Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Has anyone here refused to get vaccinated	Didn't have time to read all the posts, so someone may have already answered this. I think there was some discussion in the waivers section at www.immigrate2us.net - that site kind of makes a specialty out of waivers. Be aware that a waiver will likely add a lot of additional time away from your loved one.	JustJ	Female	Ireland	2009-11-03 10:31:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Awesome Oath Ceremony	Congratulations.	road2kros	Female	Hong Kong	2009-06-05 11:36:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Granted Status.	congratulations.	road2kros	Female	Hong Kong	2009-06-21 08:45:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	My interview experience in Boston	Congratulations..... and thanks for sharing.	road2kros	Female	Hong Kong	2009-06-05 11:34:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Interview experience at Mt. Laurel	Congratulations and thanks for sharing your experience.	road2kros	Female	Hong Kong	2009-09-04 09:03:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Yesterday's Interview and Oath Ceremony	congratulations	road2kros	Female	Hong Kong	2009-09-04 09:12:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Gathering Documents- Am I missing anything?	QUOTE (Yader&Sarah @ Nov 17 2008, 12:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi! I'm so glad you posted this! We are on very similar timelines, and I, too, have been making and remaking this list. Are you including a letter from your current employer (if you have one). I'm in a similar situation. I have only been working about 6 months, I was a volunteer and student before that, so my taxes show meager earnings and I will be using a co-sponsor; but regardless I was planning on including my employment info as well. I read in the guide 2-3 of most recent paystubs should be included. Also, although this doesn't apply to you all coming from the UK, but I have translations of all birth certificates, and government documents from Nicaragua. Sorry, I can't think of anything else! But your list was extremely helpful to me! thanks! I'm glad it was helpful! It was just as helpful for me to write it all out and see it in front of me! hehe. I am not currently employed, so I have nothing to include. I'm not sure how Nicaragua works, but for the UK I'm pretty sure you're required to submit all of your employment info as well. I was considering putting in a letter from my university explaining that I'm a full-time student, and that's why I'm not working, but again...I don't want to overwhelm poor Sebastian with all of this paperwork! Thanks for the link to the forms, rocks!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2008-11-17 12:13:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Gathering Documents- Am I missing anything?	According to my frustrating timeline, we shouldn't be expecting approval until late December-early January but we're gathering the documents now so that we're 100% ready to go when we're approved. I've made a really long, detailed list of everything I should have prepared for after the NOA2. Am I missing anything? -My I-134 form signed and notarized -Cosponsor's I-134 form signed and notarized -My tax transcripts for the past 3 years -Cosponsor's tax transcripts for the past 3 years -Cosponsor's W2 forms and 1040 forms for the past 3 years (Not necessary with the transcripts, but we're still including them. I've only worked 1 out of the past 3 years since I'm a student, so I'm not going to bother hunting down my own W2 and 1040 form.) -Cosponsor's letter from employer stating annual salary, job description, how long she's been there, and that it's a full-time position- on company letterhead. -Photocopy of my cosponsor's paystubs from the past few months. (How many months back should we go?) -Notarized copy of cosponsor's birth certificate to establish her citizenship -Notarized copy of my birth certificate to establish citizenship -Notarized copy of all pages of my passport, to establish citizenship (Yeah, this is overkill, but better safe than sorry!) -Updated letter of intent (Do we both need to supply this? Or just me?) -Proof of an ongoing relationship (Plane tickets, pictures, phone records, wedding dress receipt, letters, emails, etc.) -My current bank statement (I know this isn't necessary at all, and I'm not going to include how long I've had the account, etc. since I only have a few thousand in it, but I figured it would at least show that I have a little bit of savings to contribute.) And he's gathered his: -Vaccination records -Police certificate -Passport photos (I think he got 4 of them, in the proper format according to the London Embassy's website. Is that enough?) We still can't get the Packet 3 info that another VJer sent us to work (thanks for trying though, Shannon and Nick), but the Embassy's website says he'll need to have completed: -biographic data form DS-230-I Part I, -Form DS-156 (in duplicate) -Form DS-156K -Form DS-157 (males aged 16 to 45 only) -Form DS-2000 -and a document checklist, form IV-15 It says that some of these forms ARE NOT TO BE SIGNED until he is at his interview, so we're aware of that. If anyone else has a way to send me those forms, I would really appreciate it. They may be available on the embassy's website, but I just haven't got around to searching for them yet. Also, his family plans on giving him a considerably large sum of money to take with him to the states to cover the cost of rent and purchase a new car while he waits for his work authorization. I realize that the embassy doesn't look at his income or his savings, but should he include a letter from his parents, or a letter from his work stating that he works as an engineer and is a reliable worker, to prove that he'll be employable in the states and that he'll have sufficient funds? Again, I know that this may be overkill and I know that they only REALLY care about the U.S. cosponsor's side of things, but should we include it anyways? Neither of us has ever been married/divorced, or served in the military so we don't need any of that stuff. Everyone says London is pretty easygoing, but I just want to triple check that we have everything! Thanks in advance . Edited by Terri and Seb, 17 November 2008 - 11:36 AM.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2008-11-17 11:33:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	General question on consular documents	Please fill in your timeline so people can better help you, and get an idea of their own personal timelines based on your data! All cases are sent to the National Visa Center before they are sent to the consulate. Different embassies require different documents, or different forms of the same type of document especially in the case of divorce papers, court records, birth certficiates and police certificates. Some countries also have different stipulations for the affidavit of support.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-05 00:22:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Medical Exam and Vaccinations for K-1	http://www.travel.st.../info_3739.html Select "LMA" from the dropdown halfway down the page and press "panel physician list". You'll be able to to download a PDF with all the doctors authorized to perform visa medicals in Peru.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-09 00:24:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	I-134 for Full time students	I said I did NOT include a letter. Interview was this morning and we were successfully approved!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-11 07:31:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	I-134 for Full time students	I am also a full time student, although I worked part time for 2 of the past 3 years. I didn't bother including a letter as to why I wasn't working for a year, and I just put $0 for this past year's income. Interview is today (!!!) so I'll let you know how we get on.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-11 00:41:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Anyone used the newest I-134?	Update: We used the new I-134 form without any problems!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-13 13:23:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Anyone used the newest I-134?	Thanks for the quick responses! I'll be sure to post back and let you know how it works for us, although I can't forsee any problems.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-05 15:45:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Anyone used the newest I-134?	The old I-134 had to be notarized, however the new one (Oct. 2008) explicitly says it does not have to be and is worded much more strongly than the previous version. I'm just wondering if anyone has actually used the non-notarized version at their interview? The London embassy's website states that the I-134 should be notarized, but it hasn't been updated since the new version came out. I've emailed them to no avail. I'd imagine they would have to accept the newest version of the document, filled out according to its directions. My fiance has his interview in less than a week, and naturally I am looking for things to worry about . We decided to forgo the old, notarized document because I couldn't meet up with my cosponsor in time to visit a notary- so I'd like some reassurance that I'm not panicking over nothing. Thanks!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-05 15:22:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Postponing an Interview- Possible?	This is a pretty delayed update, but I called the NVC and they said people reschedule interviews all the time and not to fret. Luckily, we didn't have to reschedule but just in case anyone else is thinking about it!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-13 13:31:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Postponing an Interview- Possible?	Thanks for the quick responses and the congrats . I won't book anything until we know our interview date. And if it conflicts, it can't hurt to ask them for an earlier or later date. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later. Siiiigh.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-18 13:41:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Postponing an Interview- Possible?	My fiance and I have received our NOA2 and packet 3 and just sent packet 3 back last week. Now we're just waiting on an interview date. We'd like to book a trip together to Spain before he moves to the U.S. (a prewedding honeymoon since we can't leave the U.S. for a while once he has his K-1). I am on break from uni through the first week of March, so that's really the only time we can go. We'd like to book our trip as soon as possible. We're concerned that his interview date will potentially conflict with our trip. We were wondering if anyone has had any experience in postponing their interview by a few days-a week, or if it is absolutely set in stone. I know we could always request to expedite it, but I feel like we'd have better luck asking them to schedule it for later rather than sooner. We just don't want to jeopardize anything. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-18 13:13:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	I believe it has to be notarized, but you may want to ask around on that! But yeah, a copy of the passport will definitely establish citizenship . I remember reading somewhere that if you send in passport stuff you should send in all pages of it, but again- you might want to ask other people about that since I don't have any first hand experience with it.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-14 13:56:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	QUOTE (skeez&titanic @ Feb 14 2009, 12:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My fiance went for his medical friday 2/13/09 but still no news of his interview date dont know if that is a problem and if I should call. I sent him all my paperwork but can you believe it is not there yet should be there on monday he got my valentine's day card today and I mailed it on the same day. I am getting nervous now cause I want to make sure I gave him everything and have no surprises. This is what I sent to him please let me know if there is anything I am missing. I have the affidavit of support with my two employment letters, pay stubs, and bank statement showing what I depositing for the year and my current balance. I also included my divorce agreement because I do get child support for my three children. I haven't filed for my taxes yet and last year I made no money just 3000 didnt have a job. But I did get a co-sponsor my neighbors. But since they were both on the tax returns I have included both their 2007 and 2008 tax returns. They both are over poverty limit not only combined but separetly as well but I had them both sign it just in case. Did I need to get their passport photos (not sure if I did). The NOA2 notice - he has by birth certificiate and my old marriage certificate to show my maiden name on it. Letters - pictures - boarding passes - engagement ring receipt. In the I-129 they have my passport photo do they need another one for me. Am Im missing something. He has the copy of the I-129 packet. Letter of affirming our desire to marry. Please let me know if im missing something. Thank you As you can tell im getting real nervous. You need to send something confirming both of your cosponsors' U.S. citizenship as well. I gave Sebastian the hard copy of my cosponsor's birth certificate. If you don't want to send the originals, you can send notarized copies of each. That's the only thing I can think of! Don't worry about him not having an interview date yet. They sometimes take up to 10 days to load these onto their system. We were also told it takes 4-5 days to load the medical stuff onto their system because they have to wait for the blood test results to come in before they send the information to the embassy. Best of luck!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-14 13:42:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	Nope, lots of people on here say they've received packet 3 even though they haven't (myself included). The medical is good for a while, but it's just one of those things you can get out of the way early. That way when you send packet 3 back, you don't have to wait on the medical results to be forwarded to the embassy.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-11 20:05:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	You can use your LND # to schedule your medical. Just be sure to say 'yes' if they ask if you have your packet 3. Good luck with packet 4 skeez and titanic!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-11 15:46:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	We were approved today!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-02-11 07:38:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	Great news! We got our interview date today, and it's MUCH sooner than expected. February 11th at 9:00 a.m.!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-29 14:40:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	QUOTE (sardes @ Jan 27 2009, 03:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I called the embassy this morning. They said they didn't schedule the interview date. Then the embassy emailed me in the afternoon and gave me the interview date... I am soooo excited It is 26-FEB-2009 YAYYYY! It is a great timing for us. My husband will be in Turkey 2 days before the interview.. now i am wishing everything goes well with the interview then i can fly home with my hubby. btw I have a question. We sent them only 2007 tax returns and 2007 W2.. We didn't send them 2008, 2005, 2006 tax returns and W2 forms.. Do they need them too? I just don't want to learn this at the interview..because in that case i won't be able to fly with my husband... p.s. we are K-3 Thanks and good luck to all!!! While I am glad that you got your interview date, do you realize that this is the thread for people at the London Embassy? Congratulations! Very happy for you! I just want to make sure you're posting in the spot where you'll get the best feedback.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-27 15:19:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	I attempted to call the US embassy from Skype this afternoon, to chase up the interview date, but didn't have any luck - SkypeOut doesn't support premium rate numbers anymore. So, if you're thinking about making a big topup to fund a call to the embassy, don't! Hopefully Skype give me my £20 back...	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-27 08:15:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	Packet 3 has been officially received according to DOS. How long till packet 4?!? I'm ecstatic!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-26 12:29:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	LONDON PEOPLE BETWEEN NOA2 AND INTERVIEW	Hello everyone! We got our NOA2 in mid December and everything has been going smoothly. Sebastian finished his medical early and packet 3 arrived last week. Sent packet 3 back last week, now we're just waiting on our interview date! Any ideas as to typical wait times once all the paperwork/medical stuff is in? I'm hoping we'll hear what our interview date is by the end of the month. Is that realistic? I hope everything is going well with all of you .	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-01-18 13:38:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	I-134, I forgot to get it nortized	If you filed the newest one, you're fine.	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2009-04-25 17:00:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	Living abroad temporarily, taxes and naturalization	Hi everyone, Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted here! As you can see from my timeline, my British husband and I got married in 2009. In mid 2010, we temporarily moved back to the UK so I could do an 11-month masters degree in England. I'm just about finished, but for now we're still living in the UK. We made an InfoPass appointment to see if we needed a travel document and were assured that since we would be in the UK for less than a year, we'd be fine. We wanted to keep up my husband's residency, so he's made one trip back to the U.S. to make sure he enters every 6 months and is flying out tomorrow to make his second trip. He's permanently moving back to the States at the beginning of July since he has a job offer, and I'll be joining him in late August to start my new job. With any luck, we'll remove conditions this summer and apply for naturalization next year. The trick is, taxes have been an absolute nightmare! My husband was self-employed from January 2010- May 2010 and then worked in England for the rest of the year. I was a student the whole time, but did take a very temporary part-time job in England. We declared all of our U.S. and foreign income on our federal and state returns and have taken the foreign income credit to offset the outrageous taxes we've paid to the UK. Even though we've been living in England, we filed as though we were resident in Pennsylvania as to not jeopardize anything. However, our local taxes are very confusing. I called to ask how to report our foreign income and no one knew. The form says a W2 is vital and a return without one will be discarded, and we obviously don't have a W2. I also wanted information on how to get a tax credit for the taxes we've paid to England so we're not double taxed. After speaking to about 5 different managers who didn't have a clue, I was eventually told that there's no such assistance for foreign income and we're responsible for double taxes on this income (which seems very unlikely given that state and federal offer it?). UK tax is like 20%- and paying local tax on our overseas income means we'd owe our local tax jurisdiction an additional $500 on top of that. And we haven't even been living there! Long story short, we are considering filing our local taxes as a part-year resident even though we've filed our state and federal taxes as resident. I can't get anyone to answer my questions, the forms are incredibly confusing, we've fired one tax professional already for not knowing what they were doing, and it seems absurd to pay double tax. I know this is not tax fraud or anything since we really WERE living in England and can prove it, but there's a question on the naturalization form that asks if you've ever filed as a part-year resident and I don't know if saying 'yes' automatically throws out your application. Could filing this way for local taxes only seriously jeopardize my husband's naturalization applications? Any help is really appreciated- I'm a mess over this!	Terri and Seb	Not Telling	United Kingdom	2011-04-09 17:47:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Packet 3 received finally!!!!!	How exciting!!!!!!!!	Avalar	Female	Brazil	2008-12-11 19:37:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Visa Received!!!!!!	Wow, that's amazing news. Congrats!	Avalar	Female	Brazil	2009-01-23 23:45:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	OMG! Approved and no AP! Pakistan!	Congratulations	Avalar	Female	Brazil	2009-01-30 22:13:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	visa approved	Congratulations	Avalar	Female	Brazil	2009-02-13 21:56:00
Canada	Ever see a fatality from an accident?	What a terrible experience A few years ago, I was driving back from Cleveland to Columbus (Ohio) with a carfull of friends who were all asleep. We drove up on the scene of a wreck that had just happened- no EMTs there yet. I'm CPR/First Aid certified, so I pulled over to see if there was anything I could do to help til real help arrived. I got about halfway to the flipped SUV and a guy yelled that he'd called 911, and that there was nothing I could do. The people in the SUV had been travelling at 70+mph without seatbelts, and the result was not pretty. My stomach churns when I think about it, still. Ughhh. I've seen a few deaths in wrecks, but never anything else like that.	ScooterMac	Female	Canada	2009-10-09 07:39:00
Canada	Question about Visiting fiance while K1 is pending	QUOTE (SapphireDreams @ Oct 14 2009, 11:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Just always tell the truth and bring proof of ties to Canada and you won't have a problem. The last time I visited, they actually didn't ask me who I was visiting, but if they had, I would've just said fiance. Just bring your paperwork so far as it shows you are going through the legal immigration process and not trying to circumvent any immigration laws. Have fun! Spoom always brings a copy of his K-1 paperwork, just in case. We've never needed it though. Usually they just ask us a few questions and we're through - but we're driving across the bridge, not flying.	ScooterMac	Female	Canada	2009-10-14 10:22:00
Canada	Dual Citizenship? allowed or not?	QUOTE (Varba @ Oct 14 2009, 09:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (DeadPoolX @ Oct 14 2009, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (Carlawarla @ Oct 14 2009, 05:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why is this question asked every week? I suppose there's a lot of misinformation out there. Hell, a lot of people still believe that if you marry an American, you automatically become an American citizen. Too bad it's not that easy, huh? I'd like to stab whoever keeps perpetrating that myth. Seconded. We get that one a lot.	ScooterMac	Female	Canada	2009-10-14 08:51:00
Canada	Montreal taking so long	I run a Youth Center, and Spoom hangs out there in the afternoons while he's visiting me. The kids keep asking us, "Aren't you married yet?" When he goes back, the kids ask where he is pretty much every day, and they want to know when he's coming back and when he's moving, etc. Sometimes I think they miss him as much as I do!	ScooterMac	Female	Canada	2009-10-14 09:01:00
Canada	Montreal taking so long	QUOTE (Varba @ Oct 14 2009, 08:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The ones that piss me off are "You must have done something wrong." and "Well if you would have hired a lawyer...". My parents don't believe that the government actually takes this long, and keep mentioning that Spoom or I must've filled something out incorrectly - or that we're overreacting when we say we don't know when we'll have an interview. My mom says things like "Oh, I knew you should've gotten a lawyer from the start of this. You'd probably be done by now." It's the most frustrating thing in the world to not have someone who's *seen* the amount of paperwork and grief that goes into the process understand that we have absolutely no control over how quickly (or NOT) it gets done. *ahem* /end rant.	ScooterMac	Female	Canada	2009-10-14 08:26:00
Canada	Any help will be greatly appreciated	I wasn't saying you weren't involved or didn't care, I just didn't know your backstory so it sounded odd. If you'd prefaced your request with the information you just provided, you probably wouldn't have gotten as many "this sounds weird" responses. I wasn't trying to sound snarky, I was just trying to help. I don't know how much hostels cost monthly - if I were you, I'd goggle "toronto hostels" and look at the sites that pop up. My old roommate stayed at a hostel in Toronto while waiting for his approval to come to the US on a K-1 and he said it was reasonable and affordable - he's still in touch with a number of people he met while living there.	ScooterMac	Female	Canada	2009-10-20 11:05:00