elmcitymaven

You're welcome mate. 
 
And fear he should not, as e-gates can be used by citizens of the following countries: UK, European Economic Area, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and USA.
So it's just scan and go! 

Just visiting his mum for about a month, and to remind himself why he's not moving back, lol. He's a naturally risk-averse guy, he'll probably go in the line for US citizens but I'll pass this on too. Much obliged, dude.

Some more information on the matter from the Home Office: 
"When dual nationals who are eligible to use e-gates travel to the UK, they will enter via the e-gates without being examined by an immigration officer."
 
So @elmcitymaven, your ex can use the e-gates at Heathrow using the US passport. He's just visiting, right? 

I flew into Heathrow in February, and the lines we encountered were 1) UK, EU (including Schengen members CH, N, IS, etc.), U.S., and 2) all other passports. So, it seems like it doesn’t really matter as U.S. and UK passports are in the same line. Because we arrived at a time with almost only citizens of countries in 1), “all other passports” would have been quicker, and we ended up being directed there. 
However, I can’t speak to the legality of entering the UK on a passport other than UK if a citizen, so I’ll leave this to other UK citizens. 

Not that I'm stubborn or against mods decisions but in this case it is important to state that as per the HM passport office, british citizens that are dual nationals may choose to present a valid national passport in either of their nationalities at the UK border.

Do not challenge, contest, or dispute the intent or intelligence of the fearsome Maven, no man!

You can't just fly by and drop a funny without breaking it down for us 

Happy Indictment Day to those who celebrate!
https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-new-york-indictment-election-027d0e5ac1881a4c55c6379deae75faa

Slightly belated update --
 
Last Friday, the certificate showed up in the mail. Of course the case still shows up as "actively reviewing" on my USCIS portal. What did we learn that I can add to the paltry amount of VJ info on the N-565 on VJ?
 
First, most obviously and as we all know: do not rescheduled unless you absolutely have to. This rescheduling falls under "absolutely have to" but do not recommend. I'm certain that the request for a reschedule caused the application to fall through the cracks.
 
Second, once I appeared as an attorney in this case on behalf of the good doctor, things moved, at last. He'd submitted requests to look into the matter but zero happened. I made a phone call as his attorney, and 8 days later he got a biometrics appointment for only about 2 weeks later. I was able to go with him into the ASC and if it took 10 minutes I'd be lying. This is, I note, the same office that USCIS told me over the phone was jammed up, leading to a 8-month delay in getting an appointment. There was one other applicant in there before him, and then two entered while he was being processed. Advice: this falls under "if you know someone who is an attorney who is willing to help you for nothing or maybe just a dinner, ask them to help." Theoretically you don't need an attorney and YMMV but nothing happened until I stepped in in a professional capacity.
 
Third: Even though I am supposed to receive copies of all notices from USCIS, I still have not received a notice that the certificate was mailed. So.... when you want to poo all over attorneys for not updating you, consider that they may not be getting notices either. Again: YMMV. I'm not an immigration attorney and they may have some special sauce.
 
So the process took a year in total, with about 4 months of actual, you know, processing time. Passport application is going to be submitted at the end of the month. And so, at last -- I hope! -- shall endeth my visa journey.

Slightly belated update --
 
Last Friday, the certificate showed up in the mail. Of course the case still shows up as "actively reviewing" on my USCIS portal. What did we learn that I can add to the paltry amount of VJ info on the N-565 on VJ?
 
First, most obviously and as we all know: do not rescheduled unless you absolutely have to. This rescheduling falls under "absolutely have to" but do not recommend. I'm certain that the request for a reschedule caused the application to fall through the cracks.
 
Second, once I appeared as an attorney in this case on behalf of the good doctor, things moved, at last. He'd submitted requests to look into the matter but zero happened. I made a phone call as his attorney, and 8 days later he got a biometrics appointment for only about 2 weeks later. I was able to go with him into the ASC and if it took 10 minutes I'd be lying. This is, I note, the same office that USCIS told me over the phone was jammed up, leading to a 8-month delay in getting an appointment. There was one other applicant in there before him, and then two entered while he was being processed. Advice: this falls under "if you know someone who is an attorney who is willing to help you for nothing or maybe just a dinner, ask them to help." Theoretically you don't need an attorney and YMMV but nothing happened until I stepped in in a professional capacity.
 
Third: Even though I am supposed to receive copies of all notices from USCIS, I still have not received a notice that the certificate was mailed. So.... when you want to poo all over attorneys for not updating you, consider that they may not be getting notices either. Again: YMMV. I'm not an immigration attorney and they may have some special sauce.
 
So the process took a year in total, with about 4 months of actual, you know, processing time. Passport application is going to be submitted at the end of the month. And so, at last -- I hope! -- shall endeth my visa journey.

Usual prefatory remarks here -- I'm a lawyer, but not a Texas lawyer, and definitely not anyone's on here. All that being said: the judge is correct. He does not have personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse. I will not bore anyone with the topic of personal jurisdiction, but in general state courts are unable to "hale" into court anyone who is outside of their state, unless there is a long-arm statute on the books that permits them to do so, and thus establish PJ over the out of state person. Out of state PJ is not unlimited though, and in order to exercise it certain criteria must be met. This is the case here. If you look at the "Original Petition of Divorce" in Texas (accessible here: https://texaslawhelp.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/fm-divb-100_div_w_kids_petition_english_petitioner.pdf), it gives a thorough rundown of when a Texas judge may exert PJ over an out of state defendant in divorce proceedings:

Do any of these apply? Apparently not, if I am reading the OP's posts correctly. A quick consult with a TX family attorney is the best bet here if the spouse is not willing to submit to TX jurisdiction and file a waiver of service or answer. Looks like service by publication can get a little hairy in TX if there is any property involved and would not be a DIY proposition. 
 
Good luck. Contrary to popular opinion, attorneys are actually useful members of society every so often.

Usual prefatory remarks here -- I'm a lawyer, but not a Texas lawyer, and definitely not anyone's on here. All that being said: the judge is correct. He does not have personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse. I will not bore anyone with the topic of personal jurisdiction, but in general state courts are unable to "hale" into court anyone who is outside of their state, unless there is a long-arm statute on the books that permits them to do so, and thus establish PJ over the out of state person. Out of state PJ is not unlimited though, and in order to exercise it certain criteria must be met. This is the case here. If you look at the "Original Petition of Divorce" in Texas (accessible here: https://texaslawhelp.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/fm-divb-100_div_w_kids_petition_english_petitioner.pdf), it gives a thorough rundown of when a Texas judge may exert PJ over an out of state defendant in divorce proceedings:

Do any of these apply? Apparently not, if I am reading the OP's posts correctly. A quick consult with a TX family attorney is the best bet here if the spouse is not willing to submit to TX jurisdiction and file a waiver of service or answer. Looks like service by publication can get a little hairy in TX if there is any property involved and would not be a DIY proposition. 
 
Good luck. Contrary to popular opinion, attorneys are actually useful members of society every so often.

Usual prefatory remarks here -- I'm a lawyer, but not a Texas lawyer, and definitely not anyone's on here. All that being said: the judge is correct. He does not have personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse. I will not bore anyone with the topic of personal jurisdiction, but in general state courts are unable to "hale" into court anyone who is outside of their state, unless there is a long-arm statute on the books that permits them to do so, and thus establish PJ over the out of state person. Out of state PJ is not unlimited though, and in order to exercise it certain criteria must be met. This is the case here. If you look at the "Original Petition of Divorce" in Texas (accessible here: https://texaslawhelp.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/fm-divb-100_div_w_kids_petition_english_petitioner.pdf), it gives a thorough rundown of when a Texas judge may exert PJ over an out of state defendant in divorce proceedings:

Do any of these apply? Apparently not, if I am reading the OP's posts correctly. A quick consult with a TX family attorney is the best bet here if the spouse is not willing to submit to TX jurisdiction and file a waiver of service or answer. Looks like service by publication can get a little hairy in TX if there is any property involved and would not be a DIY proposition. 
 
Good luck. Contrary to popular opinion, attorneys are actually useful members of society every so often.

Usual prefatory remarks here -- I'm a lawyer, but not a Texas lawyer, and definitely not anyone's on here. All that being said: the judge is correct. He does not have personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse. I will not bore anyone with the topic of personal jurisdiction, but in general state courts are unable to "hale" into court anyone who is outside of their state, unless there is a long-arm statute on the books that permits them to do so, and thus establish PJ over the out of state person. Out of state PJ is not unlimited though, and in order to exercise it certain criteria must be met. This is the case here. If you look at the "Original Petition of Divorce" in Texas (accessible here: https://texaslawhelp.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/fm-divb-100_div_w_kids_petition_english_petitioner.pdf), it gives a thorough rundown of when a Texas judge may exert PJ over an out of state defendant in divorce proceedings:

Do any of these apply? Apparently not, if I am reading the OP's posts correctly. A quick consult with a TX family attorney is the best bet here if the spouse is not willing to submit to TX jurisdiction and file a waiver of service or answer. Looks like service by publication can get a little hairy in TX if there is any property involved and would not be a DIY proposition. 
 
Good luck. Contrary to popular opinion, attorneys are actually useful members of society every so often.

Usual prefatory remarks here -- I'm a lawyer, but not a Texas lawyer, and definitely not anyone's on here. All that being said: the judge is correct. He does not have personal jurisdiction over the absent spouse. I will not bore anyone with the topic of personal jurisdiction, but in general state courts are unable to "hale" into court anyone who is outside of their state, unless there is a long-arm statute on the books that permits them to do so, and thus establish PJ over the out of state person. Out of state PJ is not unlimited though, and in order to exercise it certain criteria must be met. This is the case here. If you look at the "Original Petition of Divorce" in Texas (accessible here: https://texaslawhelp.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/fm-divb-100_div_w_kids_petition_english_petitioner.pdf), it gives a thorough rundown of when a Texas judge may exert PJ over an out of state defendant in divorce proceedings:

Do any of these apply? Apparently not, if I am reading the OP's posts correctly. A quick consult with a TX family attorney is the best bet here if the spouse is not willing to submit to TX jurisdiction and file a waiver of service or answer. Looks like service by publication can get a little hairy in TX if there is any property involved and would not be a DIY proposition. 
 
Good luck. Contrary to popular opinion, attorneys are actually useful members of society every so often.

I don’t know TX or GA divorce law. I do know that in CO, unless the other spouse is served in person by a process server, the divorces generally isn’t going to move forward. Now if a spouse refuses to come to the door of the home, I am sure Colorado has a process for that.  
 
It was impossible for my ex wife to stay at home 24/7 and thus my lawyer assured me she would be served. My ex wife instead went to her lawyer’s office to acknowledge service.  
 
So unless your friend’s spouse has become a hermit, your friend needs to pay more money for a more thorough  process server.  
 
If that is still fruitless then according to what I’ve found for Georgia state law, one would file an affidavit of diligent search and then proceed with a service by publication. 
 
In Texas only select people can serve the notice: constable, or person authorized  by court or Texas law. Is the process server in Georgia authorized by Texas law? IANAL so I’ve no idea. Texas also lets one deliver with certified mail. If either of those work, Email or social media are acceptable. 
 
Certified mail, email, and social media are apparently not accepted in Texas.
 
 I totally get why a judge in Texas ain’t touching your friend’s DIY divorce with an unwilling spouse.
 
My guess is the judge wants someone competent in divorce law, especially cross state divorces, to represent your friend.  Your friend’s judge might be concerned about  censure from a judicial panel for slipshod work.   
 
 

Yes but the spouse is apparently a GA resident. 
 
Consider the possibility that the TX judge is claiming lack of jurisdiction because the spouse hasn’t been serviced with divorce papers and/or not cooperating.  

If a judge is denying the case, then your friend needs to hire a divorce lawyer.  Even ifnitbia just for a one hour consultation. 
 
Still I don’t see how divorcing a spouse who lives out of  state and cannot be served is DIY. 

Hey everyone I just wanted to give you guy an update because some people in the sub have reached out to me wondering what happened to me since I was such a prolific poster. Well I've decided to turn my frustration and my talk into action, and I have decided to run for statewide office. So I am running here in North Carolina for a seat in the state general assembly. I have I have made it past the primary and I'm now on to the general election occurring in november.
 
The reason why I decided to run is that I got so tired of party line politicians doing what was best for their party well not doing anything for the regular people of this state and this country. At this point in time I don't know if I will win or not but I at least wanted to try. If you want to know more such as the race, how to help, or just general questions then reach out to me by direct message and I'll be happy to talk with you about it. 
 
Have a good day

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110210265 -- Kinds of Documents that Establish Age for an SSN Card
https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0110210295 -- Date of Birth Change on the Numident
https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0200302010 -- Evidence of Established Age in SSA Records
 

Was the Iranian birth certificate presented for initial immigration then naturalization ? 
 
instructions on the SSA website for applying for /changing info states that generally Birth certificate s required for proof of age but under certain circumstances ( undefined) other documentation such as passport will be accepted. 
 
it will be an uphill battle for sure 
 
https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ss-5.pdf

Update: still nothing. May I say that the staff of Sen. Padilla's office is useless -- no response to a request for assistance, not even a message to acknowledge receipt. But they are spamming the email used to send it and asking for money!  Nice. I'm putting a request into his congressman's office on Monday.
 
I filed the G-28 for him last week and am now appearing as his attorney so I can handle stuff with USCIS directly. First off -- what magic was this that someone answered the phone in 18 minutes? That was about the only good thing that happened.
 
Anyway, the operator confirmed that the application is still pending. I asked why it was taking 7 months to reschedule biometrics (!) and was told that it's totally dependent on the capacity of the ASC. Early on in this whole mishigas we asked them to reassign him from the downtown LA ASC to the one in Chatsworth because it's much closer to where he lives. They said fine at the time. Great, great. But now we're left wondering: was asking for the reassignment a terrible mistake? Chatsworth is much smaller than the one downtown. I asked about walk-ins and the operator told me nope, don't even try it. We'd get turned away.
 
So my question is: does anyone think there is any merit in me calling back and asking for biometrics to be reassigned back to downtown LA? After 7 months of total inaction, I am leaning towards doing anything to make things move. Any thoughts on this are much appreciated. I am so out of the immigration game that I don't know if I'm getting snowed or not on any of this.

All part of the service, friend. Like any good dealer, the first one's on the house.

All part of the service, friend. Like any good dealer, the first one's on the house.

I have no doubt that we don't fully grasp how and why depression occurs, and how and why certain medications seem to alleviate symptoms. However, the "stressful life events can lead to depression" statement doesn't sit right with me. There's a difference between chronic depression and episodes of acute depression. Sure, the death of a loved one, divorce, losing your job, etc. could likely lead to a period of acute depression. But those with chronic depression can and do experience debilitating depression even when life is normal or otherwise going well. 
 
This study is a study of other studies (say that 3 times fast), so we'd have to look at the veracity of every single study they included to reach their conclusion to determine if these findings are of note. I don't have the attention span or know-how to do that, but I would like to see a new, independent study involving analyzing and comparing serotonin levels in those with depression, those without, those on SSRIs/other medications, and those on placebos. You'd also have to have a large number of participants to make any meaningful conclusion, I would think. 
 
I believe there is significant evidence that medication + therapy is one of the most effective ways to treat a variety of mental health issues, including depression. 
 
I do think many medications are overprescribed though.