venice surfer

well, it is finally happening. Maira's interview is 3 weeks away. it was scheduled for april 12, but i wanted to get her here sooner so i called and asked if they could move it up... the nice woman on the phone said she had a cancellation and move it to Monday April 9.

I don't have a clear picture of this step the way i did all the others. any help or advice would be appreciated. she's doing the medical today in sao paulo. she is gathering all the papers on the list we found on the consulate's website. the woman said we would not be paying the $380 cause we already paid it. she said we didn't need to bring in the 864 or 230 part 1 again cause they were already in our file. I'm going to send her copies of everything i've ever sent in, so she'll have that with her at the interveiw. but i've seen some mention in other posts of having multiple copies of things, like photos or the police reports. i don't know how many of what we should bring - any advice? and is there a specific "order" for the documents?

the woman told me for sure maira could pick up the visa THE NEXT DAY after the inteview. or, she could choose to have it delivered to her house - and the it would DEFINITELY BE THERE IN 2 DAYS after the interview. this doesn't match what others here have experienced recently, right? what should i think? i don't really trust these consulate people. but i tell you, this woman is sooo damned nice... it makes me actually almost believe what she says. ????i'm confused. of course, the timing of picking up or receiving the visa is everything,, we're booking her flight to come here now... and it is pretty critical that she get here as soon as possible that week... 1 day later will make some difference. so we'd like to cut it as close as possible. any advice? (we'll be using an award / milage ticket so we can change the date if soemthing happens and she can't make the flight... but there aren't many milage seats and she might have to wait days for a milage seat to open up)

another decision we're making: do you think it matters if she arrive at the consulate after 8:00? she could fly up to rio that morning but she won't get from the airport to the consulate by 8. it will be more like 9:00. think anyone cares? she is worried that they won't even let her in the door if she isn't there at 8. what do you think?

thanks all.

http://www.myspace.com/scott_houck

good luck guys!

we just heard this morning that our interview in rio will be april 12. i wasn't expecting to feel so excited by just getting that news. it has been such a long wait that all anticipation was dead. but now i understand why people start jumping up and down when this happens! i can't even form sentences at work.. hahaha. people are laughing at me..but i just can't stop smiling!

http://www.myspace.com/scott_houck

Congrats!

As the original poster, I'm delighted that this has turned into such a robust discussion of this topic. And has, so far, not revealed lots of examples of people being denied AOS based on their intent to marry on a tourist visa. I wish I'd had this thread as a reference when we had to decide what to do last year.

To briefly add our story to the lore...

She had a 10-year tourist visa, good for 6-month at a time. Had visited US several times in past years. Came to visit me and stayed with me 3 months, then home for 6 weeks, then back here for 6 months. We decided to marry here in the US about a month before the end of the second visit. Only then did we look into the process for applying for AOS... and discovered all the dire warnings about the risk of being denied AOS.

Unfortunately, she had virtually no proof of a connection to her home country. As a model, she worked only when she wanted, all short-term and for different agencies. She was a citizen of the world, traveling with friends, living lots of places and moving for months at a time to other countries. No real estate, car, utility bills... no roots except family there.

Believing the government's emphasis was only on how strong the ties are to the home country led us to fear denial. Now I believe we were not in much danger of denial. And I think this thread bears that out.

Exactly MPGGPM. The reply by Maggie724 is a perfect example of the problem with this subject. Maggie724, I know you are just trying to help, and I don't mean to bash you. But this subject is shrouded by this kind of nonsense. People being worried is completely different from a hard statistic. My wife and I were faced with this decision last year, and we heard lots of these kinds of warnings - always just warnings, always just "don't take the risk, because the penalty is so great". Noone came forward then and said "We were denied." Now I've been on this board long enough to say I haven't heard of anyone being denied for this cause.

Last year, we made the decision to have her leave the country - out of fear of Adjustment of Status denial. Now, we've been apart too long and we deeply regret that choice. For anyone making that choice today, I would encourage you to base your decision on empirical evidence... not paranoia.

Does anyone know of a couple marrying in the u.s. while the alien was visiting on a tourist visa, then being denied their green card specifically because they were found to have entered the u.s. on a tourist visa with intention to stay, marry and gain a green card. I'm looking for someone who actually knew the couple, (or was the couple), not just stories that have been passed around. There are lots of people who warn about the dangers of being denied because of this... but how many here have actual experience with this happening?

Congrats!

Our I-130 was approved, for those of you keeping track.

thanks, I'm going to choose one of those.

Luis & Laura, which card do you use? And do you use it to call to a mobile?

thanks all. I guess I could have been more specific.

I need to be able to call from my cell in LA to her cell in BR. I don't care about the cost. I'm really asking if anyone else gets clear, consistent, reliable connections from their U.S. cell to a BR cell. I spend hours sitting in traffic every day and I pass the time on the phone with her.

Will this work when i'm calling from my cell phone to her cell phone.. not an internet call?

I've been using Tel3 for over a year to call sao paulo & santos. It works well when i call a land line. But recently I've had to call a cell phone - and I have many problems. Most of the time it won't connect - says circuits are busy or gives a false busy signal. When I do get through, (about 1 in 20 tries) the reception is horrible and we are never able to hear each other.

I've seen other posts talking about the best price, but frankly I don't care what it costs... as long as it works.

Anybody here having better success calling cell phones?

scott

LA

We did it at the top of the Stratosphere tower. Would recommend the "inside chapel" rather than the outdoors ceremony - it is pretty loud out there. It was nice after the ceremony too... we just went right outside onto the observation deck for pics and the view. There were lots of people there that shared our excitement. And then down one floor to the nice lounge with a trio and the view too.

(Sorry for asking questions that have been repeatedly repeated.)

I'm preparing the initial package for K3. The I-130, G-325A's etc.

I'll list the things I'm worried about and if there is a mistake or you have some advice, please let me know.

Q's about G-325A:

My employment for last 5 years runs more than 5 lines. I put (See Attachment.) on the first line and put all of the employment on a separate sheet. Attachment sheet is titled: Form G-325A, Q: Employment last five years

I put my name on the upper right. Signature Box at the bottom.

For her employment she was self-employed for last 10 years. I put Self-employed, City, Country

Then for last employment our of U.S. I put (See above.)

I'm not sure what to put in 'form is submitted in connection with application for:' . Need to know if mine (petitioner) and hers (alien) should be the same or different.

Are people printing these on colored paper still? Or white paper?

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Q's about I-130:

Print the 130 double sided? On yellow or white paper?

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How should I attach the plastic bags holding the photos to the sheet of paper?

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How should I label the tabs at the bottom? And should the tabs for my G-325A and her G-325A be identify who each set if about?

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Is it true we should not use staples for anything? (even like putting the attachment on the back of each G-325A?

Thanks in advance,

venice surfer