Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Are monthly pay stubs that has no deductions such as federal income tax and social security tax ,are acceptable?	My fiance is a full time contractor of a private company. His last year income in 2009 was short of about $2900 but we could justify it with his credit union savings for he has 15000 savings deposits there already and we will put it in his 1-134. my understanding is this (others may correct me if i am off the mark here) if his earnings come up short but he has a healthy savings account they should be OK with this. so if he makes $15,000 this year his savings will be counted to make up the rest. good luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-12-02 02:58:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Are monthly pay stubs that has no deductions such as federal income tax and social security tax ,are acceptable?	This is not correct. By law, 1099's have to be sent out by January 31st every year. The consulate is going to want a copy of his most recent tax return, or an IRS transcript of that tax return. If your interview is in January, 2011, then they're going to want a copy of his 2009 tax return, which he would have filed by April 15th, 2010. If he didn't file a tax return in 2010 then he'll need to include a letter explaining why he wasn't required to file. I kind of doubt the consulate in Manila is going to accept four or five check stubs from a self-employed contractor as proof that his income qualifies for the affidavit of support. The fact that no taxes were deducted from the checks is not the problem. The problem is that, as a self-employed contractor, he will be able to deduct his business expenses on schedule C of his tax return. Presuming he makes $3000 every month for a year, his gross income would be $36,000. His actual TOTAL income on line 22 of his 1040 could be much lower than that because of his business deductions. I've seen many self-employed people whose gross income was much higher than your fiance's, and their total income on their 1040 was zero. The consulate can't possibly know what his total income is going to be until he files a tax return. I may run into some problems myself with my ajusted gross income being too low if i take all the deductions that i would normally take. i have a part time evening job (only about 10k there) all the rest of my income will be from me being self employed my accountant says just don't deduct much this year & write a check for about $2000 to the IRS ....OUCH but what other choices do i have??? it's either that or my wife can't get her CR1 so i guess i get to write a check. piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-12-02 02:52:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Are monthly pay stubs that has no deductions such as federal income tax and social security tax ,are acceptable?	If he files taxes as self employed then the income that will be evaluated is line 22 from his 2009 income tax return. will he hit the $18,212 mark for income this year? did he make that much last year? as long as he filed his taxes for 2009 & he was over the $18,212 mark i myself would say that you should be ok my understanding is that the person doing the interview can also decide to accept or not accept just those pay stubs if they really want to (others "here" may say different though) best of luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-12-02 00:27:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Are monthly pay stubs that has no deductions such as federal income tax and social security tax ,are acceptable?	Hello Everyone, Please to anyone who has idea help me...I would like to ask is it normal in USA pay check stubs that does not have federal income tax deductions.medicare,or not even social security deductions? Because my fiance pay check stubs does not have deductions in his salary,now i am so upset because the consular officer might wonder why the pay stubs of my fiance does not have deductions... to anyone here who is holding a pay check stubs please help me ,tell me if its the same with my fiance?or to anyone who went to interview using pay stubs that has no deductions,did the officer approve your visa? is your fiance working as a private contractor? if so they will take nothing out of his pay. if this is the case he will get his check & at the end of the year he will be sent a form 1099 just ask if he gets a 1099 at the end of the year, if so then you then know what's going on piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-12-01 16:12:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	My mother in Law & her sister ruining our Marriage	It's not really significant. However, my post had been merged from another thread and I was replying to another poster who said something like 'Your post makes my head hurt...' I was attempting to summarize the OP's post ok, understood	piglett	Male	Philippines	2011-09-10 23:29:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	My mother in Law & her sister ruining our Marriage	Just a few pronoun errors. The OP meant that her husband's aunt controls everything, including the OP removal of conditions. well english isn't her 1st language Edited by piglett, 10 September 2011 - 01:36 PM.	piglett	Male	Philippines	2011-09-10 13:34:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	My mother in Law & her sister ruining our Marriage	it's a clasic power struggle, you will have to submit if you stay living there, that's just how it is good luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2011-09-10 11:33:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	My mother in Law & her sister ruining our Marriage	well Gehn after reading all the posts i guess i'll chime in here. first i'm sure the man you married is a good man ..... however he has been dealing with these crazy people all his life & that is probably why he just does whatever they tell him to do. now having said that it's still not normal, the people you live with have H-U-G-E control issues !!!!!!!!!!!! you will need to be very strong the question i have is how long have you already been in the USA ? also , are you willing to try something, it mite work & it mite not i don't really know how many people are living in this mad house with you however have you tried to do small things that they didn't ask you to do? you know little things to help them like bringing a cold drink to your mother inlaw i know it sounds crazy but these people love playing games .....mind games so you too can play just get up one day & put a nice smile on your face yes it will be fake & you will always know this , but maybe you can in time fool them use these crazy people to get what you need to get & once your conditions are removed give them another fake smile & pack your bags & go. if your husband wants to go with you great but i hate to say it but i have to be 100% honest i don't think he will ever leave these people. ok enough about that back to the plan once you have your fake smile on just start to act like you are the maid (because that is what these crazy people want from you anyhow) you know Hollywood has many actors that make a very good living can you be an actor till your conditions are removed???? i think in the end it will be well well worth it now if you see any kind of changes in the crazy people (you know them treating you a little better) then you can really try out your Hollywood acting skills if you find the aunt & the mother inlaw in the same room have a talk with them & tell them how sorry you are & that you really want to do better & make them happy (this is a total lie but you mite be able to get them to think that you are really sorry) i think that once they start to not see you as any kind of a threat that they will treat you better you will have to a great actor .....can you play this role? you can't let anyone know , can you keep this to yourself? i think that in the end you will see that even though this will be really really hard in the end it will make you a much stronger person & you will be able to get what you need to start a new life in the USA best of luck piglett Edited by piglett, 10 September 2011 - 12:38 AM.	piglett	Male	Philippines	2011-09-10 00:36:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	2 year or 10 year	It boils down to simple economics, if you want to save money to start your new life. You can’t get around supporting your wife or the visa fees. That leaves little bro school on the back burner for now. i'll keep little brother going for as long as i can p22,000 a quarter isn't all that bad, but if my bills start to pile up here he mite be out of luck to be honest. thanks piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2012-02-19 23:53:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	2 year or 10 year	well thanks to everyone for making a bunch of good points. i'm sure there is a bunch of stuff laying around the house that i don't use that i can put on ebay if money gets real tight.when things get better i can then buy better stuff. so i'm starting to like the looks of the 10 year GC. i'll show my other 1/2 this thread & I will find out her feeling on this subject thanks piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2012-02-19 23:47:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	2 year or 10 year	Look at it this way - Get 10 year card. No ROC in 2 years. No need to REMEMBER to ROC in 2 years. Save $590 in processing fees. - Get 2 year card. ROC in 2 years (don't forget or she looses her status and she can get deported). Cost around $590 in fees You claim that one way she'll be able to work sooner. Another won't. Either way she's eligible to start working on entry. Either way she might NOT get a job for some time. Personally I would get the 10 year card. Immigration wise she would basically be totally free. She would only need to apply for USC (if she wants to) in 3 years from arriving. Otherwise she's a non-conditional permanent resident. She can use the time she's looking for a job to get her drivers licence, learn her way around and get settled in. In the meantime very little stress immigration wise. Pretty dandy start to life in the US really. i guess both ways have their good & bad points. if it was 6 months or a year i would just say "get on the plane" she could make the $590 in just 2 or 3 weeks of working ....but i just don't know the rite answer piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2012-02-19 01:40:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	2 year or 10 year	It boils down to simple economics, if you want to save money to start your new life. You can’t get around supporting your wife or the visa fees. That leaves little bro school on the back burner for now. well your correct one way or another my wife has to eat & have a roof over her head. the school fees are not all that bad however they are not helping my budget here at home. he only has 1 more year & he is DONE !!!! if i can just keep throwing enough money into the fire to keep it all going for another year i'm good to go. i guess time will tell. piglett Edited by piglett, 19 February 2012 - 01:34 AM.	piglett	Male	Philippines	2012-02-19 01:34:00
Removing Conditions on Residency General Discussion	2 year or 10 year	well i have a question. my wife should have her CR1 visa in hand by the 1st week of april. i figured she would need 2 or 3 weeks to get everything straight there in manila & she would then get on the plane & arrive +/- May 1st. here is the question....... as of June 6th we will have been married 2 years. do we wait 36 extra days for her to arrive so she can get the 10 year green card? here is the thing, money is tight & if she waits till June to arrive she will not have her SS# till around July 1st. that is a really bad time of the year to be looking for work in my area. however if she arrives on Mat 1st she can start looking for a job in town & probably be working by June 1st. they are always looking to add summer help at the many little shops downtown here, so what do i do? yes we will live if she doesn't end up finding work rite away, however it would be so much better if she found something even if it was just for the summer. doing so would allow us to save most of her wages which could be used to pay for many of the costs for her to get her nursing licence here in our state. i wouldn't expect her to be working as a nurse for 6 to 12 months & i know there are a bunch of fees that will have to be paid before that happens. between my wife's little brothers school cost that i am paying for the money my wife needs to live while still living in manila & the visa fees i am finding it hard to save up that cash that i really wanted to have on hand for us to start our new life together. thanks for your input piglett PS: i don't borrow money & i have done this whole process including paying for 2 trips to the pI with cash.	piglett	Male	Philippines	2012-02-18 21:59:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Create a VJ timeline to track your case and get estimated approval dates :)	It's a little confusing. The "timeline" that you enter data for isn't the stuff that shows at the bottom of a post. That's just their signature (edited under the profile settings). The actual timeline is a link by your screen name. oh i found the timeline that is just below the flag <--------------------------- i just can't figure out the rest Edited by piglett, 16 November 2010 - 12:05 PM.	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-11-16 12:04:00
IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Case Filing and Progress Reports	Create a VJ timeline to track your case and get estimated approval dates :)	well my timeline has been started but it fails to show up when i post like many other here have is there something that i have to click? check? so that it will start to show up???????? thanks piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-11-15 20:31:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	Don’t for get to add a boat transmission to the shiny new Kubota. Reverse and especially neutral may be handy ya? i am not sure that the smaller boats use a trans. i will have to ask my farther-inlaw if one is needed on that size boat. but yes it would be nice to have. piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-02 18:53:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	I can't know your situation and people well enough to answer piglett. But I've commercial fished - traveling over a thousand miles by boat down the Tanana and Yukon out to the Bering sea and catching up to a hundred salmon in a drift there. I looked into commercial fishing in the Philippines too and know enough to judge for myself how best to approach it for either my father in law or myself there. As with any business, maximizing profit requires minimizing cost per unit product landed. In a large number of situations what the fishermen are doing with the tiny boats and no motor at all, let alone a small one, is the most rational business decision. Adding more footage or horsepower increases capital costs, operating expenses, and maintenance in an amount that does not bring sufficient increases in catch to justify the expense. I worked a little 20 foot boat with two twenty-five horse mercs on it because anything bigger than that was wasted money. If we went bigger we would have to be seining instead of drift gillnet and that would have required an extremely expensive entry permit instead of the $10 K for a drift gillnet. So to answer your question with the information you need to make the decision, ask what the $5k earns you in an alternative investment. Just for easy numbers lets say you can make 5% in the market, so the return per year on $5K us $250 a year, and you don't have to do a thing other than invest the money and there is almost zero risk of losing the capital. If you spend $5K on the boat and motor, it also means more gas, more oil, more maintenance, possibly more hands, etc. You have to go observe boats with the bigger motors and hulls to see how much more they are catching and then calculate the new expected profit per year along with the larger loss if the ship goes down. (Commercial fishing is the most dangerous common occupation there is.) Is it better than just parking money in an essentially riskless investment with a small return? The answer might be yes, but it might be no. In Iligan I would not buy a bigger boat. I wouldn't buy a boat at all, in fact. I would avoid fishing like the plague. But on Palawan I could see the merit in a power motor and a ship with more hands over the typical village one or two-man outrigger. Getting out past the paddlers in that case will indeed bring enough fish to justify it and you don't have to jump up to a monster ship in order to reach fishing banks out in the boonies. A modest addition to capital will do the job just fine. My farther-inlaw has been fishing for more than 30 years , it's all he knows. he was forced to quit school as a young man because his farther got sick & wasn't unable to work. So he is the only child from that family that didn't have the chance to go to collage. he has high blood pressure & mite drop dead in 5 or 10 years for all i know. At one point this man was the captain of a HUGE fishing boat i'm talking 100 feet long +/-. this is how he put his oldest 3 children through collage. the boat was damaged in a typhoon about 4 years ago & the owner was too cheep to want to pay to have it fixed. I know the boat was making good money because my farther-inlaw got paid on percentage after the boat fuel. so here is the deal i am not really looking at "investing" money into a fishing boat. i know what ever is spent on the boat is gone forever, never to be seen again. Also i am not looking at buying some huge ship that sucks up fuel like a pig. i am looking at a somewhat larger boat powered by something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/...7#ht_2282wt_930 this little baby only uses 2 to 3 tenths of a gallon per hour. I think once my wife gets here i will talk to her farther & get his input. if he thinks it will work & he can catch more fish then i may just go for it. I figured on setting aside between 5% & 10% of my wifes wages & use that money not to give to her family but to invest it into something like a slightly larger fishing boat or a ice maker or maybe a coke cooler for her moms store that she owns. thanks for everyones input piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-01 22:39:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	i think i'll try to teach them to fish instead of handing them fish. if at that point they wish to sit on their @sses then that's on them. piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-30 22:08:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	Not sure why. It has a very happy ending. We've had two wonderful years now because of it, with a beautiful son and not one problem with the family since the law was laid down. I've learned from reading a number of books that the main technique they use is called the "double bind" - they put you in a situation where you lose no matter what you do: if you don't give them the money then you are made to feel bad. But if you give them the money, you are a victim of extortion and that feels bad even though you gave them money to pay the bill. You'll be miserable if you allow them to continually engineer double-binds. One way to defeat the double-bind is to shine the white heat of attention on their motives. With the electric bill for example, they'll say they were "too shy" to bring it to your attention until the electricity was about to be shut off. Then it's an "emergency", so it's OK to spring it on you. Call them on it. For a whole month they hid that bill from you, knowing full well that they had no plan for paying it, and with instead the intentions of creating an "emergency" to extort it from you. So it is an outright lie to say they were "too shy" to ask for the money. They proven it's a lie because in the end they asked you for it like they intended all along. They just need some plausible deniability, and the emergency they created is how they attempt to cover their tracks. It's cruelty, not "shyness". This is a hard thing to say frankly to your wife about her family. But if you don't then you'll face the same thing over and over and over again. This is an elementary technique that children use on their parents, and parents who allow it end up with problem children. In the long run people have no respect for themselves nor dignity because they know exactly what they are doing more than anyone else. Our family has that self-respect and dignity now because they're working. Do you feel it's a good idea for my wife & I to buy her farther a new fishing boat once my wife gets here & is working as an RN ? The boat her dad has now is tiny & it's engine is only about 4hp. i figured a boat in the $5000 range with a small 3 cylinder kabota diesel engine. good plan?, bad plan? what say you? piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-30 20:32:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	woops double post Edited by piglett, 30 June 2010 - 08:31 PM.	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-30 20:30:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	Only if you let the family, run you over like a steamroller? it's a fine line between being a cheep @ss & never sending a dime to your wife family & getting taken advantage of when they start to "invent" emergency's every couple of months. piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-30 20:19:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	The only thing they understand is "no". So long as you keep forking over money, they have no reason to work or cut expenses. My wife spent money I sent for travel expenses on clothes instead. I had already purchased the Superferry ticket and the money was for food, cabs in Manila, etc. I said no. So she went without food and had to walk long distances in Manila. She would not talk to me for two days, but she never did it again. The father wasn't working and I heard every excuse in the book about it from my wife. I found him a job in one day using the internet. The mother asked for money to buy pigs, and incredibly didn't bother to tell her husband what her plan was. So she spent the money on chickens instead when he disagreed. I've never sent her another dime for such schemes. A lot of them use such things for money laundering. You buy the pigs, they sell them and spend the money, and then ask for more pigs. That isn't a business. It sounds like your wife's father is a professional bum like many, and what you will find is that they are cunning, relentless, and have an answer for everything because that is their profession. When they tell you the electricity is going to be cut off tomorrow if you don't send money Western Union today - don't pay. Otherwise every month will be the same thing. I love my family, but I also told them emphatically that I would leave their daughter if I got so much as one phone call or email with an emergency or crisis they manufactured to get money from us. Medicine for a sick baby is not an emergency. That is a normal life expense they better prepare for instead of blackmailing me for it. So now her father has been working for two years. We don't have our intelligence insulted with lame excuses. My wife initially argued with me about it. I would not have married her if she didn't change her mind. She did, and we are very happy on account of it. Wow i sure hope your not predicting my future with that story. piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-29 20:09:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	Well, if My father-in-law has pigs to raise, he will be busy working the farm vs. drinking Matador at the ####### fights. hey good to know he knows how to relax & have a good time drinking with his friends & betting on the cocks. piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-29 20:03:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	Right now, they make charcoal...We are looking at starting a piggery, to give them an added way to make money. HEY pigs are people too he he he but I think that because my wife is married to a kano, that is the primary reason for her being held responsible... Oh i am sure of that & i am in the same boat. I hadn't even married my wife yet & her dad starts to ask for money from me piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-28 17:07:00
Philippines	Questions about college expenses	well i think that's just the way thing are done in the Philippines. My new wife is expected to pay for her younger brothers tuition, he starts collage in Manila this fall. The good news is that my wifes older sister will pay all of his other costs. Also i have found that these lades sometimes have the old (Oh it will all work out) outlook on life. I normally at that point say something like "no it will probably not work out unless we figure out the costs & plan ahead" now in your case Doberman have you married your girl yet? i just got back from there & did just that. So now i am going to send my wife to a review class so she can finaly take the test so she can be an RN there. & i guess while she is trying to better herself i will be the guy that pays for her brothers tuition. Now that i am married to her i have no problem sending her a few bucks here & there, even though she still doesn't like me to. good luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-06-26 15:01:00
Philippines	Now, where can we get a cheaper ticket	I'll let everyone in on the trick i use. the airlines have a small number if discount seats every week they post them starting at 12midnight eastern time every Monday i used this little trick a couple of months ago when i flew to manila. i saved about $275 & i paid with me debit card.( not sure if that is the same as cash) also i found the best prices on cheapoair.com good luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-02 21:55:00
Philippines	going to the philippines.a few questions	thank you.i just learned from my gf sister that my gf is suppoes to go to manila for 2 months to train to be a singer and dancer then move to japan.i wanna go to japan.so i might try to find work there and move in with her when she does go.maybe get married there as well depending on how much it cost and if we have the qualifications.to make a long story short.i sent my gf some money twice to move to cebu and to help her dad.but the money is being used to get her passport and paper work and to go to manila.she was scared to tell me the truth bcuz she tought i would say no.we talked about it b4 but months ago.i agreed to it as long as the job isnt degrading and she wasnt made to do something she dont want.(im very protective of her especially when it comes to going places when i cant be with her around other guys)but i become more relaxed and trust her a lot more.just want her to do the same for me. its been over 3 years and i have gone thru so much with her.yet we still wont seperate after what we both put each other thru and what others say.so i really believe God has brought us together and we r meant to be.if that makes sense.all i know is that i love her to death and will do anything for her.she doesnt take advantage of me and only asked money from me once.but she is so determind to get a job thats y she asked and was so scared i would say no not to move or go.but im all for it and so excited about it.sorry if i got off subject.just excited rite now to know the truth and what she wants to do. Dude i am going to shoot straight from the hip. I would be very very worried about my girlfriend going to Japan to be any kind of a dancer. i mite just smell a rat. if there is any way that she can not go then that would be best. sorry for the bad news piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-13 00:54:00
Philippines	going to the philippines.a few questions	i do agree its worth it.we want to do that.she said her sisters wedding cost around 1500 to 2000 dollars.i forgot exactly how much.ive only been to 1 wedding and it was a very cheap wedding.nothing special.just a few family and friends.and at a justice of th peace house.i never been to any ther weddings so thats y i am the way i am about the price of it.even her own family now is agreeing to a more cheaper wedding as long as i get there to be with her.but im just living day by day and praying about it.i just wanna get there now and spend some time with her....if u dont mind me asking.where were those pics taken at?i see the signs say romblon...but i dont know where thats at.i looked at quiet a few and i like the area.i dont know if all those people where with you or just some passengers.but i like the surrounding.great pics by the way.and beautiful wife if u dont mind me saying. most of the pictures were taken in Sibuyan which is the last stop on the boat. it's in the Romblon province & we also stopped in Romblon on the way there so i figured on getting a few pictures of the place. My church wedding cost about $1600 & my plane ticket was another $1475 from the northeast U.S. I had the same problem you are having I didn't have enough money to go see my sweetie. for a year & a half i just could't pile up enough cash. then i landed a contract for some side work & after working day & night for a month i had the cash & went online to get my ticket. I used http://www.cheapoair.com I also used a little trick & saved about $275 which was just fine with me. if you wait till after 12midnight on monday all of the airlines start to post their deals for the week, you have to act quickly because by Tuesday afternoon they will probably be all gone. good luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-12 23:00:00
Philippines	going to the philippines.a few questions	thanks every1.i really appreciate the replies.....then about 3500 dollars including plane tickets should be enough.and we dont plan to invite a lot of people.plus she moved to cebu.and she is from bayugan.so basically ill either be going back to bayugan with her family or staying in cebu and just having her sisters and parents come.but we will see when i get there.but for now i have a goal on how much to sav.and that goal should be reachable by the end of this year like i planned.again thanks all I went with a church wedding & it cost more. however i felt it was worth it in the long run.....my wife will NEVER EVER forget that day that i gave her http://s927.photobuc...17/piglett2195/ piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-12 16:54:00
Philippines	going to the philippines.a few questions	really it all depends on how many people U intend to have at the wedding. also many people in the area will just show up at the reception...... so figure on lots of food, the more the better. your girl will not tell you but she has ALWAYS dreamed of a church wedding . if there is any way in the world you can give it to her & U really do love her then do it good luck piglett	piglett	Male	Philippines	2010-07-11 22:32:00