C and J

Thanks for all the responses, they're very helpful

My husband also visited the UK back in May.

When he was asked the reason for his visit he said that he was here to "visit his wife". I am unsure what other questions he was asked but I do know he said we were working on an immration VISA for me, which may have helped reduce the questioning.

I would suggest bringing a few ties to home but, one of the most helpful items, would be proof (NOA1) that you are applying for the UK spouse to live in the US That shows there is little to no reason for you to want to stay in the UK permanently.

A small piece of information which might explain the tiny amount of approvals we are seeing (taken from another thread):-

The two biggest was obviously the fee increase in late July caused such a massive amount of filings, they stopped processing petitions so they could complete filing and data entry on the new ones.

But the second is news to me. Evidently, USCIS stopped processing petitions for a few weeks back in May/June time when the immigration debate was hot and there was pending legislation to overahaul USCIS and I guess they wanted to see where that was going to go before they went any further. Apparently, they didn't want to waste any unneccesary time or resources working on petitions if they were going to have to go back and start over because Congress changed the rules midstream.

The two biggest was obviously the fee increase in late July caused such a massive amount of filings, they stopped processing petitions so they could complete filing and data entry on the new ones.

But the second is news to me. Evidently, USCIS stopped processing petitions for a few weeks back in May/June time when the immigration debate was hot and there was pending legislation to overahaul USCIS and I guess they wanted to see where that was going to go before they went any further. Apparently, they didn't want to waste any unneccesary time or resources working on petitions if they were going to have to go back and start over because Congress changed the rules midstream.

Thanks for the information It explains why we are seeing so few approvals coming through from April (and still haven't completed all the March ones). I do find it very unfair that they have stopped processing older petitions so that they can add new ones into the system though I'm beginning to wonder if my February estimate will even hold up at this rate

Airlines have people over a barrel, it really sucks what they are able to do.

On my last trip to the US we decided that my hubby would collect me from Chicago and we would drive 3 hours to get to his house, rather than waiting 6 hours for a 45 minute connecting flight. Because he picked me up, United invalidated not only the connecting flight but also my return flights as well. So I had to book another set of tickets just so that I could get home. Apparently, the 4000 miles I flew to get there are also not valid for my mileage plus account

The only upside is that I booked the return for this ticket to be February, which is when I think my visa will be complete. So it will either be the ticket I use to enter the US on... or, if the visa is not complete, it will be a 2 week holiday in the US and I'll book another "US->UK" flight to get home again.

Hi,

have you checked if your check was cashed with them? Usually there is a long sequence of numbers (your case number with 3 letters and about 9 numbers)...

In addition to the cashed cheque, USCIS are behind with most things at the moment. See the post below from another thread:-

Take a look for those of us that are STILL waiting for our NOA1's!

As of September 14, 2007, USCIS has completed data entry and issued receipt notices for applications and petitions received on or before the dates indicated:

California Service Center

Form Number Date Received

I-130 8/08/2007

N-400 7/26/2007

All Other Forms 9/06/2007

That means, since the last update, within ONE WEEK they've only gotten one day further ahead! We mailed our I-130 on Aug 7th, will be at least 2-3 more weeks at this rate! Something that normally takes approximately 10 days! What a mess!

jen

Hmm... it's hard to say since there aren't hard and fast rules about it. In your case, as the depression was a recent occurence, I would think it would be safer to get the letter closer to the time of the actual medical. Then you could show a longer period of being "all better" and also it would be more up to date. If it had happened a long time ago, I would think four months wasn't too early to get the letter. I'm just reasoning that out rather than actually knowing though. Does that make sense?

Thanks MargotDarko That's very helpful

About the depression and anorexia - is it possible to get an appt with the same GP who saw you at the time? It would be best if you had a letter stating what happened in the past but that you're okay now. Better to have it an advance than have stress at the medical and scamble for it later.

I am in a similar position, I had a spate of depression from the middle to the end of last year, bought on by numberous things but mainly (I believe) by this process and having to leave my husband after each visit. I will be obtaining a letter from my doctor regarding the depression but was wondering if it is jumping the gun to get the letter now? I probably won't have the medical for another 4 months (my K3 has not even left USCIS yet) so is there such a thing as getting something like this "too early"?

I'm trying to find a few prices for transformers to use my UK appliances in the US. The only one I have managed to find so far is on the Maplin site for £29, all the others I've found seem to convert the other way (US appliances for UK use).

Are transformers something that are readily-available cheaply in the States and, therefore, something that I should just wait to get until I am there or should I continue looking now? I'm hoping they are readily available, because Ebay is full of cheap transformers to convert American appliances for UK use. £4 vs £29 is a lot of difference just to convert the "other way".

Does anyone have a particularly good brand or model number that they can recommend? I obviously want something that will last (who doesn't!) and cheaper would be good too

why are some people getting approved so much faster than others? I have seen march people and april people (like myself) not yet approved... yet I see people in July and August (1 person) already getting approved for the I-130... crying.gif crying.gif crying.gif now that is NOT FAIR... so just because we sent our application in when they @#(*(% up their system, it means we have to wait much longer? (during the months of march - may, they didn't do #######)...

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=88074

Gogo, don't let this process get to you. It's heartbreaking enough without getting more wound up with the strange things that seem to happen at USCIS all the time.

Majority of the recent approvals are not from CSC. It is CSC that is the issue, not the time that we chose to file our petitions. If we had the luck to get our petitions sent to Vermont or Texas, we would probably have our own approvals by now. It was the luck of the draw and, again, is down to USCISs stupid decision to overflow one of the service centres around that time.

The approval from August was pure luck, someone was probably already working on their April I130 and just as they were about to approve the I130, the I129F got paired with it and approved also. The person had already been waiting 5 months for their I130... Personally, I see this as a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I can only hope someone will look to approve my I130 and approve the I129F at the same time (it would save me 6 weeks - mid April I130 vs End May I129F).

Keep smiling

Looking at One Heart's timeline and their comment, it seems they finally decided to try the K3 route and it was just in time to be paired with the I130 that was sent way back in April. Seems like the luck of good timing

However, considering the USCIS have a backlog of petititions (enough to apparently fill a semi's trailer) and are very late with even cashing cheques... for your petition to have been processed into their system and also to have reached the hands of someone who could approve it within 6 weeks seems more like a USCIS-miracle at this point. You should thank whoever is looking out for you

I've just returned from a trip to see my hubby. As others have said, take proof of ties to home so that if he is asked, he can show it. It seems most people don't even get asked to show the evidence, I certainly didn't.

My case might be a bit different though, because my primary reason for having this visit was to attend my brother-in-laws wedding. I answered "family wedding" as being the reason for the trip so my husband was never mentioned. It might have been a more thorough questioning if my husband did come up in the questioning.

I'd been away on vacation for 2 weeks and am a bit disheartened not to see many NOA2s issued during that time I was hoping to see at least a few of the people in here finally get their NOA2s. It would have been a glimmer of hope that mine might be approved within the next month.

I also noticed on the USCISs processing page that they are stating "months taken to process petition" instead of "oldest date processed". So I129F K1s are now showing "6 months" instead of "Feb XX 2007". I wonder why they've suddenly changed their format

Hello!

That´s me again!

I really want to know what can I do...until i am waiting for Noa-2 of the both forms.

I know about my american husband : he can start the aff.

And me? Can i do my medical examination...or i need to wait for some package?

It's a little too early to be thinking about the medical, you cannot go for that until you receive the packet requiring you to do so. That will be many months away.

If you feel you must do something to keep you busy, a couple of things you might work on:-

* Any vaccinations you will require - Getting medical records before hand is one less thing to worry about later on!

Even if you don't require them/require proof of having them for the K3, you will need them for adjusting status. Plus, if you have asked for consular processing, you never know if the CR1/IR1 will be at the embassy before your K3 interview (in this case, you can ask to have the IR1/CR1 interview on the date of your K3 interview).

* Depending on how long your country's police certificate is valid for, you could apply for it now. You may want to check the validy though, because there is no point asking for one now and finding it has expired before you receive your final interview.

* You can also start putting together a packet of evidence of your relationship, photos, proof of visits, emails, phone records, marriage certificate etc etc

I started working out my evidence early, just to take my mind off things... Knowing that I have a nice folder ready for when the time comes, is quite comforting

Out of almost 2.5 years (roughly 900 days) of knowing my husband, we have spent 76 days together. That is 4 visits of 2-3 weeks at a time, 6 months apart for majority of our relationship.

It is hard and sometimes I become very depressed with the whole situation. He always manages to pick up my mood and remind me why we are both going through this heartache. One of the other posters is right, when you truly love someone you don't look at other people. When you're single, you're always looking for a potential mate but when you're happy with someone that need just disappears.

The process is long but you will get through it. Josh and I are over 4 months into the K3 process and are hoping it will be over in 6 more months. Waiting for this process to end and finally reunite us permanently is the hardest part of our relationship so far... because we know that light is at the end of the tunnel.

My mother-in-law was incredibly surprised when I took my husbands last name. I honestly don't understand why, it was a complete non-issue to me to lose my surname and, after all, she took my father-in-laws surname when she married him.

I liked the thought of sharing a surname with my husband Gave us a united identity. My soon-to-be sister-in-law will not be taking my brother-in-laws surname though, she will be keeping her surname officially and using his name "socially". The choice is hers but, she is still in college and as far as I know has no professional reputation around her maiden name. I would be really interested to know her reasoning behind that but daren't ask

I really wish I'd known about this before hand

I am due to travel to the States tomorrow, for a 2 week visit and I have been fretting about US immigration for weeks (make that "months") now I have proof of employment, return ticket and wedding invitation as proof of ties to home/reason for visit, but am still scared of being sent back on the next available flight >.< Getting turned away in Ireland seems so much less daunting.

This will hopefully be my last visit before our visa is approved but it is completely nerve-wracking for me. I can't even get in the mind-frame of spending time with my husband because I don't want my hopes dashed if I'm turned away

Ooooh - I just wish we already had it so I could plan the decor and the garden and...

Hehe, you sound just like me Jeraly. I have never lived in a place of my own and I can't wait to get a little place for Josh and I. We'll probably rent for a year or 2, to get my credit score started off and get a nice deposit saved, then we're aiming to buy a 3 bedroom place of our own

Wow, I think you are the first May filer to be approved by the CSC. I hadn't even seen any April filers approved yet Big congratulations on your good luck

WHAT THE HELL the representative tried to tell to him? I was thinking just the fees are different now!

I was excepting my interview for end of November! I want to pass the Christmas with my husband!

ANYONE CAN MAKE A COMENT?

It is a backlog of petitions and not a change in process (only change in fees) that is making the wait longer.

Because of the change in fees everyone tried to beat the deadline and sent in their petitions around the same time, too many for the CSC to handle and made it come to a standstill a few weeks ago (VSC seems to be handling things fine and are approving some from June). CSC now appear to be processing cases from early-mid March (if you look at the March Filers thread) and, as my petition is early April I do not expect to see movement on mine for another month or so.

I set (what I believe to be) a realistic date of February to be with my husband but still have a little glimmer of hope that I might be there for Xmas.

I think most people, myself included, thought that the 6 month CSC processing time was the beginning to the end of the process... it wasn't until I found this site that I understood the process would take about 10 months in total. Maybe I read it wrong at the time, but I find the USCIS website misleading on the total time of the process.

When I was growing up, I was never interested in marriage. It was purely a bit of paper to me and that bit of paper isn't necessary to prove how much you love someone. My whole outlook on marriage was probably because my mum and dad never married but had a loving, long term relationship. If the visa process wasn't necessary in our relationship, I could have seen us living together, unmarried, indefinitely.

Josh and I knew after our first visit together that we wanted to be together permanently and, for that to happen, we would have to marry. We waited until my 3rd visit to the US to tie the knot. It was a small ceremony, with only his parents as witnesses. The judge that performed our marriage was wonderful, we chose a vow which had a rather long passage before the actual vows, that summed up exactly how we felt for each other But it was a small event and low key.. neither of us are particularly outgoing, so suited us perfectly

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that NVC receive your petitions soon. I'm now sure CSC are playing the "bad cop" role vs VSCs "good cop".

On a slightly different note: There really shouldn't be this much difference between the 2 centres and CSC should just throw away their pride (why else would they allow this slowdown to continue while VSC twiddles it's thumbs waiting for something to do!) and say they need help from their counterpart.

I totally agree with you. They have 2 basset hounds, but they stay in crates all day

(2 dogs in a crate all day? 2 dogs even left alone all day? Don't get me started on that habit people have over here. )

My hubby's parents do that with their 2 dogs. Don't get me wrong, they let them out on their lunchbreaks and also at night when they are in, but I can't imagine locking up any of my dogs in a crate for hours at a time. No freedom for the poor pets and I believe they lead to join problems from spending so much time unable to exercise.

Plus, they let their cats roam where ever they like, which seems unfair to me

It wouldn't let me edit my post, so here's a bit extra...

I, too, hate the people who jump on the age difference band-wagon - my parents (both British) had a 10 year age difference and that had no bearing on their relationship. The relationship they had (past tense, my father passed on) is something I would love Josh's and my marriage to become when we are finally together on a permanent basis. My uncle is 14 years older than my aunt. I am 3.5 years older than Josh. None of those differences make a dot of difference to the people we are or how we interact with our loved ones.

Anyone can be used for a visa... age difference, lifestyle etc are irrelevant if someone wants something badly enough. Not everything has to fit a stereotype. After all, I don't drink tea!

I'm actually glad I didn't marry my first. Decisions made when you are younger can be very bad ones in hindsight. And notches on a belt shouldn't matter.

As to the OPs ex-fiance, was she as conniving as some of the pictures here paint? Was she a complete saint who got cold feet? Did she leave to give support to her friend in her time of need? Did she string him along for a visa? With the tangents that this post is going off on, why not start speculating that the ex-fiance is having an affair with the mailman or even with Sarah's son (with all the silly things said, I'm amazed someone hasn't suggested this already... sorry if I got this post mixed up and she doesn't have one, I've been reading through it over several days).

The answer to that is we will never know the truth... even the OP may never know, unless she contacts him and comes clean, and if he does find out he is under no obligation to fill us in on his findings. Speculation gets out of hand and I see this post degenerating greatly into a he said (the OP) / they said (the VJ posters speculations)... and some of the stuff I'm seeing seems downright personal.

As if the OP didn't have enough to think about at the moment without people pulling scenarios out of thin air.