Yardies, at home and a farrin' (Part 4)

[MyDestinyAwaits 0]

only thing is...i'm wondering how much time can actually be saved using the courier service as opposed to waiting for an appointment to drop it off because don't you still have to wait for the embassy to mail out packet 4 before you can schedule the visa interview?

You don't schedule the interview - the Embassy schedules it. And they won't schedule it until after they receive the completed DS-230. The sooner you can get it to them, the better.

yeah now i'm starting to regret that i sent the original to him. i always send him stuff through regular postal mail and it's always gotten there within 2 weeks. i've never had a problem before.

i'm thinking we will go on and courier the ds-230. my fiance has to go to kingston for the police certificate, and we'll see if he can pick up packet 4 at that time.

[Mrs. Palmer 5]

Does anyone have an approximate cost to ship a large box to JA? What would be the best way to do it? I am thinking that I am going to send my guests wedding favors down a month early so that we don't have to bring all that stuff on the plane. I'm just trying to figure out how much it may cost me. I'm ordering them next month...On a side note, I wanted to put 2gether a little welcome bag for my guests coming from the states...any ideas as to what I should put in them? I'm not thinking anything too expensive, maybe 3 or 4 small items?

Just an FYI, one of my clients did not take my advice and the Beaches Resort's wedding coordinators advice NOT to ship wedding favors ahead of time. I flew with the bride and groom, took her almost 3 hours to get her stuff and they wanted to charger her $400 US ...I was able to get them to charge only $20. It's because they consider it importing and exporting and you have to pay taxes both ways.

I told her to ask a few wedding people (and myself) to take items down in their luggage before....we were there 5 days before the wedding.

Thanks for the info...but I just have 1 question: was she trying to ship the stuff to the resort or to a local post office? would that have made a difference or not? I have 20 guests coming from the states, and most of us will be there 5 days before the wedding as well, so I suppose we can bring stuff down, I just didn't want to have to deal w/ possibly paying for the stuff at immigration...

[DonnaJay 0]

I am also going to have Donna courier the DS-230 to the embassy. Is it necessary to put a cover letter with the DS-230?

[Jengles 0]

I am also going to have Donna courier the DS-230 to the embassy. Is it necessary to put a cover letter with the DS-230?

My hubby didn't but I'm thinking putting on the NVC case number couldn't hurt.

[Jengles 0]

Does anyone have an approximate cost to ship a large box to JA? What would be the best way to do it? I am thinking that I am going to send my guests wedding favors down a month early so that we don't have to bring all that stuff on the plane. I'm just trying to figure out how much it may cost me. I'm ordering them next month...On a side note, I wanted to put 2gether a little welcome bag for my guests coming from the states...any ideas as to what I should put in them? I'm not thinking anything too expensive, maybe 3 or 4 small items?

Just an FYI, one of my clients did not take my advice and the Beaches Resort's wedding coordinators advice NOT to ship wedding favors ahead of time. I flew with the bride and groom, took her almost 3 hours to get her stuff and they wanted to charger her $400 US ...I was able to get them to charge only $20. It's because they consider it importing and exporting and you have to pay taxes both ways.

I told her to ask a few wedding people (and myself) to take items down in their luggage before....we were there 5 days before the wedding.

Thanks for the info...but I just have 1 question: was she trying to ship the stuff to the resort or to a local post office? would that have made a difference or not? I have 20 guests coming from the states, and most of us will be there 5 days before the wedding as well, so I suppose we can bring stuff down, I just didn't want to have to deal w/ possibly paying for the stuff at immigration...

You will only pay at immigration if u say some of your wedding guests and or groom is living in JA,

[finesse 3]

For those of you that filed K1 and are now married:

Considering that my fiance's interview is 6/19 and if we estimate two weeks the visa will be delivered around 7/4, is it possible or realistic to get married immediately and still manage to file for AOS before 7/30?

I think it is entirely possible. We got married 6 days after he got here. Look up what the waiting period is for a marriage license in your state and plan on getting the license as soon as he gets here. You can basically fill out all the AOS stuff together prior and fill in any missing info after he gets here. As for the marriage certificate we got ours filled out by the pastor and opted to bring it to the courthouse ourselves. We brought it in the next day and filed it on record and got our notarized copies that same day. Within that little window of time you should get some pics from the ceremony and if you can get him added to some bills to show as evidence that is good. We also sent in congrats cards from the wedding and a statement from the pastor. The bulk of the evidence can be shown at the interview if needed.

So I say with a well thought out and executed plan you can do it

Thanks, Jamie. That's what I was hoping to hear. I guess I better get started. Dammit, I thought I might be able to breathe for a little while after the interview!

I don't know about getting his name on a utility. Doesn't he have to be present for that?

I was seriously considering the same thing....but damn it is gonna be a close call. the pressure continues to build....think it is time for a drink..

[luvtravlin 0]

Does anyone have an approximate cost to ship a large box to JA? What would be the best way to do it? I am thinking that I am going to send my guests wedding favors down a month early so that we don't have to bring all that stuff on the plane. I'm just trying to figure out how much it may cost me. I'm ordering them next month...On a side note, I wanted to put 2gether a little welcome bag for my guests coming from the states...any ideas as to what I should put in them? I'm not thinking anything too expensive, maybe 3 or 4 small items?

Just an FYI, one of my clients did not take my advice and the Beaches Resort's wedding coordinators advice NOT to ship wedding favors ahead of time. I flew with the bride and groom, took her almost 3 hours to get her stuff and they wanted to charger her $400 US ...I was able to get them to charge only $20. It's because they consider it importing and exporting and you have to pay taxes both ways.

I told her to ask a few wedding people (and myself) to take items down in their luggage before....we were there 5 days before the wedding.

Thanks for the info...but I just have 1 question: was she trying to ship the stuff to the resort or to a local post office? would that have made a difference or not? I have 20 guests coming from the states, and most of us will be there 5 days before the wedding as well, so I suppose we can bring stuff down, I just didn't want to have to deal w/ possibly paying for the stuff at immigration...

You will only pay at immigration if u say some of your wedding guests and or groom is living in JA,

That's totally not true.... I arranged the travel for 90 of her guests coming from all places in the US to stay in Jamaica for my clients wedding. None were Jamaican, although everyone of them are African American. The bride took it upon herself to ship stuff ahead of time thinking she would save money, but in turn.....literally fought with customs for 3 hours and they would NOT come down on the $400 US price. I sat back and listened and then after not getting ANYwhere, I stepped in, made a few phone calls and was able to have a Sandals rep there at the airport go with her and work it out to a reasonable cost to have to pay. It was 2 yrs ago, it was a nightmare, but .....a lesson learned by them !

She wasn't shipping to the resort, I believe it was the FedEx office. I seriously can't remember, because they did it on their own and I wasn't involved. The Sandals Rep at the airport asked where they booked their wedding/moon package from and the groom said, a travel agent and the Rep said, well.....I would seriously be upset with that person and the groom said, she highly advised us NOT to do this. I tapped the Rep on the shoulder and said.....travel agent came *with* them to make sure things ran smoothly, but I wasn't aware that they were doing this ! This was the only mishap in the 8 day trip!!

Just hide things, as everyone else said, take tags off, always say "no". I've brought sooooo many things, clothes, games, even electronic games, coloring books, crayons, shoes, deodorant, toothpaste, I mean tons and tons of stuff in the past 10 years. I was only given ALOT of grief by a woman checking....I had 4 bags and it was only me and my son. She kept saying are YOU SURE you don't have anything in there for anyone?? I said, please feel free to check. Never did and I was like...whew !!!!! Two of those suitcases were packed FULL of baby clothes and items for 2 of the girls that work at the hotel where I've been staying for 10 yrs.

ALWAYS put a hotel on the immigration forms.....put a big name hotel, like RIU Negril or Beaches. Pick one in the Negril area because that's more "touristy".

[nannygirl82 0]

Does anyone have an approximate cost to ship a large box to JA? What would be the best way to do it? I am thinking that I am going to send my guests wedding favors down a month early so that we don't have to bring all that stuff on the plane. I'm just trying to figure out how much it may cost me. I'm ordering them next month...On a side note, I wanted to put 2gether a little welcome bag for my guests coming from the states...any ideas as to what I should put in them? I'm not thinking anything too expensive, maybe 3 or 4 small items?

Just an FYI, one of my clients did not take my advice and the Beaches Resort's wedding coordinators advice NOT to ship wedding favors ahead of time. I flew with the bride and groom, took her almost 3 hours to get her stuff and they wanted to charger her $400 US ...I was able to get them to charge only $20. It's because they consider it importing and exporting and you have to pay taxes both ways.

I told her to ask a few wedding people (and myself) to take items down in their luggage before....we were there 5 days before the wedding.

Thanks for the info...but I just have 1 question: was she trying to ship the stuff to the resort or to a local post office? would that have made a difference or not? I have 20 guests coming from the states, and most of us will be there 5 days before the wedding as well, so I suppose we can bring stuff down, I just didn't want to have to deal w/ possibly paying for the stuff at immigration...

You will only pay at immigration if u say some of your wedding guests and or groom is living in JA,

That's totally not true.... I arranged the travel for 90 of her guests coming from all places in the US to stay in Jamaica for my clients wedding. None were Jamaican, although everyone of them are African American. The bride took it upon herself to ship stuff ahead of time thinking she would save money, but in turn.....literally fought with customs for 3 hours and they would NOT come down on the $400 US price. I sat back and listened and then after not getting ANYwhere, I stepped in, made a few phone calls and was able to have a Sandals rep there at the airport go with her and work it out to a reasonable cost to have to pay. It was 2 yrs ago, it was a nightmare, but .....a lesson learned by them !

She wasn't shipping to the resort, I believe it was the FedEx office. I seriously can't remember, because they did it on their own and I wasn't involved. The Sandals Rep at the airport asked where they booked their wedding/moon package from and the groom said, a travel agent and the Rep said, well.....I would seriously be upset with that person and the groom said, she highly advised us NOT to do this. I tapped the Rep on the shoulder and said.....travel agent came *with* them to make sure things ran smoothly, but I wasn't aware that they were doing this ! This was the only mishap in the 8 day trip!!

Just hide things, as everyone else said, take tags off, always say "no". I've brought sooooo many things, clothes, games, even electronic games, coloring books, crayons, shoes, deodorant, toothpaste, I mean tons and tons of stuff in the past 10 years. I was only given ALOT of grief by a woman checking....I had 4 bags and it was only me and my son. She kept saying are YOU SURE you don't have anything in there for anyone?? I said, please feel free to check. Never did and I was like...whew !!!!! Two of those suitcases were packed FULL of baby clothes and items for 2 of the girls that work at the hotel where I've been staying for 10 yrs.

ALWAYS put a hotel on the immigration forms.....put a big name hotel, like RIU Negril or Beaches. Pick one in the Negril area because that's more "touristy".

ya if you ship customs will get you!! i have tried to ship tings to mike and say Used iteam" or something like that...they must know all the tricks in the book and charged mike like 100.00 bucks....i would take kelly's advice and take it with you...PLUS you know it will get there and you aren't waiting around for the box to arrive...

[Jengles 0]

Does anyone have an approximate cost to ship a large box to JA? What would be the best way to do it? I am thinking that I am going to send my guests wedding favors down a month early so that we don't have to bring all that stuff on the plane. I'm just trying to figure out how much it may cost me. I'm ordering them next month...On a side note, I wanted to put 2gether a little welcome bag for my guests coming from the states...any ideas as to what I should put in them? I'm not thinking anything too expensive, maybe 3 or 4 small items?

Just an FYI, one of my clients did not take my advice and the Beaches Resort's wedding coordinators advice NOT to ship wedding favors ahead of time. I flew with the bride and groom, took her almost 3 hours to get her stuff and they wanted to charger her $400 US ...I was able to get them to charge only $20. It's because they consider it importing and exporting and you have to pay taxes both ways.

I told her to ask a few wedding people (and myself) to take items down in their luggage before....we were there 5 days before the wedding.

Thanks for the info...but I just have 1 question: was she trying to ship the stuff to the resort or to a local post office? would that have made a difference or not? I have 20 guests coming from the states, and most of us will be there 5 days before the wedding as well, so I suppose we can bring stuff down, I just didn't want to have to deal w/ possibly paying for the stuff at immigration...

You will only pay at immigration if u say some of your wedding guests and or groom is living in JA,

That's totally not true.... I arranged the travel for 90 of her guests coming from all places in the US to stay in Jamaica for my clients wedding. None were Jamaican, although everyone of them are African American. The bride took it upon herself to ship stuff ahead of time thinking she would save money, but in turn.....literally fought with customs for 3 hours and they would NOT come down on the $400 US price. I sat back and listened and then after not getting ANYwhere, I stepped in, made a few phone calls and was able to have a Sandals rep there at the airport go with her and work it out to a reasonable cost to have to pay. It was 2 yrs ago, it was a nightmare, but .....a lesson learned by them !

She wasn't shipping to the resort, I believe it was the FedEx office. I seriously can't remember, because they did it on their own and I wasn't involved. The Sandals Rep at the airport asked where they booked their wedding/moon package from and the groom said, a travel agent and the Rep said, well.....I would seriously be upset with that person and the groom said, she highly advised us NOT to do this. I tapped the Rep on the shoulder and said.....travel agent came *with* them to make sure things ran smoothly, but I wasn't aware that they were doing this ! This was the only mishap in the 8 day trip!!

Just hide things, as everyone else said, take tags off, always say "no". I've brought sooooo many things, clothes, games, even electronic games, coloring books, crayons, shoes, deodorant, toothpaste, I mean tons and tons of stuff in the past 10 years. I was only given ALOT of grief by a woman checking....I had 4 bags and it was only me and my son. She kept saying are YOU SURE you don't have anything in there for anyone?? I said, please feel free to check. Never did and I was like...whew !!!!! Two of those suitcases were packed FULL of baby clothes and items for 2 of the girls that work at the hotel where I've been staying for 10 yrs.

ALWAYS put a hotel on the immigration forms.....put a big name hotel, like RIU Negril or Beaches. Pick one in the Negril area because that's more "touristy".

She had already stated that she wasn't going to ship anything down and my comment was made in response to her having to pay if her guests were bringing down bags for her.

I agree with your advice put a hotel name and say you are getting married at a hotel or used a wedding planner or something like that. The officer I got, kept on rephrasing the same questions. Where was I getting marriend? who was coming? where were my relatives from? where was the groom from? and stuff like that.

So what happens with barrels, I've never shipped a barrell before but is the duty on that expensive?

[Yaads 0]

I don't know too much about shipping barrels but I have heard it is really expensive and usually isn't cost effective. I know someone that used to ship barrels to her family from Seattle to JA and she finally quit and just brings it with her when she visits. She said for the price of a barrel she might as well just put it towards a plane ticket.

Don't know if the cost is so high because we are on the west coast...might be cheaper for you on the east coast.

[Shemmy 4]

Hello VJ Family.

Congrats on the recent interview dates

[Jengles 0]

I don't know too much about shipping barrels but I have heard it is really expensive and usually isn't cost effective. I know someone that used to ship barrels to her family from Seattle to JA and she finally quit and just brings it with her when she visits. She said for the price of a barrel she might as well just put it towards a plane ticket.

Don't know if the cost is so high because we are on the west coast...might be cheaper for you on the east coast.

I was told around $65.00 to ship a barrell that would get there in 2 to 3 weeks and u could put a lock on it and send the other person the key, so no one could take anything out of it. but worried about the duty cost.

[Yaads 0]

the amounts I heard where higher than that...I know she was paying at least $200-$300 per barrel. Might be the duty but it might have been the distance. I will search around a bit...

[Jengles 0]

the amounts I heard where higher than that...I know she was paying at least $200-$300 per barrel. Might be the duty but it might have been the distance. I will search around a bit...

Maybe because I'm shipping from NYC, that might account for the price difference

[DonnaJay 0]

The DS-230 has yellow high light on some of the fill-in lines. Does it matter to the embassy if this form is printed without the yellow showing or should I print the form out in color?