sciencenerd

You mean "dissenting" opinions surely... and the adjective you're looking for is not fear - it's disdain.
Unreasonable fear and unreasonable hatred are more or less the same - Kip simply can't explain in rational terms why he doesn't like homosexuality other than it somehow makes him feel funny. If that's reasonable in your book, well...
They are fictional characters, not living people. They are whatever the writers of the show want them to be.

Wasn't disgusting to the Greeks or Romans, the founders of Western Civilization.

A petition of 900 is not going to be taken very seriously.
Blatant homophobia should be called out for what it is.

What's risky about going to Hawaii without AP??

3 hours and 15 minutes after her appointment, she called me and told me PINK!
So happy right now. I will post a review tomorrow after I get the full story from her about what happened. The only thing I know so far is that she saw pink already when she went to the window, and they asked her alot of questions.
Good night VJers, I wish you all the best of luck on your journeys.

Abandonment does count in some cases and I think this one qualifies.
Who is an Orphan?
Under U.S. immigration law, an orphan is a foreign-born child who:
does not have any parents because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents
OR
has a sole or surviving parent who is unable to care for the child, consistent with the local standards of the foreign sending country, and who has, in writing, irrevocably released the child for emigration and adoption
The chldren have long been abandoned/deserted by their biological parents.

Wow Kunleseun....I am speechless about your coldhearted reply. To call children "rubbish " because they are not his biological children is way over the top and downright cruel and uncalled for.
Is it their fault that their mother lied ? What will become of them having a mother "no longer in the picture" and now losing the only father figure they have ever known ? I want to say things to you but that would get the thread locked and me banned so I will sit on my hands instead.
I don't know if adoption would be an option. I doubt it, not after the fact of petitioning. It could very well be possible for him to be looked at suspiciously now like he knew they weren't his and he tried to sneak in family or a friend's children. Lagos is like that and it happens enough for DNA to be requested. So sorry you are all going through this. Try Marc Ellis, he is a member here on VJ and a good attorney. You will need one. Get a phone consultation and then decide what you will do next. I have read before that if children would lose their care taker then it is unlikely that a visa would be granted to the care taker, father, mother or guardian. I hope someone who may have gone through this will respond. May God bless your journey.

I just posted on the Off Topic forum about how to improve the Immigration process. I guess this is a good place as any to throw my ideas on the wall and see if they stick:
For the fraud part, the problem is no matter what you put in place people will always find a way to circumvent the system, if you want something bad enough you can lie, cheat, and steal your way into it. If you set a time constraint on the relationship, you'll weed out the weaker players, but the rest will just wait patiently until their time comes. I spent 9 years overseas and I can't tell you how many Sailors would meet these young ladies in foreign ports and spend months, sometimes years corresponding with them, only to marry them and find out the hard way they were had.
For the legitimate lovers, maybe a 6 month requirement of actual dating time(pictures together, email, chat, and phone log). But the problem is if you don't have the funds to travel over to the fiance's country or vice versa, it will hurt you in the long run.
USCIS: I don't know what their procedures are over there, but they need to be revamped to become more effecient. There is no excuse as to why an I-130 or I-129 should take longer than 3 months tops. Hell security clearances don't take this long. If there is something in either of your background that requires that much screening, the petetioner should be notified by letter/email detailing what the problem is and if/when it can be resolved. Also they should have something in-place that spouses can get a temporary visa to visit their SO. Visitor visas aren't %100 and a waste of money if you apply for one and get denied. And if they grant this temp spouse visa, don't allow the AOS to happen until they get their CR1, that will negate anyone coming over and automatic applying for it. This way couples can spend time with each other, make the visa 3 months max, I'd rather have that than nothing at all. Also if they come on the temp visa, hold both of them responsible for the return of the FN, impose a hefty fine on the petitoner and a ban on the spouse for 5 years if they overstay. Make sure they can't get a SSN or work permit until they are given a CR1, this will make working or living harder over here if they do decide to scam, and the petetioner will try a bit harder to make sure they aren't caught in this mess as to not pay the fine or get into trouble down the line if they have to petetion someone else later.
I've seen horror stories of relationships/marriages falling apart because the first step takes +2 years to complete. I know love is eternal and you should be with the person you love for all time, but we are all human and have basic needs for affection and itimacy. And in that time the spouse can't see their loved ones because they can't get a visitor visa and the PT can't get vacation time off. How back logged can you be to take that much time to approve a petetion? They say we need jobs in America, hire some more people to get the job done.
Last thought: the interview process should be dual-hatted, to weed out fraud AND to make sure the relationship is real. Some of these embassy seem to have the first part down pat, they have forgotten about the second part. I don't care how much you love someone, if someone is grilling you relentlessly, you will flub, and if you fail because of this then you are that much longer apart.....

I have to say that one thing that concerns me about this suggestion brainstorm is that as petitioners and beneficiaries, we have only a small slice of the relevant data. Here are some questions to which we'd need to know the answers before suggesting solutions:
1) What percentage of cases are fraudulent? What percentage of cases being fraudulent is within acceptable limits?
2) Of the cases that are fraudulent, how many of them are cases where the U.S. citizen is aiding and abetting the fraud? How many are cases where the U.S. citizen has been taken advantage of?
3) What is common to the fraudulent cases? (I believe that the most common use of the marriage visa is for people who actually have ties to the "home country", e.g., a first-generation American marries a girl from his parents' country of origin. Are these more or less likely to be fraudulent than the stereotypical mail-order-bride marriage?) What factors can be identified before the visa is granted?
4) What percentage of removal of conditions are granted via a) VAWA or b) self-petition? (No need to close down this option and make life more difficult for legitimate immigrants if it's not a source of fraud.)
5) How many of the fraudulent cases required co-sponsors?
Here I think most of us are at sea with no data. It'd be like trying to make recommendations on how to make McDonald's more profitable when all you know is that you ate a Big Mac once and really like the fries.
I have to say in general I'm wary of anything that ups the costs on someone who already is here with conditional residency. First is the potential for abuse of the immigrant who finds him or herself in a bad situation, and I don't think that can be discounted (especially since VAWA isnt' the cakewalk some believe). Second, I suspect that in an open society like we have, anything that happens after the person is here is disproportionately likely to be a huge pain in the #### for those doing it legitimately (it makes me sick to think that under these brainstormed proposals, I would have a whole 'nother year to prove that my relationship is legitimate) without actually reducing fraud.
Honestly, I think that what would probably help is more funding. More funding = more time to be spent with each petition, more ability to do home visits, &c in the places that are high fraud, more review. I'd rather see that before a more onerous process.

For people who came in on K-1 visas, you can get AOS approved without interview potentially - it seems mostly random whether you get an interview or not. If you are adjusting from a different visa (ex: tourist), you have to have an interview.

HOAs are the devil.....
Though, you make a choice to live there and abide by their rules.
As wrong as I think they are... you didn't have to move there.

It's 180 days in 1 stay, so you don't need to add up the 2 stays. As you know, it's always up to the border agent whether to let you in, but you're not overstaying if you stay less than 180 days each time you stay (not including your current situation since now you have a B-2 visa and an overstay would start the date that expires).

I'm pretty sure that you can't pull your I-864 once a green card has been issued. She is a conditional *permanent* resident - that means she has a green card and the OP is on the hook for that until she either permanently leaves the country, gets 40 credits of work, or dies. You can't pull the I-864 during conditional permanent residence any more than you can after the conditions are removed.

I'm pretty sure that you can't pull your I-864 once a green card has been issued. She is a conditional *permanent* resident - that means she has a green card and the OP is on the hook for that until she either permanently leaves the country, gets 40 credits of work, or dies. You can't pull the I-864 during conditional permanent residence any more than you can after the conditions are removed.

New York. There is no place on earth quite like it. Way to go!

Passed 33-29.
Equality: 1
Bigotry: 0

Someone with more public health knowledge than you unfortunately.

Who hasn't committed a crime and not got caught?

As Kathryn and Jim have already told you: filing for AOS in your situation is totally safe, saver than having sex with 2 condoms, actually.
You can renew your Russian passport in the US, easily, but only once you have received your Green Card. Why? Because only Russians can get a Russian passport and if a Russian becomes a US citizen, she is no Russian anymore, even if she holds a Russian passport. For that reason you would have to prove to the Russian Consulate that you are not a US citizen, which is what you do with a Green Card. Otherwise you would have to get information based on the Freedom of Information Act and that takes longer than a whole pregnancy.
So don't worry, file for AOS, and once you have your Green Card, go and get a new Russian passport at your own pace.

You don't have to prove anything. It's quite the reverse, and even then it's not sufficient grounds to deny AOS.
There was a time, long ago, when INS (the predecessor to USCIS) would routinely deny adjustment of status if they suspected that the intending immigrant entered the US with the preconceived intent to immigrate. That changed with several BIA and court decisions. Preconceived intent is still a serious negative factor, but it's not serious enough to deny AOS for an immediate relative of a US citizen. They would only deny AOS if they had proof that an intending immigrant had preconceived intent, and that they lied about their intent to an immigration officer.
Again, the intending immigrant does not need to prove that they didn't have a preconceived intent to immigrate.

Topic has been moved from Tourist Visa forum to Adjustment of Status from Work, Student & Tourist Visas as a more appropriate location for this discussion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moderator hat off now . RussianAmerican, first of all, welcome to Visa Journey. Second, as ValerieA mentioned your circumstances are such that you are perfectly fine getting married and remaining in the US to adjust your status and become a permanent resident of the US without having to leave the US. Applying for a CR-1 visa is a visa that will allow the spouse of a US citizen who is outside of the US to enter the US as a permanent resident. Since you are already in the US, had no intentions of getting married and remaining in the US when you last entered and your visa is currently valid, it is perfectly legal for you to get married and adjust your status from within the US. In fact, this thread is now in the forum devoted especially to that very situation. You don' t need to pursue a CR-1 visa unless your circumstances require you to leave the US before you get a green card.
You should know that if you chose to follow this option you cannot leave the US and use this option again. If you leave the US you will need to pursue a CR-1 visa to return as any future entries to the US would imply intent to remain as you are now married to a US citizen. Once you are married you are also not able to leave the US until one of two things happens - you receive your green card (Permanent Resident status) OR you apply for and receive special travel permission known as Advance Parole that will allow you to leave and return to the US while waiting for your a decision on your green card.
You should be able to renew your Russian passport through the Russian Embassy or a Consulate if you are still in the US when it expires. You may wish to ask about how to do that in the Russian, Ukraine and Belarus Regional Forum http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/98-russia-ukraine-and-belarus/ where other Russian American couples exchange information specific to their situations.
Good luck to you and congratulations on your engagement.

That link is for a different scenario than yours - that person was NOT currently in the US.
What you are thinking of doing is fine. Here is the AOS guide, with all the steps you need to take:
AOS
Do NOT leave the US until you have at least the Advanced Parole. Apply for AOS as soon as you have your marriage certificate; someone else will surely chime in with current processing times, but I expect that it is still 3-4 months.

Yes, it's meant to be carried, as proof of your immigration status.
I never carried mine (far too valuable to loose and a PITA to replace). Now it's not a problem because I don't need it anymore
I'd definitely carry it if you're anything other than caucasian and live in some state like AZ.

Alberta still has no PST, so they're down to just the 5% now. It was 7% last time I lived there and that's still the lowest sales tax I've ever had to pay as a resident in either country.
A lot of people argue against a health care system like Canada's in the USA. I'd guess the truth can be a little inconvenient when making that arguement. That's why rhetoric tends to work better.

Canada doesn't have a 15% sales tax, Quebec does. Actually it's 13.5%.
Imagine how convincing your arguments might be if you could actually get your facts straight?