unite and help all of us now & others later

[GordonFreeman 0]

While I too believe this process could and should go much faster and support any reasonable petition to that effect, I must note that:

The problem with this process (like my K1) is to force the couple to be separated (living in different countries) during a period of time that can go from 6 months to more than a year.

Is simply not true. One's petitioned fiance(e) can legally enter the country under a tourist visa for an initial period of 6 months to 1 year, then petition to extend that stay for indefinite periods of 6 months each. Also, there is nothing stopping the petitioner from visiting the fiance(e)'s country or any other country where they could be together. So the process, in fact, simply does not "force" couples to remain apart.

dvc

Check those Visa time windows... You got some numbers wrong there...

Legally, there is something stopping them - and I've spoken to experienced immigration attorneys about this.

Visiting each other MIGHT not be checked by the authorities, but you run into a risk that they DO, and you CAN be denied entry, and that CAN affect your visa petition process. I understand what you're trying to say, but unfortunately things don't work exactly like that.

[maria teresa 0]

9/11 could have been prevented with tighter security measures. I lost a family member in the WTC so do not question me about what i know about the last 7 years.

In U.S. History, the majority of terrorist acts on US soil have been carried out by natural-born American citizens. Abortion clinic bombings, Oklahoma City, the Anthrax attacks, the Unabomber, it goes on and on. Where is your outrage there? Everything could be "prevented by tighter security." We could all live in sterile little boxes attached to our beds, and not allowed to go out or congregate without government approval, such as in North Korea, and terrorism would be very low and these such attacks would be prevented. Is it worth giving up so many freedoms for a tiny bit of extra security just because people with paranoid victim mentalities such as yourself truly believe that they are instant experts on all issues simply because a family member of theirs died? The founders of America were intelligent men, and they said, "He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security."

The spineless insecurity and irrational fears of people such as yourself got us into Iraq and have led to some of the worst human rights violations and intrusions into American freedoms in generations. You LET THE TERRORISTS WIN by being so weak that you take your fear upon yourself and hurt us all. Shame on you.

I am also in the military and as i type this i am in the warzone and have seen my comrades leave here in boxes.

I have been shot and received a purple heart and yet im back in this place again. Yet my case can't get expedited but im not crying like a baby like you!!!

Your response to many of the people in this thread is, "Well, it was your choice to marry a foreigner, so these are the consequences, be lucky you have anything at all and stop whining." So, buddy, it was your choice to be in the military, probably so you could alleviate your overwhelming sense of irrational insecurity by toting a gun around. As a consequence, you're in a warzone and wow, you can get shot at, especially if you're in the particular country that wasn't even responsible for any 9/11 stuff in the first place (Iraq.) Be glad you have your life, represent a pretty damn good country that was founded on the best ideals in the world, do your service to your country and stop crying like a baby.

So what if you pay more for school! If thats your problem stop going. and you wont have to pay. That is no reason for your case to be expedited!

If your problem is the people in this thread, just stop coming to this site, and it won't be a problem. If you can't afford your healthcare, just don't go. No problem. If your 401K got wiped out because of the greed of corporate special interests, just don't ever retire. No problem. Who cares whether the cause of these things is fair or logical or not, right? If you disagree, just throw them out the window by saying "just choose not to." Is your brain really this simplistic?

Consider yourself lucky to be in my great country of the US. In other countries you could be put to death for comments you have made about our lawmakers.

I do consider myself lucky, until I meet some of my fellow compatriots such as you, who are weak, fearful, insecure people who take that weakness out with aggression and hatred toward others. America is great, but so are other countries. I can think of only a few countries which in VERY EXTREME cases, "people were put to death for comments you have made about our lawmakers." Are you saying that America rocks because it's not the worst gross excesses of North Korea? Wow, your standards are high, buddy. What ever happened to an America that is always constantly improving itself and fighting for more freedom and rights? That means for ALL, not just for you in which to feel safe despite your overwhelming terror and xenophobia of some imagined evildoers.

With NO RESPECT! you are a piece of s%#t if you dont like the laws of my country then go somewhere else. If you really love somebody everyminute a part is torture, yes I know and it is true. But if making people wait one year can prevent another incedent like 9/11 then so be it.

Respect has to be earned. You have earned nothing but contempt from the bigoted, xenophobic and irrational way you have treated others. Anyone who says "if you don't like MY country you can get out," shows himself as a weak-minded, insecure little person. This is not "your country." It is everyone's country. It was founded on being everyone's country. You cannot bend its founding ideals to suit your paranoid delusions.

You, go ahead and fight to offer your freedoms and liberties, and the freedoms of your countrymen, so you can feel a little more secure about those evil foreigners out there, lurking. While cancer, heart attacks, car accidents, murder and starvation happen every day, about a thousand times more often than terrorism... and you sit back, silent, barking about how we all need to treat people, whether Americans or foreigners or those of a different color skin, more like criminals because, in effect, they scare you... and you are a scared, scared little person.

I, on the other hand, am a true patriot, and I will be exercising my right to defend the original, humanistic ideals of America. I will fight for the teeming, huddled masses. As for you fearful cowards stand, go shivering on whatever corner of whatever shore you please. You're welcome to it.

Ok I lied, maybe ill post one more time because i didnt see this while i was typing my other reply.

Great Job!! I already said in my first post that terrorist are not from other countries.

Yes it is my choice to be in the military but its not because as you state "alleviate your overwhelming sense of irrational insecurity by toting a gun around. "

It is because i lost a love one in 9/11, and i wanted to do my part in making sure that an event like that never happenes again.

I will continue fighting the war so that people like u still have the freedom to say what u want.

Good day to all.

[Chelartie 0]

I don't believe that making a couple wait for a year has any impact on whether or not there's another 9/11 style attack.

Though I don't deny the spirit of the letter (there's a problem with the process so please address it, my dearest Representative) obviously the tone would make any staffer at a Congressional office laugh and then shred it or tack it on a wall for a giggle later on. The main reason I felt compelled to respond, though, it that I don't think it serves anyone to refer to people as "illegal." I know it sounds cliche, but I don't really see how a person can be illegal. I see this all the time on VJ, and it makes me cringe. I'm assuming the OP meant undocumented immigrant. I think drawing a distinction between people who migrate/emigrate/immigrate the "right" way versus "being illegal" doesn't actually advance the cause of pluralism and inclusiveness. It only breeds anti-immigrant discrimination all around.

Whether someone comes here through proper legal channels or not, there are ways that the immigration system drives down wages and exploits workers legally There are American (taxpaying, tax-break-receiving) companies who abuse the H1B "guest" worker visa system. They hire recruiting companies in the home countries to lie to potential workers, cheat them out of 1000s of dollars, traffic them to the U.S. Then the company pays them poverty wages and require them to live in "man camps" (corporation's term, not mine). This is all to circumvent paying local workers decent wages and benefits. See Signal International. So, whether we're talking about "illegals" or "law-abiders," family-based or work-based immigration, the U.S. immigration system is broken.

Edited March 20, 2009 by Chelartie

[HannahP 119]

I don't believe that making a couple wait for a year has any impact on whether or not there's another 9/11 style attack.

Not really. I think if you look at the timelines from two-three years ago, you'll find that six months was often the norm for non-high risk consulates (AP is a #######) -- less for people going through VSC. So at one point, yeah, there were a bunch of us post-9/11ers who didn't have to wait a year or more & there still wasn't a 9/11 attack.

[amberdima 6]

While I too believe this process could and should go much faster and support any reasonable petition to that effect, I must note that:

The problem with this process (like my K1) is to force the couple to be separated (living in different countries) during a period of time that can go from 6 months to more than a year.

Is simply not true. One's petitioned fiance(e) can legally enter the country under a tourist visa for an initial period of 6 months to 1 year, then petition to extend that stay for indefinite periods of 6 months each. Also, there is nothing stopping the petitioner from visiting the fiance(e)'s country or any other country where they could be together. So the process, in fact, simply does not "force" couples to remain apart.

dvc

Check those Visa time windows... You got some numbers wrong there...

Legally, there is something stopping them - and I've spoken to experienced immigration attorneys about this.

Visiting each other MIGHT not be checked by the authorities, but you run into a risk that they DO, and you CAN be denied entry, and that CAN affect your visa petition process. I understand what you're trying to say, but unfortunately things don't work exactly like that.

very true. not only is it risky, it's not cost efficient to travel across the world. in addition, some countries, such as belarus, don't hand out visas easily. finally, leaving work for 6 months to 1 year is not feasible for most.

[pushbrk 12,898]

Your Name

Street Address

City, State, Zip Code

Cell Phone Number

Today’s Date:

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer

1700 Montgomery St, Suite 240

San Francisco, CA 94111

To the Honorable Member of the US Senate

Attached, please find a copy of our NOA 1 for our petition (I-129F). Below, see our receipt numbers given by USCIS. Hopefully, all of us will receive the NOA2

Sign Here

Your Name

This is an excellent letter but please note that the bold terms above are terms common only to sites like VJ. They will mean nothing to a congressperson or even USCIS. NOA1 is the "receipt notice" and NOA2 is usually the "approval notice" but could be the "denial notice".

[iLoveAPolishGirl 0]

Check those Visa time windows... You got some numbers wrong there...

Legally, there is something stopping them - and I've spoken to experienced immigration attorneys about this.

Visiting each other MIGHT not be checked by the authorities, but you run into a risk that they DO, and you CAN be denied entry, and that CAN affect your visa petition process. I understand what you're trying to say, but unfortunately things don't work exactly like that.

There are many reasons for denying entry, but having an I-129F or I-130 petition in processing is not one of them. There exist NO such regulations.

As for visa time 'windows' (whatever that means) ... here is the specific regulation:

8 CFR PART 214 -- NONIMMIGRANT CLASSES\Sec. 214.2(B) Visitors --

http://www.uscis.gov/propub/ProPubVAP.jsp?...8e046afc8800b72

(1) General. Any B-1 visitor for business or B-2 visitor for pleasure may be admitted for not more than one year and may be granted extensions of temporary stay in increments of not more than six months each ...

(2) Minimum six month admissions. Any B - 2 visitor who is found otherwise admissible and is issued a Form I - 94, will be admitted for a minimum period of six months, regardless of whether less time is requested, provided, that any required passport is valid ...

dvc

[Time2gopeacefully 0]

The OP needs to get a lot of help in writing letters.

Hey CONGRESSMAN????

It will be nicer if we say: Hey-wassapenin CONGRESSMAN

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Moved to Immigration News & Discussion.

Let's try to keep it civil folks, okay?

[GordonFreeman 0]

It is because i lost a love one in 9/11, and i wanted to do my part in making sure that an event like that never happenes again.

I will continue fighting the war so that people like u still have the freedom to say what u want.

I'm honestly very sorry to break it to you, but events like that will always happen, specially when the highest levels of social powers in most countries in the world remain as corrupt and susceptible to dirty business as they are today. Terrorists will always exist to some degree - what matters is what we do in the face of an attack. Do we say No to their attempts to make us think different about ourselves, or do we panic, change the laws so we feel safer, and send troops to kill people in countries that are completely unrelated to the attack?

You've just said you're against people's freedom - you said you want loved ones to wait for 1 year separated, just so you can feel safer! That's against freedom AND human rights! It's not freedom...

So how can you say you're fighting for freedom, when you think it's perfectly fine to change the laws in the land of the free, because of fear caused by an attack? When you think it's fine to go kill people in other countries just because they have a loony religion (besides christianism)?

Then they won! They made you scared enough to start thinking different about living in a free country. To think different about respecting the freedom of others...

You want more governmental control to make you safer? You don't sound like an American. You sound like a communist, man.

[GordonFreeman 0]

PS: Please don't make all those Americans die in vain. Stand tall for the principles of America. Don't bend down in fear. You're scared that it will happen again? We all are. But do you want to show the terrorists that the best we can do is make tighter laws for ourselves and start a war in a country where the perpetrators don't even live? That sends a message that terrorism works. Police state and chaos! That's all they wanted, man! As long as it works, they'll keep doing it! Your way of thinking is very dangerous, please stop that.

[Troy W 0]

Well, let me say this about that.

The USA is one of very few countries that allows its citizens to go anywhere overseas, fall in love and bring people here for marriage under any circumstances. So we HAVE our rights, you seem to be concerned they are not delivered fast enough.

My wife and I were married exactly, to the day, 1 year from when me met by circumstance while I was overseas. It could have been 2-3 months faster, but for our own personal conflicts. Now, that is a pretty quick romance and marriage by any standards even of marrying a woman in your own home town that you meet at the bus stop (which is where I met Alla) I mean if I met a woman at the bus stop who lives in my city, would I reasonably expect to marry her in less than one year? Of course, I could, but think in normal reasoning here.

So, a process is needed to protect our country from people that would harm it. Which the process seems to consist mostly of. How would it be processed faster? Which safeguard or protection would you suggest removing to speed the process? Or maybe more people to process the petitions? But the system is largely or entirely funded by visa fees. So would you like the fees doubled? Tripled? Or maybe an expedited system to give better "rights" only to those that can afford the price of admission?

You're missing the point a little.

The problem with this process (like my K1) is to force the couple to be separated (living in different countries) during a period of time that can go from 6 months to more than a year.

It's not about protecting the country from people that would harm it... Terrorists and spies just get student visas, or go with a regular tourist visa. Per se, the act of getting married is statistically a very low risk, trustworthy, legal immigration process chosen by people who mean no harm (or by principle they wouldn't be marrying a US citizen).

You could argue that some might do it just to get a visa and work legally - but is that a real concern right now? With the economy the way it is, legal immigration is your main problem? I don't think so.

And whatever the reason/process... why keep 2 people separated? Why force 2 people who love each other to live in separate countries for a period of time that makes it almost a torture, while they wait for a government response? What have I done to America to deserve this treatment? They could give me a temporary permit to work and live in the US while we wait for the government to give us an answer.

And what answer are we waiting for? Whatever the reason, why would they deny the possibility of living a life together, to 2 people who love each other? Denying them to do that in America would be hypocritical in so many different levels...

I am sorry to offend anyone but these comments are absurd.

[GordonFreeman 0]

You're missing the point a little.

The problem with this process (like my K1) is to force the couple to be separated (living in different countries) during a period of time that can go from 6 months to more than a year.

It's not about protecting the country from people that would harm it... Terrorists and spies just get student visas, or go with a regular tourist visa. Per se, the act of getting married is statistically a very low risk, trustworthy, legal immigration process chosen by people who mean no harm (or by principle they wouldn't be marrying a US citizen).

You could argue that some might do it just to get a visa and work legally - but is that a real concern right now? With the economy the way it is, legal immigration is your main problem? I don't think so.

And whatever the reason/process... why keep 2 people separated? Why force 2 people who love each other to live in separate countries for a period of time that makes it almost a torture, while they wait for a government response? What have I done to America to deserve this treatment? They could give me a temporary permit to work and live in the US while we wait for the government to give us an answer.

And what answer are we waiting for? Whatever the reason, why would they deny the possibility of living a life together, to 2 people who love each other? Denying them to do that in America would be hypocritical in so many different levels...

I am sorry to offend anyone but these comments are absurd.

Oh MY comment is absurd?

Care to explain?... instead of just dismissing without being able to even state your case?

[Troy W 0]

Oh MY comment is absurd?

Care to explain?... instead of just dismissing without being able to even state your case?

I apologize to you Gordon, I grabbed the wrong post to quote, I meant the person you were quoting and responding to also, was absurd. I know it looked like I was pointing to you with that statement but it was an accident I was talking about Gary and Alla.

[GordonFreeman 0]

Oh MY comment is absurd?

Care to explain?... instead of just dismissing without being able to even state your case?

I apologize to you Gordon, I grabbed the wrong post to quote, I meant the person you were quoting and responding to also, was absurd. I know it looked like I was pointing to you with that statement but it was an accident I was talking about Gary and Alla.

Oh OK!