bdesj

17 hours ago, bdesj said:

 I have at least passed on some links for them to review and will suggest more strongly that they look into different legal counsel if it sounds like I`m not barking up the wrong tree. 

16 hours ago, Boiler said:

Other hardships can be taken into account but sounds like the normal procedure is being undertaken,...

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Woof!

Okay, I`ll chill out and let them run their course.  Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment, Boiler.

Hi, all.  Situation first, then my question.  A friend and her USC husband are getting ready to petition for GC based on marriage.  They already know they will need a waiver due to many years of unlawful presence.  Friend has full custody of her12 YO son from a former husband (current husband, ex, and son all born USCs).  Friend and her Ex never attempted to get residency, and as far as I know, unlawful presence is the only inadmissibility against her.  They are using a local legal office for help, but I`m skeptical about the way it sounds like they are going about it- not sure whether their legal help is sub par, or whether I am out of line (very rusty because my own waiver and immigration battles are long in the past).  Apparently, they are planning to file for a waiver due to extreme hardship to her petitioning spouse.  The way I look at it, they can make all the standard arguments there and cross their fingers, but the enormous hardship would be to her minor USC son who has grown up in a nearly 100% English environment in the US and whose father would never agree to his moving out of country.  Although Friend has full custody, the boy does maintain a relationship with his father.  But the visa petition is for marriage to her current husband, not somehow due to being mother of a USC (not sure how "parent" visas even work).  Big question:  Is it possible for the beneficiary of the waiver to be different from the petitioner for the visa?  In other words, for Friend and Hubby to request GC based on marriage, but the waiver for hardship imposed on Minor Son?  I have already had my share of immigration and am trying to stay out of this for the most part, but don`t want to see things go wrong for our friend, and REALLY don`t want to see her separated from her son.  I have at least passed on some links for them to review and will suggest more strongly that they look into different legal counsel if it sounds like I`m not barking up the wrong tree.  Thanks!

On a side note, I had not heard of the new 601a program.  Cool beans!  My wife and I were separated for over a year while we waited for a decision on our 601, and it sounds like we would have been eligible for in-country processing had that been available at the time.  I`m glad that a lot of couples can now avoid that part of the process.  Also very sorry to see i2US off the air : (

Thank you, Girimurthy- that clears it up for me. I didn`t realize there was a "-90 days" clause for the eligibility dates.

Hi, all. I was just peeking at a few timelines from earlier-than-us filers to see where we stand (just mailed package this week). What does "in line" mean for a naturalization filer? Since it looks like the whole process generally takes less than a year, what anniversarry date are you guys talking about?

Kitkat1- I haven`t been on any immigration forums for a long time and just now decided to stop by and see what was going on and see who was still around. While I was here, I saw that your 601 had been approved. Congratulations! For my part and the parts of the countless others who you`ve helped I want to thank you very much. May you and your fiance (husband?) have a wonderful life together now that you`ve finally negotiated so many hurdles. Felicidades y muchisimas gracias.

Brian.

A silly question.............

I know that metal isn't allowed into the consulate. But, are paper clips allowed? What about butterfly clips to hold larger bundles of documents? Maybe I should use larger paperclips just in case.

Butterfly clips are no problem.

I've been trying to stay off of Visajourney because the lack of NOA2 has been truly nervewracking, but I can finally say,

yay Juarez here we come!

got it via email today!

I can't wait, and Marco will be here by July's end

ajuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Well, allright! Congratulations TJH!

Vismaster, I know it isn`t exactly easy to go through the K visa deal either. It`s just that we caused ourselves a lot of extra problems by doing it the way we did. My wife would have been granted a K-1 with no problems- instead, we wasted a year and a half chasing a dead-end, then had to deal with illegal presence and were separated for over a year while we sweat and worried about whether or not our waiver was going to be approved. Any rate, it`s all taken care of now.

For those who are worried about the language issue for your AOS interviews, I can tell you how it went at our local office. My wife`s English was very limited at that time, but we decided to go without an interpreter anyway. In our case, the interviewing officer was very understanding and allowed me to help her from time to time (we were interviewed together). Even though I wasn`t supposed to help, he understood enough Spanish to know that I wasn`t coaching her answers, just explaining the questions. Actually, I did most of that in English by using vocabulary that I knew she was familiar with and speaking clearly. Hopefully you`ll get understanding officers too.

On another note: I had no idea so many people married internationally! Seeing all of the petitions that are going through every month just on vj and knowing that we are probably just a fraction of how many actually going through amazes me! I had never heard of a fiance visa before until a few months ago and that was just from doing immigration searches on the internet. I just kinda accidently stumbled across it.

No kidding! I was in the same boat, except I found out too late. Who woulda thought- Fiance visas??? I used to work with a German who had come here that way. He told me about it a short time before our wedding, but the ball was already rolling and I didn`t want to stop it. It would have saved us an awful lot of trouble if I had heard of it earlier. I`m glad you heard about it in time to do things the "easy way".

I have officially finished reading every page of the CDJ forum! It took me the greater part of the day. I feel like I know each and every one you personally and for a very long time.

Good grief! In one day!?! Your eyes probably won`t get back into focus for a week!

I-601 waiver is granted to waive a ban on entry due to hardship that it would impose on a USC. A lot of people get three or ten year bans for illegal presence or "crimes involving moral turpitude" (what ever that means) and his/her spouse files a waiver along with a letter and supporting evidence explaining that it would cause extreme hardship to the USC to A) leave the country for X years, or B) live without his/her spouse for the length of the ban. If the waiver is approved, the one with the ban gets to come to the US.

What do the first and second NOAs mean? When they send the second, does it mean your visa approved? Approved pending interview results? Judging from your timelines, it looks like it comes just about at the end of the road. Congratulations, Mfarmer.

EDIT: I don`t know why therer`s a happy face in the part about living without your spouse- I didn`t put it there, I swear! Anyway, now I`m in edit and I don`t see it, so I guess it just has to stay. Sorry, Lupita.

Well, here`s how it actually worked: I went abhead and used her old A-Number on the new DS-203 and it didn`t cause any problems but our GC arrived in the mail last week with a NEW number. I guess the old one was eaten by a washing machine somewhere.

ah and be careful who you call a pocha, as some of us could forseeably get offended. (I won't this time, as I don't think there was any harm intended, but my mom would certainly have a FIT!)

No, I didn`t intend to be offensive and thank you for the warning. I didn`t know it had a bad side or I wouldn`t have put it that way. I`m sorry, but good thing I know about it now.

So it remains imposible to "look forward to" something in Spanish?

Oh yeah, bowl too! Fortunately, there hasn`t been any confusion over that one for me because most of the Spanish-speaking households I`ve spent any time in don`t really have any "platos" that I wouldn`t call a bowl, so one plato is as good as the next!

TJH, are you a "pocha"?

I like chimuelo and chimuelito too! I don`t miss them in Eng though. I don`t know how correct it is, but I usually use "A ver si + subjunctive" for "I wonder....".

What`s a grey mullet?

hi everyone,

I am so sorry for not checking in with you guys for a while, but I've been very very busy. Tomorrow I head out to Guadalajara to bring my Juan back with me. I'm spending my spring break down in Mexico and then bringing back my Juan with me. Finally, it's hard to believe that after almost 6 years of being in a long-distance relationship, we get to be together. It just hasn't settled in that he's almost here with me, it is just so hard to believe!! Okay I'm off to finish my packing.

Wow, I thought he was already here! Have a wonderful trip and I wish you plenty of luck. Hope his adjustment to the US works out well, too.

E&K, is "tuerto" only for people who originally had two good eyes?

Anyone know a good way to express "looking forward to" in Spanish? That`s one that I wish for sometimes. I also wish that "esperar" weren`t so broad.

I could have it wrong, but I use "tramites" for any steps that need to be taken- much broader than "paperwork". "For this/that reason" just doesn`t seem to work as smoothly in a sentence and really doesn`t work at all when it`s a sentence by itself.

Congrats Allie, another bunch of tramites completed! I'm trying to get started on AOS before my wedding and it's a SLOW start...

Is it just me, or does it seem to anyone else that English could really use a good translation for "tramites"? That`s the one Spanish word I most wish for when speaking English! As is, it`s kind of invaded my family`s English because I found it easier to explain "tramites" to my family than to correct my wife when she says "tramit" in English. Now my mother says it too, half joking, but it`s taking a pretty good hold. My next wish is for a smooth equivalent to "Por eso".

Allright, Angie! Congratulations! It sounds like you have a very multilingual household- I can see how it would get confusing, but I bet it`s also a lot of fun to try holding up conversations between three languages that are so diferent from each other.

My wife`s GC arrived today. The envelope looked like junk mail- I`m glad I didn`t throw it in the garbage! She passed the written test (in English) for her drivers license last week and refused to pay the extra $21 for a learners permit. Yesterday she flunked the driving portion and finaly conceded to shell out for the permit. She`ll pass it next time (Wed, I think).

Most of my wife`s family lives within fifteen minutes of us, so that was a big help. She also met a few people through ESL classes and work and now probably knows more people in my home town than I do! Since most of my freinds are Mexican (half are now my inlaws), there wasn`t any problem with her integrating. On the other hand, I find that my family has been trying- with pretty good success- to integrate into the Mexican culture here since they get invited frequently to birthday parties, quincaneras, posadas, etc. In September, I even took my folks to Guadalajara with me to visit my wife and my inlaws. It was an interresting trip to say the least.

Here`s a related question that I asked in another thread and so far nobody has answered: Has anyone brought a spouse from another country and had so many problems with US life and culture that they ended up just going home?

It shouldn`t be too long for the EAD, Allie. We filed for AOS and EAD in 2003 and I think it came in about three months- the AOS interview came year later. Come on, PAYDAY!

What is "antidopin"? Urinalysis?

The part about entering as a minor and TPC sounds right to me. While you`re under 18 you don`t accumulate illegal presence and my understanding is that TPC prevents it too, so there shouldn`t be a ban as long as you`ve been under TPC continuously since before you turned 18. But didn`t some kind of moratorium on visas from Honduras come up about six months ago due to too many false documents or something? You`re probably more informed about that than I am, so if I`m out in space, please don`t freak out about that part. Hopefully someone who knows more about TPC, AP, and whatever happened with Honduran visas will post.

Huh. Looks like I ought to be MORE careful when I`m down there. Nice to see you around, Scroll.

E&K- Good point about the situation making a big difference for how people view a place.

Kristen- no idea, sorry.

Louisa- I think that`s what Kitkat was talking about. If you want to prove it`ll be hard, you`ve got to paint it ugly even if you don`t believe it. Have you spent quite a bit of time in DF? How do you see it in comparison to Juarez?

Oh yeah, TJ Hilton- You really lock your car to pump gas in LA? I`m much more careful there than at home, but not to that extent. Of course, it could be that I`m just "askin' for it".

I have to say that I share your attitudes towards Mexico more than I disagree, but to give a little defense to the "other side":

Mexico isn`t for everyone. Nor is the US. Personally, I love travelling in Mexico and I was mentally and psychologically prepared to move there had our waiver been denied, but I still have issues (aside from financial) that I don`t know how well I would deal with if I were faced with actually living there. I find the terrible smell of poluted rivers and the sight of garbage strewn all over pretty depressing. I like being able to sit down with my checkbook and a roll of stamps and take care of five bills in as many minutes. I don`t take well to jail-style housing (padlocks, chains, bars, lack of windows, LACK OF SPACE) and no where to go to escape. Yes, they have wonderful parks but I`m accustomed to being able to drive a few hours and see no one else for as long as I want- days, sometimes. When I`m driving in an unfamiliar area, I like to see street signs and know where to expect the traffic controls and signs to tell me which direction I`m expected to go on any given road. I like getting out of my car, especially in the summer, without having to roll up all the windows, lock the door and hasle with a steering wheel club. At home and many places I go to, I don`t even take the keys out of the ignition and I like it that way. I know there are places in the US that have many of these problems, but I don`t want to live in those places either. There are also problems that don`t particularly bother me, but I know that other folks have a very hard time with ie, public bathrooms, the more exciting bus rides, Spanish language ( I speak Spanish reasonably well and I think most or all of you do too, but imagine if you didn`t).

And for all that, my father in law has had a GC for years and recently got US citizenship, but refuses to stay in this country any longer than necessary to see his kids and make an appearance at the social security office. He hates it because the busses suck- city busses (where the drivers only speak English) and Greyhound (which ALWAYS stops at McDonalds and NEVER stops at anywhere he can get a torta and a beer or a bag of dried shrimp). He doesn`t like that you have to go three blocks to get to a convenience store or two miles to get to any kind of more substantial shopping. When he comes to our house, it drives him up the wall to know that the door is unlocked all night long. Well, it`s a flimsy house anyway- pura tablaroca y nada de cemento. He doesn`t drive here and the local busses usually take a good hour to get you anywhere because there is invariably a transfer involved and they only run once an hour on the outer routes, half hour on the more central routes. It`s God-awful cold here. Sometimes even freezes. At home, he likes to sit in front of his house drinking beer with his buddies and BSing with everyone who passes by. At my house, he`d be lucky to see five cars and one pedestrian go by in an hour. Pretty boring place, Gringolandia!