BINATIONAL SAME SEX COUPLES !! Show up!

[Davesings 30]

Happy Gay Pride from New York City! We will be marching with Marriage Equality today, our first march since getting married. It's going to feel pretty great!

[FulanoDeTal 19]

Yesterday was our "Immiversary". We've now been in the Green Card process for one whole year. We filed the day after DOMA was repealed. I wrote this on my Facebook page...

One year ago today, one day after Section 3 of DOMA was repealed, Julie and I started on what was supposed to be a 5-month journey through the US Green Card process for a spousal visa. Due to bureaucratic ineptitude, 365 days later, Julie is still in Australia without a Green Card. During this year, we've endured two major health scares, the death of a parent, the death of a dear pet, the costs of multiple trans-Pacific airline flights - and have spent more days apart in our separate countries than we have together.

It has been a long, frustrating process. I have never felt as impotent or as helpless or as angry as I have during this past year. The system appears to punish those of us who try to follow the rules and do things by the book. Who knew that every government department we've had to deal with has a different book of rules??? Who knew that one set of rules is out-of-date by five years, and still hasn't been corrected, and that it would cost us yet another month of being apart? Who knew that the thousands of dollars necessary to move through this process give you no assurance of ANY customer service?

The year has been a terrible one - but for those bi-national couples where one member is from a high-risk or high-fraud country such as Nigeria, Pakistan or Egypt, the wait could be far worse than 365 days. The process is so very broken.

The light is at the end of the tunnel. Julie and I will be at the US Consulate in Sydney next week for the visa interview. We hope that within another month, we will be able to walk through immigration at JFK together - and that we never have to worry about Julie being turned away again.

Prayers and good thoughts for a positive outcome on July 1st are welcomed!

Sukie

Sukie,

Best of luck to you and Julie on your interview! The end is in sight and you'll both be together soon for sure.

Peter and Bonieke

[Erica & L 50]

Have any couples here had their interview at the Atlanta GA office and have any good/bad experiences to report? Mine is on July 11th!

[RICHYYDYLAN 0]

My husband's interview is in Phoenix next month, and I am super nervous..hahaha.. He came on a K-1 visa in February. So far so good, we have been treated so well so far. I hope it stays that way.

[Sukie 1,447]

I'm happy to report that Julie sailed through the interview (we were both there!), and got her passport back only two days later! No trick questions - mostly "How did you meet?".

The interviewer did pick up something on Julie's medical and flustered her a little. Julie was nervous because she had a stroke last year (oh, how horrible that was - I was in the US, and she was in Australia!), and as a result, they found out she had a hole in her heart. They were able to fix that, but she's on two blood pressure medications, and a stiff dose of Lipitor. She doesn't have high cholesterol, but after a stroke, BP meds are often paired with statins to make sure there aren't any more problems. So the guy said something about being monitored for high cholesterol, and it threw her because she doesn't HAVE high cholesterol! Of course, you don't get to read the medical report before your interview - so she had no idea what the doctor had put down.

Anyway, we got through it. 9 more days until POE at JFK!!!

Sukie

[MabuhayDaniel 11]

My husband's interview is in Phoenix next month, and I am super nervous..hahaha.. He came on a K-1 visa in February. So far so good, we have been treated so well so far. I hope it stays that way.

Hey guys...we had ours in June at the Phoenix office. They were professional. They were courteous and genuine. The questions were the same questions from the packet (drug offenses, allegiance to foreign groups, etc.) We provided two documents evidencing shared accounts...and basically that was it. I knew about three minutes into the interview that we were approved as the interviewer told us that he wanted to make sure our address was correct so we would receive the residence card.....not "if" we were approved, but just verifying the information for accuracy. The interview was more painful gearing up for it than it was during the interview. After checking in, just don't forget to place your paperwork in the basket at the very last window. I held onto ours for a bit longer than I should have, but I was nervous. The interview was about 15 minutes. Our appt was at 11 and I think we were seen at 1115. I tried to break the ice as much as possible by engaging the guy in small conversation about his Army life and his recent trip to Europe. It helped me to feel better about it all. Best of luck to you both.

[Davesings 30]

I'm happy to report that Julie sailed through the interview (we were both there!), and got her passport back only two days later! No trick questions - mostly "How did you meet?".

The interviewer did pick up something on Julie's medical and flustered her a little. Julie was nervous because she had a stroke last year (oh, how horrible that was - I was in the US, and she was in Australia!), and as a result, they found out she had a hole in her heart. They were able to fix that, but she's on two blood pressure medications, and a stiff dose of Lipitor. She doesn't have high cholesterol, but after a stroke, BP meds are often paired with statins to make sure there aren't any more problems. So the guy said something about being monitored for high cholesterol, and it threw her because she doesn't HAVE high cholesterol! Of course, you don't get to read the medical report before your interview - so she had no idea what the doctor had put down.

Anyway, we got through it. 9 more days until POE at JFK!!!

Sukie

Congratulations! I am so happy for you and Julie after all that time you have finally had your day, and now you will have years of happiness together, literally!

[hklad 9]

Congratulations! I am so happy for you and Julie after all that time you have finally had your day, and now you will have years of happiness together, literally!

Congrats to Sukie! Finally!!! After all the wait. Have a safe flight to JFK! I have good news here too because I just received my EAD card in the mail. Now I can return to work.

[Davesings 30]

Congrats to Sukie! Finally!!! After all the wait. Have a safe flight to JFK! I have good news here too because I just received my EAD card in the mail. Now I can return to work.

Great news hklad - we hope our EAD will arrive in a couple of weeks. Noticed we are about two weeks behind you even starting at the beginning of the K1 journey.

[hklad 9]

Great news hklad - we hope our EAD will arrive in a couple of weeks. Noticed we are about two weeks behind you even starting at the beginning of the K1 journey.

Hi Davesings, yeah you are about 1 - 2 weeks behind... interestingly from I-129F, to the consulate interview, wedding and AoS... which is pretty cool. Good luck. If my timeline serves as a reference, you should be getting your EAD/AP next week of the week after next. Don't forget to apply for SS# too.

[Erica & L 50]

Off to my interview with my wife at midnight tonight. It's at 8:45am in Atlanta, hopefully everything goes well and there is no bias held against us being that we are in the south.

[Sukie 1,447]

Any couples here have JFK immigration experiences to share? My VisaJourney profile is locked on Chicago for some reason, and I cannot read the POE: JFK reviews.

My spouse is immigrating through JFK (I'll be with her) next Tuesday. I'm thinking we might be one of the initial waves of CR-1 same-sex couples coming through, though K-1s will have been coming in for a few months now. I know a lot of couples on this forum did AOS, so they won't have the same experience.

Since I cannot see any JFK reviews, do any of you have any good/bad experiences coming through JFK as a married person/couple? We're flying in on Cathay Pacific - I think that is Terminal 1.

Thanks.

Sukie in Oz (for 3 more days!)

[blk 87]

Off to my interview with my wife at midnight tonight. It's at 8:45am in Atlanta, hopefully everything goes well and there is no bias held against us being that we are in the south.

Good luck to you both, not that you will need it.

Brian

[Juan Bravo 14]

I'm happy to report that Julie sailed through the interview (we were both there!), and got her passport back only two days later! No trick questions - mostly "How did you meet?".

The interviewer did pick up something on Julie's medical and flustered her a little. Julie was nervous because she had a stroke last year (oh, how horrible that was - I was in the US, and she was in Australia!), and as a result, they found out she had a hole in her heart. They were able to fix that, but she's on two blood pressure medications, and a stiff dose of Lipitor. She doesn't have high cholesterol, but after a stroke, BP meds are often paired with statins to make sure there aren't any more problems. So the guy said something about being monitored for high cholesterol, and it threw her because she doesn't HAVE high cholesterol! Of course, you don't get to read the medical report before your interview - so she had no idea what the doctor had put down.

Anyway, we got through it. 9 more days until POE at JFK!!!

Sukie

Sukie and Julie,

So happy to you both especially since you are leading the way as some of the first same-sex couples coming through! Hopefully we can be in the same place a few months from now!

[Davesings 30]

Any couples here have JFK immigration experiences to share? My VisaJourney profile is locked on Chicago for some reason, and I cannot read the POE: JFK reviews.

My spouse is immigrating through JFK (I'll be with her) next Tuesday. I'm thinking we might be one of the initial waves of CR-1 same-sex couples coming through, though K-1s will have been coming in for a few months now. I know a lot of couples on this forum did AOS, so they won't have the same experience.

Since I cannot see any JFK reviews, do any of you have any good/bad experiences coming through JFK as a married person/couple? We're flying in on Cathay Pacific - I think that is Terminal 1.

Thanks.

Sukie in Oz (for 3 more days!)

Have a safe journey and hopefully easy time at JFK!