Damian&Kelly

Thanks for the quick replies. I didn't think 2 weeks would matter, but just needed some reassurance.

As for the shutdown, I thought that it wouldn't affect USCIS as they're self funded but I heard otherwise.

Our 90 days open April 15th, I was just wondering how important it is that we apply that day? Also if sending it say 2 weeks later will make a huge difference?

Also not that anyone will know for sure, If a government shutdown happens should we still send in our ROC or will it make any difference to wait until everything settles down. I know that the last time the government shutdown happened, the government was shutdown for 3 weeks, so that would affect us if it happens for any length of time.

Is WA a must or are you just looking for a different state to move to? Have you thought about the NE as the weather isn't far off England's and also you could be close to NYC which has everything. Here in PA, we have a few British shops along with some British foods in the normal grocery stores. My husband got settled in here in PA pretty well, once he got a job and his license things started to fall into place and things got better.

We were in the exact position, what got my husband through was enjoying the things there in England, he knew he wouldn't have here when he moved. Things like, being with his family, his first nephew was born right before he moved, and hanging out with his friends. And also eating the foods he enjoyed growing up. He knew what he couldn't get here as we didn't rush into things. He visited for a total of 9 months before deciding to move here.

Before he moved here, I was depressed all the time, when he was gone, what got me through was knowing there was an end in site. Knowing that I was planning for a future with him, not so unknown as a future alone. We both worked to save money and talked/video chat as much as possible.

My advise though, don't write off your life there in England so fast. As what is to come is exciting and new. You first need to experience American life and then work towards that life. We worked to be together and that's what kept us going. All the time consuming things that you can get into in England can speed time and make that depression that much shorter. Enjoy what you have there, as I promise you'll miss it. I'm American, and spent 8 months in England and I miss it!

I've traveled with my passport in my maiden name, and everything else in my married name, only advise is book your plane ticket matching your passport.

This happened in 2008, when we applied, same exact time of year. Maybe it will happen again, I know it's not fair, but We applied Feb 08 and were approved in a month, along with a few others, that was VSC that year.

Congratulations!!

There's nothing really you can do to speed it up. Though London looks like it's speeding up, even if you put things together, you gotta wait. Wait for VSC, then your petition to be sent to London via NVC, then wait for London to send your fiance packet 3, only thing you can really do to make it go faster is prepare for packet 3 and send it off right when you get it, but you're still months away from that. Like someone else said, your fiance can get his vaccinations as they will still be current.

I got very lucky, as when we sent it off, they tried to speed up the pace at VSC, it didn't last long. Only thing we did to speed it up was send off packet 3 right when he got it, and I put all the paperwork together the day we got our NOA2.

The I-134 states how much your parents and you make. You each would fill out a separate one. Then you'd have supporting documents to prove that : Tax returns, pay check stubs... Since you don't make anything you wouldn't need supporting documents, just your parents would.

Welcome to VJ! and Best of luck on your journey. As of right now the I-129F Petition is taking 3-6+ Months to get approved. Right now you are waiting on the NOA1 which is your first Notice of Action. It's basically a receipt, saying they got your paperwork, once you get this and your check is cashed all you can do is wait. I wouldn't start getting things together until closer to the time your petition is approved because you want everything current for the interview.

Once your petition is approved you'll have time to get all the paperwork together. You'll need an I-134 from yourself even though you'll have a co-sponsor, and also one from your co-sponsor along with 3 years of tax returns/W-2s, A letter from their employer, a letter from their bank, and paycheck stubs also your co-sponsors birth certificate or passport to prove they're a US citizen. Your fiance will also need his passport, his birth certificate (Long form with his parents name on it, if he doesn't have it you can get that now), a police certificate from every country he lived in since he was 16, 3 US style passport photos, and some more paperwork which is asked for in packet 3 which you get from the embassy after your petition is approved. I'm sorry I don't remember what paperwork but someone else can help ya with that. Your fiance will have to go to London for a medical and then also for the interview. I know current/new relationship evidence is asked for but London doesn't usually ask for it. And the new letter of intent is needed if your interview takes place 4 months after your petition is approved, someone should correct me here, if the new letter of intent is needed, it might need to be notarized.

Things have changed with the payment of the visa, so I will have to let someone else step in here.

But best of luck to you and your fiance!

Insurance here has a lot to do with age, not just years/experience. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how much insurance was for my husband with no history. Once he drove here for 6 months, with a PA license, it dropped $40 a month and after a year of driving it dropped another $20. Here in PA it's a must.

But as for my husband when he first got here, my mother's insurance said they'd cover him without adding him to the policy. They said that if he has the car owners permission then he's covered on her insurance with his UK license. Now, my mother was honest with her insurance and told them everything, and since it'd only be a year, they were very understanding. That was Allstate as I said before. But my Brother-in-law came to visit, he had his UK license and he wanted to drive our car, we had progressive at the time, and they said he could drive/be covered up to 12 times without adding him to the policy. I'm not sure how they'd know he drove more than 12 times, but that was their rule.

I see your local office is in PA, So I'm guessing you live in PA. In PA, the law is that she can drive here for up to 1 year with her Russian license and an international drivers permit. Of course you have to check with your car insurance and make sure it covers her on your car. My husband used his UK license when he got here to drive my mother's car and my mother's insurance said that he was covered (that was Allstate). But the international drivers permit doesn't make it easier to get a license. I'm not sure if you can get a license here before she gets EAD. I'm pretty sure if you try before AOS/EAD, They'll only give her one valid until the I-94 expires, and also you have to have a SSN before getting a license.

As for the International Drivers Permit, The only purpose for it is to translate her Russian license to English. My husband didn't get the permit as his license was already in English.

I don't personally live in NYC, but as others said it's very expensive. My dad was actually offered a job not right in the city but a bit north. It was a promotion from the job he has here. After researching, the raise he'd receive from moving up to NY wouldn't cover the higher cost of living. All in all, he'd live better here in PA on the salary he gets at the minute.

The city itself isn't all that cold, as I've visited many times. But that's from someone who's used to the cold. It'd be a big change from FL.

Welcome to VJ!!

Best of luck with your journey!

We're very young and my parents were more willing to let us live with them until we get on our feet. Neither of us really had a good job or our own place so we could have moved either way. We decided we'd rather raise our kids, when we have them, in Europe but would like to be done with immigration by then. So we're here first so he can get US citizenship and then off to England eventually. Though the longer we're here, the happier he is to be here.

Hey, Welcome and good luck with your process. You can't do much to get ready for the interview until you get your NOA2. Right now you're waiting on your first NOA. Once you get that all you can do is wait for your NOA2. Right now Vermont is very slow. Once you get your NOA2, then it goes to NVC and then it's transferred to London. Once London gets it is when you get your London case number.. Starts out LND. Once you get your London case number/Packet 3 (1st packet of papers you get from London) you can book your medical, and start collecting all the paperwork: Police certificate, I-134, Relationship evidence...

Best of luck to you both!!

We got very lucky with the process. But right now the timelines aren't close to ours. When we started, we couldn't wait to be together but were prepared for the 6+ month wait. We honestly didn't think much of the wait, I mean waiting isn't ever fun and the distance is hard, but it was what we had to do to be together.

The Interview: Well I'm the petitioner, but my husband said it was very easy. They asked him 3 questions, didn't ask to see any relationship evidence, and were more concerned about the sponsor/money than anything. He waited awhile for a 5 minute interview which in his eyes was pointless. He felt like he was there to just hand over the paperwork in person. The people weren't rude, just there to do their job in what ever speed they want!

The medical was very straight forward. Xrays, Blood test, and look down your pant to make sure you are the sex you say. My husband got his vaccinations at his own doctor so he didn't have to pay. Though my husband traveled a lot when he was younger, with his parents, so had most the vaccinations already for other visas to other countries.

My Hubby and I have been married for almost 2.5 years. We're still very much in love and enjoy every minute together. Moving on to ROC in a few months.

This made me sick. PA is so strict on so many things. But He got away with this and hasn't been inspected since 1993 even after having people reported him. I think this state needs to rethink their priorities!

Haha, I'm a Steelers fan, so really hoping that I don't need a Jet's special for the superbowl.

We have the Pittsburgh sandwich: Roast Beef, Cole Slaw, French Fries and Cheese on a Grilled Roll.

The Chicago Dog: Hot Dog with dill pickle, tomato, hot peppers and spicy mustard.

I'm stuck on the Jets one but Green Bay: Grilled Bratwurst on a grilled roll with grilled peppers, onions and cabbage with mustard and mayo.

I've been looking up what they eat in each place and things like that. I mean being in PA, Pittsburgh and Philly are the easy ones.

haha, yes they're all footlocker employees as no outsiders are allowed in. But they aren't the store employees.. They're IT, Accounting, Human resources, the Footlocker call center, and the warehouse. If you call footlocker from any where in the US, you call our customers at the call center. We've actually served the CEO of Footlocker.

Italian roll, veal cutlet, prosciutto, tomato slices, fresh mozzarella slices, olive oil, and basil. The same thing with a chicken cutlet. Homemade at a local Italian deli. Two of Lenny's specialties.

That's actually today's special. I'm not working today but My hubby will let me know how that one goes. Using chicken today on a grilled ciabatta roll.

Tomorrows is BBQ chicken, with grilled onions, Swiss on a grilled Portuguese roll. << This one we normally sell out of the chicken by the end of the day.

We have tried the suggestions box, and used many of the suggestions and have special sandwiches named after some of our customers. We also use some of the customers as guinea pigs for some of our creations such as a crispy chicken Caesar quisadilla and everything with Cole slaw on top.. not my fave but does go over pretty well. We have some Pennsylvania Dutch specials as well such as Chicken and Waffles.. almost everyone's fave around here. We're actually located in a Footlocker warehouse, and last year they decided to go healthy so we've done every healthy special you can think of and none of it sells not like the BLTs and Burgers. We've even brought in turkey bacon, turkey burgers, veggie burgers and on occasion bison burgers.

We don't use avocado or guacamole very often at the cafe, and I think we should try using it more, not sure if the people will buy into it but it's worth a try. Worse comes to worse they say none of it on theirs which we're pretty used to already.

Now I'm hungry, thinking about having an egg sandwich, hubby's way.

A grilled cheese with scrambled egg, fried onion and a hash brown patty right on the sandwich.

I'm gonna have to agree Bacon makes almost any sandwich. Thanks for all the ideas, that Torta Cubana is huge, not sure if we'd get people to try it but it's worth a go. People are so picky, me included tho. My husband is a vegetarian and is the master of the grilled as many cheese as he can sandwich, and he adds peas. We've tried the create your own grilled cheese but no one went much further than lettuce and tomato.

The Reuben is a hit, and we've put as many twists on it as we could.

Anyone tried a burger with a fried egg on it? and if not would you try it?

My husband and I work for my family owned cafe and are running out of special sandwiches to have. This cafe is different than most, it's for a warehouse/offices and the workers eat at our cafe almost every day for breakfast and lunch. So I was just curious of everyone's favorite sandwiches, burger toppings, hot dog/sausage topping and even breakfast, can be a US favorite or even from your home country.

Thanks,

Kelly

My favorite is: a Cheese Burger wrap with grilled onions and extra cheese Pittsburgh style (which is fries right in the wrap.) Pittsburgh style is pretty common here as I live in PA.