I129f September 2017 filers

[nullaccount234 882]

7 hours ago, AntoinetteB said:

i have a question as i enjoy this lovely wait i figured i would get familiar with the next few steps as i am a very positive person and my fiance and I are sure we will have an approved outcome lol any who the visa fee is that to be paid at the day of the interview? also is there a fee at the end of the DS-160? also lol my mother will be a co sponsor because i make just under the required amount ,however i also get survivors benefits for my children but because its the social security administration who supplies it im worried that my income may not be enough so shes helping us i said all of that to ask i do need a I-134 for us both correct? ive been researching everything from the doctors to a fee of 160.00 before they can leave the country thanks for your love and support we are all in this together 

I agree with you, it never hurts to prepare yourself, and especially when the Service Center waiting time is so long. It's nice to have everything ready for a quick and smooth process (hopefully) at the consulate/embassy instead.  

 

I think for the visa fee payment that it may vary. I know for Stockholm that the fee is paid online when scheduling the interview (it's at $265 if I remember correctly), but I can't say for sure it's the same for any embassy or consulate. I believe that's the visa fee and no further fee is paid when filling out the DS-160, but someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[legatoblue18 38]

Woooohoooo just arrived to visit my fiancée! Might be the last visit before our K1 finishes. Hope it's not too long of a wait after this. 😇

[AntoinetteB 165]

3 hours ago, legatoblue18 said:

Woooohoooo just arrived to visit my fiancée! Might be the last visit before our K1 finishes. Hope it's not too long of a wait after this. 😇

lucky you enjoy yourself i don't think ill be seeing my fiance until he arrives on the k1 visa he's too far  i want to try too make it to his interview but that depends on how soon they give him his visa it would be wonderful to travel back together 

[AbenaKofi 132]

8 hours ago, legatoblue18 said:

Woooohoooo just arrived to visit my fiancée! Might be the last visit before our K1 finishes. Hope it's not too long of a wait after this. 😇

Aww yay! I’m going to Ghana over Christmas to spend two weeks with mine, and that’ll likely be the last time until he gets approved. Hopefully once we all get NOA2 things will move quickly!

[Swissmiss82 1,620]

have you guys started planning on the wedding? and will you guys do one wedding or possibly one small one after the POE and a bigger one at some later point?

 

Happy Weekend everybody and good patience

[nullaccount234 882]

3 hours ago, Swissmiss82 said:

have you guys started planning on the wedding? and will you guys do one wedding or possibly one small one after the POE and a bigger one at some later point?

 

Happy Weekend everybody and good patience

We’re planning it exactly like you said. Small ceremony after POE, hopefully a bigger celebration later on. It’s nearly impossible to plan a big wedding when you don’t even know what date it’ll be. Plus, from a financial point of view, this whole journey (including me being out of work for four or so months) will be costly enough and we’re saving to buy our own home. A large wedding party would be lovely, but we’ve agreed that getting our own place is priority number one.

 

What about you?  

[AntoinetteB 165]

7 hours ago, Swissmiss82 said:

have you guys started planning on the wedding? and will you guys do one wedding or possibly one small one after the POE and a bigger one at some later point?

 

Happy Weekend everybody and good patience

Its definitely hard to plan when literally every date is uncertain however we plan on going to our local court house and afterwards we are having a reception so we are skipping the ceremony and depending on the time he gets here we may skip the reception too and go straight to the honeymoon 

[AbenaKofi 132]

13 hours ago, Swissmiss82 said:

have you guys started planning on the wedding? and will you guys do one wedding or possibly one small one after the POE and a bigger one at some later point?

 

Happy Weekend everybody and good patience

Agree - it’s too hard and too expensive to plan a wedding around a moving target!  I have my eye on a few places for something small, and will take action once we buy his flight.  I was thinking Day 60ish? What are you guys planning as far as how far into the 90 days you want to get married?

[Swissmiss82 1,620]

yeah we will also have a small wedding for just the two of us, after the POE.. and we plan on the big wedding - well not huge, but about 50 guests - for oct/nov 2018. we already found an awesome venue, but we won't book until noa2. for some reason i don't trust this time process just yet lol but the planning and researching is fun, and keeps me busy to not go crazy with this wait..

 

but i already got the dress for the big wedding  so exciting! i look at it every day and motivate myself to stay strong and the wait will be worth it....

 

another question - did anyone research yet on how to transfer money or how to do that? keep an account in your home country?

and what about all your personal belongings, will you ship things or what are the plans?

[Ёжик 32]

We will also do the wedding later. It is important for me that my mother would see me in the wedding dress, since she does not have one more daughter, I think she will be very pleased. Therefore, the wedding will be when my mother can come to us. As soon as I arrive, we will take care of the documents and the house.

And honestly, I can not even go anywhere and choose a place for the ceremony, since all I'm thinking about is preparing documents, how much I miss and getting NOA2 .... I can not do anything with myself.

[AbenaKofi 132]

16 hours ago, Swissmiss82 said:

yeah we will also have a small wedding for just the two of us, after the POE.. and we plan on the big wedding - well not huge, but about 50 guests - for oct/nov 2018. we already found an awesome venue, but we won't book until noa2. for some reason i don't trust this time process just yet lol but the planning and researching is fun, and keeps me busy to not go crazy with this wait..

 

but i already got the dress for the big wedding  so exciting! i look at it every day and motivate myself to stay strong and the wait will be worth it....

 

another question - did anyone research yet on how to transfer money or how to do that? keep an account in your home country?

and what about all your personal belongings, will you ship things or what are the plans?

That's so exciting that you have a dress already! I have my eye on what I want 😉 but won't get it just yet. 

 

My fiance is packing light and plans to do a major downsize before POE - we may sublet his apartment so he'll leave the furniture and bring luggage. Whatever won't work with the luggage, we'll ship via DHL. 

[Pajares 37]

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 9:06 AM, Swissmiss82 said:

have you guys started planning on the wedding? and will you guys do one wedding or possibly one small one after the POE and a bigger one at some later point?

 

Happy Weekend everybody and good patience

Just planning at a high level.  We will have a Vegas wedding on the way home to St. Louis, just a small one with a handful of family/friends.  Many chapels there that are familiar with arranging remotely, and choices of very traditional to not-very.  We'll organize a reception soon after we get home, then plan one in Manila when we first visit after it's OK to do so (AP in hand, etc. or AOS).  We've already discussed what we desire (traditional for us), gown and tux choices, and so forth.  Taking advantage of the location to let Angel see the Grand Canyon and the American southwest for a day, via a rental car and some driving. 

[nullaccount234 882]

On 08/10/2017 at 5:41 AM, AbenaKofi said:

Agree - it’s too hard and too expensive to plan a wedding around a moving target!  I have my eye on a few places for something small, and will take action once we buy his flight.  I was thinking Day 60ish? What are you guys planning as far as how far into the 90 days you want to get married?

We'll get married pretty soon after POE Since it'll be a simple ceremony anyway, there aren't a lot of things that the date itself will depend on. Unless our mutual friends decide to pop over for it, which they hinted they might 

[nullaccount234 882]

 

On 08/10/2017 at 4:50 PM, Swissmiss82 said:

yeah we will also have a small wedding for just the two of us, after the POE.. and we plan on the big wedding - well not huge, but about 50 guests - for oct/nov 2018. we already found an awesome venue, but we won't book until noa2. for some reason i don't trust this time process just yet lol but the planning and researching is fun, and keeps me busy to not go crazy with this wait..

 

but i already got the dress for the big wedding  so exciting! i look at it every day and motivate myself to stay strong and the wait will be worth it....

 

another question - did anyone research yet on how to transfer money or how to do that? keep an account in your home country?

and what about all your personal belongings, will you ship things or what are the plans?

I did some research  I'm such a nerd when it comes to this stuff. I'll be using Transferwise to transfer money. They don't charge any mark up on the exchange rate, just a fixed fee that they'll give you beforehand (and it's cheap!). I might keep a checking account in Sweden because I have student loans that are more easy to just pay off from a domestic account, but all other accounts will be closed and I will have to sell any stocks/mutual funds I've saved up to buy (unfortunately). I might've kept some stocks for tax purposes, but my Swedish bank won't allow it once I register on a US address  It's the law, and I believe it's the same for other EU countries as well. So I'll definitely start doing some research in to what US savings banks have to offer pretty soon.

 

When it comes to personal belongings I plan to bring as little as possible. I have some nice things, but a lot of basic equipment is from IKEA and shipping fees would probably be as much as just getting it all from scratch in NY. 

 

Also - you are strong! I definitely believe you'll think it's worth it. How cool are you to move to the other side of the pond to be with your guy?  The next 12 months will be tough and you will probably feel lonely sometimes - I know I will. Just remember you have all of us out there, going through the exact same thing.

[Swissmiss82 1,620]

Thank you @ LizM <3 that was so sweet to say!

I think we are all very strong to keep up with this journey and go through it. It is everything else but easy. Thankfully we have a good group of people here that is also a big support!

 

This transferwise I have to check out myself. I wasn't so sure yet how to do it yet.

But it makes sense for sure, as I believe we are also not allowed to keep an account here in Switzerland.

It's the little things like this, that I try to handle now while waiting - to not go completely crazy haha

 

I also have a lot of things I will sell and give away, but of course I still have a bunch of personal belongings and clothes and shoes that I don't want to just give away and invest a lot of money once we get married. There are a bunch of other expenses coming our way then. But I just found out how I can ship a 31.5 kg box for less than a suitcase (23kg) and it should take 1-2 weeks max! So I will start packing things up and start shipping out things next month or so.... It's a service from DHL by the way, if anyone wants to check out in their country. Luckily I live close to the german boarder, so I can ship from there and save about half of the price per box!).

 

Do you guys start dreaming about this paperwork and NOA2 yet? haha Please tell me you do (so I don't feel all alone haha)