eramirez1

Your countdown is like a man awaiting release from jail ! =) I imgine you scratch another line on the wall as each day goes by.

All we can do is wait. Since I just sent the I-130 last week I won't start expecting anything for a while...

Good luck with your wait. It is at this moment when having more people doing your process would help so you would know how many more are out there and what their process is like. Where do those people go to? I mean do they suffer in silence alone? I bet they just pester those immigration people they hire to do their paperwork, or worse pester each other =)

Keep us posted.

Thanks.

Certainly there are many people going this process but probably, very few venture to do it themselves here in El Salvador. For example, I spoke yestereday with a friend of mine, who is a cardiovascular surgeon. He wan born in the US but lives and works here. He told me that he has filed an application for his wife and three kids to obtain US residency. He hired a Salvadorean lawyer who frequently appears on radio talk shows and tv shows talking about us immigration related topics. Anyway, this lawyer who is Salvadorean, has opened an immigration consulting office. Anyway, this guy is charging him $300 for each familiy member. My friend told me that the process is lengthy and complicated, I am sure that he did not even took the time to read the necessary forms and to find out about the necessary steps. He did not want to be bothered so the easiest thing was to have someone else do it for him.

So many people don´t have complicated cases but they think it is a cumbersome process, and they don´t even bother to get information for themselves, they just run to the immigration lawyers. I think this applies to many Salvadorean applying for all types of visas.

(para muestra un boton) There are very few Salvadoreans going through this process here in VJ, I think we are less than twenty registered members.

I'm here... : )

I sent my I-301 in May 08 and it currently is at the CSC. I am currently in the US for now, but thinking about heading back to El Salvador soon, cause i miss my husband so much. I was there from January to April 08, and only really left because of the hurricane season coming. My husband didnt' want me and our daughter to be there in case something bad happens.

So yup i'm one of those twenty members. : ) I'll keep my timeline up-to-date as things change, and i'll keep in touch when i get a chance. Good luck to everyone filing in El Salvador... as well as other countries.

Yes i have posted my hardship letter on the immigrate2us.net. I have received nothing but wonderful comments on the letter i have drafted. I am just pretty much editing and taking out wordiness right now... cutting it down slowly but i still expect the letter will be 10 pages... Its 11 right now... i have added a bit to it the last couple days.

I am working on gathering all my evidence right now. I only have 3 letters from doctors. the rest are just diagnosis, mri and other reports. I have printed alof ot very informative things from government websites for both US and El Salvador. I have used the CDC website and Worldfact book... etc (only well known websites)

I feel that if i take too much information out it will just be really plain and the adjucator will only be spending alot of time flipping to the evidence pages to get information about everything. I put alot of information in it so that the letter reads well and is explaining my situation at the same time. I made sure that i tied everything back to me and did a well rounded picture of events that would happen... etc.

Thanks for all your wonderful posts...

Why do you need a waiver? Profile says you are K3.

My fiance "at the time" was deported... I went to El Salvador and we married there... now we are in process of bringing him back.

Medical issues are a strong argument. Make sure you have your doctors and children's doctors write letters stating your conditions and necessary treatments and continued care. Provide evidence of poor medical care in El Salvador vs US, etc. You certainly have some very good arguments. Good luck!

I completely understand about the amount of evidence and arguments... Thanks for your advice.

I think the angle that i'm going to go with with the healthcare issues is that... if i were to relocate to El Salvador... we will be living in a small rural area that does not offer much of clinics or doctors, especially english speaking ones or ones with knowledge of US medical practices and standards....

Although... I have found that in San Salvador... a 3 hour drive from where we would live... AND that we will only have my husbands 25.00 a week income to live on... that we could not afford to travel 3 hours then pay cash for healthcare services... and with my spinal degeneration, i would need frequent chiropractic treatments to help slow the process of the degeneration... Would be impossible.

Of course i'm summarizing it better than i did in the above rough draft... but you get my general idea of what i'm going for. I dont want to go the route of saying there is not any medical options for me, because there is, but of course not as good as here in the US but the traveling 3 hours, lack of money and health insurance... etc... is the main hardship. I have 3 children... plus myself and my husband. WE could not afford to travel that distance.... every week or every month.

Any advice on what i just wrote?

Make sure that in addition to your letter, you have evidence to prove each statement you make in the letter. The letter is only part of the journey.

Singers is right about being objective and not including too much emotion, but you must strike a balance. If you are not using an attorney then your letter does most of the proving and therefore emotion can come off as extraneous information. . .however, if you are too mechanical it also might leave the wrong impression. Strike a balance. Sounds like you have a good start.

Good luck!

Ok... I think my letter is well balanced as it is. I think that it has enough emotional tone to it to keep the facts moving smoothly throughout the letter. Of course each factual thing i'm stating has an attached emotional statement to it somewhere or it wouldn't be truly a hardship... : )

Thanks so much, i'll keep working on it... Then post it to the forum that you Singer mentioned above.

One last question? What is too much evidence that one can include? I dont want to do overkill. Right now i have around 30 pieces of evidence. By the time i'm done i should have possibly 40. Or should i narrow it down?

PS. Just make sure to keep it as UNemotional as possible.

When you say keep it as UNemotional as possible... exactly what do you mean...?

I think you have a good grasp on what should be included in your hardship letter. If you haven't already done so, I would go to immigrate2us.net and post it (without identifying information) for their review. They have a lot more experience with this subject on that site.

PS. Just make sure to keep it as UNemotional as possible.

Thank you for your advice...

I am in the process of writing my hardship letter. At the moment i have a 10 page letter... Good or Bad? If someone has some good advice as to what to take out or what to include... it would be very appreciated.

Here are some key items that im including in my hardship letter.

*My spinal health over the past 10 years, has resulted in surgery for herniated disc due to degenerative disc disease.

*My children's health, such as asthma and allergies and psychological disorders.

*Lack of Healthcare and medical insurance

*My childrens educational opportunities

*My career and further education opportunities. I am a Nationally registered certified medical assistant and required to keep my certification renewed by continuing education credits... failure to keep current means i lose my certification. I am also serious about becoming an RN in the near future.

*Financial hardships, not alot, only 17,000.

*Family ties in the United States

*Crime in El Salvador

*Natural disasters in El Salvador

These are the things i'm including in my letter... Please let me know if i'm going to far or if this is even enough to possibly convience them to approve our I-601.

EL SALVADOR IS WHERE WE ARE FILING OUR 601.

I just filed our I-130 on May 13, 2008. I have a question regarding the affidavit of support. If i were to go to El Salvador to live with him while this is processing... I understand i would need a co-sponsor. My main concern is about how many people my co-sponsor would have to include in his income? My co-sponsor has a family of 5.

My husband and I have have three children between us. I have 2 from prior relationship and then we have our daughter together.

So does this mean that my co-sponsor have to claim his 5 plus my husband, myself and the three children.

Thanks for reading...

I filed our I-130 on May 13th. I haven't received anything yet.