General questions

[jessibicho 0]

Hi to all. I have a difficult situation.

First off my husband and I got married in November 2005 in Quito, Ecuador. We came to the decision to get married because at the embassy they told us that this was the best route to take from Ecuador. So, because we knew we would get married at some point anyway we did it. At the time we did not tell our parents. We went to the embassy to file the I - 130 and we were given an interview. The officer was critical that we hadnt told our families and so after this we told them (all except for my father who has not met my husband and I want my father to have the opportunity to meet him first etc. and then we will tell him).

So, the officer waited about 2 weeks and made some calls to friends etc to verify if we were truly married. We recieved a letter stating that the I-130 had been approved and were told to wait for packet 4.

Packet 4 never arrived and we have since moved. I have returned to the states and my husband has moved back in with his family.

Questions -

1.We have been told to go ahead and download the forms from packet 4 and use those instead - should we be worried about anything missing from the website that may be in the actual packet?

2. We know that we now have to majorly impress the officer who gives the interview because of our mistake of not notifying our parents. How should we prepare for this?? The interview will be only with my husband as I am not allowed to go. I have made a scrapbook with photos of us, we have a LONG email history, we have phone bills and copies of our lease and reciepts for bills paid while we were living together in Quito. (these are only copies because our land lady would not give us the originals - should we have those notarized?? We have love letters and letters from friends verifying our relationship. Can anyone think of anything else that may be pertinent to this situation or any suggestions?

3. My economic situation. Currently I am enroleld in an emergency teacher certification course and grad school. I will begin teaching in august with a salary that is 35 thou a year and I live in a relatively LOW economic area (El Paso Texas). My mom is going to be a joint sponser and she has a lot of money. I am looking into buying a home and I have a couple thou in savings and a lot of money in stocks. Do you think this will be good enough?

4. My husband's plan is to come to El Paso and get any kind of job in the service sector while going to school at community college. Eventually he would like to get enrolled atthe university here and go into nursing - should he tell this to the officer if asked? I dont want the oficer to think that we got married so that he could go to nursing school.

5 One last thing - who do we tell that we are No longer living together in Quito?? Do I need to contact anyone and tell them this or can my husband do so at the interview?

Also Please anyone who has gone through Ecuador with any advice or personal experiences would be helpful.

Thank you!

Jessica

Edited March 23, 2006 by jessibicho