mmpv

Congrats! Tell your wife to beware of the DMV/RMV when she gets here. She only gets one shot (maybe 2) to get it right. ;-)

Be careful what you wish for. Well, you expect Mickey D's to be everywhere (except Iceland maybe). Now be prepared for a bit of a reverse culture shock. http://www.littlesheephotpot.com/finder.asp BTW, there are a couple of locations that it doesn't list here. There's a lot more franchises around than meets the eye.

Well, that's my question. By income, do they consider severance if it's paid in bits and pieces as opposed to a lump sum? What about unemployment insurance? Also, if you are within the gov. mandated 60 days notification period, I guess you are still "technically" employed as you are still receiving your regular paychecks and benefits within that time frame. I had co-workers that were recalled within the 60 days in the past and legally, their work status didn't change. They just got a few extra weeks off with pay. ;-)

There is a great sample of this form filled out for a K1 on http://www.visajourney.com just click example forms at the top of the page i linked. I used that example when doing our I-134 Just what I need. Thanks. A few notes: The directions included with I-134 are very old, USCIS has no reason to update them since USCIS has no application for that form. The consulates tend to treat the I-134 like a mini-I-864 as so prefer the same financial evidence as the I-864. In our case this what the I-134 included. I-134. SIMPLE Tax transcripts from the IRS for past 3 years, (Redundant for the (1040,W2,1099) but are free from the IRS <a href="http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=105370,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=105370,00.html</a> Photo copy of IRS form 1040, and W2s for past 3 years (Not necessary if you provide the transcripts) Letter from my employer stating annual salary, job responsibility, and that is full time, on company letterhead. Photo copies of past month or so of pay stubs up to a few weeks before the interview. My income was well above the povertyline so I did not include any asset data (LIKE BANK STATEMENTS or property values). If your income exceeds 125% of the povertyline when counting yourself, prospective immigrant and any dependents, then don't bother with assets (401K, Bank balance, Stocks etc..), it is just extra un-needed data to provide, the consular officer is most concerned with INCOME. Thanks for the info. Question on income. If you recently became unemployed (i.e., very recent), but your income before this was significantly above the poverty line, do you still have to declare your other assets?

Hey, that's not how it works in the US, the first one's always free! ;-) Thanks for the tips.

You didn't mention what visa you are applying for, the following info applies for K visas as far as I know. You should send the item to your fiancee, but just to clarify, she needs to bring them to the interview, not return it with the P3 packet. Your fiancee should only return these P3 items back to the consulate. # Application for immigrant visa and alien registration (DS-230 part I) # Instructions for immigrant visa applicants (OF-169) # EMS label. As stated in the instructions, anything else you return with the P3 will be destroyed by the consulate.

I am trying to sort out the details of the day of the interview. Sounds like it's controlled chaos from what you are describing. I heard there's a coffee shop inside the embassy somewhere that you can wait for your SO. Have you seen this place? Do you queue up with your wife in the outside of the building to get to this coffee shop? Or do you merely just walk in some other door? I also heard that there were some non US embassy related vultures waiting around the area to prey on/"help" people sort out their paperwork? Were they obvious? Any tips on how to avoid these vultures or sort out the legit embassy employees demanding your paper work? I can see it's going to be a very confusing environment, and I don't need any unnecessary external ones added to it. Can you describe at what point and (if appropriate) what part of the building your wife actually presented her paperwork? Any more details about this would be appreciated. Were you able to accompany your wife into the building from the outside line? I know at some point, she has to separate from you, just wondering how far inside you make? On a slightly different topic. The ACH. Were you able to bring into the interview room any electronic gadgets, i.e., cell phones and laptops? Or were they detained (like your wife's) before entering the interview room, only to be retrieved before you leave the building? Rather than lugging pounds of paper to the ACH, I am thinking of maybe just lugging a laptop. Don't know if that's kosher.

So they'll mail you the P3 and P4 but leave you hanging on the visa??? I am sure there's some twisted logic that can support this, but I can't think of any.

Silly question, couldn't you have the consulate just mail the passport back to your mainland home address? Why involve a middle man?

There is a great sample of this form filled out for a K1 on http://www.visajourney.com just click example forms at the top of the page i linked. I used that example when doing our I-134 Just what I need. Thanks.

For a K1 visa. Does question 10 need to be filled in with SO's info from question 3 or would "none" apply to question 10? I am assuming the answer is "none" since it's pretty obvious this affidavit is executed on behalf SO name in question 3 and is submitted during the K1 interview. But then again, government forms are so obtuse it wouldn't surprise me if the answer is yes.

Great news. Congrats.

My SO procured the original and translated documents from some sort of "notary" office, which is a legalized racket in my opinion, but that's another story. Apparently, these are the only type of places that people go to for these docs that the Consulate will take. From what we were told, the birth certificate has some sort of "standardized" format used throughout PRC that doesn't have this exact wording. I was wondering the same thing because of the differences between the translated docs and the wording requirement on the checklist. I was told this shouldn't be an issue.

I thought that you mentioned the VO's would tend to ask for items that you don't have. Isn't this just giving intel to the enemy (for lack of a better term.)? ;-) Good luck on you interview.

Best of luck. Let us know if you see any turkeys. ;-)

I believe axcrypt is open source. It's a good choice too. I've used it before. http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/ I'm not a die-hard open source guy, but, I do like finding solid freeware, to save some cash. They weren't when I started using them. Ah, yes, they must have open sourced it a couple of years back to compete with the likes of truecrypt. http://sourceforge.net/projects/axcrypt/files/ I agree with your sentiment about sw. Some of the open source stuff isn't fully baked initially but matures into a nice package over time. pdf creator is a good example, it really couldn't cut the mustard compared to cutepdf writer when I first started using them. Over the last couple of years, it added features and in my opinion, surpassed the capability of others. By the way, another good freebie is openoffice for people who need MS office but can't/don't want to pay for it.

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...hl=Kitchen+sink Nice job. You can also add axcrypt to the list. Though not open source, it does supports contextual menu encryption, i.e., right click on the file etc., versus having to create containers etc. I've found people who are not computer savvy find it easier to use and grasp. It also supports self extracting files. Unless you have VPN, I've had random luck getting through the great firewall to download stuff that the commies deem sensitive. So self extracting archives will come in handy if your laptop with the encryption sw is seized by the border guards and you can still decrypt your USB keys on any computer. And pdf creator is an opensource pdf print driver, without the tagalong programs that you may not want installed.

I have 714 pages MSN chat records printed and packed to bring for the interview. Is that a bad thing? I know i over killed everything. That's a ream and a half of paper! Hope you don't get surcharged for your luggage. ;-) If you already packed your bags, I'd say go to bed and leave it. When you get to the mainland, pick a sample spread over the duration of the relationship and lug that to the interview. I would also burn copies of the msn logs and any other digitized files (too late to start digitizing now) onto a DVD or USB key fob and put them in your carry on. In case your airline looses your wad of paper, you'll still have a backup. If you are worried about security and loosing your DVD or USB, encrypt the files. Personally, aside from primary paper evidence records, I would prefer to carry everything in digital format and print it when I get there. Less to lug around. Good luck on your trip. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks. So judging from the links, it looks like there are 2 schools of thought w.r.t. having this EOR letter ready at the time of the interview. Load it up with details, in which case you open yourself up for more scrutiny by the consulate officer. OR Rehash what you already wrote in question 19 in the I129F, in which case you ask yourself why waste your and the interviewer's time, since they already have your I129F file. Anyone have any recent statistics on how many people actually submitted their EOR letter at the time of interview?

Forgive my ignorance, what is the EOR letter? I don't see it mentioned here. http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=23235

Nope, they are free. I ordered some earlier this year and they showed up in less than a week. It's just a tad nerve whacking not knowing if this latest one got lost. I'll wait a couple more days. Sorry for sounding like a broken record. But my scripts are still MIA. Anyone else in the same boat? More specifically, did anyone order some recently and have experienced a delayed delivery?

Nope, they are free. I ordered some earlier this year and they showed up in less than a week. It's just a tad nerve whacking not knowing if this latest one got lost. I'll wait a couple more days.

If I remember correctly, it took about 2 weeks when I ordered mine about 3 months ago. I ordered 3 years worth but do not think that was the reason for delay. If you do not get them next week just re-order Still waiting on the transcripts. When I ordered on the phone, the recorded message mentioned that they should arrive 10-15 days. Does anyone know if they are referring to "business" days? Because it's way past 10-15 calendar days.

Just curious if anyone requested tax transcripts from the irs via the phone service over the last 2 weeks? Did you receive them yet? I requested my 2008 scripts 2 weeks ago and they are still MIA. I requested pre-2008 scripts earlier this year and got them within a week. As these scripts contain highly sensitive personal info, I am worried that they might mis delivered or lost in the mail. Anyone know if there is a way to track if they sent them out or not yet?