unknownuser

At the other hand, in Europe you're less likely to be a victim of just any random scam or crime.

But still, I'd like to travel U.S. for a couple of years, and then FIRE in Philippines between 40 and 50 years old.

On 3/18/2019 at 7:38 PM, Jorgedig said:

Why are you so intent upon emigrating to the US?  

Tough to answer. I think I simply want to go back to fix the mistakes I previously made getting my life started in the U.S..

Plus Europe feels a lot like a jail. They want to regulate everything and put rules on everything. It takes the joy away from life. Even though I'm driving luxury company cars and have 34 paid holidays a year, I still felt I had a better work-life balance in U.S. with only 5 paid vacation days a year. When I was off work, I knew Walmart was open or there was a national park I could go for a walk.

What I like about the U.S. is, you make your own life exactly the way you want it to be. But wrong choices have their consequences. (Basically applies to any country in the world)

1 hour ago, boris64 said:

What country are you from? Who is applying for the diversity visa? Straight from the State Department:

 

Philippine-born applicants are excluded from the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program. 

Belgium, but Filipino are allowed to get an entry themselves if the spouse is from an eligible country if I understood it correctly. Took me a while to find out.

PS: I lived in Wentzville for a short while and visited St Louis. I loved it! It's a beautiful area.

The stupidity of leaving the U.S. so quickly to avoid being deported keeps haunting me. Now I remarried a Filipina abroad. Supposedly I can take her with me to the U.S. if I win in the green card lottery.

My questions:

• Are the chances of winning a green card truly around 5-10%?
• Will I continue to use my old SSN from 2-3 years ago?
• How much money would you need to kickstart your life in the U.S.? I remember it took me about 14-21 days to find a job. The lack of a decent credit history may make you illegible for loans mostly, so buying a car with cash seems likely. If I make an estimation, roughly 50k should be enough for a safe start?
• My wife has a high school degree and has been working continuously since she was granted permanent residence in Belgium. Is she able to apply? I know she can through my citizenship. But the degree/experience requirements are not so clear.

We're currently pursuing FIRE in Europe, her income is noticeably low working in cleaning, so I'd assume she might have a better job working for a company like Walmart or a fast food chain. Either way, as you can see we're quite on track.

https://www.expatfire.org/personal-finance/

I arrived in the U.S. in August 2016, and got married in October 2016. During the engagement, I found out my wife was cheating with some guy working at Walmart. Now I decided just to continue as I already spent a lot of money to be together and I didn't see why I wouldn't give it a chance, after all, maybe it was just the wait to be together that caused it to happen.

After we were married, I continued the paperwork and we moved with her parents to another state (from Missouri to Florida). But she started getting homesick missing her friends. It was also a bad location for me to find a job. Eventually I found one 80 miles from her parents home. She would still continue to live at her parents home, because she was going to a special needs school having failed college twice.

After leaving at 4AM every morning and coming home around 9PM from work at her parents place, I caved and went to live in AirBnb during the week near my job. Then I came home in the weekends. But she always thought I was cheating and I was there for the green card. All I did was trying to provide, and get our lives started with what we had.

Eventually I went through a car accident scam, bed bugs in an apartment lease as well as fleas during my 4 month employment. And then the divorce happened in May 2017.

I went home in June 2017, afraid of being targeted for marrying for a green card...

But honestly, ever since I arrived back in my home country, my life feels empty, I don't feel home. It's kind of a weird thing to say, but I miss living in the U.S., despite all the crime and bad experiences. Maybe it's the fact that maybe I didn't even try hard enough? Should I have tried finding a job closer to home? I went really far respecting her and her family, going to Mormon church, even though I am not even religious. I went every Sunday, and loved the people I met there.

Even though I can live of 35% of my net salary in Belgium. I would be able to retire here in 5 years when I become 34. I don't target the U.S. specifically, see below.

Now is there anything I can do to go back to the U.S.? Right now I am married to a Filipina, she moved to my home country now. I've considered the lottery, but I don't know if it's worth the hassle. Because I would need to file separately for my Filipina wife.

Then there is the investor visa program which required 500k in capital. But then Australia is also worth to be considered, given it's closer to her family in Philippines.

Everything in my home country remembers me about the bad experience, which is probably the reason why I'd like a fresh start somewhere else. Worst case, I've been thinking of moving to Philippines.

Every case is unique.

4 minutes ago, Glader said:

what do you know about this taxation stuff ?
i went to the tax office place here in belgium and they said something about 183 day's of both taxations and if i would work for a company here and they have a settlement in the U.S that i can be taxed for the whole year in both countries ...

That is correct. But you have to pay taxes on your Belgian income too in the U.S. if you hold a green card or U.S. citizenship. Or at least when the threshold passes 100k USD annual income.

I did not declare my U.S. income in Belgium. I would be surprised if they found out about it. Honestly It's unrealistic to survive with a 40-50% tax rate in the U.S.. 

On ‎5‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 1:03 AM, jojorim said:

What i have tho do since i called and want to update this topic for people who might do the same is that u need a newly issued birth certificate of the child and have it apostilled =) 

Don't forget you will have to pay taxes for the rest of your life in the U.S. if you still hold U.S. citizenship.

14 minutes ago, Lemonslice said:

Did you return your green card and is your move back home permanent?  If so, I strongly suggest transferring your money and cutting all ties with the US - you're then sure that you won't ever miss a reporting requirement from the IRS. 

I'm actually looking to keep my ties with the U.S. to some degree. Such as keeping my credit union bank account is a priority. I am paying several things such as my websites and Netflix in USD, because it's cheaper than paying it in the EUR currency. On top of that I get a beautiful interest rate. Majority of the banks in Europe are still at 0.01-0.1%.

Right now I'm looking for how these things are taxed in the long term. I recall there was a form which declares I'm not liable for any U.S. tax so I would be taxed in my home country. But if I can pay taxes on interest rates from my credit union to the IRS and not my home country, then that's fine with me too. Tax rate for both is I believe the same, in either country 30%.

In the long term, by 2030, I want to retire in The Philippines at the age of 40. And their currency is closer to the USD, which is another reason I want to keep my U.S. bank account.

My conditional green card will expire in April 2019.

I was married to a U.S. citizen from October 2016 to May 2017. Then I returned home in June 2017.

I had a job from February 27 to May 23.

Do I have to report my EU bank accounts or EU income while I lived in Belgium after moving back? Because this would cause a lot of trouble for nothing.

My credit union, Alliant Credit Union is also letting me keep my checkings account (0.65% interest) and savings account (1.45% interest). Should I file a specific form like W8BEN-E or just keep paying taxes to the IRS? Because as I'm no longer a resident of the U.S., I should pay taxes on interest in my home country, and not to the IRS?

Should I still contribute to my Roth IRA? EU retirement savings are terrible with 2-3% average gain per year. With my Roth IRA, I can keep control of my investments, even if it's just as little as 1000$.

Is there still use to continue building my credit score?

I earned roughly 12000$ (gross 13500$) working 3 months.

Can I file taxes next year and receive my tax refund?

My company doesn't want to give my W-2 until early next year.

I also left without filing anything or notifying IRS. What should I do now?

Some may call me stupid for doing it. But after my wife cheating on me for 8 months since we even before we were married I decided to divorce her and leave the country 3 months ago when I lost my job in the U.S..

Staying and just accepting the situation until receiving the permanent green card is just not worth it. Specially when she started revenge spending all our money.

Even finding a job as a conditional green card holder was a pain. I spent two weeks looking without luck as a software engineer with multiple awards.

This is in sharp contrast with Europe where I can find a job in one day with excellent benefits and 32 paid vacation days per year.
The U.S. work culture is severely outdated..

Now I am left with the following questions:

• Are there still P2P investments like LendingClub or Prosper I can invest in from Europe? Since I have a SSN. LendingClub doesn't accept non-U.S. residents, so I was wondering if there was an alternative.
• My U.S. company refuses to send my pay slips and W-2 right now. But apparently I needed to file a 1040-C when leaving the country.
• Are there banks with cashback credit cards I can continue to use as a non-resident? (Even if just for online transactions in USD and getting some cashback)

Hello everyone,

So I am joining the U.S. Navy Reserve after trying to join the Air Force and U.S. Army. Now a good friend told me the Navy is best for people with a conditional green card. Now I was wondering if citizenship is instant or do I have to wait one year?

I currently have a job in IT, so going active duty wasn't really interesting.

There are some sources that say that during wartime citizenship can be filed for immediately. But then other sources say that reservists have to wait one year while active duty is instant. Does anyone have a clear answer on this?

Either way, I am looking forward to be a part of this country and serve.

So my wife decided to divorce me since we started living separately for employment reasons. She is a student (21y) living in Leesburg, she wants to go to school at Beacon College.

I looked into finding a software development job in Orlando without much luck. Salaries were insanely low (45K) and toll roads are incredibly expensive being about 10$ per day. That doesn't include gas, maintenance and the ghetto neighborhoods in between... And if I found something nice it was too expensive to live. And she is too lazy to get a second part time job or try to find a full part time job.

I ended up finding a job in Tampa (85-95 miles from Leesburg), but having spent the last money on a second car I had to purchase since she crashed her own from before the marriage, I was pretty much broke. I ended up commuting the distance for 3 weeks until mentally crashing coming home to a wife who doesn't do anything in the household. I ended up doing laundry and cleaning the house in the weekends and her complaining I never made time for her. During the week I would come and maybe be awake for 1 hour at home before going to bed. I would get up at 4:45 AM to drive to Tampa and come home around 7-8 PM, going to bed at 9 PM.

So then I decided to go with AirBnb for about 3 weeks while I was waiting to find an apartment. But this was overly expensive as I had to eat out on a daily basis, costing me roughly 15-35$ per day on just food). Then at work my co-workers told me about student apartments costing anywhere from 400$ to 700$ including utilities. So I figured this might help saving faster so we can maybe save for the furniture and everything and/or maybe buy a house later this year.

Now she made an ultimatum that I have to find an apartment which has to be big enough too so her niece can live in it and her 300 lb friend who breaks any furniture she sits on (or cars she sits in, not kidding when I tell you she broke the suspension of our Honda Civic) And if I don't agree to this, then basically she wants the divorce. After we were married I recall her telling a co-worker of hers that she was trying to decide between me and another guy, and the reason she would stay with me was for financial security of which I have a picture of her conversation, but probably rendered useless in court since it was obtained illegally. Now don't think that person is going to testify either although they are supposed to tell the truth.

I told her parents I wanted to wait till finances were stable so I know what exactly is going in and out, but they don't give a damn thing. Her dad is 60-65, and he said: "I am close to retirement and my finances are still not stable." Isn't this possibly the worst advice a parent can give to their children? Right now I have been struggling since February to pay all the bills on time, I am finally starting to see the end of the tunnel somewhere in June. But I don't understand they they just won't understand the consequences for me being here conditionally and everything being way more expensive than it is in Western Europe. My salary here may be 2-3 times higher than it was in my home country, but also my expenses are way much more. I am just afraid I won't be able to get rid of all the debt.

Also she texted me I can't come home to see her (Leesburg is still legally my home address, so I don't think they can force me to stay out of the house. I don't have a key. Can this be considered domestic abuse?)

Anyways, my green card was approved last week, so I was actually wondering what my chances are filing for a permanent green card through a waiver? I don't want necessarily to stay in the U.S., but since I have a car loan of 13000$ going on and the car's remaining value is 8500$ right now with all the miles I put on it, I can either choose to keep the car and have serious debt. But I would probably have to default on the loan with my credit score being so bad. Now I don't know if it means anything that her dad signed the I-864 being responsible for me financially? Could this possibly help me? What happens if I have to default on a loan during a divorce?

Either way, 2 years should still be enough for me to pay off the car if I keep living in the student housing and then go back to my country. Right now I am even thinking of going in the police department as a reserve or work somewhere for 10-20$ per hour to maybe get my annual salary up to 70K from 60K to help pay stuff off or get an apartment faster. But then the divorce threats are still there.

You could always try to record conversations with the phone in your pocket...

Wait and see. Trump said ban will lift after necessary process is implemented to add security. If you are already in the U.S. using a K1 visa, then you won't have to worry. If you have a I-129F petition it depends. You may be approved but won't be able to enter at this point. So it is hard to say.

K1 is the best way to go. Specially with Trump, work visa will be difficult to get

Update being pushed today. As promised:
1. Listed as free in the store: Requires a new package to be generated, certified and published.

2. Customize background update interval.

Changes may take 1-3 days to take effect in the store.

Thank you for the support!

To give the readers an update of why there was no update pushed on Thursday/Friday as planned is that my development machine, my ThinkPad T560 is awaiting a repair. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to continue development at full speed.

Below a list of my priorities for this app:
1. Listed as free in the store: Requires a new package to be generated, certified and published. (instantly)

2. Customize background update interval 30 min - 1 h - 2 h - 3 h - 6 h - 12 h (1-3 days of development)

3. Added donate button in non-obtrusive way (1-2 days of development)

4. Live tiles: Pin to your start screen. (3-7 days of development including testing)

5. Search other cases. (Centered X cases, X/2 earlier & X/2 later; rather than incrementing from a certain case number).

6. Logging of used case numbers in the app: This is considered solely for development purposes. You will be able to disable this in settings. Using case numbers, I can optimize the app for everyone. Right now I have to use my own case number and hope it works well for everyone.

Just assume 90 days after NOA of I-765.

Oh so the original license from your home country and then the IDP from your home country?

If you have an international driver's license from your home country, that should always be valid. I am using mine all the time. My international driver's license from Belgium is valid until December 2018.

I still have my expired Missouri driver's license to show that I took the driver's test. I am even on the insurance of the car we purchased while my I-94 was valid.

I am now driving in Florida without any problems so far.

https://www.usa.gov/visitors-driving

This page says you should apply for a driver's permit if you are eligible. Since we are out of status, we are not eligible. So just use your international driver's permit instead.

Exactly, the app will be made free. You can download it for free as a trial version. Note that those free apps also have advertisements. Specially the USCIS Case Tracker app for iOS which occasionally presents you with an annoying full screen add where you have to wait 5 seconds before you can close it. I am currently working towards a free app which will have a donate button and have no advertisements no matter what.

Next update will allow you to configure the interval at which the automatic background synchronization is running. I hope to publish this tonight so you should see the free store price tomorrow evening.

My app will have all these features soon too and more. What is most important for me right now is to get the best user interface for what is already finished. I care a lot about efficiency and try not to affect battery life and performance of your laptop, console or mobile phone.

Just keep in mind that developing an app and testing it for various platforms takes time. Specially if you are using technologies, developer tools, etc you have never used before. I am developing this app to stay busy while I am waiting for my work permit.

In the meantime, keep the feedback coming and I will do my best to listen to everyone and implement your ideas.

They are working on October 28 today, my NOA was on November 3.

Although there is a news release on USCIS that EAD cases would now take longer than 90 days starting January 17.