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I have a US bank account and no SS number. I have had the account for over 2 years now and only moved to the US 2 days ago.

My account is with Citizens bank and my UK bank, which actually owns Citizens Bank is happy to transfer funds at a good rate any time I fax them with the signal numbers I arranged with them before I left.

I did use HSBC but found their New York office was actually adding another charge to all money tranfers meaning I got charged 3 times for every transfer and they had the cheek to call it an intermediary charge when was tranferring from HSBC in the UK.

Welcome to America, and welcome to PA also. Where abouts are you I am just outside of Philadelphia?

I'm not far from you, you're in Bucks Co. if I remember right from the listing in the Uk forum and I'm in Montgomery Co.

Give her the time she asked for, if you two are meant to be then things will work out.

Sending you a letter like that was brutal, but if she really doesn't want to marry you anymore, it is better that you know now rather than after she gets here.

I am so sorry this has happened to you.

I had wrongly assumed more women than men, just based on posters I know here.

Well I made an ### out of me at least.

Edited to add, I didn't know I couldn't mention beasts of burden here, that's the first time a post of mine was even censored.

Also I would love to know what the percentages are for other countries.

I have to agree about American foods being way to sweet, but personally I'm in food heaven here. I live just accross the street from a Gujerati store where I can get all my curry ingredients fresh as I want them.

As I only actually moved here Tuesday, yesterday lunchtime I didn't feel like cooking so just walked over the road and came back with a box of frozen massala dosas made in Kerela. While I'm not a big fan of processed foods I think I might buy more of those sometime.

Congratulations :dance: :dance:

Late Tuesday night after a flight delay I finally got home to Richard.

While I was stressing at Heathrow he brightened up my wait by calling me to tell me that the bags I had sent the previous day via First Luggage had been delivered to him by Fedex. Shame he was in the shower when they arrived.

He ended up standing being the door on a freezing day wearing nothing but a towel, while a guy and a girl from Fedex brought in all my luggage. He felt guilty not helping but needed both hands to hold his towel.

He met me at the airport with a beautiful bunch of red roses and when we got home there was a carpet of red rose petals on the floor with a trail leading to the bedroom. So romantic.

Anyone know how to clean trampled in rose petals out of carpets?

I'm just so happy to be here at last, the only problem is my brain is still on UK time so I'm sitting here typing this while he sleeps. he'll be glad I sneaked out of bed this morning, yesterday I had him out of bed getting me breakfast at 5am.

End it now.. I have been there done that. Even with the marriage, the first fight lead to me telling her I forgave her of her wrong.. and we still divorced.

Good luck... maybe you should find a girl in Singapore...

>L

Thank you for all yor reppplys it really help. I had blcok her from my e-mail and messenger. I just getting calls from her friend I think she is asking her to call me but I not unswer any one of then. Calls are expensive from there to california i'm sure they will stop calling soon. If not I will change my phone number. I fell better bu I still thinking on her. I had tell my friend and family too about this so they will not let me go back with her for any reasons. This is going to help I guess........Thanks,,,,

I'm glad you were able to tell your family and friends as you will need their support.

Nobody deserves to be treated the way you have been.

Keep in mind for the future, you deserve so much better, I'm sure when you are ready you will find better.

Maggie

Oh. Dear. God.

Lawrence, Kansas

Because you require a high standard of living with unexpected luxuries, you should live here: Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is truly a college town with a vitality and diversity uniquely its own. From outdoor sculpture exhibits on downtown street corners to engaging performances, you'll find new opportunities to immerse yourself in the arts. Take a look around and find out why Lawrence has been named the most culturally rich American city under 100,000 people. More than 50 local parks and Clinton Lake state park provide fun outings for the whole family. Boaters, golfers, hikers, birdwatchers - even frisbee golfers - have access to an infinite amount of recreational opportunities

eta: and you get 3 free tornados a year

Oh, joy!

Isn't Kansas as flat as a pancake? The one thing I can't live without are mountains in the vicinity. At the very least, a hill or two!

the western part is flat, in the eastern part we have hills.

refer to the pic below of my backyard. it has hills in the background.

Those are not what I would call hills and I got Kansas too. Well I don't think I'll pack my bags again just yet. I'm used to the Scottish mountains.

Because you require a high standard of living with unexpected luxuries, you should live here: Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is truly a college town with a vitality and diversity uniquely its own. From outdoor sculpture exhibits on downtown street corners to engaging performances, you'll find new opportunities to immerse yourself in the arts. Take a look around and find out why Lawrence has been named the most culturally rich American city under 100,000 people. More than 50 local parks and Clinton Lake state park provide fun outings for the whole family. Boaters, golfers, hikers, birdwatchers - even frisbee golfers - have access to an infinite amount of recreational opportunities.

I never heard of this place and I finally moved to Philadelphia last night.

This woman, who you have never met, spent a weekend with another man for money.

She has engaged in prostitution and that is enough to deny her a visa.

You should let this one go.

another idea would be to purchase inexpensive flower seed packets and if you could find some small gift bags, hand those out as favours with a little reminder of the day. when the guest plants the seeds, the flowers will remind them of your special day.

our budget was very tight as well, but the wedding turned out beautifully. a friend took pics with her digital camera and they were amazing!! once they were downloaded i used a photo shop type program and tweaked them myself. turned out great! we also made a cd of our favourite songs and had them played during the reception, sort of background music.

we used small wedding shaped shiny confetti on the reception table, as it added a sparkle to the ivy and tulle (the ivy was out of my yard and the tulle came from a discount shop - walmart - 77cents a yard). i bought a bag of tea lights and very inexpensive votive holders from a dollar store and placed them on the tables and around the reception area. also used the tea lights in small baby food jars and hung them from the trees near the wedding area (we had a garden wedding). it was such a nice touch!

i'm sure whatever you come up with will be gorgeous!

Thanks I like the sound of this too, I'll be looking round a dollar store when I get there I think.

Make a CD of a compilation of your 'couple songs' and prepare a jacket cover with your faces, include a dedication, possibly a few words to your guests/etc...like make a proper cd cover. And theknot.com has cd labels just for this purpose.

Give one out to each guest/couple attending

That sounds really good, I have a few recordings of Richard singing for me that I could add. He has a great baritone and has done a lot of musical theatre.

Bumping.

I have been given some great ideas and am still looking for more.

We filed ours from the US which was just as well considering we got the wholr packet sent back to us the following week and we both had to sign everything all over again.

To those that do PM for immigration advice

The risks

No single member has all the correct information. No single member is knowledgeable or has experiences in all areas of immigration. By relying on a single member in a PM for an answer to a immigration issue you risk getting wrong information that can't be corrected by other members like it would if posted in the forums. Immigration can change like the wind, policies/rules change, information upgraded, etc. Other members may also have direct experiences that differ than what is commonly known. Consulates also vary in their requirements.

When questions are asked in PM's and answers given it also takes away the opportunity for others to learn. This is afterall a site for sharing information and experiences.

Questions you should ask yourself

How important is your immigration process?

Who is responsible for my immigration process?

Should I rely on one members opinion given as advice in a PM?

To those that feel they are ridiculed....This is a message board, other members cannot hurt you. They are words. Wade through the ####### that is often thrown around, until you get to the posts that are helpful and that do not judge. You OWE that to yourself. By reverting to PMs you HIGHLY RISK misinformation that CAN'T be corrected, which CAN screw up your case. What is more important....avoiding some hurtful remarks or finding the information that WILL help you.

Speaking for myself I prefer to ask and answer in public, that way if I am given wrong information or if I miss something in an answer there is a good chance it will be corrected.

I feel it is important though that some people may not feel comfortable sharing information in public, when I asked a question way back about my adoption certificate I had many private replies from people who didn't want to state the fact of their adoption in public, I wouldn't slam all private replies.

My fiance is from Scotland and I've learned from him that many of us Americans are clueless about things!

First off, everyone just says he's english or irish, sometimes even australian. Which, to me and the area I've been raised, besides tv, how else would we really know? We haven't ventured out just yet. We just seem to group things together when we don't take the time to notice the little differences. It's funny, because he'll point out how different his friends, family, or co-workers speak from him, just because they were brought up in a different towns in Scotland. I can't imagine trying to notice a difference between someone from eastern and western Oklahoma.

Another thing is geography. One visit, he got this big map out and kept showing people where exactly he was from. lol

The saddest part about it is when the only foreigner in the room is the one who knows the most about American History!

I've had some strange guesses as to my nationality when in the US. At one point I was so fed up with it I told the woman I was Polish then was so ashamed of myself when she told me she was Polish-American and asked me to her home for dinner. She was so thrilled to meet a real Pole.

Home in Scotland accents change after you go a mile down the road so if you meet Scots that sound alike then they are probably related.

I suspect the reason many Americans know so little about other countries is that their own country is so large. Most of the rest of the world can easily travel to other countries but it would take more than one lifetime just to visit all of the USA.

BTW, this is meant to be a light thread. No need for heavy offensiveness.

Light hearted mocking offensiveness is always more fun.

I prefer to err on the safe side so I researched everything while I waited for my visa appointment and booked everything the day my visa arrived.

Anyone who thinks this will make chilren safer is sadly misguided.

Stranger danger is not the real danger to most childen.

Most children who are abused know their abuser, a member of the family, friend of the family, a nieghbour.

Most child abusers have not been convicted so wouldn't have these plates anyway.

Why waste time and money on giving people a false sense of security.

Slavery hasn't gone away in America today

SLAVERY IN MODERN-DAY AMERICA

One of the shining stars of global abolition work is the Washington, DC–based organization Free the Slaves. Kevin Bales established the organization in 2000 to educate the American public about the existence of slavery and to push governments to enact and enforce antislavery laws. The organization reflects the ethos of its founder. Kevin speaks about slavery in a style that is local yet global, strategic yet nonpartisan. Moreover, Free the Slaves consistently produces the most insightful and accurate research on trafficking networks available anywhere.

Between January 1998 and December 2003, Free the Slaves conducted a research project in collaboration with the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley. The final report, published under the title Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States, thoroughly documents the nature and scope of slavery inside American borders. The investigation exposed a number of noteworthy trends:

Foreigners are trafficked into the United States from at least thirty-five countries. Most victims originate in China, followed by Mexico and then Vietnam.

The states with the largest incidence of slavery are California, Florida, Texas, and New York.

Mexican, eastern European, and Asian crime syndicates run extensive trafficking rings inside the United States. They particularly target migrant groups.

U.S. citizens and permanent residents import thousands of domestic servants into this country as slaves.

Seventy-five percent of all New York apparel manufacturing firms are sweatshops, using forced labor or paying workers below minimum wage.

Forced labor is most prevalent in five sectors of the U.S. economy: prostitution and sex ser vices (46 percent); domestic ser vice (27 percent); agriculture (10 percent); sweatshop/factory work (5 percent); and restaurant and hotel work (4 percent).

It is hard for many Americans to believe that slavery still exists on a grand scale in the world, let alone that it may have a foot-hold in their community. Yet there is no denying the fact that tens of thousands of people labor each day in the United States without pay and under the threat of violence. Because forced labor is often hidden in unregulated work environments or where cheap labor is the norm, most Americans will walk by an incidence of slavery and pay it no notice.

Given a widely held misconception, it must be emphasized that not all incidences of slavery involve undocumented immigrants. For instance, the Detroit Free Press reported in January 2003 that Michigan police had uncovered a multistate sex-trafficking ring involving the abduction of midwestern females, some as young as thirteen years old. The criminal network was exposed when a seventeen-year-old girl fl ed into a store in a Detroit, Michigan, strip mall and pleaded with a security guard for assistance. Soon thereafter, her traffickers burst into the store in pursuit. The security guard noted that the girl was battered and terrified, so he thwarted the predators and called in the local police.

The girl informed the police that she had been kidnapped while waiting at a bus stop in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Her captors drove her to Detroit, where she was forced to engage in commercial sex.

The girl subsequently led the police to the house in Detroit where she had been held, and they arrested the leader of the trafficking ring. Upon further investigation, the police learned that the perpetrators had been kidnapping teenage girls for eight years and trafficking them to cities around the Midwest.

The mother of the girl whose escape triggered the bust declared, “The whole thing is unreal—it’s like slavery. They lure and coerce these girls into doing whatever they want. It’s a sick game they are playing with our children.”

For more information about slavery in the USA and a modern day abolitionist in Virginia look at this Not For Sale

time for another wenchie classic cartoon........

Sorry... it's definitely thumbs down for me. I'm done 'birthin' babies', so it's a useless inconvenience at this point.

No kidding.

I started when I was 10 freaking years old. I'll be 50 this summer.

I wish I had all the money I ever spent on tampons. I bet I could buy a house.

I keep hoping stupidly that start early might lead to finish early but I'm 45 now and everything is working fine and has done for 35 years.

Worst thing is way back the first time when I was 10, I didn't understand my mother's explanation, I thought it was a one time thing. I freaked out the second time.

For our " favor" at our Open House we took a picture that we recieved when we actually got the visa approval (all smiles all around), did a really fancy business card and double side taped it to the back of the picture. That way each guest had our change of address, e-mail, phone #'s, blog address etc. and a really nice picture of the two of us. That was our way of staying connected with everyone.

Thought of another nice idea.. Have self addressed stamped "CD-Mailers" available to your guests who have digital cameras on the day, that way they can just burn you a copy and send it off to you without any worries

Thanks for these ideas, the CD one sounds great as at least 2 other couples will be bringing digital cameras and the more pictures we have the better. Cynical old me thinking ahead to AOS.

I also had to work with a very small budget, but I love how our wedding turned out. It was very cultural. A mix of Indian and American.

I don't know if you are going to be decorating tables, but if you are then something fun is to give each table a city's name instead of a number. We named each table with an Indian city since our wedding was incorporating Indian things, and put little info on the tables about that part of India, also with a picture. People seemed to like it. Our head table was named after my husband's birth city.

That sounds like fun, ethnically we're a mix of Scottish/Irish/Kashmiri (me) and Japanese American/Irish American (him).

Maybe as it's a small wedding we could pick a couple of cities from each place and getting pictures online to print out shouldn't be too hard.

There was no skin test for TB during my medical in London last December.

There is no point doing a skin test on a vaccinated population, in fact if you have been vaccinated then the skin test can cause a very nasty reaction, I can only guess the Embassy here is aware of that so doesn't ask for it..