Tex'n'Brit

I really used to pine for decent british wholemeal bread that isn't sickly sweet. Why oh why does virtually every foodstuff here have to have tons of sugar or syrup added??? Anyway, I did go to Wholefoods a few times and spent a fortune there. However, a while ago I discovered that our local (and other branches of) Albertsons started to offer a few bakery style breads at their bakery counter. They're uncut loaves and nearly european! We often get a Wheat French loaf because it's not too sweet, it's quite cheap and there might be a bit of roughage in there somewhere too, but mostly because they sell hot at around 4pm every day - I do LOVE hot fresh bread!

All the best,

Sheila

Been there, done that, had no problems in either direction, BTW, I had my ticket in my married name just to complicate matters. Most people would probably choose to use the name that matches the passport, however, either option is absolutely fine with American Airlines at least, as long as you do as pilot's girl advised and make sure you take the original marriage certificate on the trip, and as long as the certificate shows both your names on it ... The check in agents simply made a note of the details on their computer when I checked in each time. I would suggest checking with your prospective airline as to their particular preference on that issue though.

Have a great time!

All the best,

Sheila

Welcome 'n' good luck with your decision-making!

All the best,

Sheila

Welcome to you and

Thanks!

All the best,

Sheila

My wife graduated from a college in peru in hotel & restraunt administration. They honor her degree here but cant seem to find a job that pays anything in that area. I don't know maybe its because she is a recent immigrant or what.

Unfortunately the hotel and restaurant industry is notorious for offering long hours and low pay all over the world. I have a similar background to your wife and I got out of hotels because of those two reasons.

Now I'm here in the US my darling hubby doesn't mind what, or if, I chose to earn money myself I still can't decide what kind of work to look for yet, or whether to go back to learning something new ... Of course I'll run out of my own exported money sometime or another and I don't want to have to rely totally on Kyle's money, even though he always says it's 'ours' now, bless him. So I'm pretty sure I will get my ### into gear one of these days. Still, right now I'm enjoying the luxury of just being married to him and not worrying about work.

All the best,

Sheila

Well, there was no response from anyone about various smilies not working properly, but not to worry - all of the animations seem to be working this morning! I don't think I changed anything myself, so if you did fix something ... thank you! I would very much like to know if you did find something wonky ???

Anyway ...

All the best,

Sheila

Hi there,

Sorry - I made a mistake ... when I open the small smilie list window that shows the complete list of available smilies, it does show the images - I just hadn't expanded the window enough ... but the same animation problem shows up there.

All the best,

Sheila

Actually the priced dropped when they changed things by £20.00!!!! LOL Medical is now done by knightsbridge drs who have 2 surgeries in London. It is still possible to do medical and interview on the same day but it would take some arranging and you wouldnt be able to get your visa immediately as they would have to wait for the medical results which take about 4 day.

Adele

That is absolutely right!!!

Wow - I'm amazed to read that the price has actually gone down a bit again. That's good news. Of course it would be even better if 'they' found a surgery that was able to process the medical in a matter of hours like the old place (pre-April '05) used to do. Being able to combine the medical and interview in one day makes so much more sense. It wasn't a huge issue for me because I lived fairly close to London, but I would still have preferred not to have had to make two trips ... Still, 'That's progress', I guess.

All the best,

Sheila

Hi there,

I really need some technical assistance.

I'm having trouble with the animated smilies on VJ.com ...

Everyone's animated avatars and signature gifs are all working fine.

Some of the smilies in the posts - , , , , , , , , , , and - are still working.

None of the other smilies move anymore. I realise only some are supposed to be animated - These ones - , , , , , for example, all used to move. Plus, when I open the small smilie list window that shows the complete list of available smilies, it shows the typing required but doesn't show the actual smilies themselves next to each 'word' like it used to.

It seems very odd to me that some smilies still move and yet some have stopped. I don't believe it's anything I've done - I hadn't installed anything new before this problem cropped up. So I'm asking you to see if there's anything at all that may have changed at your end. I am probably clutching at straws, but it's really bugging me now.

FYI - I use XP (with SP2) and Firefox browser v1.5.0.3 and couldn't find anything in either program that might have changed. I also tried IE and had the same problem. I also use ZoneAlarm's free version, so I tried upgrading it to the Pro version which allows you to change the settings to allow VisaJourney to use cookies, pop-ups and animations ... but that didn't help. I also tried just disabling it - nothing made any difference.

Please can you have a think ... I've tried searching online and haven't come up with any solutions.

If you can help me sort it out I would be very grateful - it's very puzzling and irritating not to be able to fix it.

All the best,

Sheila

" ... appearancing to be resident ..." appearancing?? Oh well, I guess you probably got the gist anyway!

All the best,

Sheila

I don't see any problem with him coming over for the summer. I believe he can stay here for 6 months on his passport (no he can't work).

If he leaves the country and comes back, the time will start over.

My husband and I did the same thing. I lived in England last summer (I'm a teacher) so we could be together for a longer period of time. It was great to have that time together and for me to be able to live over there.

Good luck!

I would say if you can do it financially, then go for it!

Sweet Defiance-Your fiance has to leave the country by 6 months. He cannot over extend his visit. If they find out, he will be forced to leave and that could jeopardize the process.

I don't know if it's different coming over to the US (than it is going to England), but I never had any trouble coming back and forth. They asked how long I'd be staying, and I told them 3 months. They asked why and I explained that we are engaged and I have the summers off due to being a teacher. No more questions were asked.

I think your fiance can just explain that he has a few months off work and is coming to spend time with you.

I'm afraid the OP is right - the UK>USA VWP is only good for 90 days, of course the USC can visit the UK for 120 days if they want to ... needless to say it's not fair, but that's just the way it is. Plus it's important to note that one can't spend more than 6 months out of any 12 in the US unless one wants potential problems with appearancing to be resident.

I would suggest you think about booking for a shorter visit and then changing the ticket once the fiancee's got into the US. I did that quite a few times actually - being self employed I could stay for longer than the average. I did get some grief from the POE staff the last time, but I still got in OK.

Just a new angle to consider...

All the best,

Sheila

Hi All,

I was wondering when would be a good time to have my wife's name changed on her passport to her new married name? I am a little apprehensive to do it before her AOS interview because the passport has to physically be mailed to the Thai embassy in Los Angeles, have the name changed, then be mailed back to us. I am just afraid that if it were to get lost in the mail, God forbid, and we weren't able to get it back before her interview, some problems could arrise. I guess my question is this: At what point in the immigration process have you had this done?

Thanks,

Evan

Hi there,

Well, your wife can't travel to a foreign country until she has her 'Green Card' anyway (unless she has an AP document of course), so there's no rush. If I were you, I wouldn't do anything about it until after the AOS appointment, at the earliest. Actually your wife can probably still use her current passport to travel, when the time comes ... The most important thing to remember if your wife wants to travel after getting her 'Green Card' (or an AP document, of course) but before changing her passport is that she must take as long as she takes your original marriage certificate too, assuming it shows both her names on it. Having said that, I would check with the relevant country's policies regarding the passport name issue. American Airlines between USA-UK - for example - don't mind what combination of names you use on the ticket and passport, as long as you have a valid passport and the original marriage certificate with you to cross reference each other. Most people would probably get tickets in the name that matches their passport, but I got tickets in my married name and it caused no problems at all because I had my marriage certificate too.

So ... I got married in October '05, got my 'Green Card' in April '06 and flew back to the UK a few weeks later. I still haven't changed my passport yet. The fact is I'm cheap - it's practically new and I hate having to fork out for a replacement until it's absolutely unavoidable!

All the best,

Sheila

When I travelled with my Advance Parole it was in my married name. My Passport and tickets were in my old name. I didnt have any trouble with the airline and I am using the same one again. They looked at my AP quite casually on leaving the UK. I guess at the POE they can look on the computer anyway and check your status, I am sure previous name details are shown there.

I am worried about letting my Passport out of my hands for renewal incase I have to travel in an emergency (I have an elderly mother).

Also does it matter that the new one wouldnt show my dates of entry to the US etc and my K1 visa?

it shouldn't matter at all - your K1 is irrelevant now that you're married anyway. When re-entering the US, the POE staff are more interested in your AP or Green Card, and you're right, they have got the records available if they want to check. Travelling through non-US airports, the security staff are checking the passport is yours and is still valid for travel. If in doubt however, take your old passport and marriage certificate along for the ride too!

All the best,

Sheila

Does this make sense to anyone?

Hi there,

Well, in theory it's more or less right, but conflicting advice. The getting married and filing after entering using the VWP does seem to be a risky option to take. The lawyer did at least stress that you shouldn't lie at the POE ... But in your case lies would unavoidable if your boyfriend did enter the USA on the VWP, marry you and then file for AOS ... It's standard for POE officers to ask why people are coming to the USA, and I reckon that it would be tough to convince whoever was reviewing your AOS case later on that there was no intention to marry, particularly under the circumstances - you are together in the UK right now (possibly even living together) and you'll have arrived in the States together, his ticket's for three months, and so on. They'll keep digging away until they're satisfied one way or the other ... Your choice, of course.

One other thing - I assume your boyfriend's return flight is actually booked for three months time? I used to book mine for a few weeks and then change the return date to a much later date once I was safely in the US. Of course you do have to make sure you book a ticket that allows at least one change (and be able to pay the change fee), but it was so worth it to avoid too much hassle at the POE. Have you checked the detailed rules of his ticket? Would it allow 2 changes - one before entering the US and one after?? Something to think about anyway.

Yes, you can indeed file for a Fiance Petition while he's with you in the USA. It would certainly tend to speed things up a bit. But he would have to go back home and deal with his part of the process. We've all been there and it's not nice being separated but it's doable. You'll get lots of support here if you do things the right way...

Whatever you decide, I wish you both luck and happiness.

All the best,

Sheila

I agree with the others - You should definitely wear the dress!! You got it, flaunt it!! Mind you, if you were going to have another wedding/blessing style session later on for friends and family sometime in the future ... well you could wear it both times - lucky girl! - or not bother for the civil ceremony bit at the court house and go for it at the second date.

But it sounds as though you're only having one occasion, so it seems rather a shame not to wear the frock - you might regret it down the line if you don't ...

But having laid all that on you .... you should wear what makes you happy!

Let's see the photos afterwards please!

All the best,

Sheila

I should have mentioned though ...

If you decide not to change your passport, I suggest that there are two critical things you do need to do as soon as you can, and prior to booking anything -

1: Call your preferred airline/s and check their policies regarding these issues - if they'll let you on their planes you're all set because USCIS don't care about any of that as long as you have your valid Green Card when you present yourself at the US POE on the way back.

2: Take your original marriage certificate with you on the trip for the airline check in process (assuming that it does actually show both your married and single names of course!)

Anyone else from the UK have any personal experience regarding the passport amendment thing?

All the best,

Sheila

Hi there,

I kept my old passport in my maiden name and used that as the woman at the INS did not change my name, the person I talked to on the BCIS phone line said its best to have them in both, I hope you get thru alright!!!! Have fun though!!!!!

Hi! I would like to add some information here.

If you don;t wanna have any problem with your last names at all you should send your passport to the Consulate of the country you are from which located here in the United States with the request for to stamp your passport on the last page with your married name. I;ve personally already done that and they've charged some sort of fee for that ,so you should call your embassy here and ask them about the fee and the rest.

My consulate did that for me.

Hope this information will help.

Take Care!.

I travelled with American Airlines to and from the UK last month and I had booked my ticket in my married name but my passport was still in my single name. We were marrried 6 months before and there was no problem at any stage during my trip - I had my original marriage certificate with me throughout the journey and that did the trick. And before anyone tells me ... yes, I do realise that some people believe that the airlines don't or shouldn't do that since 9/11 ... but the fact is that some do, regularly and without any fuss or bother. In fact it was the airline that suggested I book in my married name to match the updated name on my airmile account!

You certainly can get your UK passport 'amended'. However, as I understand it anyway, (having briefly checked into that idea before my trip because I wanted to do the same as the OP (my UK passport is less than 9 months old) - you have to pay the same as you would to get a new one, so there's little point in just getting an amendment, you might as well have the new one instead. Mind you ... if they would simply add the new name and leave the old name in there too ... well I guess that would be more worthwhile because it would still be ID for certain UK based things ... I maintain a UK credit card and use it from time to time here in the States to buy secret prezzies for my love. Hmm, perhaps I'll look into the amendment option again.

Anyone else from the UK have any personal experience?

All the best,

Sheila

Congrats on the pregnancy, it truely "is" a blessing.

Here's a little information that I got, because I was in the situation about a month ago.

...

Now, the USCIS told me that because her pregnancy was labeled as an extremely high risk, that I would more than likely qualify for expedited services under the "Extreme emergent situation" section of the expedited guidelines. I was told to have her get a signed letter from her Dr. explaining the circumstances of her pregnancy. I was to send this in with my I-129F.

Unfortunetly, a week later (April 15th) my Fiance lost the baby due to complications previously stated by her Dr.

...

Erik

So sorry to hear about your loss

Dear Erik,

I too, am very sorry to read of your sad loss and wish you and your lady all the very best for the future.

Never mind whether it's right or wrong to permit pregant women or separated parents to expedite/manipulate (take your pick...) the system because of their situation/condition. My personal opinion is ... that I would probably have felt resentful if every case involving a pregancy/child was given priority over childless couples, but I suspect it rarely happens anyway. I agree with the other poster that, if it was a reliable way to speed things up, it would have been mentioned in a 'sticky' post or a guide here somewhere. Of course if there were special circumstances - such as Erik and his fiancee, for example - well, I would have been fine with that sort of case leapfrogging over me. (After all, I usually let people buying one or two items go ahead of me in the supermarket queue! )

Either way, every case is different and the way each case is handled in each country is different too. Sometimes people asking for help keep hitting stone walls and sometimes they're given a break. So I reckon the OP should definitely have a try - contacting everyone and anyone that might be able to go in to bat for them. After all, I've always believed that, "If you don't ask, you don't get."

Some people here might benefit from taking a moment to calmly consider just how lucky they are that they can get pregant in the first place and then carry a baby to full term afterwards.

Just my personal opinions, of course.

All the best,

Sheila

We fell off the list too and fellow Wisconsonites!

Well, I'm sorry that you, 'linababe' and various Wisconsonites have fallen off the list, but at least you were there for a while, basking in the fame and glory ... I'm obviously so insignificant that I can't even get myself on it in the first place (See post #44 for request)!

So - How much does it cost???

Pretty please ?!

All the best,

Sheila

As elwintro mentioned, until early 2005 the UK process was much more efficient. Medicals were done at a surgery near the London Embassy on the morning of your interview, and then you would wait for the results and carry them yourself to the Embassy for your interview appointment. Now you do have to organise two separate appointments and waste two days and many have to spend lots of extra money to travel there and back unnecessarily. It sucks, doesn't it! Oh, and needless to say, the price went up when they changed things too.

Hi there,

My hubby Kyle says ...

"I've always been a fan of 'Claymores' in the trees myself" - He's ex-army and verrrrry pissed off about all the BS that's going on right now, specially since we did the right thing, paying through the nose and jumping through all the hoops for months on end to get me here.

Mind you, if Bush gets his way, we'll all be entitled to a refund ... won't we ... ? Yeah right ...

All the best,

Sheila

ask your hubby if he thinks a few beehive rounds might stop the line crossers

if he does, he has my vote for president.

Kyle replied, "Oh yes, I lurrrved playing with those beehives in my tanking days! Tell Charles I'll let him know when I'm ready to take over the world and sort things out once and for all!"

All the best,

Sheila

Hi there,

My hubby Kyle says ...

"I've always been a fan of 'Claymores' in the trees myself" - He's ex-army and verrrrry pissed off about all the BS that's going on right now, specially since we did the right thing, paying through the nose and jumping through all the hoops for months on end to get me here.

Mind you, if Bush gets his way, we'll all be entitled to a refund ... won't we ... ? Yeah right ...

All the best,

Sheila

Hi again Paul,

I hear what you're saying about the language concerns, and I wish you luck with your lawyer ... s/he may be the best idea for you both. However, if it's mainly just language issues that are worrying Anna. ... well, that's partly why I supplied a link to the relevant regional forum in my previous post. Particularly if Anna has internet access and joined VJ.com hreself too, I'm willing to bet that most, if not all of her concerns and questions could be answered there by other VJ'ers who have personal experience and knowledge to share. 'Larry and Maria''s response to you here is a prime example of the sort of helpful advice one usually gets - I suspect that you would both be able to get all the support and guidance both there, and here in the 'K1 General Discussion' forum too.

I do agree with Larry's suggestions, plus you could ask the bilingual lawyer to provide a one-off consultation before you make your final decision - if s/he is reputable, s/he should be prepared to advise you whether or not your case has any obvious problems/issues that would actually benefit from legal assistance.

IMHO, if you don't have any specific complications that might pose a problem with USCIS, it just seems a waste to pay for for a lawyer to send off the (pretty straightforward) forms for you. Don't forget that, even if you do use a lawyer to file for you, it's you and Anna that have to research all your own facts, figures, supporting evidence, etc and then sort it all out and supply it all to the lawyer, many of whom simply delegate all the paper shuffling - which is what this process is almost all about - straight to a clerk/'case worker' anyway, so ...

Still ... it is, of course, up to you both to make this process as easy as you can on each other. So if the lawyer is right for you, well ... VJ.com members will still be here to help if needed!

Good luck anyway!

All the best

So here is my question, I think we can do this on our own as long as I triple check and double check things before I send them but I would like opinions from you all. Is a immagration lawyer the way to go? Also if we do make a mistake (doing it ourselves) is there any chance that she could be denied from ever comming to the USA? I realize these are very broad questions so any suggestions or observations would be appreciated.

One more thing, I am under the impression that the paper work and visa processing is mostly on the USA side what does someone who is immagrating from Russia to the USA have to do with regards to the Russian government?

Thanks in advance for any responses.

Paul and Anna

Hi and welcome to VJ's Immigration Forums.

The lawyer issue is a difficult question to answer - actually most of the perfectly reasonable questions you asked are hard to answer definitively!

You'll probably have already noticed that most people here don't use an immigration lawyer to file their paperwork for them, unless - as Chuckles mentioned - they've got some kind of complicated situation, (perhaps certain criminal histories, medical issues, or a previous long overstay in the USA, for example.) Again, as Chuckles said, they can't make a simple case move any faster, in fact they sometimes seem to slow things down and screw things up! However, if it makes you more comfortable to use one, it's vital to keep looking until you find the right one with expertise and experience in immigration issues ... By the way - don't just pick someone advertising at the top of this site - Google adds the ads and they're not recommendations from VJ.com!

I think it's pretty unlikely that a simple mistake would ruin any chances, but then again, anything's possible, depending what the issue was, of course. The most important thing is to check and double check everything you do. It's a really good idea to compare what you're doing with all the examples and guides located thorought this site and then ask if there's something you're still worried about.

Regarding information about Russian issues ... I suspect you might find lots of help in the Regional Forum for Ukraine and Russia.

Good luck and keep reading the guides!

All the best,

Sheila

Hi and welcome to VJ.com,

If you're both single and have never been married, well - like Desert Fox - I can't imagine what you could provide in the way of proof of that 'condition', so I'm glad you don't have to do it! So you simply use all the single boxes. May I politely suggest that you may be stressing too much and too early - try not to 'over-think' about things like this, this early in the process - believe me, you'll find plenty of more complicated things to worry about later in your journey through the system! Actually I'm kidding. Most ordinary couples without any 'issues' of any kind discover that it's not a complicated exercise, you just need an eye for detail, the patience of a saint, and money - the wheels of immigration officialdom often grind infuriatingly slowly, expensively and unpredictably.

By the way, I don't know if you've noticed the Guides, Downloads and Example Forms sections of this site yet, but I can't emphasize enough how important and helpful they are when you're trying to work through everything. There are even completed versions of the various forms that show you exactly what should be put in each space. In fact you can overwrite your own details on most of the forms. Be sure to print out at least two or three copies of each page though, because if you try to save the your overwritten version, it defaults to the original answers when you open the file again.

I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't found VJ.com - all the information contained in the various reference sections really helped us work our way through the system without any hiccups along the way - if we didn't understand something we'd read in there, we just posted a quick question and someone was here to clarify the point for us immediately. We did try to make sure that one else had asked the same question twenty or more times before though ...

Good luck in your journey