November '08 K-1 Filers

[just_friend 2]

Hello everyone. I am now safe and sound in Atlanta with my sweetheart and everything is more than great. He took a couple of days off so we can really enjoy ourselves before we continue with the rest of the journey. He was so sweet. Met me at the airport with a huge bouquet of my favourte roses and he also had another really awesom surprise: we got me a new really cool cell phone Am I lucky or what?  But anyway I was not impressed by Atlanta airport. I will submit a review at some point but they were so slow. I got out with my suitcases 3 hours!!!!!! after I landed. Ridiculous!!! We are applying for mariage license in a few days and probaby going to the court house next week. It is all so beautiful. I am still not sure about the driving license but we'll figure it out.Will keep in touch

@piotrek - Congratulations on your visa. Good luck with the rest of the journey

@Kevin&Leilei - really happy for you guys for receiving packet 3. Everything will go a lot faster from now on

@juleali - really hope everything will be ok with you guys. Wish you an approval very very soon. Keeping fingers crossed for you guys.

Good luck everyone

Edited May 6, 2009 by just_friend

[Ellie-and-David 38]

Hello everyone. I am now safe and sound in Atlanta with my sweetheart and everything is more than great. He took a couple of days off so we can really enjoy ourselves before we continue with the rest of the journey. He was so sweet. Met me at the airport with a huge bouquet of my favourte roses and he also had another really awesom surprise: we got me a new really cool cell phone Am I lucky or what?  But anyway I was not impressed by Atlanta airport. I will submit a review at some point but they were so slow. I got out with my suitcases 3 hours!!!!!! after I landed. Ridiculous!!! We are applying for mariage license in a few days and probaby going to the court house next week. It is all so beautiful. I am still not sure about the driving license but we'll figure it out.Will keep in touch

@piotrek - Congratulations on your visa. Good luck with the rest of the journey

@Kevin&Leilei - really happy for you guys for receiving packet 3. Everything will go a lot faster from now on

@juleali - really hope everything will be ok with you guys. Wish you an approval very very soon. Keeping fingers crossed for you guys.

Good luck everyone

Honey your home!!!!!! Congratulations sweetie. Sorry POE was a pain.........!!! Like this journey hasn't been hard enough, they make you wait that long? Was your fiance allowed to be with you when they interviewed you? I'm glad your there, safe and have a cell. I might have to persuade david to get me on his plan

With regards to driving....look on the georgia DVLA. I know for Florida I need to have an SSN to apply. I have to start from scratch though. I am ummmmm....am not a natural born driver.

Okay.....truth be told. I suck at it. I am distracted easily and scared of everyone on the roads. But i'm determained this time to pass ......just anyone planning on driving on the roads near Brandon and Tampa....check with me first to see if I am out and about, if I'm not driving...you are safe

Congratulations again!

PS: the engagement ring showed up

[NatPatBen 3]

... Met me at the airport with a huge bouquet of my favourte roses and he also had another really awesom surprise: we got me a new really cool cell phone ...

Thanks for posting this! I think that'll be the perfect thing to greet my SO with when he arrives.

[jul&ali 0]

Thanks Just Friend...hopefully we'll hear something soon.

[jul&ali 0]

Jenn and Nick- any updates? I finally called one of my state senators and their office is looking into our case. I'll keep you all posted.

[Jenn and Nick 0]

Jenn and Nick- any updates? I finally called one of my state senators and their office is looking into our case. I'll keep you all posted.

No update I can't believe there haven't been any approvals this week! I'll be contacting my senator's office again tomorrow. This process really stinks! Nick will be here next Thursday for 4 days for my brother's wedding... really looking forward to that! I was so hoping we'd be further along on this journey by now. We may end up having to apply for a k3 visa or I'll have to move to the UK as we've already booked our wedding. We still have a few months, but at the rate our petition is moving we're trying to look at all of our options now. Pretty depressing really...

I have a question about the evidence of support for everyone... I had HR right a letter with my salary and job title about a month ago and now my job title has changed (at least something is going okay for me...) Do you think I need to request another letter?? The previous one more than covered the requirements, but I'm not sure if they'll look into things and see that they don't match...

[Jenn and Nick 0]

Hello everyone. I am now safe and sound in Atlanta with my sweetheart and everything is more than great. He took a couple of days off so we can really enjoy ourselves before we continue with the rest of the journey. He was so sweet. Met me at the airport with a huge bouquet of my favourte roses and he also had another really awesom surprise: we got me a new really cool cell phone Am I lucky or what?  But anyway I was not impressed by Atlanta airport. I will submit a review at some point but they were so slow. I got out with my suitcases 3 hours!!!!!! after I landed. Ridiculous!!! We are applying for mariage license in a few days and probaby going to the court house next week. It is all so beautiful. I am still not sure about the driving license but we'll figure it out.Will keep in touch

@piotrek - Congratulations on your visa. Good luck with the rest of the journey

@Kevin&Leilei - really happy for you guys for receiving packet 3. Everything will go a lot faster from now on

@juleali - really hope everything will be ok with you guys. Wish you an approval very very soon. Keeping fingers crossed for you guys.

Good luck everyone

Congratulations on finally being with your fiance! It must be such a relief. I live in Atlanta too and agree that the airport here is not so good. I think Atlanta is the only airport that requires you to go through baggage claim TWICE even if it is your final destination and they're not exactly quick at getting your bags to you. I always try to do carry-on due to bad experiences.... they've actually lost my bag between the 1st and 2nd baggage claims. I'm guessing that wasn't an option for you though considering you were moving here!!

Congratulations again and good luck!

[bapacker 0]

just_friend, that is so wonderful!!! Looks like you are one of the pioneers to the POE for the rest of us. And Ellie, I SEE that your ring finally came through the custom . Guys, I will be reporting from New York (JFK) POE soon.

By the way, does it usually take much longer for passengers with k-1 visa to be through the POE? Should I ask my fiance to come to the airport 2 hours later after my plane arrives? Because he is bringing our 2 little naughty cats with him. I am just worried that the cats might get really excited and start moewing like crazy in the airport. Thank you for any inputs.

Hello everyone. I am now safe and sound in Atlanta with my sweetheart and everything is more than great. He took a couple of days off so we can really enjoy ourselves before we continue with the rest of the journey. He was so sweet. Met me at the airport with a huge bouquet of my favourte roses and he also had another really awesom surprise: we got me a new really cool cell phone Am I lucky or what?  But anyway I was not impressed by Atlanta airport. I will submit a review at some point but they were so slow. I got out with my suitcases 3 hours!!!!!! after I landed. Ridiculous!!! We are applying for mariage license in a few days and probaby going to the court house next week. It is all so beautiful. I am still not sure about the driving license but we'll figure it out.Will keep in touch

@piotrek - Congratulations on your visa. Good luck with the rest of the journey

@Kevin&Leilei - really happy for you guys for receiving packet 3. Everything will go a lot faster from now on

@juleali - really hope everything will be ok with you guys. Wish you an approval very very soon. Keeping fingers crossed for you guys.

Good luck everyone

[Ellie-and-David 38]

Jenn and Nick- any updates? I finally called one of my state senators and their office is looking into our case. I'll keep you all posted.

No update I can't believe there haven't been any approvals this week! I'll be contacting my senator's office again tomorrow. This process really stinks! Nick will be here next Thursday for 4 days for my brother's wedding... really looking forward to that! I was so hoping we'd be further along on this journey by now. We may end up having to apply for a k3 visa or I'll have to move to the UK as we've already booked our wedding. We still have a few months, but at the rate our petition is moving we're trying to look at all of our options now. Pretty depressing really...

I have a question about the evidence of support for everyone... I had HR right a letter with my salary and job title about a month ago and now my job title has changed (at least something is going okay for me...) Do you think I need to request another letter?? The previous one more than covered the requirements, but I'm not sure if they'll look into things and see that they don't match...

I think depending on when the letter is dated, you will need to get another one done anyway. They like all the dates on these letters to be current to ensure that they are an accurate reflection of your current employment situation, though....London do not always require a letter of employment as long as you can provide 2 out of 4 of the evidence listed.

People have been moaning that the output at CSC has reduced too. All those visa's that they deem "more important" are being dealt with now. Makes you sick and makes you realise its all a money spinning scheme.

I hope you can get some resolution so soon. When is the wedding booked for? If it's a few months hopefully things will be sorted by then. From what i hear, when the state senators office gets called, VSC can pull the file quickly and ta da! all of a sudden your approved. I really hope it works that way for you.

E

[Ellie-and-David 38]

just_friend, that is so wonderful!!! Looks like you are one of the pioneers to the POE for the rest of us. And Ellie, I SEE that your ring finally came through the custom . Guys, I will be reporting from New York (JFK) POE soon.

By the way, does it usually take much longer for passengers with k-1 visa to be through the POE? Should I ask my fiance to come to the airport 2 hours later after my plane arrives? Because he is bringing our 2 little naughty cats with him. I am just worried that the cats might get really excited and start moewing like crazy in the airport. Thank you for any inputs.

It varies by all accounts. Sometimes it is 5 mins, sometimes it is 2 hours. ....sometimes longer.

There is just no predicting it and it will probably depend on how busy they are.

I am telling Dave to get there on time and he'll just have to sit and wait for me hee hee.....I'm MEAN....but Tampa is a really nice airport so its no hardship.

[just_friend 2]

Thank you all for the good words. Yes it is a huge relief knowing that the first step is over.

@Ellie Congrats on you engagement ring. It seems so beautiful Did they make you pay something to det it?

No Erik was not allowed to be with me because the reviewing of the documents takes place right after the passport check.

We've looked trough the requirements for the drivers licence and there is something that bothers me. The web site for the DMV says that if i am not a resident they will issue the license only for the lenght of my visa (3 months). I am thinking they do this so illegals can't get license but it still sucks. I do have SSN so that is not a problem. Oh and I will watch out for you on the roads )))

@Jenn and Nick I am really sorry that you have no progress with the petiton yet. I don't know what are they thinking. I still don't believe any of the employees of the service centers realizes how important their job is and that they hold in their hand the lives of two people. I really hope your senators will speed up the process. Hopefully you'll be posting some good news very soon.

Yes I think you might have to get another employer letter. For what i've read the information has to be updated so you might want to play safe and just get a new one. Depending on how long it takes to get it you might want to wait for the approval.

Yes Atlanta airport is probably the worst i've been so far. The process is complicated and not fast at all. After i've been trough passport control they made me go to a small office with all my paperwork and wait for someone to review it. There were 3 employees there. One of them left just like that(don't know why), the other one went for lunch and the third one had no idea what to do with the whole stack of paperwork the embassy gave me. He made like 5 calls until he finally gave me my passport back. I asked him very nicely to be careful with my names spelling (had enogh problems with that already) and he still got it right at the third time (crazy!!!!) After that they pulled me out for another security check with my suitcases just because i told the officer i bought stuff from duty free (can you imagine). had to wait there another 40 min for someone to come, see them and tell me "why did they send you here? you have nothing to declare" REALLY??? I wasn't able to call my fiance because they didn't allow me to. He was getting really worried about me. After that i had to leave my suitcases to another lane and catch a train to get to baggage claim (like i wasn't with my suitcases already) When i got there the luggage wasn't on the lane and the lady from the airline said i might have to wait 1-1.5 hours to get it!!! Anyway i've been bitching enogh. All i was trying to share with you is that POE can be difficult so don't stress out if you can't get out in time

So @ bapacker I really can't say how long it will take you. I would suggest at least an hour after you land but again it depends on how busy they are. I've heard JFK are pretty busy so you might plan on a little delay. I don't think K1 have to wait more than any others coming with immigration documents. (I was with a couple of families in the office)

We are going to apply for a marriage license in a few minute so i'll keep you updated Have a great day everyone

[jul&ali 0]

Alright folks, here is an update. I got a call back from the senator's office. They said that they spoke directly with the person who was handling my case at the VSC and that the person she spoke with said they were approving our case. I want to be optimistic, but the VSC told the person from the senator's office that it would take a couple of weeks for me to receive my NOA2 now, should it really take that long? I live in the same state as the service center, one would think it should only take a couple of days for me to get the letter, unless it is generated elsewhere (does anyone know?). There has also been no update to the status on the USCIS website (which I know may never change). So, I am optimistic, and hope that the letter will come soon. Let's see! I'll continue to keep you all posted!

[Jenn and Nick 0]

Alright folks, here is an update. I got a call back from the senator's office. They said that they spoke directly with the person who was handling my case at the VSC and that the person she spoke with said they were approving our case. I want to be optimistic, but the VSC told the person from the senator's office that it would take a couple of weeks for me to receive my NOA2 now, should it really take that long? I live in the same state as the service center, one would think it should only take a couple of days for me to get the letter, unless it is generated elsewhere (does anyone know?). There has also been no update to the status on the USCIS website (which I know may never change). So, I am optimistic, and hope that the letter will come soon. Let's see! I'll continue to keep you all posted!

Good luck! Sounds like good news if the senator's office actualy spoke with the officer approving your case. I've been told that mine was with an officer, but I've had no update. Your case is over 6 months now so you should definitely be hearing soon (I hope so anyway)!

[jul&ali 0]

Alright folks, here is an update. I got a call back from the senator's office. They said that they spoke directly with the person who was handling my case at the VSC and that the person she spoke with said they were approving our case. I want to be optimistic, but the VSC told the person from the senator's office that it would take a couple of weeks for me to receive my NOA2 now, should it really take that long? I live in the same state as the service center, one would think it should only take a couple of days for me to get the letter, unless it is generated elsewhere (does anyone know?). There has also been no update to the status on the USCIS website (which I know may never change). So, I am optimistic, and hope that the letter will come soon. Let's see! I'll continue to keep you all posted!

Good luck! Sounds like good news if the senator's office actualy spoke with the officer approving your case. I've been told that mine was with an officer, but I've had no update. Your case is over 6 months now so you should definitely be hearing soon (I hope so anyway)!

Hi Everyone,

After being told by the VSC that it could take a couple of weeks to get my NOA2 in the mail, and being skeptical because it is the USCIS that we are dealing with, guess what arrived in the mail yesterday! So, looks like step 1.5 is complete. Yippee!! It was a pretty great day, I was also able to get through to my baby on the phone yesterday to give him the good news. It's been about a week since we've been able to get through to each other, so that was a huge relief! Hopefully we can get a jump on some of the paperwork that we need and hopefully things will move quickly now. My brother has asked my fiance to be in his wedding in September and he would love to do it. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he will be able to be here by then.

Thanks for the encouragement that you've all been giving, it's been a huge help and comfort knowing that I am not the only one going through all of this, there is a whole community behind me.

[Jenn and Nick 0]

Alright folks, here is an update. I got a call back from the senator's office. They said that they spoke directly with the person who was handling my case at the VSC and that the person she spoke with said they were approving our case. I want to be optimistic, but the VSC told the person from the senator's office that it would take a couple of weeks for me to receive my NOA2 now, should it really take that long? I live in the same state as the service center, one would think it should only take a couple of days for me to get the letter, unless it is generated elsewhere (does anyone know?). There has also been no update to the status on the USCIS website (which I know may never change). So, I am optimistic, and hope that the letter will come soon. Let's see! I'll continue to keep you all posted!

Good luck! Sounds like good news if the senator's office actualy spoke with the officer approving your case. I've been told that mine was with an officer, but I've had no update. Your case is over 6 months now so you should definitely be hearing soon (I hope so anyway)!

Hi Everyone,

After being told by the VSC that it could take a couple of weeks to get my NOA2 in the mail, and being skeptical because it is the USCIS that we are dealing with, guess what arrived in the mail yesterday! So, looks like step 1.5 is complete. Yippee!! It was a pretty great day, I was also able to get through to my baby on the phone yesterday to give him the good news. It's been about a week since we've been able to get through to each other, so that was a huge relief! Hopefully we can get a jump on some of the paperwork that we need and hopefully things will move quickly now. My brother has asked my fiance to be in his wedding in September and he would love to do it. We are keeping our fingers crossed that he will be able to be here by then.

Thanks for the encouragement that you've all been giving, it's been a huge help and comfort knowing that I am not the only one going through all of this, there is a whole community behind me.

Congratulations on receiving your NOA2! Wondeful news! It seems the process moves much faster after the NOA2! It is also nice to hear that there were some approvals this week! I've been getting so depressed seeing no approvals since April 30th!

I still have no update on my case