ms_jinga_lala

I've been using this service for months and just this past week they lowered their rates to India. I talk to my fiancee daily so this was fabulous for me lol. It's now only 2.4 cents a min and I waited to be billed and double check because I felt these rates were unbelievably low. But that's all I'm being charged.

www.jaxtr.com

my username is kristy13

How this works is you put in your phone number and information and the number you would like to call. They give you a number that is local to you and as long as you have unlimited long distance it's a free call. For example, I live in North Carolina but got a Texas number to dial. It's free for me to call, and I only get billed by jaxtr. You have to prepay your jaxtr account and they have several options available. It works in many countries, just check to see to make sure yours is available. My fiancee tried to use it in India, but received a number that cost him 2 rupees a min which was better than the 10 it cost to call me before. Then he had to pay for jaxtr in addition to that. It was still a lot cheaper.

Also they have something you can set up to call for free to anyone on the jaxtr network. I didn't have any luck with that because my fiancee would still have to pay to dial in. Then it went to voice mail. You have to approve callers before jaxtr will allow the calls to go through. Check into it and see which options work for you.

I'm filing for the K-1. What I meant was his parents won't let him get on a plane to come here and marry me if they don't meet me in person first. They know we are serious, but they want to make sure I'm the kind of person who would take good care of him. They don't let him travel anywhere alone, not even to visit his family only 40 KM away. I'm not trying to get out of meeting him in person, I'm just worried now since things are getting a little messy over there that we won't get to meet. I do have options for my kids, but as a mom I've gotten used to planning for the worst, sorry if I seemed like I was trying to get out of this. We have an engagement ceremony planned, I have no intention of missing if there is any way I can get there.

Thank you for the meeting in UK suggestion Old Dominion. He does have a brother in Australia and while I know they won't let him go to the UK, maybe they will let him visit his brother and I can meet him there. Then maybe they would even go with him and that could solve this whole problem. You gave me a great idea, again thank you!

My income is not a problem and I have the money to go see my fiancee. However, I can't get time off from my job until February and in addition to that I have to find someone who can stay with my 3 kids and keep them in school as usual. I'm really worried about all of this. If travel advisories come out and it's no longer safe for me to travel over there, would that be eligible to count as a hardship for not meeting in person? I really don't want to wait however long it takes for the mess to be done with to go see the love of my life. I would love to go ahead and file if something happens and I can't go.

I'm only asking this as a worst case scenario. If something happens and I can't make arrangements for my kids to be taken care of while I'm gone, would that qualify as a hardship for not being able to visit? I really don't anticipate this happening, but I want to know just in case. I would love to say I have family around that can help, but to be honest I only have my dad here and he's disabled (I live with him to help take care of him). I'm just not so sure he can deal with them for too long (and I'm more than willing to shorten my trip to India should that be necessary). Just FYI, my kids are 14, 13, and 6 so it's not like he would be changing diapers and in addition my oldest 2 love to cook and often take the stove away from me lol. The kids are fairly self-sustaining except when it comes to getting up for school and cleaning up their messes. My Fiancee's family would not allow him to travel here as he has no relatives in the states to take care of him. They are extremely over protective of him and do not believe in leaving any family member alone at any time for any reason. So I'm certain they would never put him on a plane to America to marry me, no matter what kind of papers I fill out stating I'm going to marry and support him. Any thoughts or ideas on if this would qualify for hardship are appreciated.

Thank you!

Thank you all so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it!

I met my fiancee online. We were just friends for a while. Neither of us even wanted to be with anyone and we were content being single, lol. Looks like fate had other plans.

Thank you all so much!! We don't have any special circumstances other than I have been previously divorce, but I don't think that's a problem as I have plenty of paperwork related to that and it was a simple, quick divorce with no mess. I'm about $3000 short on the financial requirements for this year but I own a house worth $90,000 and I don't owe but about half that so I'm not worried that. You guys are awesome.

I'm just curious how many of you had lawyers and how your processing of the K-1 went whether you had one or not? And by that I mean if you didn't use a lawyer do you feel like it was stressful, difficult, not that bad, etc. And if you had a lawyer did you feel comfortable during the filing process? And would you recommend getting a lawyer and why?

Okay, I seperated from my US husband in July 2006. He wouldn't give me a divorce then and it took a while, he had to find a new girlfriend first. So my divorce was just finalized October 24. I live in a state that requires a one year separation period first, so that's another thing that made it take so long. Because we were still married we filed tax returns together, I just got tired of arguing with him about why we didn't have to. It's too long of a story for these boards. He had it written into our agreement that we have to file our 2008 taxes together too and this will be the last year. I know he's just using me to get the extra tax break, I'm one more dependent. But I had to allow some compromise to get him to give me the divorce. So my question is this, is having to file with him for this tax year going to be a problem when I try to bring my fiance over here next summer?

Also, I've been reading and I've noticed that you have to show proof of steady income and most of the proof comes from tax returns. I was sick from May of 2007 until March of 2008 so I did not have income and I have no idea how the child support and alimony I received during that time will factor into all of this. I know I can't prove steady income based on tax returns. Should I go ahead and get a co-sponsor so this whole thing isn't a big headache or is there another way I can show steady income. And since I have a limited time frame to work with, how long do they expect that income to have been steady for? I'm working now and when I finish my degree in February I will have an even better job making more money so I know I can surpass the 125%. I just don't know if it will be good enough because I won't have been in the job that long. (And I will have the job, I already have it actually I just can't work till I have my name on a diploma.)

And my final question is how do they view self-employment. I work a regular job and I supplement my income (to save up for all these overseas trips via self-employment. I have invoices and I contract through reputable, well established companies but to make things more complicated some of them are based internationally also. Lol...I think I'm the poster child for complications in the K-1 department tonight.

Last question. My fiance was already actively pursuing jobs in the US before we both realized we were in love with each other. He is still pursuing them as his dreams still matter and I'm not asking him to give those up. How much is it going to complicate things if he gets a job here after we apply (the job fair for his field is in April 09 and I plan to apply in Feb 09)? He is actively applying for jobs now even before the job fair.

Thank you in advance.

Thank you both so much! I'm already reading over it all and it's so much easier to understand than the immigration websites.

I have known my SO since February 2008. I intend to fly to India to see him in February 2009 and I would like to start the filing process as soon as I get back. I've been gathering information for the past few weeks but to be quite honest I find some of this very confusing. I'm clear on the basics of what has to happen, but then I signed up here and all of these acronyms are frying my brain lol. As a newbie, do you have any helpful advice you can offer me as I start my journey to being with the love of my life? Any information is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!