ATTENTION JULY FILERS!

[weedebz 0]

I am in full agreement...finances play a HUGE part.

[StillThePrettiest 3]

it's all sort of linked, but I'd add 'time off' to the finances thing... true to (outrageous, IMHO) American form, my fiance gets two weeks of vacation a year, which accrues by the hour... even if we had the money to be constantly zipping across the Atlantic to see each other (and as we both have mortgages, we really don't have lots of spare cash), we wouldn't have the time... and I don't really fancy sitting about waiting every day while he finishes work...

and to finish on a REALLY bum note, the training he was supposed to be doing in December, which would have allowed him a weekend in London with me, has just been postponed til at least January, maybe February, maybe later

I am bummed

[Jason-Sasha 1]

Hey I went from January 7th 2006 till April 11th 2007 without seeing my fiance.

So ya'll can quit complaining about time without each other

This was obviously by choice. Why would you do this if you are both in love??

No, it wasn't.

I'm 21 and in college, and she's 20 and broke.

Neither of us could / can afford to just go see each other whenever we have the time.

If we could have, we would have, but we couldn't, so we didn't.

Please don't go making assumptions like that, it seemed rather rude.

Good god, people. I'm so sorry I caused so much hate in here...It was not my intention. We all have our opinions. I just assumed that people who were going through this process had a little money. I mean, if two people are broke and from different ends of the Earth, how can they expect to venture into marriage? Honestly. I'm not trying to offend. It really wasn't my intention. I just figured that everyone here was an adult with the financial freedom to have an international marriage. I think it's pretty risky to get married when you're flat broke. So, this is why I said not seeing each other was optional. I understand certain countries dont receive tourist visas, etc. I can't imagine trying to keep an ongoing relationship with someone, let alone get married to them, if we were flat busted and so far from each other.. Anyway!!...Just forget about this. everyone can calm down. i didnt know I would cause such anger. I was sleepy and my typing came off poorly. i'm sorry. There was no rude intention. Good luck to you.

By the way, I can't exactly afford to go anytime I wish either. But with 3 months of planning I make it happen. Why? because nothing on this planet will keep me from Sasha. She is my reason for living. And if I needed to pimp my own grandmother, or sell my kidney, I'd do it. Working 2 jobs has become a necessity for lots of Americans these days. I don't stop working. I'm dedicated. I do my best to make it happen. I'm sorry for expecting the same from everyone. Some people are in college, some have children, etc. Not everyone can focus all their attention on working to save for trips. I know this. But there's always a way....

Edited September 11, 2007 by Jason-Sasha

[StillThePrettiest 3]

I didn't see any anger, and I didn't see any hate; I just saw some people disagreeing with you, and explaining why

and while your dedication is commendable, your situation still remains just that: your situation... everyone else's is different, so can't possibly be measured in the same way

[weedebz 0]

I mean, if two people are broke and from different ends of the Earth, how can they expect to venture into marriage?

Since when did having a certain amount of money define who and where you should fall in love? Sorry if this seems a bit snappy. But maybe the reason people don't have finances to visit 3-4 times a year is because they are saving for that marriage. If you meet the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with but in order to do that you need to be physically seperated for 6 months or more...surely it's worth it in the bigger picture of things! 6-9 months nothing when compared to the lifetime ahead. It's hard but if you gotta do it, you gotta do it. Nick maybe spending 6 months here with me on tourist visa but we spent 8months apart before this and after these 6 months are up on 6th Dec we'll be apart until I go over....hopefully March, visa dependant.

everything I say is meant with the upmost respect to everyone and there own individual circumstance. Lets all consentrate on supporting each other through the hard times we ALL face.

Edited September 11, 2007 by weedebz

[tucson_chick 0]

money is a big issue. eric and i are incredibly fortunate, as he is in germany for work a lot this year, he's been in germany for all of july and will be there from november till january. but on the other hand i am stressed out abt the AOS-process. we won't be allowed to work for at least 3 months, and, we might need stuff to get comfortable in our new lives. it will be hard.

my parents want to visit us in that time, but we only have 1bedroom and no guestbed or anything, and surely no money to move into a larger apt and buy furniture.

money plays a big role, and i hate it. international relationships are always a real bummer on your bank account.

[Bill y Bella 0]

money is a big issue. eric and i are incredibly fortunate, as he is in germany for work a lot this year, he's been in germany for all of july and will be there from november till january. but on the other hand i am stressed out abt the AOS-process. we won't be allowed to work for at least 3 months, and, we might need stuff to get comfortable in our new lives. it will be hard.

my parents want to visit us in that time, but we only have 1bedroom and no guestbed or anything, and surely no money to move into a larger apt and buy furniture.

money plays a big role, and i hate it. international relationships are always a real bummer on your bank account.

Why can't either of you work when you get to the US? The US citizen has no restrictions against working.

Also if your point of entry is JFK airport in New York the beneficiary might be able to get approval to work for a few months as he/she enters the county. It's not a long time, but it might allow some work at a temp agency to help pay the bills.

[thejoz 0]

By the way, I can't exactly afford to go anytime I wish either. But with 3 months of planning I make it happen. Why? because nothing on this planet will keep me from Sasha. She is my reason for living. And if I needed to pimp my own grandmother, or sell my kidney, I'd do it. Working 2 jobs has become a necessity for lots of Americans these days. I don't stop working. I'm dedicated. I do my best to make it happen. I'm sorry for expecting the same from everyone. Some people are in college, some have children, etc. Not everyone can focus all their attention on working to save for trips. I know this. But there's always a way....

And the way for us is to get married. Then we can be together always, and we can build our futures together.

My parents are going to help us through the whole way, and we're going to both be working and saving so we can be settled.

No, we're not well established adults with mortgages and stuff yet, but this will help us start soon so that in a few years, God willing, we will be.

We had originally planned for her to come and go to school first, but then we realized 1) It would put her $80-100,000+ in debt because she'd be an international student and 2) If she came on an F-1 Visa, after her schooling ended, she'd have to go back home, and THEN we'd have to start the K-1 Process.

So we all decided that it was better to simply get married now, since we already know we want to, and that way we can go about our lives without immense, huge, insurmountable debt over our young heads.

[michellemilitza 1]

I mean, if two people are broke and from different ends of the Earth, how can they expect to venture into marriage? Honestly. I'm not trying to offend. It really wasn't my intention. I just figured that everyone here was an adult with the financial freedom to have an international marriage. I think it's pretty risky to get married when you're flat broke. So, this is why I said not seeing each other was optional. I understand certain countries dont receive tourist visas, etc. I can't imagine trying to keep an ongoing relationship with someone, let alone get married to them, if we were flat busted and so far from each other..

I know that many of you will disagree but.....I actually see your point and I have come to the exact same conclusion as you, Yes I have to save money for my trips to go see my other half, and he has to do the same thing to visit me, but if we couldn't see each other because of financial or political reasons I don't think we would still be togehter. I just Thank God that he has given us the opportunity to be able to visit each other, I even think that us being able to visit each other is a sign from God that we ARE meant to be together....

But, Jason-Sasha I share your point from the above quote, And I got your back!

[StillThePrettiest 3]

and I take the strength and commitment of my relationship, even at a distance and despite lengthy absences, as God's sign that WE'RE supposed to be together

as I said above: everyone's situation is different; it's pointless to try to compare them... and that goes for EVERYONE, not just people in this specific visa situation

blessings on everyone as they work through their own process to get where they want to be

now I'ma gonna go and speak to my honey

[tucson_chick 0]

money is a big issue. eric and i are incredibly fortunate, as he is in germany for work a lot this year, he's been in germany for all of july and will be there from november till january. but on the other hand i am stressed out abt the AOS-process. we won't be allowed to work for at least 3 months, and, we might need stuff to get comfortable in our new lives. it will be hard.

my parents want to visit us in that time, but we only have 1bedroom and no guestbed or anything, and surely no money to move into a larger apt and buy furniture.

money plays a big role, and i hate it. international relationships are always a real bummer on your bank account.

Why can't either of you work when you get to the US? The US citizen has no restrictions against working.

Also if your point of entry is JFK airport in New York the beneficiary might be able to get approval to work for a few months as he/she enters the county. It's not a long time, but it might allow some work at a temp agency to help pay the bills.

oh, sorry, with WE i was talking abt the foreign fiancees.

sure, JFK is an option, but you can only work with that approval until you get married, and then you're caught in the AOS limbo anyway. we will probably have the wedding the day after I arrive, get rid of the paperwork and then have our beautiful ceremony in germany a year later. sucks, but the ceremony in germany is our big dream.

[Jeraly 4]

I think everyone is different and we can't pass judgment It's nice to know more about people and their varied situations Sometimes it makes me jealous and sometimes it makes me feel lonely

My situation is again, my OH can't get much time off work so when we do get to see each other it's not always for long and sometimes he has to take that unpaid. He lives with his aunt on a trailer park and doesn't pay her rent - he takes her out from time to time, runs her around and helps out with the bills and groceries but he has cut a pretty good deal. I have just finished doing a four year degree so have my debts (!) £2k overdraft, £12k student loan etc but again, I live with my mum and although I am meant to be paying rent because my car has decided to go "poof" and my cat has vet bills and I had to go to the dentist, need to get new glasses etc etc she's kinda cutting me some slack.

Jeremy is paying for the wedding, I am just trying to concentrate on saving for niggly things I need to do to tie up loose ends and get things sorted. I have to pay for bridesmaid dresses, pay off my overdraft and pay for silly things (like totally expensive underwear ) that I just couldn't afford while trying to maintain a long distance relationship when I was going through university.

Jeremy and I have known each other for six years and we have been together for two. Despite the costs involved we have done our best to see each other every 3-4 months because we feel that this is a tolerable amount of time to be apart - I really really admire those of you who are apart for longer than that and I can completely understand how it can be necessary. I am just fortunate that due to our circumstances we can afford to at least be a little flexible

Anyway! We'll all get there in the end and we will all do things our own way because we are all different At the end of the day we are all in similar situations and the ultimate goal is to be with the person we love - no matter how we get there

[Gareth's Girl 0]

When did this become an "I love my fiance(e) more than you do" thread? Personally, I agree with Jason....but that doesn't mean I think other couples who choose differently are wrong or love their fiance(e)s any less.

[janaus 0]

has any july filer received a NOA2 yet?

Uh... that was a joke right?

There were 208 K1 petitons submitted in July. No approvals so far. We thought we had one for a Cuba petition but it turned out he filed in June. There have been 4 approvals so far for June. 3 of those were from Cuba which gets priority processing. The 4th was from The Netherlands. My guess is the one from The Netherlands was a military expedite, a typo in the timeline or some other unique situation. They are definitely not processing June petitions yet unless the beneficiary is from Cuba.

USCIS is currently working primarily on May petitions and taking their sweet time about it.

Since there is not much for us to do, here in the July forum we are keeping ourselves occupied with wedding plans and recipes. I cannot begin to tell you how enjoyable that has been for me.

If you are not already doing so, you might want to monitor the CSC NOA2 forum. Here is the link. They do a good job of keeping everyone updated on approvals.

There is also a link to the July Filers Spreadsheet in my signature.

Why does CUba get priority? Is it some political reason??

[Jeraly 4]

I don't think it's become an I love my fiance more than you thread - I think people are just sharing and explaining their situations

And yeah - I think there is something weird about Cuba in terms of visa stuff but I honestly couldn't tell you what it was...