Greg - Andrea

Congratulations guys! Still nothing to report on my end. One can only hope we will see some kind of movement soon.

Fun link to read regarding Soda vs Pop vs Coke vs Fizzy Drink vs Ginger vs Lolly Water

http://tastyresearch.com/2006/10/05/pop-vs-soda-vs-coke/ and another one at http://www.popvssoda.com/

Congratulations!!! Hopefully the NVC/consulate process moves speedily for you two.

When my life fell apart and I moved 2000 miles away from home to start a new life the thing that caught me by surprise the most was agoraphobia. Strange as that sounds, I grew up in a place perpetually surrounded by mountains. Living in a place where the largest physical mass counted as a speed bump back home was quite strange. Took me 4 months to stop looking for the mountains. I missed every holiday and birthday possible during that time because I did not have the money to go home.

Later, when I received the call from my father that he had cancer and needed help I moved back home. I lived on the couch at my grandmothers because I spent every dime I had to move home 9 days later. I was struck by an amazing sense of claustrophobia because the mountains were back and I was no longer used to them. Took me about 2 months to get over that feeling.

With that response i would edit the post to pull it out, but it does not seem like I can anymore... o.O I apologize as I did not intend to offend. If someone can edit the post please feel free.

Hi everyone! I am bit new to VJ so most of you probably haven’t seen me around much. Andrea (my Canadian fiancée) and I will probably have some interesting days like any couple, but I don’t think there will be too much trouble in her moving down here. She has a history of being able to move around without major concern. She lived in Japan by herself for almost a year as well as moved from Prince George to Vancouver on about a weeks notice.

Still I think things will be interesting for her. She is proud of her Canadian heritage, and she loves Canada a lot. She has actually told me that in all her wildest dreams she never thought she would be leaving Canada to live in the US. Let alone moving to Southern California to marry someone working in the movie industry. She really did find one of an American stereotype to fall in love with. I might be taking her to a red carpet premiere next Monday in fact.

Funny thing though… When she first told me she was proud of her Canadian heritage the first thing that came to my mind was “Why?” I know ignorant American and all, but honestly you would be surprised how little is taught about Canada after the early 1800s. It was an honest question. She answered that she was proud that Canadians burned down the white house during the war of 1812. I was flabbergasted having never heard that before. Turns out she was 100% right (which you all know already). We had a good laugh about it.

Also, I wanted to offer advice in regards to the “I gave up everything to [insert verb] [insert noun]” sentiment. Do your absolute best to find another way to express this feeling. Saying that to the person you love devalues not only the place and circumstances in which they live; it also devalues that person and your relationship with them. In addition, you devalue your own thought process and decision making ability. You, the person you love, and your relationship with them deserve better than that.

In the end you chose to come to the states, and your fiancée chose to sponsor you. You both chose to get married to each other. Regardless of the circumstances, the two of you are responsible for your current situation. If that situation becomes untenable, both you will have another choice to make. Do your best to focus on the future and how you and your spouse with overcome this challenge together. There will be many more to come, and it is likely how you handle this one will lay the groundwork for future rough patches in your relationship. Use the situation to bring both you closer instead of allowing it to come between you.

Congratulations Zaskar! Still nothing on this end though I have nearly everything gathered for the next step. This whole hurry up and wait thing is maddening.

Anybody get good news today?

I feel you Barron. I hear patience is a virtue. I am not sure the person who said that was living in a separate country from the person they loved.

The pre-adjudication stage was information that my lawyer was able to get out of them after something like 2.5 hours of being on the phone with them. Not entirely certain how they did it other than being very very persistent and having a law firm back them up.

Grats to everyone getting their approvals! Still nothing on this end though... Boo.

My math puts it at 14-20 or so days to the consulate. Vancouver consulate is averaging 34-46 days from receipt until interview over the last 90 days (and its trending downward at the moment). This means 48-66 days from NOA2 the interview should happen. If that happened today it would be November 10 - Dec 2 for the interview and approval. Thanksgiving is Nov 27. It is possible albeit less and less likely with each passing day without NOA2 approval.

Still waiting on our NOA2 as well. Last touched June 17th. Getting a bit anxious because I would love to have her here for Thanksgiving to introduce her to my whole family. We shall see though.

So I had the lawyer call the USCIS today to see if he would have any luck getting information on our case... Here is what the agent on the phone said:

She also stated that your petition is currently in the pre-adjudication area, and has completed the “mailroom stage”, ‘tracking stage” and “automated system” stage.

That kinda sounds like we are in the batters box... I guess that is a good thing.

On a sad note here is some other information the agent shared...

Greg, the agent mentioned that they expect a backlog due to “reassigning of agents” as a result of economy and adjustments thereto. She did state, however, that they are implementing “innovative measures” to keep deadlines, and thereby maintain their prestige and commitment to us.

Hmmm... Nothing in writing, no notice from the attorney, and no updates on the USCIS website.

I have been wondering about this myself... I have a list of the 500+ phone calls we have made to each other, and I also have over 700 pages of chatlog. I debating bringing the entire chat log (with some redaction) to the interview just to remove all doubt. But that seems like over kill and may be interpreted as trying to hard.

My problem is that my fiancee and I are not picture people. In the year we have been together there are probably less than 10 pictures of us together. We also don't email each other that often. However, we talk every single day using skype chat and voice.

So overkill in one to make up for a lack in another?

Here is hoping everyone in June is handled by the end of September. I wonder if the case officer has access to the web tracking system. I typo-ed my name when created my profile, and I see no where to fix it. Hopefully that isn't a problem.

Perhaps my high priced (some have said over priced) lawyer was worth it in the end? lol

Presumptuous? Not really... Following the current VJ estimate puts the NOA2 around Sept 23rd or 24th. The 15th is only 8-9 days before that. It would not be stretch to estimate a little if the agent in question recognized that the volume of new apps was lower in late june/july/early august. Or perhaps they added new staff recently to get through things quicker? That might explain the speed gain of a week or so.

Sept 15th seems close enough to other estimates to be plausible though. Either way it appears that the CSC is getting through apps relatively quickly these days. Which is good for all of us.

Hello everyone! First time poster, but this seemed like a good place to start. Got our paperwork filed on June 17th and the NOA1 was on June 18th. Actual hard copy was in hand on the 22nd. Haven't really seen any motion on this yet other than that.

However, my lawyer got in touch with the USCIS and was told that we should hear something by September 15th. That comment was made a couple days ago. Hopefully that is good news for everyone here.