Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Mexico, Latin & South America	We got the visa! We got the visa!!!!!	thanx everybody. I got incredibly ill on the flight home, just minutes into the flight. Ended up in the ER for most of a day getting rehydrated and checked out. Still pretty screwed up, but slowly getting my energy back. She still doesn't have the visa in hand, even though we were originally told she would be able to pick it up last thursday. Hopefully today. The embassy just had to finish it up. Probably because we put a date of January for her to come to the states, and I am assuming they are processing the more urgent traveling plans of others first.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-12 08:20:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	We got the visa! We got the visa!!!!!	SHE GOT THE VISA!!!!!! The interview was tuesday morning at the embassy in Lima Peru. We arrived at around 6:45 for a 7:45 interview time and there was already around 20 people in line. After about 20 minutes a man came out and separated everyone into two lines, one for visitors and students and one for immigration and fiance visas. In that line we met another couple there to interview for the fiance visa, and we talked to them while we waited. Around 7:30 we went thru security and then entered into the waiting area. We were first called to window 12 (only one room, the rest is done basically thru teller windows) to hand over the application for a visa and her passport. Then we sat for around another 15 minutes. Then we were called to window 13 and a lady asked Kathe how we met and then I gave her all the paperwork proving I make enough money to support the two of us. Then she asked if we had any evidence of a relationship, of which I had tons of emails, letters, photos, etc. Handed those over and sat back down. The couple we met outside was finally called after maybe another 15 or 20 minutes and they went into the only room to speak to a consular officer. They were the second ones called. The first lady called was this old evil woman. She was denied very quickly. That did nothing for the nerves. While waiting we also talked to another couple the fiancee of which Kathe had talked to online and helped with some of the forms via Oly. Yenny's (i really hope I spelled your name right) husband to be is a VJer as well (samiam). The first couple was approved and went outside to wait for us. And wait they did. It was around a half an hour before we were called not to the room but to window number 9. A nice gentleman only asked me if I spoke spanish to which I replied "mas o menos". He then said he had looked at some of our emails and asked Kathe again how we met and some questions about how we talk and how often. He looked at me and said "vonage huh?". Then he flipped over her passport and we saw the pink card that means you have the visa. I just about fell over from relief. We went out and made arrangements for DHL to get the passport once the visa is put in it (std process) and then waited for Yenny and Randy we had been talking to. They too were approved!!!! We went to starbucks to talk over everything and finally get some much needed caffeine (i only had about 2 hours of sleep and kathe about the same). January wedding time now!!!!! B) A HUGE HUGE HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE thanks to VJ and especially to veroka & oly and dider. We couldn't have done it without your help.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-04 19:41:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Interview in Lima next week....	5 days? If Kathe reads that she will start to cry again, as we are currently at 84 days (2 months 24 days) before we are together again. Glad it helped you to relax. Everything is easier when you have the papers in front of you versas over the phone isn't it?	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-19 13:08:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Interview in Lima next week....	yep, you get a copy too. it just takes a while to get to you since they send it from the embassy. I didn't get mine until after I got home from the interview (it was waiting for me in my mail). No worries... RELAX!!!!!!!!!!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-18 21:23:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Interview in Lima next week....	Just relax, get there early and prepare to be in line for a little bit. Based on our experience and the experience of others there, it will go pretty quick. Having all of your paperwork ready to hand them makes it easy. Also, make sure your evidence will slide under the little window glass thingy that is there to protect them (think banker in a bad neighborhood). Good luck!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-17 12:28:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Brazilian Visa!!!!!!!!!!!	w00t w00t!!!!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-18 13:51:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Tickets to Peru	that's not too bad. I managed to get tickets for under 900 for the trip for the first of Oct for the interview. I am scared of ticket prices for january now	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-09-13 08:42:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Tickets to Peru	prices have been fluctuating a lot recently. I too have seen the huge jump around that time unfortunately. I am looking at round trip tickets from DTW or CLE to LIM Dec30/31 with a return Jan7/8. Also need a matching flight from LIM to DTW/CLE on Jan7/8. Prices have gone up around 300$ per flight for NW/Continental, but AA has only jumped about 50 bucks. Then again, they did the same thing about 3 months ago and then went back down again when I was looking at my tickets for the first of Sept.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-08-23 14:33:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Flying to Peru tomorrow!	sorry to hear about this delay. Hopefully it is all taken care of soon. At least you already have the approval once he proves that he is not his brother. that is something positive to look forward too.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-30 09:44:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Flying to Peru tomorrow!	I hope everything goes better then perfect for you!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-23 09:42:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Transporting a wedding dress	ok, i will start contacting some local bridal shops then and have her do the same in peru. THANX!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-11-01 11:35:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Transporting a wedding dress	when you say garment bag, I assume you are not talking about the kind that folds in half or are you? I am not a big luggage person when it comes to knowledge..	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-11-01 10:59:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Transporting a wedding dress	so did she use some sort of garment bag for protection? I was considering that path	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-30 15:31:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Transporting a wedding dress	ok, so here is the plan that is going to generate early insanity in me (some say it already occurred) jan 11 - fly to peru jan 13 - reception in Perú jan 16 - fly back to US (arriving on the afternoon of the 17th) jan 20 - wedding in US ISSUE: the wedding dress is going to be worn at the prereception so family/friends can take pictures and do the OOH and AHH thing. So we have to pack the dress and following the arrival in the US get it steamed and ready for the wedding on the 20th. here is an example of the what the dress is similar to (Kathe's is being hand made by a local seamstress). Any help on getting this thing packed up and prepared for the flight to the US? It is made out of organza, silk (fio de seda) and french satin (don't ask me what part is what please, i couldn't even come close to knowing). Need this dress to get back safely and with the least amount of work required to make it perfect for the true wedding day.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-30 14:41:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	congrats on the approval stoneservant! artegal - I realize that it is not a requirement, nor can it be the reason for a lack of approval, just noting that it was interesting that of the denials and approvals I personally saw that day it appeared only those with their spouse got the approvals.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-11-01 12:17:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	You will be fine! Having both of you there is a HUGE help, and from the sounds of things you have "plenty" of evidence <hugs>	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-18 09:31:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	Just make sure you can take the things out and slid them thru the window gap when they ask for the evidence. I had to slide two packets of stuff as it wouldn't just fit under the window gap. But they asked us for all the evidence we had. Having it all marked and ready to go will make it easier for them and I am assuming makes them feel more comfortable that it is a valid relationship. Especially if they can see that the two of you had to put it together together.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-18 08:44:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	something I should have put earlier but I forgot. One BIG HUGE GINORMOUS thing I noticed about those of us who had the USC present was that we were WAAAY more prepared then everyone else. Take copies of everything great and small that can help your case. Those that were alone had maybe a small set of photos, or maybe a letter from what I was able to see from my seat. VS I had a 2.5" ring binder completely full, Randy had a large packet of evidence and photos, and the other USC had a briefcase full of papers. All of us were very organized too which I think made a difference. So if you are going alone, I would say TAKE EVERYTHING you can and PREPARE PREPARE ORGANISE and PREPARE Best of fortune to everyone still waiting for their interview	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-17 16:27:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	just a note to those who don't attend, of the people we saw getting approved, everybody had the USC there. Those that didn't were not approved. Not sure why, just know they didn't get the visa of those we saw (out of 6 couples the three of us w/ the USC were approved, everyone else got their passport back w/ the yellow paper).	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-17 10:27:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	have fun and just don't get sick like I did. short story is I ended up in the ER immediately off of the airplane when I landed in the states. Can't wait to go back again anyway Everything will be good. Don't worry about our delay with the visa, I think we are having the difficulty so yours will go easy	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-10-16 16:26:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	I will. I don't always post here but I am always lurking...	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-09-22 08:55:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	does USC need to attend interview in peru?	i too am going to be there for the interview. less then 2 weeks now	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-09-21 13:38:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Well... Dodged a Bullet... a BIG Bullet	glad to hear she is ok and everything is working out. wishing you the absolute best	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-11-06 21:36:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	VISA APPROVED!!!	CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!! glad to hear it worked out for you	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-11-03 21:18:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Is for the interview ? (Peru)	there is one document in the packet you are supposed to send in when you recieve your packet. It is noted in the documentation (forget the number right now). Send that one in IMMEDIATELY. It is a simple document that you fill in about you. Everything else you put together and take with you to the interview. You don't need to have your birth certificate translated into english. You do have to go thru the entire RENIAC process however. Police reports do not have to be translated. They are just looking for the big NO on them anyway.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-11-22 13:07:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Peru: Interview on Jan 31st	be positive. It should all be smooth sailing for you!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-01-31 10:01:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Lima - Peru Interview Date Feb. 21	they are doing a lot better recently approving people who are not with their Fiancee. When we had Kathe's interview, we did see single applicants denied. There were two things that were very obvious at a glance about these people tho. 1) Bad Attitude. Be nice and polite to them, if you are rude or short, they do have the power and authority to make your life hell. One lady was a real gem, and once she started yelling at the lady behind the window, it was end of the road for her request. 2) Not a lot of evidence. Some of those there that were sent on their way had only a single letter. Nothing more. Take EVERYTHING you can. They need proof of a relationship, not a letter saying you are in love. As I mentioned to you before, take everything you can think of, and document all of your photos. Showing a relationship with the family is a huge bonus as well from what I have seen. You will be fine as long as you prepare good. Edited by gtigiant, 07 February 2007 - 10:56 AM.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-02-07 10:55:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Lima - Peru Interview Date Feb. 21	They did not let anyone in early when we went for Kathe's Interview. Instead, they split everyone up into two lines. The actual K1/K3 interviewees went in last at that time. Do get there early however. The line gets long very quickly. As MandR stated, first and foremost: RELAX!!! We used a large 3 ring binder (that or accordian file is your choice). Make sure you know where everything is, and you can hand it to them. Any photos you provide, make sure you put the location and date on them. We used a photo sheet that fit into the 3 ring binder that allowed you to caption each photo. We also made sure to put the names of everyone who is in the photos on the captions, especially family members. The photos and the emails were what they looked at the most for us. As long as you have everything organized, and you have a good solid set of evidence, you should be in without issue. It can be very stressful, so try to relax a little bit. The people we dealt with were very helpful, although some of them seemed to be about the same as me when it came to enjoying mornings. However, they were very professional and appreciated having it all organized and labeled for them. HTH	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-02-01 10:45:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Finally - Some wedding photos	glad you enjoyed them! I have a ton more to go thru and add but I have to work all weekend on two different projects (one an application upgrade and the other a data migration because my company sold one of their businesses). No time to play	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-02-10 18:16:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Finally - Some wedding photos	Thanks everybody! The reception/shower in Peru was thrown by a group of her friends. So we didn't have to pay for any of that. They did a big potluck style party for us. Everything went perfectly smooth here in the states. Her entry into the US in Houston took maybe 15 minutes. I know some of the pictures are dark or need to be cropped better, but I haven't had time to work with them all. I need to go through the originals and clean them up. That is a project for a later date.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-02-06 10:16:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Finally - Some wedding photos	Ok, I went through and somewhat grouped, resized and uploaded some photos from the wedding. It was a cold, but beautiful day. It had snowed the day before, but we got nothing but sunshine (and cold). I put the photos up on our website. As I said, I didn't do a lot with them, including really sort or title any of them. So they are not in order, but hopefully you will enjoy them. I have another 250+ photos that are promised to us from friends, and another 400+ to go through here on my other computer. Hopefully I will get to them soon enough. Enjoy!!! http://www.jakeandkathe.com	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-02-04 22:48:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Traveling to Peru for religous wedding	woohoo! i know the answer to this. We got one of those heavy wedding dress garment bags and took it as carry on. We simply asked the stewardesses to put it in their coat closet. they were more then happy to help out. A quick steam once it go to the US (as we were going to the opposite way) and it was ready to go.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-03-02 15:34:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	*Off Topic*	one day in a pinch instead of using a shaving gel (as I had none), i instead used hand lotion. I hardly ever get shaving bumps anymore. Now while my skin is not as bad as some, I tend to shave almost everyday and it gets pretty irritated pretty fast (generally fridays are the only morning I don't shave). Leads to a lot of bumps. For some reason using a decent handlotion helps, don't know how or why, but that with a good razor works for me. Electrics tear my face all up. I don't know how anybody can use those things.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2006-07-12 09:21:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Peru 7.5 Earthquake	Our best wishes and prayers with the rest of the peruvian families as well. We have been able to reach almost everyone so far. The majority of Kathe's family is in the Callao and La Punta evacuation areas (from the tsunami fear). There is one great aunt that nobody has reached yet, and because of her age no one is sure where she might be staying (apparently she is a little crazy). At her moms house in Chaclacayo (about 25 miles east of Lima) everything on top of a dresser/desk ended up on the floor. Lots of broken perfume bottles and books all over the floor, but nothing else. From talking to everyone it was a "shaker" not a "roller", and it really caused a lot of rockslides in the foothills around Lima.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-08-16 10:12:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Hi, I'm from Peru	Veroka you were in cleveland recently????!!!!!! We need to get together soon. We found another market here with TONS of peruvian stuff. Wish we knew. Erika had to close Machu Picchu because of the construction. It was just impossible for her to get any customers down there. We were really upset when we found out. Katherine and I just had our 1 year anniversary on the 20th. Ironically we were down in Columbus for it . Her sister came up on an exchange student work visa and is here for three months (leaves in march). That has been a really stressful time unfortunately, but we are working through it. We are finally pretty settled into the house, still need to get some furniture, but everything is pretty much in place. I setup the new bed I finished building last night. Kathe is working full-time now and is really starting feel more "at home" now that she can be more self-sufficient with the job and driver's license. I can't wait until we get to go back to Peru, as we are currently planning for the first of May. Glad to see all the new miniVJrs are doing good! Congrats everybody!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2008-02-01 08:47:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Hi, I'm from Peru	Haven't been in here for a while so figured I would say hey! Congrats MandR for the new family on the way! Kathe and I just bought a house and are settling into it. She has recieved her EAD and we are waiting for her social security card to arrive. Hopefully the AOS will be completed soon. Veroka- we haven't started the update on the DNI yet. Can you help us out a little with the process? Thanks a bunch.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-07-11 08:52:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Hi, I'm from Peru	how could we let this thread slide so far??? Been really busy recently, but we finally got Kathe's AOS paperwork in the mail. I think it was easier to put everything together for the visa. So we are doing that, taxes and trying to buy a house all at the same time. WHEEEEEEEE!	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-04-06 09:36:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Hi, I'm from Peru	Yes, we heard that at well. They are having a big dinner at the local peruvian restaurant here and we are planning to go to be able to meet everyone.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-03-08 16:02:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Hi, I'm from Peru	We were in Columbus last weekend and I keep forgetting to get your contact info Veroka! Kathe prefers columbus over cleveland (and as I am doing my taxes now I do even more so myself), but the job is here, so we go to columbus probably once a month.	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-03-02 15:36:00
Mexico, Latin & South America	Hi, I'm from Peru	will do! Once I get the pics sorted and posted up I will let everyone know	gtigiant	Not Telling	Peru	2007-01-30 11:25:00