CoffeeMuse

CoffeeMuse - is that the place in Aldie, Va?

I didn't know it was called Aldie but yes, thats the store:

http://www.thebritishpantry.us/

Its not far from where I currently live in the Chantilly/Mannassas area west of Fairfax and Washington DC. The woman who run's the store is from Scottland and is an expat who married an American and has been here some 20 years. She did say the store would be moving to Alexandria VA were she was already planning on opening a bigger store like that.

My fiancee is from way up north in the UK and when she was visiting northern Virginia (Washington DC metro area) we found a place here called the British Pantry. They can get food items including the HP brown sauce - so it's nice to know we can have access to important things like that. I imagine it's a little more different for those UK folks immigrating out into the sticks or a "back water" part of the US where the cultural and geographical differences are more stark.

In the case of both me and my fiancee, weather is an important factor. Extreem cold affects us both negatively but in different ways. I grew up in northern California where the weather is hot and dry and winters are very mild. However, I lived for the past 15-20 years in upstate New York (Rochester and most recently Syracuse) and the winters are long, bitter and snowy there. Due to some changes in my life I have moved to northern Virginia and the winters are a bit milder here, very little snow typically.

As for food, its an adventure. I love many different kinds and I've sound so far that what she makes is similar enough to what we eat here. In the DC area there is a huge ethnic diversity so you can get just about anything.

People have been mentioning American food, but what I think I've managed to get my English fiancee hooked on is Mexican food! Yum! I don't know if it helps or not, but I'm not stuck out in a tiny back water town and I've been to many places and countries so hopefully that will help my Geordie hinny adapt to this crazy place!

Ah sorry, I misread the title then. Perhaps England and the US are truly two nations separated by a common language. =P

*backs slowly out of the thread*

Two things to this thread, I KNOW it is a lighthearted thread, so please don't get angry with me for being a little more serious with this question:

1) My ex-husband was such a complete and total jerk to me for so many years, I don't think much of anything Rob could do would ever compare.

2) Rob and I have a mutual friend named Scott. We've known Scott for over 4 years. Scott and I talk on a pretty regular basis, as he is a wonderful person and a great friend. He's been married the entire time I've known him, and has two precious children with his wife. Aside from the fact that they are both completely wonderful people, the thing I adore most about Scott is this:

In four + years, not once, not ever have I heard him say a single bad thing about his wife. Not once. He never has anything but positive things to say about her. He found his dream woman, and they are living a dream together.

I've spent time watching the relationships of others around me, and I have to tell you, Scott has one of the best I have ever seen and I generally think it is a mutual respect they have for each other. They don't pick at each other, degrade each other, or try and "fix" each other. I HATE watching it when people are mean to each other.

Sometimes the little things are the things that end up breaking up marriages. Don't waste precious moments together in your lives arguing over silly things or trying to change one another.

I am going to add the Optomists Creed in here, and underline a line of it I have had to chant over and over to myself on occassion.

I promise myself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.

To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet.

To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

- Christian D. Larson

+1

I have to agree with the spirit of the above post. I'm not really sure of what good can come from a complaint topic about your fiancee/spouse topic other than to stir the pot of discontent which may some day lead to the disolution of the relationship. Or is that misery loves company? If people are that miserable with their significant other, they may need to re-evaluate the relationship altogether.

Oh my, looks like I need to update my siggy - busted!

Oh the clock ticks so slowly!

Hey twinks! <3

The checklist asks for "the original documents or certified copies listed in Instructions for Immigrant Visa Applicants". They want the originals OR A CERTIFIED COPY of all the documents for the person applying for the visa, not the petitioner. USCIS has already said that they believe the relationship to be genuine, and the CO at the embassy is much more concerned about the evidence your fiance is bringing, such as HER birth certificate (which can be a certified copy), HER police certificate, and your support for the I-134, which can all be certified copies. The London embassy doesn't care about your original birth certificate or divorce decree.

Ok, thank you! That clears things up and makes sense. Thats good. I went ahead and sent a color scan of my birth certificate in leui of the original, and one of my two photocopies of the I-129F since it had never been sent with my Fiancee, along with the I-134 and supporting documents. Its away and winging to the UK.

Well, I'll fill out the form as necessary but my common sense reading of the question was that it was intended for those sponsering family members or relatives etc etc who may need financial support and/or housing until they establish themselves.

This is for a K1. I have checked "I intend" and simply put "all expenses as necessary". It is difficult to put any specifics down as when you marry someone it is integrated into your own living costs (ie, housing, meals, etc)

It makes no sense. Why have the option to check one or the other? Obviously the purpose it to support, but in this case if you read the details it asks for you to give specific ammounts in US dollars etc. It seems if it is for a fiancee, then the duration is for life.

I have a question regarding the I-134 forum. Question 11 states "I __ intend __ do not intend to make specific contributions to support of the person(s) named in item 3.

It appears that question 11 is aimed at those sponsering family members or relatives etc, and not a fiancee. Therefore, I should check X for I do not intend to make specific contributions... because the affidavit is in support of the person I intend to marry and live with and support as a spouse. Is that the correct understanding of this?

Hi,

I'm sending my info to England for my fiancee's interview coming up at the end of the month. The checklist of what to send after the I-129F is approved says send all originals of documentary proof submitted for the I-129F. I PDF'd and sent the entire copy of the I-129 packet and will send a hard copy of one of the photocopies. But the original I-129F went to the USCIS naturally.

The items I used as evidence were birth certificate, photocopies of our passports, first 3 pages of my divorce decree showing the dates, judgement by the judge, his signature etc and also itinerary, photo's and some plane ticket boarding passes. All that was accepted by the USCIS. Here is the thing, if I send my original birth certificate, it would be difficult to replace that should it be lost in the mail or later, and my passport obviously I need that here. I can send a color photocopy of my birth certificate as I need it to replace my missing social security card here in northern Virginia. I just hate to send my only copy of my original birth certificate that some how I have managed to never lose in my 51 years! Is it really critical to send the original birth certificate? Also my divorce decree is like 25 pages and it looks no different than a photocopy other than a colored court clerk stamp on the back side of the 3rd page signed by the judge. Comments?

That fee increase is huge. It is like triple from what I understand. In this current economy that seems like gouging, but it looks like there is no choice in the matter.

I noticed that the I-134 form currently available shows expiration of 5/31/10, but my fiancee will probably have her inteview scheduled in July. I assume that form I will fill out and send her for her interview so that will be after 5/31/10. I know what I will be putting down on the current form but if it changes, how will I know what will be valid starting in June? I won't be dealing with the Phillipines but this is a US form and since I found this discussion thought I would ask.

I received notice dated Feb 4 that the State Dept NVC recently received an approved I-129F petition filed on behalf of my fiancee.

My fiancee received her notice that the US Embassy in London has received received an approved petition in support of her and she was instructed to go to websites and read instructions and download forms to fill out etc etc. How much time does she have? There is very little in the letter she received Feb 11 in term information. My approval notice states its valid from 01/20/2010 to 05/20/2010. But my fiancee's letter lists no dates. Does she have until May 20, 2010 to get all her forms in and her medical and interview?

My fiancee is just after step 8 labeled "Forms and Checklist sent to Beneficiary

Forms and Checklist sent to foreign Beneficiary (Fiance/e)." in the K1 Process Flowchart.

Hi,

I have already sent my initial I-129 application and received the NOA1 fairly quickly. I am still looking for work. If I need more time to get the work/financial situation improved before I send in the Afficavit of support, what is the expected time on that and can that be extended if need be. I don't want to have to apply a second time say next year some time.

Yes to both questions, it states in I-129F and AOS instructions you need thos things. For AOS how else are you supposed to prove you got married so you can file for AOS if you do not supply a copy of your marriage certificate.

In the guides I am only seeing final divorce decree OR certificates, can anyone clarify for me please. Unles I am reading it wrong

That is all I saw, if divorced, need proof of divorce. In my case I sent the first three pages of my divorce decree, the part with all the relevant information making it clear I was granted a legal divorce, the date it was granted and the judges signature etc.

I just submitted my I-129F and all I could see is that they want to make sure you are legally able to marry - ie single or legally divorced. If you are legally divorced, they want proof. I supplied the 1st 3 pages of my divorce degree which had all the important information (dates, actual decree and judges signature, RJI# etc). I had my brothe-in-law, who is an immigration lawyer eyeball the entire thing to make sure it was complete and he thought that was sufficient.

It sure doesn't seem a Mexican law would be binding in the US. If you have a document from Mexico showing legal divorce is final, I would think a US Town Hall would accept that as status to be able to marry in the US. I would certainly try to check this out in another city to see what they say based strictly on the divorce document you have (although it may state somewhere in the doc that in Mexico you are not able to marry for one year following the divorce final date). Again, it makes no sense that a law in another country would be binding here, although the US does recognize marriages from abroad I would think as binding here. But I'd check in another town.

i have another concern with my K1 application. i'm worried that they might think my pictures were not taken within 2 yrs of meeting my fiance. what happened was i was so happy to be with my fiance that i didn't even think of setting my digital cam to have dates on the pictures we were taking. it totally slipped my mind. and now i'm concerned that this might be a problem. all i did was i wrote the dates on the back of the pictures. is anyone in the same situation as i am or has someone gone through the same situation? help =(

You'll be fine, as others have suggested. Your evidence submitted should all together, tell the story.

For us, we met in Kiev. We had passport stamps and train and airplane passes with the Ukraine stamp. We had an apartment lease in my name and we had pictures of us in Kiev. I submitted copies of the photo and information pages of our passports to place the name with the faces in the pictures. We had a pizza delivery receipt in her name. I had currency exchange receipts. All together, it was obvious that we met in Kiev.

Now for your proof of an ongoing relationship for the interview, submit similar evidence. How do you correspond, what do you talk about, what photos do you exchange, gifts sents and receipts and photos of the other one with the gift.......again, everything put together should "tell the story".

Agree'd, although I didn't keep much documentation such as receipts etc. I did fly through London and on to northern England last December but didn't keep any of that minutea (I probably should have). Just passport customs stamp, airline boarding passes and a photo of us together. Minimal but hopefully sufficient. Pretty much the same for later visits, airline boarding passes when she came to visit me, visa waiver, pictures together in front of prominent recognizable places such as the Washington Monument and the Capitol Reflecting Pond with the Capitol building in the background. For ongoing, just email logs.

These days with instant messaging, voice over internet, the traditional letters and stuff we don't have. I explained that in my statement sent with my K1 package today, that I have an email log (list of all emails sent and received) but even that got sparse in the past 5 months since we rely on other, undocumented means of communications.

Add/Edit your Timeline

Best wishes for a speedy journey!

moving to K-1 Progress Reports...

I just sent mine out today, certified mail at the Fairfax County Post Office here in Virginia. Off it goes!

I need to fix up a timeline too. =D

Just a quick question,

I am filing for the I-129F For the K1 Fiancee Visa. I need to provide them with details of our meeting along with proof or documents of relationship. I have a number of pictures to send, however some of them are my only copies which I would not want to lose. Is it ok if I photo copy some instead of sending my single original copies? Or should I only send originals?

Thanks so much

Are they old fashioned film copies? All the picture I took from the beginning were with a digital camera so there is no such thing as an "original photo". If you have a film photo, do you not have a negative and a print? With negatives you can have more prints made. If you only have the original paper print, and no negative, you could have it scanned and then you have a digital copy which you can print as many times as you want.

I submitted prints which I made on my personal color printer with glossy paper. I simply plugged in the camer memory stick and printed 4x6 photo's that look same as the old fashioned kind you got from the photo developers. Thats what I sent. Labeled the backs of them with dates, names and locations.

i have another concern with my K1 application. i'm worried that they might think my pictures were not taken within 2 yrs of meeting my fiance. what happened was i was so happy to be with my fiance that i didn't even think of setting my digital cam to have dates on the pictures we were taking. it totally slipped my mind. and now i'm concerned that this might be a problem. all i did was i wrote the dates on the back of the pictures. is anyone in the same situation as i am or has someone gone through the same situation? help =(

Well, my digital photo's don't have dates printed on them either. My camera has a date and time set in it, but it doesn't show up on the prints. I did go to my computer and held the mouse over the picture file and it showed me the date the photo was taken and it looked correct based on the dates we saw each other. I think its difficult to use pictures (if you think about it) to conclusively prove the dates you were together; after all you can set the date on the camera to anything you like if you wanted to "forge" the date. That is why I used pictures together with photocopies of my airline boarding pass, my passport stamp at customs and my airline itinerary to show that I actually flew to England on such and such dates and was stamped in there etc.

I did label my picture of our first meeting trip, but its just what I wrote on it. I can see why that wouldn't be called "primary" evidence. Probably the airline boarding passes together with passport customs stamps etc would be considered primary evidence. As my brother in law put it, they want to be pretty sure this isn't a sham relationship and you really did meet. Pictures of you together show you met, other things together with it show dates (ie within last 2 years). And ongoing relationship if more trips have been made (like in my case).

I am sending my K1 packet today after going to Kinko's to have 2 copies made. I had my brother in law proof read it for typo's, and completeness and my sister also. They are both lawyers, and my sister works for the Veterans Administration so she made some helpful suggestions like make sure photo's are taped to 8.5x11" paper and use a clip to hold the whole package together. She said govt office folks don't like small things spilling out on their desk. So its all clipped and pictures attached to pages etc. Should be good.

Your photos should be in a clear plastic baggie with your name on yours and your fiances name on hers and then stapled to a plain white piece of paper with the words "Photo of .........." written on it.

I thought I read that here somewhere in VJ.

I didnt think they wanted them taped down because they may have to remove them and if they are taped the pics could get ripped.

JMHO,

Malarie

The passport style photo's are in little ziplock bags which my brother-in-law provided when he proof read my I-129F package because he uses the same thing to process work immigration Visa's for companies (not a family immigration lawyer). He said he staples his to the G-325 forms which he also uses for the work visa clients (and he sends 4 copies of the G-325), so thats what I did and how I mailed it. Maybe I should have used blank pages to staple them but well, I just sent the package certified mail so its out and gone!

The pictures I included in the section for purposes of proof that I have met my fiancee in person in the last two years and have an ongoing relationship, those pictures I wrote dates, names, locations etc. on the backs of the pictuers and taped them to 8.5x11 white sheets of paper which I also hand labeled with the same information (so its next to each picture and on the back of each picture. My lawyer sister suggested I tape the "meeting" photo's to a sheet of paper so the reviewer could lift and see whats written on the back. Anyway, my brother-in-law who handles similar cases for work Visa's thinks my package (as it was assembled) should be fine.

I am sending my K1 packet today after going to Kinko's to have 2 copies made. I had my brother in law proof read it for typo's, and completeness and my sister also. They are both lawyers, and my sister works for the Veterans Administration so she made some helpful suggestions like make sure photo's are taped to 8.5x11" paper and use a clip to hold the whole package together. She said govt office folks don't like small things spilling out on their desk. So its all clipped and pictures attached to pages etc. Should be good.

Good, I want to be "solid" and have sufficient "proof" but nice to get some feed back. I could have more, but I don't have a great deal more. I don't have the boarding passes and itinerary for the 2nd trip on hand, but that can be provided later. I do have more pictures but I'm providing what seems sufficient to prove for at least 2 of the 3 times since fall of 2008. Pictures for the middle visit only. And other than that documentation, I have a log of emails and not much more. Most of our "ongoing contact" has been through instant messaging and voice over internet service that lets you talk with a microphone, and some private messaging. There is a pretty long email log, but the last 3 or 4 months its sparse because of the other methods of communication.