Finding Love Abroad, Then Support Online for Visa Quest

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

while i know we're all one big family, why all the bickering? i think a few of you need spankings.

eta: anyone looked at the comments lately? i snuck in one of my perv names

well, i am ready to be of service.,..

any guesses, almaty?

[almaty 19]

lol..easy to figure out...

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

lol..easy to figure out...

you figured it out that quick?

[jundp 191]

Think about when you told your family/friends you were going to marry and sponsor someone from another country...whether they like the guy/gal or not...didn't you get that 'you're so crazy!' response from someone? That's cos most people DON'T think 'outside the box'...most people choose the safe option, so the things that we do are 'foreign' (no pun intended) to many.

No one in my family ever said anything about me choosing to marry someone from another country. And actually only one person that I know has ever said anything and I figure she's a bitter ole cow

The complicated cases DO take a while...and don't even get me started on the AOS delays. But honestly...I've planned a party longer than I've waited for my NOA2 thusfar. Is it any cause for 'GETTIN IT OUT TO THE MEDIA'? Not so much.

That must've been some party

I don't think there's anything wrong with getting the message out to the media. That is, after all, what the media is for. We have enough propaganda and BS out there in the media, what's wrong with showing that normal everyday people fall in love with "foreigners" and have difficulty getting them to this contry. We may not have a "right" to bring our foreign SO here, but we do have the right to bring attention to delays and a broken system. In fact, I'd say we have an obligation.

http://www.visajourney.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=16

The Valentines Day Protests at the Texas Service Center. Also more pics in the Gallery to take a look at.

Very cool.

[Zee Bee 61]

Oh well.

Oh well - what? What did all of you working on the article think was going to happen?

I think Frances pretty much got what I was feeling. I have been reading and all I can say is

The way people have condemned the article is more than I expected. People have sat down and nitpicked the article until there is nothing to talk about anymore.

So it was bad. Should Wendy and the others not have participated? Should they have turned down the reporter? They, and others of us, thought that it would be a good way to get our voices heard. That was it. We were also aware that it could turn out to be total #######.

If you didn't like the article then write a letter to the WP.

[rouguewave 7]

The perception that only a few people can not make a difference is not always true. Point in case, the INS (at the time) had major slow downs in processing (and even stoppages) and people decided to stop complaining and to bring it to the public:

Standing in front of the Texas Service Center:

{photo's removed for brevity. Feel free to find them on the original post - rouguewave}

I you look close you will see a few familiar faces in the photos. It takes courage and often times it seems like an infinitely high mountain... but eventually things can and often do change. In the example above the INS performed a 180 and open the flood gates due to a handful of people and their determination to make a difference.

Capt'n,

How many people showed up, for how long, and what kind of advanced preparation was there? Was there anykind of press coverage and if so, how was that arranged? The reason I ask is this: I'm heading up to Mom's for Thanksgiving and would be happy to entertain suggestions for something to do at VSC on Friday (assuming we can determine they will be open). Oh, did I mention that Mom lives about 1 hrs drive from VSC? Well, I'm curious to see what the place looks like anyway.

Rouguewave

ps: I could even deliver a box or 2 of chocolates, but I suspect they might not take them from a person walking up to the door. Probably would need to borrow USPS, UPS, or FedEx uniform and vehicle.

[mendeleev 68]

"Miss Brown, you may think that you are doing the right thing, however, as one who indirectly(I was sought by a foreign girl) I assure you that at the end you will be disappointed.The cultural differences are so enormous, that sooner or later, they will affect your family life. You think that most American men are not as enticing as some from other countries. There are about the same number of good American men and women as in any other country. I have traveled the world, met many people and even though some foreign people have all the qualities we think we are searching, at the end the differences will be hard to be aligned. Love is very powerful and most of the time it clouds the mind. Clouds tend to disappear and when the sun shines we may have regrets"

OMG stupidest comment EVER

"You think that most American men are not as enticing as some from other countries" har har har har.. probly he got dumped for a furriner, that's why he's hatin

everytime you write this word, I read 'furrier'

Me too -- and I'm also laughing!

[rebeccajo 14]

Oh well.

Oh well - what? What did all of you working on the article think was going to happen?

I think Frances pretty much got what I was feeling. I have been reading and all I can say is

The way people have condemned the article is more than I expected. People have sat down and nitpicked the article until there is nothing to talk about anymore.

So it was bad. Should Wendy and the others not have participated? Should they have turned down the reporter? They, and others of us, thought that it would be a good way to get our voices heard. That was it. We were also aware that it could turn out to be total #######.

If you didn't like the article then write a letter to the WP.

This is their typical style - the WP. I know another person who was interviewed by them and the print article (based upon the interivew) turned out nothing like he thought it would be. They even referred to his wife as an illegal immigrant in the piece.

I for one am not criticizing the efforts of folks for trying. If you never try - nothing happens.

But - and I've said this before and I will say it again - life with an immigrant is like this!! People don't understand and - they really don't want or need to. It doesn't affect them directly.

I know the delays people are experiencing right now are REALLY bad. I know the stress of being separated can be awful. And I know (better than many of you realize) what a screwed-up system all of us are caught in. BUT - this isn't the half of it!! You're life is forever changed because you have chosen to marry a foreign-born individual. People will question your marriage, and question your spouses right to be in this country. It's just the political atmosphere right now.

And it's just human nature for people not to care that much over something that doesn't affect them. Unfortunately.

[Ladylethal 12]

The only thing I will add to this thread is that even though I liked the article in general, for the reasons I posted in the first pages, the comments I read from this article, from the article that will not be named, and from many other forums and social gathering places such as myspace, showing an american opinion that we, the foreigners, are all scammers, GC seekers, and should stay where we came from, makes me wanna pack up my things and leave to go back home today.

And I am not even in US, but in Puerto Rico so I shouldn't be a threat to americans and their way of life. When I got engaged to Luis we talked for days and months about where we'd live and after many pondering he said he couldn't accept to be supported by me and live in Brazil, but would want to be the one supporting me, and that we should live here in Puerto Rico for the first few years of our married life, and then go where the opportunity proved to be better for us. I thought it was cool and that if he could get a contract with a company in US (he's a recent graduated biologist with a concentration in microbiology) we'd get a chance to grow for a while and then maybe get transfered to a company with an office in Brazil (many US companies have labs in Brazil) in the future.

The thing is, it's been 1 year since I've been here and from day one I missed my country, my brazilian way of life, and especially after reading stuff like this, I realize I may be in the wrong place, dunno, I know that back home people wouldn't look the same way at a foreign, or at a couple from different nationality. Always heard of all the prejudice in US, believed it was there since I lived there as a teen, in a foreign exchange program, but I didn't expect it to be so strong, adding here awful experiences I sometimes have at work (work in a call center for an US company, americans call and get angry and treat me like ####### 'cus I have an accent, they call me chicana and things like that).

[TracyTN 237]

I wouldn't let the opinion of ignorant fools make me want to run back home.

There's prejudice anywhere you go. I suspect if I moved to another country, I'd find some anti American people pretty quickly too. But I would stand by my choice to live where I decided to live and forget the rest of it. The only time that would change would be if I felt my personal safety were in danger.

Conformity is boring.

*edited for typo*

Edited October 30, 2007 by TracyTN

[no name 1]

I wouldn't let the opinion of ignorant fools make me want to run back home.

There's prejudice anywhere you go. I suspect if I moved to another country, I'd find some anti American people pretty quickly too. But I would stand by my choice to live where I decided to live and forget the rest of it. The only time that would change would be if I felt my personal safety were in danger.

Conformity is boring.

*edited for typo*

Foreigners aren't well received many places I don't think. Yesterday there was talk of Turks in Berlin. I know I met plenty of anti-Americans in England...

If you choose to live elsewhere, you gotta put up with all that entails.

[Ladylethal 12]

Dunno, at least here in Puerto Rico everyone I've met seems pretty proud that I have chosen to live here, and get all happy when I say I do like the country.

I am now scared of hubby getting the job he wants in Texas, and having to suffer too much prejudice there.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

Dunno, at least here in Puerto Rico everyone I've met seems pretty proud that I have chosen to live here, and get all happy when I say I do like the country.

I am now scared of hubby getting the job he wants in Texas, and having to suffer too much prejudice there.

just get a pickup truck, you'll fit right in

[almaty 19]

and a confederate flag bumper sticker...

or 'don't mess with texas"

[SonoranSongbird 3]

There's prejudice anywhere you go. I suspect if I moved to another country, I'd find some anti American people pretty quickly too.

I've lived in three countries and I can assure you Americans have not cornered the market on xenophopia (or racism). I used to live in Poland and most of my friends there were Latin American expats with Polish spouses. My best friend in Warsaw is a Polish woman with a Peruvian husband. Among our circle of friends was a North Korean family who defected to Poland. The neighbors were quite puzzled at the notion that people born on 4 different continents could get along. #######? I'm not saying these folks were representative of all Poles (in fact, I know they were NOT), but the point is there are ignorant twits in any country.

For the record, like Jundp, no one in my family has questioned my decision to marry a Canadian/Brit, nor did they question any of my past relationships with men born in Mexico, Poland, and Switzerland (and yes, I have also dated Americans, by the way). Neither has (or did) anyone else I know.