France/America couples

[RosaMystica7 0]

Sheigh, could you plan a trip back to Paris for the little one's first birthday so he doesn't have to miss it? That stinks that his interview date was re-scheduled so far away... but at this point, I'm just glad he HAS an interview date!

[Cécy 44]

Christimas Eve 2005... he was making crepes, I was making strufoli (the only thing I can successfully cook LOL)... we set off all three fire alarms in the house - one on this floor, one on the floor above, and even the one in the basement! My dad was running up and down both flights of stairs disabling one fire alarm after another! My mom, in all her years of cooking, has never set off all three! He claims he's a good cook, but I'm not totally sure about that! (When he gets home I'm gonna tell him to read this... )

Looks like you need to have a cooking book as a wedding present, or cooking lessons. ^^ As well as some good smoke detectors for your appartment. lol

More seriously, cook the things you like, and little by little expand your recipe knowledge. I started with desserts, because they are my favorites, now I can actually follow a recipe and usually it comes out good.

The thing is to have a good recipe book with things you want to cook I guess.

I lived on my own for two years as a student, it's an experience, and you learn to deal with it. You learn to do the things your parents used to do for you. I can understand you are going to miss it. But you are going to make your own home, with your own rules and your own family. Just make sure there is a chinese takaway not far and all will go well

You'll do great, and you are starting a wonderful new adventure with Saint Clair. With love you can overcome a lot of things.

Edited February 17, 2007 by Cécile

[RosaMystica7 0]

Thanks Cécile. Yeah, I can make the strufoli because I love them, I'm proud of them, and I've been making them since junior high school - I always made them for my Italian classes, my teachers always went nuts. If I can make dough without a bowl I can cook something. I just don't have any confidence in myself at this point. I'm sure that'll change after he moves here.

Speaking of which... FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE DAYS TIL INTERVIEW! B)

[shayrene 0]

Bon Chance for your interview Angilla & St. Clair.

[RosaMystica7 0]

Thanks Shayrene! Medical complete. My fiance said the physical exam part took about 10 minutes. I asked him to write up the details of his day so we could post them here for future French couples. His interview is at 1pm tomorrow.

[amwo 0]

Thanks Shayrene! Medical complete. My fiance said the physical exam part took about 10 minutes. I asked him to write up the details of his day so we could post them here for future French couples. His interview is at 1pm tomorrow.

Good luck tomorrow! I am sending you good interview juju

Edited February 28, 2007 by amwo

[RosaMystica7 0]

Juju? Thanks for the juju - but I've never heard that word before. What's it mean?

Edited February 28, 2007 by Angilla

[RosaMystica7 0]

I'm going to ask my fiance to write up a detailed experience, but this is the info I've got for ya'll so far:

Police certificate

For anyone needing to know how to get the police certificate: don't go to your local police station. My fiance said he did that and they didn't know what he was talking about. Just go to https://www.cjn.justice.gouv.fr/cjn/b3/eje20 and request a casier judiciaire.

Military letter

My fiance's military letter was what they wanted. He was before 1979 so he just got a letter from the military stating he was waived from the military requirement. He got it by going to the bureau du service national in his town, he said you could find them by going to http://www.pagesjaunes.fr . He said to type in bureau du service national and the name of your town, or the name of the biggest town near you. I'm not sure if the process is different for those born after 1979.

Medical

Dr. Anne-Valérie Meyers is an absolute sweetheart with a great sense of humor! My fiance was in and out of the physical exam portion of the medical in about 10 minutes. I know one of the commonly worried about things with the medical is do they have to examine the private regions - NO, they did not! It was mostly questions that my fiance said no to. You don't even have to ask for a copy of the vaccination supplement. When my fiance asked for it she said she was going to hand it to him anyway!

Interview

The interview was a piece of cake. SC and I have been seperated for 14 months and they did not ask for a single shred of proof of an ongoing relationship. I loaded him up with tons of phone bills, 45 pages of chat logs (and to think that was only a sample of one coversation every 3 months or so... we have 18 saved archives LOL), photos of us together in scrapbook fashion, etc. They didn't even ask for it. I thought they would since we haven't seen each other in so long!

They asked him three questions: what is your fiancee's name, what kind of work does she do, and what do you plan on doing in the States. His response to question #3 was "Marry my fiance, get the first job I can get after I have my working papers, and live happily ever after" to which the interviewer laughed. He was in the embassy for a total of an hour and a half and a majority of that time was waiting around.

He had both my I-134 and I-864. They asked for financial documents and he handed them my I-134. We really didn't want them to take the I-864, my tax returns stink. So it was bostonparis' idea for him to just hand them the I-134 and play stupid. They didn't say anything about it, they just took it! He asked how many paystubs they wanted. The lady looked at the stack I sent - which was all my paystubs since November. She photocopied the most recent one and handed them all back to him.

So basically, it was a piece of cake! Paris is an EASY embassy guys! None of you have anything to worry about!

Edited March 1, 2007 by Angilla

[RosaMystica7 0]

Edit: He just remembered they asked him a 4th question at the interview - how we met.

Edit again: As he's reading my post he keeps remembering things. He said they asked for my tax returns with the I-134. He forgot I told him I attached it to the I-864 (I didn't think they'd ask it for the I-134). "I did not know if I had it so I said I did not know much about it and did not know if ya gave it to me or not." He said she saw he looked really lost and confused and he was starting to panic, so she said it's ok forget it, the tax returns don't matter.

Edited March 1, 2007 by Angilla

[bostonparis 0]

Edit: He just remembered they asked him a 4th question at the interview - how we met.

Edit again: As he's reading my post he keeps remembering things. He said they asked for my tax returns with the I-134. He forgot I told him I attached it to the I-864 (I didn't think they'd ask it for the I-134). "I did not know if I had it so I said I did not know much about it and did not know if ya gave it to me or not." He said she saw he looked really lost and confused and he was starting to panic, so she said it's ok forget it, the tax returns don't matter.

Thanks for all the details! I've passed it along to my fiance! I attached my tax records to both, so hopefully that won't be a problem. I only attached tax records for one year, but gave him tax transcripts for two years prior as well, in case they ask.

[shayrene 0]

Congrats Angilla! I am so happy for you too. The next 2 months will fly by and you will see Saint-Clair very soon.

[bostonparis 0]

I'm so excited - he got the letter in the mail this morning:

Medical appointment - March 9 (Friday!!)

Visa interview - March 21!! Holy cow, I can hardly believe it!

The only thing that stinks is he has to give a months' notice at work, and obviously can't do it until he gets the Visa. Rrrrrrrats.

[RosaMystica7 0]

You're welcome for the details - I'd love to help any way I can! And thank you shayrene.

Bostonparis, I know, my fiance's supposed to give a month's notice at work too - but look at my approved time off for the civil marriage, 4/4/07 - 4/16/07! Eek! I don't want to try to push back my time off from work because I'm afraid I won't get so long. He's going to talk to his boss Monday and see if two weeks would suffice.

Oh, an idea for you all! Have the Frenchie get a letter of recommendation from his/her employer before leaving, translated into English if the boss only speaks French. When Mr/Miss Frenchie gets over here and gets working papers (s)he'll want a job, and the employer will want references. But they won't want to call France, and probably won't speak French anyway. So get a letter of recommendation that the Frenchie can bring copies of to their job interviews!

[bostonparis 0]

Nice recommendation. Did your fiance get his visa immediately? Or are they sending it to him? Or is he allowed to pick it up?

[RosaMystica7 0]

Your fiance has to bring a chronopost envelope with him (my fiance said there's a machine where you can buy them in the embassy if need be) and they mail it to him in that. It can take up to 10 days to get it in the mail, they said.