How to support your partner during Processing wait time

[Simeon 25]

She's a lot like my wife. Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to help her by taking her mind off of the visa process. A bit of an emotional bait-and-switch, if you will. How about a list of ideas? I'm sure at least one of them will be useful to you:

• Think of it like an extended business trip (it will be over soon)
• Make plans to visit every month or two (you'll be so busy planning for the next trip, you have no time to feel depressed!)
• Call on video chat everyday
• Play games online together
• Turn that negative energy towards the visa process and work hard at it (my personal favorite!)
• Work more hours (it helps take your mind off of the visa and helps your career)
• Hang out with singles (and not couples) when you're feeling down
• Get some other friends besides your significant other
• Think of it like the longest bachelor(ette) party ever
• Get on a social network together and post about your life
• Be understanding and full of forgiveness
• Read a book together
• Better yet, read a book about relationships
• Finish the pre-marital counseling while you wait
• Harass the USCIS/NVC! (a favorite VJ pastime )
• Make mutual friends and communicate with them regularly (social network helps here)
• Learn your significant other's language (it's like working on your relationship, and the screw ups make for funny Skype dates)
• Write a song for your significant other and perform it for her on YouTube (Youku for China)
• Get your company to sponsor a business trip to your significant other's country
• Take a vacation to another country exotic enough for both of you (helps you realize your similarities)
• Have your significant other help you overcome a bad habit of yours (e.g. asked my wife everyday, "did you watch TV more than an hour today?")

Long distance doesn't mean you have to stop your life together. It just means you have to find different ways of connecting besides the physical connection normal couples have. Get creative!

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

This is a long and sometimes stressful process and it sounds like you are suffering as a couple at the moment.

In my opinion she needs to open up to you about her feelings, whether she is depressed or not. You and your future spouse need to be able to communicate your feelings effectively to each other. It's a worry you don't have much to talk about at the moment, presumably you have things in common? Is there something that you could do together online to take your minds off the wait and stop you from arguing and getting stressed? You could play games together, watch films together when you are on Skype, plan your wedding or be intimate on webcam (say no more just don't think about sending a video to USCIS as proof of relationship like one thread on VJ lol). As others have said, it's a long process and if you argue over small parts of it then you will both be very miserable indeed.