Dogwood_Poet

Yes,

In fact my wife had to attend the seminar prior to getting her new passport in her married name. Once she got her passport, she returned to the office & got her stamp.

Checked this morning & she was placed in the que on Jan 26!

Kathlene still hasn't gotten her oath letter, should we keep on waiting or should we contact them?

I think we should just wait a little while longer, I just worry what would happen if for some reason we did not receive her letter & missed the ceremony . . .

Here is an updated story

Mass Burials

The death toll is rising from flooding overnight in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan. My wife has not heard from friends in the area and is afraid they are gone. They normally miss most of the strong storms in that area and people were just not prepared.

MSN story

January would be fine, Kathlene keeps asking if we got anything in the mail about her oath-taking. She had a short interview and passed all the tests with no mistakes. I told her not to worry.

I am out of vacation days until January, so that way we could take a couple of days off and spend some time in Louisville.

My wife had her interview in Louisville, KY on November 22 and got her approval letter. With Christmas & New Year's approaching, will there be a delay on scheduling her oath ceremony?

I understand they only hold the ceremonies in Louisville and I guess they wait until they have a certain number before they schedule a ceremony.

Any thoughts?

I've been looking into the possibility of using PayPal. I'm not a big PayPal user generally, though I have used it to make occasional Ebay purchases. In anycase, now that PayPal is international, I've been told that transfers can be made internationally via PayPal instantly, and without a fee. I'm looking into the possibility of doing this for my fiance (who is in the US now), so she can transfer $ back and forth to her family in Thailand. Anyone have any insight into this?

I have a PayPal business account & I am allowed two debit cards tied to my account. I ordered one in my mother-in-law's name & she can use it at an ATM for a fee, or just buy stuff with it using it as credit. That way there is no fees & the exchange rate is pretty good.

Check with the banks in Thailand, The Philippines charge a fee for all international ATM transactions, but no extra fees for swipe transactions.

Kathlene had her interview in Louisville yesterday. We got there 30 minutes early and turned in her letter. Her appointment was at 1:30 and she was called right at her appointment time.

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She was back there about 15 minutes and came out & first told me she failed, but then smiled and showed me her paper!

They just asked a few questions about her application & then went to the testing. She got 100% six questions correct in a row,read one sentence & wrote one sentence. Then they told her to expect her oath ceremony in about a month!

As soon as we got back to the car she called her mother in the Philippines & told her. Her whole family was still awake waiting to her about her interview.

Thanks again for all the help & info available on this forum! It is better than any lawyer you could hire!

I have a PayPal account & you can order two debit cards, so I ordered one for my mother-in-law & send it to her in the Philippines. She can use it in any ATM to withdraw money, but in the past few months they have added a 250 peso fee for any out-of-country withdrawls.

However, she can use it as credit to purchase groceries and other items and there is no fees at all.

If you are not in any hurry to transfer, you can do a bank transfer to your PayPal account without any fees, but it takes two or three days for the money to be available.

Honestly, if there is someone to receive your mail while you are gone, I would go ahead and file AOS before you leave. If your receive your biometrics appt before you return, you can request to change your appointment.

That way you would be covered if something happened and you wound up staying past the expiration date of your card, i.e. illness of you or family member, disaster, or other unforeseen circumstances.

If you are out of the US after your card expires, you could be in for some problems coming back.

There should be an exemption for the travel tax for US permanent residents where she would pay a reduced fee. Just be sure and mention it when she goes to the counter to pay her travel tax.

Most international flights still allow two checked bags, you will need to check with her airline to make sure.

The clock doesn't start until the issue date on the green card.

5 years for regular card holder, 3 years for spouse of US citizen.

There is a citizenship forum that has guides and more info here on the boards.

OK, we found a mistake on the N-400 after we sent it off.

On my wife's first trip home we put the wrong return date. She returned on the 22nd instead of the 18th. She was only gone a month and a half that trip and then she was gone about 3 months the first of the year to see her dad who passed away from lung cancer, so she is WAY under the limits for time spent outside the country.

I know, I know, we should have triple-checked the forms, but that's too late now.

Can she just show them the stamps in her passport at the interview and correct the forms while she is there? I noticed it has a place where she swears to the corrections made as well as the info on the form.

Now she is worried she will be denied, but I told her they allow for corrections as it says on the signature box on the form. (the box where she will sign at the interview)

Just wanted to get you guys opinion.

Thanks!

Forex, Orient Star, LBC. Any of these have a good track record. We have used Forex & Orient Star and are currently filling a box from LBC.

For Christmas, I would allow at least two months because of the heavy volume of boxes, plus we had a box held up in US customs two weeks before it even left the US!

We have been using Globe Super US Direct for the past several weeks and it seems to work fine. The only thing we've noticed is you can get alot of busy signals as I guess it searches for a free line, but the signal is clear once you get through.

I have stayed at Prince Plaza II in Makati, it is OK & close to malls and embassy.

Most recently I have used Park, Bed & Breakfast, about 15 - 20 minutes from the airport but they will pick you up at the airport included in your rate.

Also check asiahotels.com online.

Prices from mid $30s to $50+

You can check them both out on the web.

Lets all go to the lobby!

Coming soon! You remember them from your youth!

They stirred a hunger you never knew you had!

PIXAR Presents:

The Dancing Snacks from the drive-in theater!

My wife likes the Calrose Bouton rice better than Jasmine rice. She says it has too much of an odor to it.

You can pick it up in sizes from 5# to 50# sacks.

Internet is not an option as there are no landlines in her hometown and wireless internet reception is poor at best.

My Mother-in-law just got her Globe simpak, so we signed up Friday. So far it has been great! The only thing we noticed is sometimes it is hard to connect during peak calling times.

But Kathlene has run her cellphone down twice this weekend. Good thing we have unlimited nights & weekends and about 5,000 rollover minutes banked up! Plus nationwide calling on our landline.

The website says the promo ends the middle of Sept, I hope they will continue even at a higher price because we are saving a BUNDLE right now.

There should be a diagonal cut in the corner of the envelope. That is normal, if it is ripped open then you should contact the embassy to see about getting it re-packaged.

It looks like a new promo. My wife's family doesn't have access to the internet, no land phones and poor signal on the wireless card my wife tried when she last visited, so this may be the thing to keep in touch and keep the bills down too!