Finding Love Abroad, Then Support Online for Visa Quest

[Zee Bee 61]

This is what love has done to Wendy Brown: She's lost weight, resumed smoking and all but decided to move to the Balkans to be with her Albanian fiance. And each night, she spends hours in her cozy Baltimore apartment mingling online with strangers who are equally fixated on the same topic: getting their soul mates through the U.S. immigration system.

"We are both devastated," Brown, 38, wrote last spring on VisaJourney.com, reporting that the U.S. Embassy in Albania had denied her fiance a visa. She also posted a list of the questions the fiance was asked at his interview. "I'm going to keep fighting and fighting until we get what we both want more than anything in the world. . . . and that is to be together." Many people are frustrated with the immigration process and its long lines and opaque applications that, if misinterpreted, can send a case back to square one. Perhaps none are more ardent than the growing ranks of U.S. citizens applying for fiance and spouse visas, who say their passion is driven by a sense that their own government is fighting them and by the fear that delays or denials might spell the end of a romance.

In recent years, these American petitioners have channeled their despair into a few Web sites featuring the odd pairing of love stories and red-tape navigation for those fed up with the federal immigration agency's help line, whose representatives are trained in immigration regulations and provide scripted advice that critics say is often wrong.

VisaJourney, a site whose 35,000 members are mostly Americans with foreign fiances and spouses, is at once a celebration of love and a condemnation of bureaucracy. Members, who call themselves VJ'ers, describe meeting their beloveds in Kenyan bars, Jamaican churches, online video games. They have posted thousands of photos of smiling couples in foreign lands. Their profile pages are adorned with beating hearts, clocks counting the hours since their last meetings and such statements as "feels like eternity . . . without him."

Rest of the article ---> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ews⊂=new

[LaL 418]

hehe - well that didn't take long to get posted

[*julez* 124]

Its nice for our plight to get the spotlight. The thing that made me sad was how many nasty comments were posted about the article. Still, its publicity! Would be nice if it makes a difference.

[JODO 2]

T4P!

[Zee Bee 61]

hehe - well that didn't take long to get posted

I was actually surprised that it was not up here sooner.

[Fandango 1,439]

Whoa! This came out of the blue!

how cool!

Who's Wendy?

[*julez* 124]

This has been in the works for weeks! Wendy contacted numerous news outlets in an effort to have the family based immigration issues highlighted.

ETA: Her ID is US Wendy.

Edited October 29, 2007 by julezabelle

[Zee Bee 61]

Whoa! This came out of the blue!

how cool!

Who's Wendy?

US Wendy.

[SteveLaura 0]

Cool. My poll could do with some new blood.

[Zee Bee 61]

A lot of us from VSC have been working on this for some time with Wendy at the helm. We have been plotting and planning in the VSC Thread.

[Fandango 1,439]

After reading the comments, I'm going to retract my 'how cool' and say I'm a little concerned that it's going to turn into another 'that which shall not be mentioned'

And the troll factor's gonna be high

[Ladylethal 12]

I am glad it didn't just bash overseas relationships and the site. This time they did mention people meet on AND offline, that they make several trips to be together, etc.

[derekkj 0]

Wow, some of those comments are pretty vicious!

We were asked if we wanted to be interviewed for the article, but declined because I was unsure of what the reactions might be. I hate to have my doubts proved correct, but I have a feeling Lisa is right.

[Ladylethal 12]

Indeed, I am glad the article wasn't bad as the "article that won't be mentioned" was, but the comments once more are bad.

It amazes me how much I hear that people who marry americans are green card whores. Ok, some people are indeed just after a GC, but generalizing is awful!

[JVKn'CVO 11]

I am glad it didn't just bash overseas relationships and the site. This time they did mention people meet on AND offline, that they make several trips to be together, etc.

I thought that was cool too

Saludos,

Caro