August 2008 fillers

[Bulgarican 0]

I have an important question: Will they ask me for some money for something at the airport at Chicago?

[MARM 7]

I have an important question: Will they ask me for some money for something at the airport at Chicago?

No Dani, they should not ask for any money from you at OHare.

All you need is your passport, the I-194 and customs form (both forms you will fill out in flight en route to Chicago) and your "DO NOT OPEN" envelope/package and MAYBE they might ask for your X-ray, that is all.

[Chris & Mara 0]

Well I officially hate USCIS with a passion.

They still don't know anything, we have no NOA1 or anything, Im over being Positive, this is just a failing situation that apparently has no end.

[Hell0W0rld 10]

Well I officially hate USCIS with a passion.

They still don't know anything, we have no NOA1 or anything, Im over being Positive, this is just a failing situation that apparently has no end.

damn.....

[Bulgarican 0]

I have an important question: Will they ask me for some money for something at the airport at Chicago?

No Dani, they should not ask for any money from you at OHare.

All you need is your passport, the I-194 and customs form (both forms you will fill out in flight en route to Chicago) and your "DO NOT OPEN" envelope/package and MAYBE they might ask for your X-ray, that is all.

Thank you Marm

Mara, maybe you should start thinking for getting married, this sucks greatly I'm so sorry for this situation....

[Gemmie 142]

I agree, maybe the best thing is to get married while you're in the states and look to other routes. The K1 seems to absolutely hate you guys, or at least the processors of the K1.. so sorry this is happening to you guys.

[TeeKol 0]

Well I officially hate USCIS with a passion.

They still don't know anything, we have no NOA1 or anything, Im over being Positive, this is just a failing situation that apparently has no end.

I cant believe this is still happening to you both!!!! I felt certain that having that contact things would have moved along quickly now. Is he still avoiding contact with you both? This is totally wrong!!!!

[Chris & Mara 0]

Chris went in and had a face to face interview with him yesterday.

We are considering the marriage route. Chris is going to speak with an immigration lawyer about what our rights are and too see if we can do the marriage and me stay here whilst I adjust (because according to their website/guides its ok as I entered the country legally, though I feel there is a loop hole for that). Though I feel that we could prove that we hadn't intended to marry on this trip...

The bit I don't like about the whole situation is if I go home and we file K3 it could take another 12 months of us being apart and our lives on hold, I just don't want to go back down that route since we have already spend ten months in this stupid process.

[Gemmie 142]

Consulting a lawyer might be the best thing, just bear in mind that many of them give awful advice. So many people on here were told to marry and adjust on a tourist visa (intentions or not).

I'm also concerned that they'll look at your situations before you came to the U.S (you leaving your job, petitioning for the K1 twice) and decide that you had every intention of coming to the U.S to immigrate. We all know that's not the case, and we want nothing more than to have you stay there with Chris because you've both suffered so much with the legal process... but the AOS might be just as stressful if they have reason to believe that everything was planned with you staying in mind.

I understand what you mean, the last thing you want to do is apply for another visa and wait another year apart.. that's why I was wondering if you could CR-1 together, but that means moving back to Australia with Chris, and he's probably not in the position to do that.

Let us know what the lawyer says. I hope they give you information about your rights having been screwed by the government not once, but twice... this is all bullshit, there should be something to protect you after this.

[maliciant 7]

Honestly I think you should marry and adjust. Prepare for the worst AOS possible, but I don't think proving a bonafide marriage will be difficult and given that, I don't think the issue of intent is going to be that big of a hurdle either, you guys put effort into getting a proper visa and were still continuing that effort after entering the country, you did your best and broke no laws. But like I said, expect to have to prove everything, count on being interviewed, possibly twice, and expect your AOS to take longer than everyone else. It'll probably be a stressful deal but at least it's not something done alone.

Did you say before that chris had talked to his people and was told that going the k3 route or maybe marrying and doing AOS on a VWP or something could cost him his job due to his security clearances or something? (I always kind of figured most of your trouble have been the result of whatever his security clearance stuff is, not that you can do much about that).

Getting a good lawyer is probably worth it in this case, look for someone who wants a nice high profile case to use to poke at the USCIS/immigration system with, your particular case is newsworthy, especially since it's a westernized country trying to immigrate here. (what news agency is going to care about a person from a poor country who fails to get a visa in a reasonable amount of time... because the assumption here is that they are out to use us for economic gain or whatever, you need a dead body for that to be news...)

[shefellfromheaven 18]

Mara

Look at the option of marriage then adjust status. You have done your best to follow the procedure but the process is just a frustration and a pain to you two.

[Bulgarican 0]

yeah looks like we're all for marriage, at least you'll be together

keep us in touch

[Yader&Sarah 0]

wow mara, just read.

I say, you are here for a reason.

and didn't you re'file for k-1 while you were actually in the states? so clearly, your intention was not to move here to get married. unless you find pounds of paperwork and tossing around $455 checks a sport...

get a good lawyer and get married!

[Chris & Mara 0]

We did refile in April. And despite popular belief I am not too much the fan of throwing the money around.

And yes Maliciant there was a point where we thought the security thing would be an issue, but all that was cleared with ease in December last year... However the K3 route wouldn't be an issue either, unless my background clearance come up with something horrible.

We rang a lawyer today and should hear back tomorrow, plan is to get the 101 on the actually immigration laws regarding our case ( not going "hey can we do this") so that hopefully we have all the facts. But I know if we go down that route the AOS will be hell in a handbasket, but it has to still be better than being apart for another 12 months, plus if I'm here they might actually do something about the whole process.

However we are going to research all the options before we make a move, we have 5 weeks before I have to go back to Australia so we have a couple of weeks to figure out the best move.

In the end the whole thing is just frustrating.

[Fred N Emilia 0]

Hello everyone..........

Freddy D is back in America with the family:)

It was a long trip but really worth it.

Back to work for me tomorrow. I will post more on how everything went, I'm exhausted.