ILikeBread

I'll take 12 weeks in a heartbeat(no pun intended).

The sad thing is though in the US, they couldn't even get a 20 week ban passed, because of the democrats.

I believe that the limit is decided by the states themselves, no?

In that case it is more complicated than just a partisan thing.

The on going war against planned parenthood is a terrible thing.

Speaking with an economically conservative voice it will lead to more unwanted pregnancies in families not ready for it and ultimately the tax payers will foot the bill through welfare.

But more than that it's just sad and wrong to deny women access to health. Especially as opponents hide behind their conscience to do that.

How many weeks would you suggest? To me 20 seems fair. Otherwise I guess nobody should tell a mother what to do with THEIR children after they are born either, and Casey Anthony should have never gone to trial. Because there is no difference between that and an abortion after 20-25 weeks. None.

In France the law says 12 weeks max for an abortion.

Talking with my American wife, it seems there is a huge emphasis on sex ed here in France as opposed to the US.

Oops babies don't happen as much and thus the need for abortion is lower.

I need to trade the popcorn for some chips and dip. It's getting deeper with the drama.

One can put on pounds with all the sideline snacks. Twinkies anyone ? Tofu ? Carrot sticks ?

I have a thing for dill pickles

I'm all for women's rights, but abortion has nothing to do with womens' rights if you believe it's murder. No one has the right to kill a living child no matter their life circumstance. The fact that no science can accurately pinpoint when human life begins (just when it hasn't) should be food for thought. That's why I'm opposed to late-term abortion, and that's why I can respect conservatives who are staunchly pro-life, even in the first trimester.

It's up to the women And their partners to decide if they should pursue an abortion.

The option should be there (albeit until the pregnancy reaches a certain number of weeks). If you are pro life, simple you don't abort, but please don't tell others what to do.

If you are pro choice the option should be there.

My mother was a midwife, the difference between the time abortion was illegal and when it was legal is less women died from complications of clandestine abortions.

How does it work exactly in Norway are those private companies running the health care?

Here in France health care costs are taken care of by the state (70% of the costs) and the remaining 30% by employer based health care (private corporations pretty much).

If you don't have a job the state takes care of 100%.

I think private insurance companies should not be involved personally.

Co-pays for exemple don't exist thanks to that (besides in dental care IIRC)

To be honest co pays, premiums and so on make me think of car insurances rather than health insurances.

Last time I checked we were ranked #1 worldwide.

It costs us money through taxes obviously, but it's a choice that we made as a people a while ago and it pays now. I have been working for 4 years and been paying 200 a month's (it's included in the gross income) during that time, besides a few meds and doctor visits here and there I didn't had much going on health wise.

Yet I payed around 9600 to the system.

I don't care because if something happens to me, I know it won't ruin me.

We are already becoming the laughing stock of the world with Bush and now Obama. Yes, lets go for the trifecta and elect Clinton.

Message from the world: electing Trump is not gonna help with that.

Genuine question from socialism loving europe, why would anyone not want health care?

At this point might as well promote the VP candidates to candidates and get a new set of VPs. XD

Now being married to an American (we both reside abroad) it's my first time following a US campaign and I must say US politician are not, in my opinion, more corrupt than other elsewhere in the world but hell they are bad at hiding it.

Our French political campaigns sure look awefully dull compared to U.S. campaigns.

Thanks for your answers guys!

As far as insurance the state health insurance is on one person's name only in France, you can't have adult beneficiary any more (new law) but I will add her on my work sponsored complementary policy.

As she only works part time she hasn't worked enough yet to "earn" her coverage.

And because of the previous reason I'm not gonna benefit from her policy anyways. Well if asked why we are not each other beneficiary we have a good reason haha.

My family knows of the wedding, they helped out and were there on the big day. They had their tense moments with my wife which led me to not want them to write an affidavit.

But given the answers in this thread we will skip the affidavits I think.

Just pics and proofs of travels past and future (as in already booked) and the few paper work mentioned in the first post.

Hello all,

We are about to start our CR1 journey and are currently assembling the package, I have some questions I'd like to ask the community.

First a little bit about us:

We met while my wife was working as an au pair in my town here in France, we had been dating for about 8 months when her visa was up and she had to fly back to the U.S. then started 8 months of long distance relationship where I visited her twice for a total of 3 weeks. On my last visit in December I proposed and she said yes! We decided we would get married and live in France so we prepared for her arrival and the wedding.

She came on a tourist visa in March, we got married in May and she then flew back to the US to apply for a spouse visa at the French consulate. She is now here on this visa.

We are assembling the package and are wondering about the proofs of the bona fide mariage, we have lots of pics, past travel tickets, future travel tickets (visiting friends in Europe and such) her name is on the lease agreement, we are gonna open a joint bank account soon too. We were also thinking of getting some statement from friends and her family.

My first concern is my family is not fully on board, will it be a problem not having statements from them?

I wonder what can be added to the petition to make it stronger.

I wanted to add some of the French spouse visa paperwork bc it shows I sponsored her too (will have it translated)

Also, I got the i130 form from the Uscis website but it says it expired at the end of 2015, it got us confused, can we still use it?

Anyways, the journey is about to start and many questions will arise throughout the process.

We will start the timeline when the packet is sent

When I traveled through ORD with the ring I put the value down on the form they gave us in the plane. The agent asked me what kind of ring it was and then cleared me in, then I handed the form to a custom agent that looked at it and just waved me through.

I was expecting lots of trouble travelling with the ring but it went better than I thought.

I wonder if the UK border starts at Calais thing will still stand, aka will the French authority let the flow of migrants go to Dover instead of stopping them in Calais as it's done now.

I believe the U.K. relied (relies) heavily on European money to subsidize its agriculture . Well that money is gone now (I hope anyway, not part of the team, not entitled to it anymore) . The UK taxpayers will foot the bill or not. Depends on the amount of solidarity the UK ppl can show to their farmers.

It's a surprising decision for sure but the Brits are entitled to do what they want with their country. It's a bit sad seeing the 50+ y/o voters tipped the balance towards the leave vote. The younger voters will deal with that long after those voters are gone. But that's what comes with democracy.

I'm curious to see what will happen to the expats. We have lots of British retirees here, they are not happy About it.

I really wonder what's going to happen with pan European companies like Airbus (they manufacture wings in the U.K.) will they move that within the Union (the European one) ?

I tend to think this vote will pave the way for a Scotland independence.

The reporting here (France) seem to say that England and Wales voted to leave and northern Ireland and Scotland to stay. Not really a United kingdom.

Well, perhaps there will be less drunk Brits roaming around southern Europe in the summer if there's a need for Visa /sarcasm

There's no disrespect, we all need help at some point and it's fine. But we must do our "homework" too. VJ has an incredible amount of info laying around.

From personal xp, Ohare was a smooth layover, although fast (had 2 hours), but ended up waiting at my next gate for 45mins.

Was just visiting though, but the immigration and custom part was very efficient I thought .

Thanks everyone!

Came back to France last week, it's tough for sure.

Onto wedding preps and visa for my fiance now!

When I landed in Denver (just for a visit though) there was 2 intl flights arriving at the same time (BA from Heathrow and an Icelandair flight) took me around an hour to go through immigration and customs.

The BA flight was a packed 747 so...

Just a couple of news, I'm in the U.S.

Immigration went alright although the agent was quite suspicious, I guess the fact that I met my GF in France and lived with her there before helped (he seemed very suspicious about ppl meeting online)

Customs didn't ask me anything about the ring and cleared me with a head nod...confusing.

But holidays have started and she said yes!

BIQ = Biarritz, France

Denver is a pretty large airport, (5th largest in the USA by total passenger traffic) but there are few international flights because of where it's located. Most flights land on the east or west coast first before proceeding to Denver.

Chicago, however, sees a lot more international traffic and is the 3rd largest in the USA.

I stand corrected, there was indeed lots of United or Frontier planes (plane nerd here haha)

You may never even speak to a CBP officer. Most, if not all, of the big international airports (O'Hare included) now have the automated kiosks for US and Canadian citizens, and all LPRs and people traveling on VWP. You scan your passport, it asks you the same questions that are on the blue form, and it prints out a form and you're on your way. Only if it can't recognize or match your passport or you're flagged for some reason do you get an X on your print-out and have to actually speak to CBP.

That would be sweet, there was some in Denver, but everyone had to see an agent anyway sadly. The deplaning process was quite tedious too as there were no separate lines for USCs it was quite a mess.

I remember JFK being very fast when it came to immigration but that was like 8 or 9 years ago.

Thanks!can't wait to get on the plane!

Yup, I'm telling myself I'm doing it by the book and I have proof of it so it will go alright

You say you have 3 hours, what airport will you be going through Customs in? I ask because if it is Atlanta, 3 hours will likeky not be enough time during the Christmas rush.

good luck

At O'hare in Chicago, 3 hours of layover was the most I could get for a reasonable price. But I agree, it may be tough to make the connection.

Thanks for your answers guys.

I'm probably over thinking indeed. I put that on the stress of getting the ring/ keeping the surprise and so on haha

I've been to the US a lot both as a kid and adult. Altough it's only the 2nd time with the purpose to visit her (she was living and working in France until recently)

Last visit was at the end of October and left on time.

Wasn't asked much last time, like why are you here and how long are you staying.

I landed in Denver though which seem to be a small airport with very few international flights.

Landing in Chicago this time, I'm picturing it as a place with "sharper" agents as it's bigger with lots of international flights.

My previous thread was locked fast.

To clarify I will declare the ring. No suggestion of hiding it please. I want advices on my proofs of ties with my country.

Now, to sum up the situation:

I'm visiting my US girlfriend and I will propose during the trip. The ring was bought in France, so it will travel with me. I'll put it on the customs form, I have a receipt with the price with me.

Now on the immigration part, I will be traveling on the VWP for 2 weeks. I imagine the agents seeing jewellery on the form will be suspicious.

I am bringing the following with me as a proof of my ties with France:

Work contract

Letter of employment

Lease agreement

Last payment for internet (my address is on it and it's the most recent one)

Payment schedule for the car loan (running until 2019)

Travel health insurance with the travel dates

Full itinerary from expedia (as a return ticket)

In addition my girlfriend and I plan to live in France, I am bringing her forms I filled for her long stay visa in France, so that she can complete them and send the package to the French consulate . The main form is in English and mention we are applying for the visa with the intent of getting married and live in France.

What do you think of those proofs?

I'm already expecting to be sidelined and spend some quality time with CBP agents...

I have 3 hours layover, hopefully it will work out.