my fiance to work and save up money before the wedding. 2. Time. I'm not planning a wedding in 90 days! 3. Unpredictability. You have no idea when you're getting the visa, so you really can't plan until you have the visa, which means you really only have the 90 days to plan.. or even less than that. 4. Legal stuff out of the way. I won't have to worry about legal stuff at my wedding! Everything will be done beforehand 5. Enjoying it. I love being engaged and want the time to plan. I don't want to be pressed for time and miss out on this time.
Some people feel more comfortable doing everything at one time and can plan it in the 90 days, but for me personally, I recommend planning your wedding separate from the civil ceremony if you feel comfortable with it! It's up to you, but just remember you don't have to pick a date because of the government's timeline.
Happy planning!

I'm just going to put this out there.. Don't take this the wrong way but...
You had already asked this question when your bf first came here and you decided after him having been here a week that you didn't want him to go back and you wanted to marry him. You asked what would happen if he overstayed his VWP. Everyone told you what would happen and also the consequences. Everything was broken down to you then and back then you had said you wanted to marry him and that you would not be able to meet the income requirements for 4 years. Everyone advised you then that this was not a good idea for him to be out of status for that long. You didn't like the answers everyone gave you as you insisted that he had been questioned heavily while entering the country and you were afraid he would not be allowed to return due to him being questioned. After having overstayed VWP he will never be allowed to use that to enter the country again. Now you have married him and have opened up another can of worms in my opinion. Nothing changed from when you last asked. You still aren't able to meet the income requirements, you don't want him to get banned, you married him after countless people told you that this was probably not the best choice, and you don't have a co-sponsor. We have all made sacrifices and have been away from our loved ones while we go through this process. We tried to give you the best advice possible in the situation that you were in. After everyone gave you their advice, I was really hoping you would have taken the advice and had allowed him to go back home without overstaying his VWP and ruining his chances of being allowed back in the country using that option.
I can tell you from my personal experience that my fiance and I had a very tough goodbye last time he was here. He went back home knowing I was pregnant. Yet he still went back home because we wanted to do things the right way. We didn't want to ruin our chances of him incurring a ban because he chose to overstay. We filed for his K-1 visa and he is at the last stage of that now as his interview is next week. he will have his visa and be here in time for our baby to be born. He hated not being here and missing out on dr appts and such but we did what was best in our situation. We could have gotten married and filed for AOS but we chose not to because in the off chance that we were the couple that got questioned regarding intent we knew if we got denied we would not be able to appeal due to him having entered under VWP.
As much as I know you don't want to hear this advice he needs to go back now before he overstays past the 180 day mark. You will need to file for his spouse visa once you either find a co-sponsor or meet the income requirement. That requirement won't change period.Good luck in whatever you decide to do...

I was just talking about this subject with him earlier this evening about when exactly we should book a date hypothetically. He doesn't want to do it until he walks out of the embassy approved. For one thing he intends to work right until he gets his visa, he'll need to make arrangements for his belongings, and we have to coordinate his family's tickets/hotel. Even with the best case scenario he doesn't think he'll have visa in hand until July or August (praying it doesn't get stuck at NVC). So tentatively it could be September, which he likes because he thinks tickets are cheaper then. Me.. I get nervous about the weather in September. Blazing hot and hurricanes. It's still going to be a crush of things to plan at once, and that's why I did like the idea of the all-in-one small venue, cuts out having to get caterers and all the extras. Gives me a headache.

I don't recommend not having a round trip ticket either. I'm not sure how my comment was interpreted that way, lol. I ALWAYS tell people they should get a round trip ticket. Even if people get through, it looks fishy. My comment was just stating that they *say* it's not enough proof, but most of the time they don't even ask for proof at all. Round trip ticket is better proof than none! And yes, I've heard UK customs is worse than US! hahah!

Customs will tell you that you NEED pay stubs as proof. When I called, they told me he'd be most likely rejected if he didnt have that. But they didn't ask for any proof at the airport. We had a round trip ticket as our proof, and they didn't ask for it. They never have. BUT it differs, and it all depends on the officer coming in. To answer the question if the round trip ticket is enough- yes and no. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. You take a risk coming in, so just be prepared, but from most of our experiences (if you havent read the 73 pgs hahaha), they don't even ask for any proof.

Yay! thats awesome :-) I am so glad for you.
Have a good time with each other!
We had our first skype fight not that long ago. Shows that we really are babies compared to you guys :-D

I'm also really glad to hear he had a smooth trip in! I know how stressful that can be!! Hope you have a great time together

I'm so glad it all went well! :-)

Lol @ VJ estimated timelines. My timeline first said November. It's now February, and USCIS is still processing July filers. Unlikely that it will take less than 6 months, if not more. VJ timelines change everyday and are not really all that accurate.
My advice: If you want to plan now, plan for WAY ahead [like this winter or next spring or something (unless you care more about just getting married right away and planning the wedding in 3 months hahah!)] and separate the civil ceremony & the wedding. My fiance & I are having our actual wedding this September. It's been planned for over a year now, but it's not likely that we'll get our visa until May or June, so we planned the civil ceremony part separate from the wedding. So you have civil ceremony when you get the visa (maybe in Sept or Oct, but can't count on an exact time frame) then have your wedding later on. That way you can plan for it to be whenever YOU want to, and not whenever USCIS gets around to your application, AND you can save up money once your EAD goes through. Also, don't worry if you decide to do this.. My fiance & I were upset at first that we'd be legally married first, but it's not that big of a deal! Our real wedding will be at our church and celebrating with family & friends!
If not, like everyone else said, no real plans until at least you've set an interview! Even then, it's risky.
Good luck, and welcome to the world of waiting at TSC! We all know the pain all too well

Sorry to interrupt the silence on this feed, but SANTY'S HERE! Just wanted to let you know that after all the worry, Santy made it okay yesterday to the States! It was much needed after many fights via Skype, hahaha.
Anyways, hope everyone is doing well and that the meeting this Saturday with a few of you in TX went well! <3

Sorry to interrupt the silence on this feed, but SANTY'S HERE! Just wanted to let you know that after all the worry, Santy made it okay yesterday to the States! It was much needed after many fights via Skype, hahaha.
Anyways, hope everyone is doing well and that the meeting this Saturday with a few of you in TX went well! <3

Yesssssss!!!! That makes me so happy!!! After all your stressing, he made it without problems and you've got a couple months together!
I can totally relate to the skype fighting. Too much time between visits and it gets really difficult!
We had a good time saturday. Spent a good nearly 3 hrs together getting to know eachother, hear stories of how we all met, showed off pics and just generally ranted!
Post a pic of two of yall out having fun while he's here if ya want!

Sorry to interrupt the silence on this feed, but SANTY'S HERE! Just wanted to let you know that after all the worry, Santy made it okay yesterday to the States! It was much needed after many fights via Skype, hahaha.
Anyways, hope everyone is doing well and that the meeting this Saturday with a few of you in TX went well! <3

Lolololol! You described what their offices are like perfectly! Hahahaahha

Unfortunately, I think the likelihood is that they weren't TSC but that they *thought* they were because they sent the application to the Texas Lockbox. But never know I guess.
Somewhat off topic but ever since registering for some bridal stuff I get hit with tons of bridal spam... so annoying. Today's snail mail took the cake though! An invitation to somewhere that sells diet pills with the tagline ''get in shape for your wedding''.

As it was going down the shredder I popped a chocolate in my mouth and had some choice words.

Yeah, I'm beating a dead horse by telling people that a transfer is not likely. Not gonna happen, people!
Where did I post my analogy of the greedy kid who's too full to eat his last cookie but refuses to share it because it's his? That's USCIS

Yeah, I'm beating a dead horse by telling people that a transfer is not likely. Not gonna happen, people!
Where did I post my analogy of the greedy kid who's too full to eat his last cookie but refuses to share it because it's his? That's USCIS

No. TSC is working on early July right now. Expect at least 200 days from noa1 to noa2. If you want, you can sign this petition and reach out to your representatives regarding the processing time difference between CSC and TSC https://www.change.org/p/uscis-distribute-the-current-caseload-between-tsc-csc-vsc-and-nsc
The petition is advocating for a workload transfer to CSC. I'm all for doing anything I can. It's better than sitting around feeling sorry for myself and this crappy situation.
There's another girl who sent her petition to the lockbox the same day as me and has already had her medical in London bc she went to CSC.

Hey all, not sure how many other Houstonians we have in this group, but av8or1, msbau and I are planning to meet up in Houston on Feb. 7th. Everyone is welcome to come, if you happen to be in or near Houston... We have had a couple others express interest, too.
We'll be meeting at Brick House Tavern on 290 NW at 1 pm Saturday, February 7th. Contact info:
Brick House Tavern
12910 Northwest Freeway
Houston, TX 77040
(713)462-0576
Feel free to pm me if interest and I'll share my personal contact info. Hope some others can make it!

Well I didn't get to learn a new language but I did learn a lot of new words and pronunciations nonetheless!

I am sending you a big hug. Hope you feel better soon.
I had to say goodbye to my fiance four weeks ago and the first two weeks were not that fun. Now I got used to being by myself, even though it is really not something I want to be used to :-(
Do you know the story of the Little Engline That Could? Lately I sound like it when talking to myself "Yes, I can do it" I will add all of you and make it into "We can do it" :-)
Thank you Allie!
I think it is so great both of you speak both languages fluently! This is so handy :-)
I really want my fiance to learn German well, and he is making good progress when he is here, but then he forgets between visits. When he is by himself in the US he is lacking the motivation, but when he is here he wants to be able to communicate and understand.
Totally understand what you are saying about the accents of people you speak fluently and still have a horrible accent (not that we would tell them to their faces, right? :-P I maen, it is great they made the effort to learn) - German speakers have a really bad reputation for that lol
I am so lucky I moved so much as a kid and heard English early on (my mom´s friends are American) even though I never spoke it - I was used to adjusting my sounds, inflections and hearing them all. Now I am a chameleon :-D I once managed to pick up basic Dutch by listening to the Dutch version of the lion king - when I suddenly ended up with lots of Dutch kids in my group who didnt speak German or English yet I had something to fall back on! That is a few years back and I forgot most of it, which is sad.
You have traveled a lot! What did you do in Africa, Haiti and the Ukraine?
Yay for being bilingual ;-)
I always feel that apart from having an affinity for languages it def helps to BE where they are spoken - that way you hear them all day long and have a true motivation to communicate.
When I finally spoke American English really well I moved to England and had to learn a whole ´nother version of it. Used to have to ask my friends to repeat everything multiple times :-D
Keept it up! Even if you can just do basic conversation it is worth so much, not depending on someone to translate every single thing you want to say!
Have you heard a lot of French in your life before? If not, it might be worth starting to listen to French music or TV channels while cleaning, cooking or driving, in the background, not really trying to study it I mean, just to get the sound of it into your ears. They just have some sounds that are hard to perceive for Native German or English speakers! And if you cant even hear and differentiate them, you cant possibly say them. Do you speak other languages already or not? If not, your brain is just not used to hearing other sounds and patterns, just give it time, plasticity of the brain is a wonderful thing, but takes a little repetition for everything to "stick" :-)
I work with young kids who learn German or English as a second language and we do a lot with background exposure to sounds of the language. Now, they are young and pick up on the sounds a little bit more easily, but as an adult you can put planned concentration and your cognition into it and expose yourself on purpose. Hope this makes sense and good luck!
The kids are trying to teach me how to count and say colors in their languages and I am so bad at it because I just dont hear the nuances of their languages - it is a good ice breaker, because then they are proud they are better at German than I am in Arabic/turkish/rumanian/albanian/you name it...

Yay it is Friday! And here it is Friday afternoon, which is even better ;-)
Allie - I am all for reunions :-D I like meeting people in real life that I have only ever talked to over the internet. Unfortunately I am currently on a diff continent, so the closest person for me to meet up with is April´s Daniel :-D and some of the Germans. Once I am there I will be in Mass though, which is pretty close to NJ so I would love to meet up!
I have been looking for fellow Austrians - according to VJ there should be one more pending K-1 couple from Austria somewhere, but I havent been able to find them - also, people don´t seem to emigrate from my country - there is barely any info on it, it is quite puzzling.
We just talk :-D No idea if either of us truly has an accent - my fiance is from Illinois by way from Japan, Texas, Germany, England and a few other assorted places, and I cant tell an accent at all - and I am obviouls not a Native English Speaker, but have lived in so many different places that after a little while of being somewhere I just reflect the local accent, so as not to stick out :-D Noone can ever tell where i am from, it can be pretty funny (and in German it is usually _really_ easy to tell).
What does get fun is when my family and I are teaching Austrian German to my fiance - he can repeat everything back, even the trick words we like to annoy language learners with - and it is just too funny to hear him say "grias di" (thats austrian colloquial for "I greet you") in perfect accent, after he just talked to me in regular American English.
do you guys know each other´s languages, or just one of you both languages? which one do you mostly talk in?

Oh, I am :-) I do consider myself lucky, because I have only been back in Austria since early October and by fiance has already been here twice (once over Christmas). Now that I have had a permanent job and an apartment for a few months I decided to try to visit too :-) I am Austrian, so I get way more vacation than he does.
What was actually the trickiest thing was that I could not talk about my plans when I came back - I needed a job, and an apartment, but noone was going to hire me for an unknown number of months, or take me on as a tenant. Luckily they are also not allowed to ask questions about personal life and stuff, so I decided to keep it quiet until we get NOA 2. I am such an honest person, it felt like lying to to me :-(
Oh jay, so remembered your name right. I think you said at some point you were thinking about changing your profil name to Allie&Santy? Thats what stuck in my head (I have to memorize people, names, faces and stories for a living, I have practice)!
I also hope that having a 10 week count down will make it more bearable, and by the time I am back it is early April and hoooopefully we`ll get NOA 2 sometime soon after that, right? And once things start moving again it will be fine, because there will at least be a few things to do other than wait around...
I am crossing my fingers for you, that your fiance will have an easy time at POE :-)
Friday will be 100 days since NOA 1 for us, so time is actually passing by!