Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Asia: East and Pacific	Sending gifts to fiancee in Indonesia	I've sent MANY package over 6+ years to my now wife in Jakarta.. the 'fees' imposed are not logical at all, seemingly just complete corruption... the post office will say that their was 'postage due'.. Most of the packages i've sent had between $10 and $200 in value in them.. but usually the likes of clothing that without new labels on them, very hard to assign a value so i considered the value of 'rummage sale' for all items when putting on a customs form.. also.. 'vague is your friend!' trust me. USPS express mail is by far the best value starting at $25 or so and i sent 9# once for like #70.. gets there in about 3-4 days typically and never once a lost package.. regular mail on the other hand.. might as well just leave it on the curb! Oh.. BTW... married 2 dec.. marriage certificate in-hand 22 dec .. I-130 delivered to embassy 26 dec (a very long weekend).. i left indo 26 dec.. she had her appointment and visa approved 4 jan. .visa in-hand in passport 9 jan.. her plane leaves for the states 24 january... DCF.. it's your best friend. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2007-01-17 00:57:00
Asia: East and Pacific	ANY CHEAP WAY TO CALL PHILIPPINES OR INDONESIA???	I use www.pingo.com it's like 5cents to land phone and 13.5 to mobile.. i call enough they added a local calling number to my city! (saves me a penny per minute!). -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2006-10-17 09:38:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	K1 process in US Embassy Jakarta,Indonesia	the embassy in jakarta was very helpful and friendly.. emailing me all the forms we needed.. I had my wife get her medical exam out of the way before the wedding (in our case we used DCF).. which took all of 9 days from submitting the I-130 'til the IV interview and all of 5 add'l days to get her actual visa in her passport! The embassy staff in jakarta were extremely helpful and responsive to emails. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2007-01-04 14:11:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	legally married?	very interesting comment about honoring which rules.. and extremely interesting comments about the happiness factor. For a marriage to be legal in Indonesia, the law requires two separate ceremonies: a religious ceremony (Christian - Protestant or Catholic - Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist), followed by a civil ceremony performed a government registrar. Before the wedding, you must apply in person for a "certificate of non-impediment", issued by your country's embassy or consulate. (If you only have the religious ceremony, you will receive a church marriage certificate only.) Remember that a Balinese traditional ceremonial blessing, or a northern Thai-style Lanna blessing, is a blessing only, even though it is usually held in true wedding style. That is from this page So.. there ya go.. at least in Bali (Indonesia).. what the locals will call a wedding is actually only a 'blessing'.. even if done at a church and in the true wedding style.. now you have some proper armament to use the right terminology should you decide to be 'blessed' before your usa wedding so you can use a K1 visa. Simple as that, it really can't be clearer from a legal point of view. Like i mentioned.. glad that i've shifted from that line of reasoning to the 'keep it simple' and actually get married vs 'blessed'.. it really simplifies things. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2006-10-19 03:12:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	legally married?	as the saying goes.. better safe than sorry is a reasonable approach to take, but i don't see anything wrong at all.. it would actually not be difficult to prove you are still eligible for a K1 visa if you don't have a legal marriage. It's an obvious loophole and the important thing is to get clear in your own mind that you aren't married to avoid stupid mistakes.. if 'a wedding' doesn't make you married.. than you had better not call yourself husband and wife afterwards.. you are still engaged, etc. It's a very interesting point just made above.. ALL people who are not legally married have EXACTLY the same proof.. *nothing*. There is no way to prove you never went before a priest with two witnesses and said marriage vows.. the USA has to go by the law.. which is.. not official.. not married... still 100% eligible. It would behoove the interested parties to NOT refer to their church 'wedding' as a 'wedding' because that's a key-word that will bring up red-flags.. What to exactly call it, that's tricky, and another writer mentioned the important distinction of playing by man's rules or God's rules.. Being in exactly the position of being able to decide to do exactly the same thing, but having found 'a better way'.. i actually lean now much more strongly toward the 'keep it simple' rule of not playing games.. if you want to get somebody to the usa quicker (only conceivable reason for doing the 'double wedding' thing).. then just have a reception in the foreign country and use a K1 visa or use DCF if you can and just plain get married for real in the foreign country. The other straightforward method is to use I-130 and take the 6-9 months, bite the bullet and do it straight-forward. In my case, my fiancée was insistent on having a 'big church wedding' (mostly parental influence) in Indonesia, so she could have the pomp n circumstance .. I would not have had any problem with doing the K1 visa after a big ceremony that was not official (exactly like the concept of this thread).. because it just plain simple is 100% legal to do it that way. In Indonesia (and apparently Brazil).. if you don't register with the state it is nothing more than practice, it's not official, it's not legal and it's not a marriage. Now could some butt-munch find some way to red-tape-you to death.. sure.. but if you are careful in how you realize the perception in your own head and call it like it is (that you are NOT MARRIED) and never refer to yourselves as husband and wife, there really should not be a single issue with going the pre-wedding route. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2006-10-18 20:36:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	legally married?	i was very happy to have stumbled into a 'better way'.. as luck seems to be on my side.. that i won't be tempted to 'go that route'.. it would just be exceptionally weird being in this state of limbo between married in the churches' view but not the governments' view. As far as a local wedding. you could certainly have an identical reception to a wedding and even have a wedding-like ceremony without vows that is clearly not regarded even by the church as a wedding.. like a very fancy engagement of sorts.. it will get you the 'feeling' of the wedding for family and not get you into trouble visa-wise. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2006-10-17 21:30:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	legally married?	I will attack this from a different angle. The Church's angle. If you go into a marriage ceremony thinking it is "just a church wedding" you may be using the church to bless something that she would not bless if they knew you took this religious ceremony so lightly. If I was the marrying official, I would like to discuss it with you. The Priest/Minister is legally (and sacramentally) able to marry you. You might get clarification from them as to what a wedding actually is, what it does, what graces it imparts. In any event, you might take the Church's role a little more seriously. A wedding is not only a legal contract between you and your spouse, it is covenant with God, blessed by the Lord, a holy sacrament of the Church. God is the most interested party to your wedding, He wants to succeed more than anyone, He wants you to be happy with your spouse. Good thoughts.. exactly... you would want to make it clear with the priest/minister that that 'wedding' is only for show.. it really would be just a practice or rehersal as long as documents weren't signed. My fiancee have said 'i do' to each other but it wasn't officiated so we aren't married. If 300 people watched somebody say 'i do' it doesn't mean you are married, and i don't even see it being a risk as long as you tell it like it is.. you had a big 'show' for a reception of guests at the 'home country' before going to the usa.. if you start using the word 'wedding' it will get very confusing... and of course the whole 'when did you *really* get married in God's eyes thing comes into play. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2006-10-17 15:46:00
K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures	legally married?	It would seem to me.. legal is what actually counts.. even in the usa.. i have been to weddings where the couple weren't married after the 'i do' because it was in the wrong county.. they had to re-do their vows.. 'til the marriage license is signed and dated it was only a rehearsal. You are still engaged ... just because you practiced your vows in front of a lot of people doesn't make it legal.. now that depends on the country of course so do your homework. -awr	andrewwynn	Male	Indonesia	2006-10-17 09:22:00