Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Africa: Sub-Saharan	IT'S FINALLY DONE!!!	Yay! Happy for you!!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-11 19:04:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Lets make a chart of where we all are from	I'm in Columbia, South Carolina. Hey Zee, What do you think of having one of those frapper maps where you have "pushpins" for your locations for us to go along with your chart? Perhaps we could also map our significant others' locations on there too. I always thought those things were cool. Here's a link http://www.frappr.com/ ..just a thought.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-14 14:23:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	News 24 Travel Alert	I wonder how much longer before the FIFA pulls the 2010 games...	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-25 14:20:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	South African Food	My buddy at work (who happens to be South African) turned me on to this website http://www.southafricanfoodshop.com/ He says their biltong is YUM! Him and I are kind of lucky because the shop is located in Charlotte, NC which is less than a two hour drive for us I've not shopped there yet myself because I stocked up on chutney last time I was visiting my wife, but plan to go pick some stuff up when it comes closer to time for my wife and stepson to arrive here. I'm assuming the store is run by South Africans so look forward to visiting the shop with the whole family, I'm sure Leslie will enjoy chatting with some fellow SA folks	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-11 13:46:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Anyone do a prenuptial?	I don't see anything wrong with discussing this with your spouse. My wife and I discussed it and decided against it.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-04-27 18:29:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Flights to South Africa	Have FUN! Gimme a shout if I can help you with anything else	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-15 10:42:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Flights to South Africa	Summer (South African winter) is actually the most expensive time to travel due to tourism, unfortunately. Flights only leave out of Washington DC, New York, and Atlanta. The first two via South African Airlines, and Delta out of KATL. I would suggest flying SAA if possible. Their seat arrangement in the Airbus has a little more room than Delta's 767 and each seat in the Airbus has its own personal entertainment center thing so you can watch movies or play games or listen to music if you want to. The SAA flights are usually cheaper than the Delta flights too. Don't forget to sign up for Voyager miles program if you travel with them Surf the net and search some more for the best prices. I traveled To Port Elizabeth in July for about $2000 USD last year, including my domestic connections in the USA and in SA booked through Orbitz and see they are running about the same price this year. In contrast, I paid $1,300 in November of last year. My friend at work is South African and says that the cheapest time to travel is immediately after Christmas, as the flight prices really take a plunge after the holidays. Do the super search on travelzoo,com and you can get to a bunch of travel websites that way. Good luck to you, I know its an expensive flight but that's the breaks. As for Durban, I've never been there tho I have family and friends who stay there, so I can't really tell you anything about the place. My understanding is that its not much different than PE which of course has its good and bad sides. As long as you are hanging out with some locals, you will be fine...just stay streetwise so you don't get ripped off. My mom and step dad had their credit card info stolen when they were down for the wedding. It is a VERY beautiful country and I don't think you would regret visiting. Edited by Whippy, 15 March 2008 - 09:51 AM.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-15 09:49:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Interview date!! WHOOHOO!	YAY! Leslie got her interview date today! ((does disco dance)) Her and James are scheduled in Johannesburg on the 29th of September. WHOOHOO, me so happy	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-20 09:10:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Tax Clearance	Hi, thanks everyone, i really appreciate your help It turns out my intuition was right and this dude did not know what he was talking about. Leslie spoke with a friend who is an auditor and she told her the real deal...all she needs to do is contact SARS (tax department) and give her income tax number to apply for clearance. I'm going to post this lady's e-mail here for reference in case anyone else finds this thread and has questions because it has some good info in it...hope it will help someone else in the future: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I really don't know why he requires a Visa number. When you apply for a tax clearance, SARS only requires your income tax number. Also, is he stupid or what? At present, don't tell SARS you are immigrating. Just get a tax clearance to take the money out of the country, but apply for a foreign investment tax clearance for about R500 000. Then you know you are covered with whatever you want to take out of the country. Because an immigration tax clearance takes forever, most of my clients only take the foreign investment tax clearance and once they are overseas, they notify SARS that they are now non-resident and don't intend returning to SA. A Tax clearance is valid for one year. If you don't come right, go see XXXXXXXX at SARS. E-mail her at XXXXXXXX to make an appointment with her. Ask her for a foreign investment tax clearance certificate and give the details of a bank of your husband's overseas for R500 000. Don't tell her you are immigrating. That can be sorted out later. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks again	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-10-03 10:19:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Tax Clearance	Hi all, I wonder if someone can help us out a bit.... My wife is trying to get her South Africa tax clearance before leaving and the tax man is telling her that he needs a visa number (whatever) before being able to apply for her clearance. She should receive her visa package in a couple or few days and I was wondering...does the unopened visa package have some sort of visa number stamped on the outside of it that this guy will be using or should we find another tax person that knows what they are doing? lol thanks, Steve	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-10-02 09:43:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Plantain chips?	Look for the Mexican food section of your grocery store....Goya makes some	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-09-29 14:45:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Black in america	I will try and find a copy of this somewhere....perhaps the network will release it to DVD and it will be available at public libraries "soon." My ex-wife used to work at a staffing agency and used to tell me some very sad stories about how employers found ways to get around hiring black people. I don't remember the details of these tricks but it used to anger and frustrate us both...and this was only one aspect of a much larger picture. Anyone who says that racism is no longer a problem in America is full of it.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-14 12:31:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	How Long Have You Been Away From Your Spouse?	9 months today....thankfully it should not be much longer. While I am so sad about this, I feel for all of my brothers and sisters here who have waited so much longer	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-14 12:18:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Poetry Corner	heehee thanks ... it has kind of a double meaning	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-11 17:24:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Poetry Corner	Here's one I wrote a couple years ago... Our Love, Our Ship ~ by Stephen Boland The worker of a lady Who served her men so true She brought us home so many From oceans green and blue The masts of steel and hull of white ‘Twas hard to see her go As twilight came with driving rain And took her down below “So what to do?” the captain says As we reminisce our love “She is no more, she’s on the floor” Cries he to God above When comes a shout from crew around “We’ll raise her once again! We know from dreams of Fiddler's Green That death is not the end.” So on that day it came to pass She was ours to protect “She lives” said we, “It’s meant to be” Our love we’d resurrect. Remember by this tale of faith Of men who persevere To keep your hope to keep afloat The things that you hold dear Edited by Whippy, 11 March 2008 - 01:01 PM.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-11 13:00:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Illegal Immigrants.....Unfair	Heh, I met this French girl last year before I was married who was teling me how she cheated the system by coming over on a travel visa and getting married, lying to CIS about her intentions. She was trying to talk me into doing the same thing with my wife and I was like NO WAY! No one has seen her at work in a few months...I wonder if she was deported	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-11 12:24:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Keeping Track	She passed! Yay, now all we gotta do is book flights!! ... wow, it feels unreal ....sorry, I shouldda done this not in the thread I'm just excited. lol Edited by Whippy, 29 September 2008 - 02:50 PM.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-09-29 14:48:00
Africa: Sub-Saharan	Keeping Track	Hi zee, I love you for keeping this list for us. Thanks again Congrats to all of us that are moving and best of luck to those of us still waiting	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-06 04:03:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	AOS Bill received...but persuing K3	Sorry, I cannot find the "edit" button for some reason.... Time is a very impotant factor in our case, as is money (LOL like its not for anyone else! ...) anyway, so I have to ask this.... If I persue the IVs, WHEN is the IV fee paid? Is this paid AFTER her interview or before?? I would HATE to pay this fee and then lose all this money by going with the K visa because the interview is scheduled earlier....please help?? I hope this makes sense, lemme know if I need to clarify my question. PS ~ I got my invoice numbers to pay online just now! YAY! Edited by Whippy, 30 July 2008 - 07:47 AM.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-30 07:46:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	AOS Bill received...but persuing K3	Thank you folks...I'm still considering persuing the IV still but life has not slowed down enough to warrant it up to now. May give it a try tonight, paying the AOS fee online if possible.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-30 07:23:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	AOS Bill received...but persuing K3	Hi all, I received my AOS fee bills for the two IVs applied for but we have decided to just use the K3 and deal with all involved with that. Do I just ignore the new packages received from NVC or will I need to contact them about this in any way? thanks,	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-29 12:50:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	oops		Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-30 10:45:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	Question about keeping both K3 and CR-1 cases open	Thank you both VERY much! You answers have been a great help. Due to our circumstances, the K3 is going to be the way to go. Yup more work, more money, but it's our best option. Thanks again	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-04 06:51:00
National Visa Center (Dept of State)	Question about keeping both K3 and CR-1 cases open	Hi all, I would LIKE to keep the immigrant visa application going in tandum with the K3 but I must ask this first... If I continue with IV and pay the visa fees, does this mean if I THEN decide to go ahead with the K3 visa then I lose all that money for the immigrant visas? If this is so, that would mean taking a gamble with over 800 bucks USD which is just too much for me to deal with. thanks, Stephen	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-01 08:53:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	WE'VE BEEN APPROVED!!!!!	Very, VERY good news!!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-12 09:18:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	CAN ANY ONE BELIEVE IT?	It could be that these people's significant others have desirable career skills.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-14 19:19:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Original Birth Certificate	On the subject of birth certificates, my wife has two original birth certificates from S. Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) but neither has her parent's names on them. She has been unable to receive a new birth certificate from the Zim authorities...all of her letters go unanswered, e-mails are returned as undeliverable, telephones are not answered. She has gotten sworn statements from both of her parents stating that they were present at her birth and that they are her parents, copies of THEIR birth certificates, and copies of the letters she sent to Zim to try and get her unabridged birth certificate. Along with that, she has a copy of an e-mail from a person stating that they would get her birth certificate for what ammounted to a high dollar bribe. Do you feel this evidence will be sufficient for her to take for her interview in leu of her "full" birth certificate? Do you have any suggestions if not? thanks	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-18 12:48:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	getting expedite request done..	Nah, I'm with ya for sure! I just wondered if you were in some situation of a child aging out or something that's all. I'll stop being nosy now I hope they get sick of you soon and stamp your papers just to get rid of you! heeheehee	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-18 15:30:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	getting expedite request done..	Hi gogo, what was the reason for your request for expedited processing? I'm just curious I thought expedite requests needed to be put in from the onset??? I thought I was gonna have to apply also, but discovered that it will not be necessary...as painful as it is to wait. Edited by Whippy, 18 March 2008 - 01:44 PM.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-18 13:42:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	K-3 and K-4	As I understand this, there is no way for the adult child to adjust status, meaning that the child CAN come over on the K3 or K4 or whatever visa according to the way the laws are written but would have to return to their native country and have the child's parent file I-130 once he/she gets their green card. This aspect of the K3/K4 can be VERY confusing. The reason that 18-21 are allowed to get the K3 is for cases where the child is under 18 when marriage takes place, but over 18 by the time the visa is applied for or received. My guess is that a K3 applied for a child 18-21 who was not under 18 at time of marriage will just be automatically denied their visa....but I could be wrong. What we are going to do is just arrange for my wife's eldest to remain in his country while we file instead of coming to America to live and not being able to work or go to school or anything. I am almost certain that I am right about this, but as always may be wrong. Hopefully this helps some. In short, I do not believe it's possible If you find out otherwise, PLEASE let us know! Good Luck!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-04-03 12:13:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Approved I129F petitions	20 September of 07?! I was SOooooo hoping they were going to be doing more than a month's worth of applications in a month! ..so sad	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-18 17:38:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Approved I129F petitions	Are the USCIS processing dates updated on the same day of the month typically? I'm just wondering if I should stop checking and wait till 15th of March to check again. Thanks!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-03-11 10:04:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Phone Cards to call SPOUSE/FIANCE	I've been using joinvip.com for a couple years (no computers, no cards) but I think I will try rebtel now, thanks khaleda!!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-05-13 13:52:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Approval notice sent	Yah that is the same response I got, mrc. It was just a "stock" answer telling me the same thing I already knew. Perhaps it was just coincidence that we were approved right after the office of my Representative contacted them. It sounds like that's what it was.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-16 10:30:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Approval notice sent	Thanks again everyone...but my heart still hurts for those of you who are still in limbo Of course we are happy, but we still have you all in our thoughts. I am continuing my correspondance with my elected representatives to try and help the process of family based immigration as a whole, as I do understand that it is not just about me. I am also considering drafting a bill to present to Congress to try and help the process and if I go forward with it, I will come here for feedback and suggestions on things that we may want to include in the bill. Nothing would make me happier than to help others to not have to deal with some of the problems of legal family based immigration. I really do wish for everyone that our processes will ALL go very quickly. See y'all around!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-16 08:51:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Approval notice sent	QUOTE (mrc1330 @ Jul 15 2008, 09:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> WOW! So fast.... did you have an expedite request? Hi, thanks everyone!!! No, mrc, I did not have an expedite. I got my congressman's people to poke around last week, I donno if THAT helped or not. Edited by Whippy, 15 July 2008 - 09:02 PM.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-15 21:00:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Approval notice sent	OMG OMG OMG!! I just got e-mails to say that APPROVAL notices were mailed to me today!! I am so happy I want to Man, I SO hope to be together for our first anniversary! I'll update timeline as soon as I get the paper in my hands. Oh man, I know its not over yet, but THANK you all for your support during this trying time.	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-07-15 20:43:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Financial support question	Great news, thank you all!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-07 07:51:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Financial support question	Hey everyone, I am missing my W2s from 2007 .... don't ask .... ((rolls eyes at self)) Will a tax transcript from the IRS for 2007 be sufficient rather than a 1040 with missing W2? Thank you much	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-06 21:18:00
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	port of entry, which is which?	Yah, your layover is too short for sight seeing, sorry. When travelling, as you will see, an hour and 45 minutes is not really all that long. Congrats, you must be so excited!	Whippy	Male	South Africa	2008-08-07 11:35:00