Arazia

Congratulations!

Don't forget to update your timeline, but certainly celebrate!

I think people fail to realize that the WORLD population has almost doubled since 1965...

So... seeing the US go from 200 million to 300 million is not that drastic of a change when you look at global population.

Just my 2 cents.

Most plane tickets these days are what they call e-tickets. E-tickets require the individual named as the ticket recipient to pick them up at a kiosk at the airport. Now, I'm not sure about Pakistan, but I purchased tickets for my fiancee for his next trip here. There was a place where you named the 'passenger' or the person that the ticket was for. You put in their name and information. What you would have to send him in that case is a printout of the e-ticket confirmation that he would need to pick up the ticket at the airport.

Congrats on another fast Vermont approval.

Well congrats on your approval!

Make sure you update your timeline, though.

As long as you have your approval, it doesn't matter much if the website shows it or not. Seems the website isn't showing a whole lot lately.

Yeah, he didn't leave from the International Terminal from Chicago. So he didn't get to log out from there. So that's entirely possible. He left from Washington (Chicago -> Washington -> Brussels). This next time he'll be using the log-in/out so I'll remind him since they exist in International terminal at Chicago.

This was slightly confusing for us as well when my fiancee' last visited. He got 'signed in' using the US Visit proceedures, but the airport he left from (Washington, Dulles) seemed to have no idea what US Visit was or biometric sign-in/out. He did get the waver taken out of his passport, but it certainly is confusing.

They say somewhere in their literature or presentation that it isn't in place in all airports. Some may even have sign-in but not sign-out proceedures. At least at Chicago, they seemed to have sign-in, but no kiosks to sign out. This is as of August of this year.

Congrats. Even if the website isn't updated, it's good to have that letter in your hand, huh?

I'm guessing someone just forgot to scan something along the way. Who knows.

Hope things go faster for you now that you're out of CSChell.

In my own home, I almost always take my shoes off when I come in unless I'm about to go out again somewhere else or plan on doing work in the basement or the garage. I don't expect other people to take their shoes off, but they can if they like and there's a tiled area in the front of the house to do so.

When in other people's homes, I usually follow whatever the person who invited me does. If they take their shoes off, so do I. If they don't, then I don't automatically. There are some people who don't want guests to take their shoes off, and others who -demand- it. So it's easier on a case by case basis.

I did mine, my fiancee' did his. Although I looked things over and organized everything.

It's somewhat nice to see that my timeline finally moved into the range I expected it to be. I figured around mid-december for the NOA2. I try not to get too excited in either case.

Make sure you contact the airline first more than anything else. Some airlines have special requirements for transporting animals. I know of a couple of people who had animals that had to be transported with them, and the animal had to have a vet screening and be certified as 'healthy to fly'. Some vets are also really skittish about giving this kind of certification, because if something happens they don't want the blame in the matter.

Arazia.....I want to wish you and Harry good luck with the whole situation. I can imagne it's not easy. After reading that his dad passed a rule that he can't talk to you after a certain time one question popped into my mind though, how old is Harry?

Harry is 19. He'll be 20 in February. When I first met him, he was living in Amsterdam going to school there, but he had to transfer schools and is now attending a school in Maastricht and is living at his parent's home. He's probably a bit younger than most people involved in this sort of thing, I would guess.

It was a situation of 'you do what we say or get the hell out'. (You live under our roof you follow our rules or leave.)

Really, the slow down has just been in the last week. If you go back and look at the timeline list and NOA2s, you'll notice that we got quite a few in October, just not many this past week.

Today is the 13th.

One week ago:

September 29th - October 6th:

CSC Approvals: 32

This week:

October 7th - October 13th:

CSC Approvals: 1

Total October Approvals: 28

These numbers may be off by 1 or 2 as I counted manually and it's a Friday and my brain isn't quite working... but still.

My fiancee knows about VisaJourney. I tell him regularly about the posts I put up and the ones that I see on the boards, but he doesn't read them and doesn't have an account. Even if he did, I probably wouldn't restrict what I post. No real reason to.

Wow Azaria-I can see how you would be feeling like you are walking through a minefield right now. What a terrible situation for Harry (and you).

I am so sorry he and you are going through this. I will pray for a speedy approval for you and Harry. What will Harry do to tell his folks about the petition? They MUST already know that you two are serious and this is bound to happen sooner or later...no?

I am sorry the situation is what it is, but soon you and he will have that approval and then you can make concrete plans for your lives together.

Best wishes.

Michele

Michele,

Thanks for your well-wishes. I do appreciate it.

His parents, I think, are somewhat in a state of denial. I think on some level they realize that we're very serious about one another, we talk to each other every night, we've seen each other multiple times across an ocean. On the other hand, I think they are trying to convince themselves that this is something that is a passing phase. I think they get their hopes up that every time we visit, that he'll come back home and settle down with a nice Dutch girl.

In any case, it could still be a while before USCIS approves us on this side of the pond. Our plans were, and seem to remain as such, to tell them after the Christmas holiday. This is the time when we should (unless USCIS really screws up) have approval and Harry will have to tell them that he's not attending school next semester. Oh well. We'll see.

*hugs*

- Barbara

Congrats.

At least Vermont seems to be doing something today.

My fiancee' and I are both role-players, as opposed to chatters. It adds a level of complexity as you are playing as a character, but even so, we've generally agreed between ourselves that we Rp our characters in relationships with each other, and not with other people. Saves for problems down the line.

As for anything else, I do agree with the idea of 'When they start to hide it'. My ex was constantly, from the first time I met him, hiding chat logs. It's a big sign that something isn't right.

Azaria-how are you? Do you have the NOA2 yet? They seem to be processing alittle faster now.

No NOA2 yet. I'd be bouncing all over the forums if I had one. It's been 37 days since the original filing, and one month since our NOA1. I'm really not expecting any news until next month this time at the earliest.

Things have been a little hectic on the RL side of things. Harry's father took a job contract that lasts five years and will require him to live in another country after two. The entire family isn't taking it well. His mom is really stressed out, and that rubbed off onto his father who was/is already near a breakdown.

He sat down with both the 'kids', Harry and his sister, and told them that this is all their fault, and if they don't shape up, he's going to get a divorce. Seriously, that's probably the most stupid thing a parent can do. I hate hearing stories where parents do this to their adult kids, hell even their non-adult kids, that's even worse. Additionally, he said if they don't follow his rules, they can get the hell out. He passed a rule that Harry can't talk to me past 1am. (6pm my time. Bare in mind I don't get home until 5:30 so that cuts all communication to about 30 minutes a day.) We've been cheating that rule thus far.

His father is getting therapy right now, and his mother has said she doesn't agree with what her husband told the kids and the new rules he put on them. Harry still hasn't told them that we're engaged or anything about our plans. But really... after reading what I just wrote... would you tell them? I know it has to happen eventually, I just worry he'll get yelled at, kicked out of his home, or worse. So in some ways I'm feeling as if walking on egg-shells.

Merf.

I noticed that, myself. I doubt there were a bunch of people updating timelines last night, so maybe they cleared off some inactive people or something. In either case, it is nice to see. I'm actually in December now.

Aye, it just seems strange that we haven't had a single approval since October 5th other than one yesterday from Vermont. That's six days without a CSC approval?

Except for the poster who was joking around, it doesn't seem like it.

Congratulations!

I'm hoping to hear about your experiences, everyone's experiences soon.