Kirsten UK

I worn jeans. They aren't interested in what you're wearing in the slightest and from that tiny window you stand at can only see you from the chest up anyway!

There's another recent thread about this. If you tell them you are travelling abroad they will give you a year off. After that year you need to set up monthly repayments based on your income. Its actually incredibly simple to set up and nothing to worry about. Just call them.

Hi everyone, my k1 visa is approved and I just need to pick up my visa in MNL and have my CFO seminar this week. That's the good news.

However, I went to my OB-GYNE yesterday to have my check up and the results are not good. My ovarian cyst came back (I had it removed through surgery when I was 20yo, I am now 25yo). I was advised then by my OB to get pregnant, but of course I am not married yet and my fiance and I were not considering marriage yet at that time because for one we were still young, I am still in school and we just want to take things one at a time.

Now, that we found out that my cyst came back (this is a kind of cyst that has a very high recurrence, and the size of my cyst now is big enough to not to be controlled by just medication); my OB gave me an ultimatum of 6 mos to get pregnant, if not I have to go for surgery again. She also outrightly warned me if we do not try getting pregnant now, there would be a big possibility that I wouldnt bear a child anymore.

Okay the dilemma is, my fiance and I are not really considering having a baby in 3 to 5 years for these reasons: we believe that marriage is not just centered upon having children but also being together as a couple, we want to make up our lost time together (being in a 7-year long distance relationship has been too hard to handle, and this is our time to be together just the two of us), me moving to the states will entail a need for me to adjust big time (physically, emotionally, socially and professionally and having a child this soon will be a big responsibility on our part), and lastly, he said he is okay if we can't bear a child (we started discussing this when I had my first ovarian surgery, but of course I, as a woman would still in a way want to give my husband a child).

So, anyone could give me a piece about our situation? I know I can get a good piece of advice from those who are ahead of us in this journey of married life.

Thank you so much

Are they wanting to remove the affected ovary? If so, do you still have the other ovary? You only need one to get pregnant........

Do Dependents not receive biometric appointments? Wife and kids each received a NOA1 but only the wife has received a biometrics appointment letter.

My daughter is 13 and she did not get a seperate biometrics appointment letter, nor was she named on my letter. I called and asked and they reassured me that kids under 14 are not obliged to have their biometrics taken again although you still have to pay for it at the time of submitting the I-751. At my biometrics appointment I even checked with the officer there and he confirmed that it was not required. i hope this helps.

Better than McVities?! Blasphemy!

Hehe. I'd be willing to give them a try! Unfortunately it doesn't look as if there are any Aldi stores within a couple of hundred miles of me!

(It's probably a good thing for my waistline that so many delicious British desserts and chocolates aren't available in the US).

I feel the same...I went from a true choc-a-holic to rarely eating any these days! And cake....the selection here is abysmal.....apart from the cheesecake....thats the best here!

If you have a CostPlus World Market near you, they sell Malteasers and Flakes, and I think Crunchies too! And they'll be a little cheaper than most British stores.

Now, next we need to get shops to start stocking Wispas and Jaffa Cakes...

I was scared to pay with cash for months upon first arriving in the US, because I nearly always forgot about adding tax.

Do you have an Aldi store near you? They sell their own brand of jaffa cakes that are as good as if not better than McVities! They're a German chain so all their chocolate is delicious.....thats where I get mine from between trips to my nearest World Market.

Wow, congratulations!

And remember it's six years from the date the debt is marked as settled by the creditor until it's gone from your history.

That entire statement sounds untrue to me. They do not let you cease payments just because you've gone to work abroad. And I doubt they'd ever write off any debt. You won't find anything about that in the agreement you've signed or their website, etc (happy to be proven wrong on that!)

If by "travelling abroad" you mean "not working" then I'd agree they would be cool with it. And yes, as I understand it they will tell you what you owe- by way of a very high monthly payment.......unless you prove your earnings like you say which will bring it down MUCH lower.

Certainly 6 years in the UK. Not sure about Ireland or the rest of Europe.

I mean you are allowed to take a year off repayments if you tell them you are travelling abroad. After a year you need to get in touch and set up a monthly repayment based on your income. You will have to provide payslips. Each year it is recalculated based on what you have earned. If you go on their website it gives examples of monthly repayments for different countries as they take into account the different enconomies to some extent.

Completed my biometrics today. I was concerned that my daughter wasn't mentioned on the letter but after the officer in Charlotte took a look into it I was reassured that she didn't need to attend even though she will be 14 in two months. Now, whats the chances it could be approved before October 14th? I'm desperately trying to avoid renewing my NC drivers license just for 1 year!!

Student Loans Co will give you up to one year off making payments if you tell them you are travelling abroad...I did and they were cool about it. After a year they will write to you and tell you what you owe....I had to send several payslips and they calculate an overseas monthly payment amount based on what you have earned. Every year they will review it.

As for your debt....I consolidated mine and make one monthly payment through my UK bank. I use xe.com for free transfers from US to UK.

It took me 9 months to find a job in my profession, but I was offered my first job after 6 months. You obviously have to wait until your work permit is approved to get a job but in reality nobody would have considered me for work in my field until I had my greencard.

If making the minimum monthly payments is still too much for you, consider contacting a credit counselling agency as soon as possible...they offer free advice and can work for you to negotiate with your creditors to figure out managable repayments over a fixed period of time. My friend used CCCS and they really helped her alot.

Good luck with everything....moving country is stressful enough, its worth taking the time now to figure this out so you don't have to worry about it once you're here.

KristenUK I also added your info

Thank you!

Got my biometrics appointment today for 9/8/11. It just has my name on it not my daughter (who will be 14 in November)...does that mean only I am required to attend?

Can someone update me on the list please? thanks! I'll also be trying to do an early biometrics on 9/7 as i'll be in Charlotte that day anyway.

Got my biometrics appointment today for 9/8/11. It just has my name on it not my daughter (who will be 14 in November)...does that mean only I am required to attend?

It took them 15 days to cash our check!

Thanks Nich-Nick, that works brilliantly! I'm so happy i've got access to all my old channels!

we filed a petition for adjustment of status "I-130" (greencard through marriage). We had to obtain a joint sponsor because my husband cannot not meet the income requirement for the i-864. I ended up having a friend to do it for me. With the little knowledege we had, instead of filing an additional i-864 form for my friend, mistakenly we end up submitting a i-864a. The i-864a was rejected on the basis that my friend is not a household memember, and we were told to either obtain a household memeber or resubmitt a i-864 (joint sponsor) for my friend.Now I am screwed because my friend decided that he don't want do do it again. My biometerics is 4days away after that the case will be on hold until i submitt the affadavit. I am stuck because i have no one to assist with the affadavit. I do have money in the bank in my home country that will meet the income requirement, can i use my money (bank statements) to do my own affadavit of support.

case status

01/10/09 married

06/25/11 submitted package to chicago lockbox

06/27/11 package was received

07/29/11 recieved reciept

07/30/11 recived biometrics appointment

08/03/11 recieved notice for addtional infomation (i-864s denied)

I think this is in the wrong forum?

haha yeah that is true... so are you saying american tv is #######??

No, theres actually alot of cool shows over here but I still miss my old favourites....and hearing UK accents......BBC America is ok, but just like in old blighty they repeat everything over and over.....theres only so many times I can watch Top Gear!

We use a prepaid phone card from www.simplink.com, its about 5cent/3p a minute on a land line. I also have AT&T over here and have the international package that costs me about an extra $5 a month and about 8cent a minute.

No this wont work overseas, once you try it, it knows you are ouside the country and will not allow access. There is a way around it though, and this goes for all streamed uk content. What you need is a proxy server, or VPN ( virtual private network ) There are sites that can help you with this. I used this one last year when I was visiting the states. www.ukproxyserver.co.uk I was able to watch all UK local streamed broadcasts. They did do a free trial but it is not currently available. What it does is conects your PC through a proxy, another PC basically within the uk, which gives it that ip address. Meaning you appear to the websites that you are in the UK, which you are not. Then allows you access to there streamed content. It costs around £10 a month I think, but there are free ones around but I couldnt find anything that was reliable. ( you will need the VPN for 5 on demand )

Hope this helps.

Oh and what are you doing on your profile pic, have you lost a contact lense?

Andy

Ha! Thats actually a picture of my daughter from a few years ago! She was talking to the goblin at the front door! Thanks for the tip on a proxy server, i'll try and figure it out

I dont know why you'd want to, but if you must, you'll have to torrent it

Come on, everybody loves celebrity BB!!

hahaha i wouldnt of dared to admit to that

Well if you'd been deprived of quality(!) UK shows for the past two years you'd probably have got over the embarrassment like me!

Hi! Does anyone know how I can watch celebrity BB on channel 5 from the US? I'm utterly useless at figuring out internet stuff but I need to get my celebrity BB fix!! Embarrassing I know......Thanks!

I finally received my receipt notice today, its dated 8/5/11. I was starting to think they'd forgotten about me! It also includes the extension letter.....I was expecting a seperate letter? Anyway, I hope they make my biometrics appointment very soon, the lady I spoke to on the phone said I shouldn't risk leaving the country without doing it first...and i'm going back to the UK in 6 weeks........

I'm waiting for my NOA and biometrics appointment...my daughter will be 14 in November so i'm curious to know if she will be required to have one or not....

Just to clarify, I used the acco clips but did not 3 hole punch!

I did!

I searched it on the USCIS website...heres the link and below is an excerpt stating all applicants between 14-79 are required to have biometrics taken:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/PN_I-751_feb2807.pdf

The new process, as authorized in 71 Federal Register 15469 (March 28, 2006), requires all conditional

permanent residents to appear at a USCIS Application Support Center (ASC) after filing Form I-751 in order

to have their biometrics electronically captured. An ASC appointment notice will automatically be sent by

mail to the applicant with the specific date, time and location for biometric processing. Biometric processing

includes the electronic capture of an applicant’s photograph, signature, index fingerprint and ten-print

fingerprints. The photograph, signature and index fingerprint are used to generate the lawful permanent

resident card, if the Form I-751 is approved. The ten-print fingerprints are captured for the purpose of

conducting a criminal background check and are processed for applicants between the ages of 14 and 79.

Applicants (except for “overseas applicants” described below) will no longer be required to submit passportstyle

photographs, since photographs will be captured at an ASC.