AZwolfman

uh....you sure he meant THIS Friday? He sure seems to be an optimistic guy.

Instead of suing the government, we will direct our energies and time on building a happy life together and try our hardest to make up for the years that the government has taken from us.

Congrats, Ana, and now you can teach that boy some more MF words.

This is awful, beyond anything I ever could have imagined. What kind of person could do this? I just don't know what to say that could help you feel better. But believe me, it is best you find out now and not later. Now the way is clear for you to heal and ultimately meet the right one.

To give up is to give up on a love that was not so real after all, but still it really is a sad situation and does not represent the U.S. well.

I am sending letters tomorrow. Do you think that if we send letters to enough of our congressmen that we could get a congressional majority?

Great news! It looks like your wait is about over.

I am very fortunate that my fiancée speaks very good English, but it is still difficult to explain why our government gives us so much trouble with this.

Yes, I talked with my fiancée today. I always get more angry frustrated with INS after that.

see our timeline. Your wait is not abnormal relevant to the way the process has gone since August of last year.

I love it!!! Me too!!! After all the sighing all of us have done, and continue to do, they should be sighing. sighing and crying......don't forget crying. I want them to cry with us, feel our pain.

Right on David! I don't know that GZ is to blame for ALL of this, but maybe at least for the current portion of the delay. I think they now sit on thousands of clearances, but too many damn holidays and too far away from us to make a personal visit.

After over 6 months of this nonsense, any mail is fine, just as long as you assure me that my "check (visa) is in the mail."

A one-day turnaround response? Was this reply by email or phone?

I think that most all of our clearances are back in GZ in a huge pile. So finally we have progressed to where we were over 6 months ago just after the interview? Problem is that there are thousands of us in the same line.

I love it!!!

Ling, I think you have a good idea to express your emotion. Just reword the letter so it is not percieved as a threat. And we should never use the threat of the power of God when dealing with our government. Don't be discouraged. But let us help you make it politically correct. I believe your heart is in the right place.

I spoke with Jeanette on Jan. 21, and she said I should send a fax to her personal attention. She did take a long time to look things up, and she did seem very compassionate, and was appalled that we had been waiting so long. Of course I did send the fax the following day and have heard no response.

Do we need to get out our copies of the emails and faxes that we sent to obtain Mick and Owen's meeting with R. Adams, and modify and resend? I smell a plan emerging.

Apparently this is not his normal job. As I remember, in response to a group letter to M. H. a couple months ago, M.H. did assign A.S. to look into the visa delay problem and fix it. Yes, we will win this war. I think it was Angry Texan who pointed out a few days ago that it is always the "squeaky wheel" that gets the grease. We need to stay real squeaky. It is the American way. Let's all show our sweeties that this U.S. system really does work.

The theme of my campaign has always been, "MAKE IT PERSONAL." I of course assume that each official we deal with is a human with loved ones of his own. And all that I have talked with seemed to be such humans, and many were compassionate whenever I told them my story.

Yes, I think we all should call DOS and CA once per weeek, even while we are "waiting for promised good news"; not so much to get actual information, but to keep them aware and pressured. Think of each phone call as a "vote."

It could be an effective letter, especially since from the fiancees, but I think you need to reword at least this part of it. The meaning is not clear. It comes accross to me as a threat. Is this what you intend? Also it is my own belief that it is now GZ who is sitting on our collective visas. But then, they do answer to the State Department eventually.

Texan, thank you for your offer. I personally think that we are just a bit beyond the need for the "gentle" approach which we have already tried. You seem to have the attitude that we need in dealing with this bureaucracy. You can bet that if I lived anywhere near GZ, I would be a semi-regular pain in the A** to them. They would probably all recognize me on sight by now. If we are going to do this, we perhaps need to pin a thread inviting everyones' input. An idea I have for one piece of ammunition to take to GZ is for everyone to write a one-page personal account (with a pic of the happy couple at top of the page for a letterhead) of their situation, including timeline - similar to the "congressman template form" that you posted a while back. There is enough time to fax or mail these to you. I prefer priority mail because it seems a bit more personal than fax (regular snail mail even more personal but not so reliable), and it also allows one to imbed a color photo letterhead. Easy to carry a bundle of priority envelopes to the consulate. Open them one at a time in front of the officer until he screams, "All right already; here are all your visas!" Just throwing out ideas here; probably more ideas later. What does everybody else think? I especially want ideas from you newbies. New members = new ideas.

Read Kenneth's post on G7 He has provided his email and has offered to be of assistance to us while he is in GZ next month. He will be there for 7 weeks. I know Mick and Owen just got back from GZ, but maybe we could put some "follow-up" pressure to bear on the place that apparently is now just sitting on our visas as they allow a very few pickup notices to trickle out. Perhaps we could get together an agenda or a group communique for Kenneth. What do you think? We send faxes, make phone calls, send emails, etc., but we haven't barraged them with personal visits - yet. And here is a man offering to do what he can. Any ideas on this? I'm getting really fed up with the run-around we have been getting so far. The only thing that seems to get their attention is our constant combined yelling at them