keelec

I think I'll be ok..... I like my washing machine..... Perhaps I have a habit of waiting so long that I must overstuff it to do the wash...... But, I haven't bothered to hook up my dryer yet.... The shower rod does come in handy!!!!!! There is just no sense in paying so much to have clothes dry immediately. Actually, what I would like to find sometime is one of those pully systems above the tub that I've seen in both Italian and Russian bathrooms. Essentially one has a full clothes line hidden away above the tub. (6 or 8 strands that you can drop down and raise independently for loading and staggering the levels. ----- CK -----

Russia has changed to a 1-900 service (or something like that). It is about $1 / minute to talk (and perhaps also to wait on hold). And, I don't even think the calls are handled by the embassy, but rather by a subcontractor. Of course, I have control over whether or not 1-900 numbers can be called by anybody at work ...... Unfortunately, I think it might look suspicious if they started showing up on the bill

Yes, They enter (or swipe) the US passports now. However, I think that article was saying that the USA will be requiring foreign countries to put smart chips into the passports with digital fingerprints & etc. However, as far as I know, the USA hasn't even started doing that..... I guess we don't have to comply with our own regulations. -------------------- I think Russia actually knows if a person checks into the wrong hotel or gets on the wrong train !!!!!!! And, not registering your passport EVERYWHERE one goes is not good. ----- Clifford -----

Hello Everyone, As you all know, I have been stuck in As far as I know, there is absolutely no end in site...... I am now at 11 1/2 months into the process overall, with the application being stuck in Moscow for 3 1/2 months already (as mentioned). I assume that I am at least 2 months from the interview. There has been no P3/P4 issued. As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing has happend with my case. From looking at the interview schedule, I get the impression that many people have passed me by quite a bit (although there may be a few people who have already waited longer than me). Am I just being impatient? Should I just patiently wait longer? Is it just a matter of time to wait for my P3/P4, or is there anything else that I can do? I've already contacted 2 congressmen. Both have received the exact same response that I have been given (additional administrative processing), and the case hasn't budged. Anybody know who the equivalent of "Linda Donahue" is in Moscow, or how I could get in touch with that person? Who else should I call or write a letter to? Is there a difference between contacting one's congressman and getting a "Conressional Inquiry"? Thanks, Clifford Keele

I am sure glad that we have some government officials that are in touch with reality!!!!!!!!!!! So, this is what machine readable passports is. How close is the USA to doing this? I know that my passport is only 2 years old, and it doesn't have this. Perhaps we will force the other countries to be leaders!!!!! Of course, we have been doing machine readable dog identification for at least a decade...... Just never applied it to people!!!!!! Now, just think, our passports are valid for 7 years. EVERY PASSPORT WILL HAVE TO BE RENEWED. I must admit that my passport gets squished a bit since I try to carry it with me 100% of the time when I am out of the country. I hope the chips are durable. ----------------------------------------- Overall this was an interesting article. While they didn't talk about K1-K4 and V1-V4 visas, they did discuss the frustrations of inviting relatives to come only to have the visas denied (while the USA keeps the application fees). The economic twist on the story was interesting...... Of course, with economics, we are "small potatoes"..... However, if you consider the 10,000 or so K1-K4 visa applicants in Russia, China, and Ukraine. We each probably send about $2000-$5,000 out of the country because of the delay. That is $20,000,000 - $50,000,000 of money leaving the US Economy because of the 1+ year delays for visas. Of course, they also talk about the $1000 for an "expedited" visa. There is no mention that some people do not choose it, not because they don't want it, but because it is not available to all applicants. Anyway, overall it was a very interesting article. Thanks for posting it. ----- Clifford -----

An inspiring story!!!!!!

Carl, Now, that will be interesting.... Seeing how long it takes for my own story to make its way back to me!!!!!!!!!! I am glad you enjoyed the story...... The "Prancer" and "Vixen" story is still to come.... Although, it probably won't be as long as the Rudolf story.

I was doing a little research today and found several references to what may have been the Samurai's Last Stand. Sorry, I will have to dig deeper to find anything about American Heros. ----------------------------------------------- The Meiji Restoration begain in 1869 with the end of the Shogun period and the beginning of the imperial rule. One of the biggest tests of the Meiji Emperial rule came with The Satsuma Rebellion (Kagoshima Rebellion) and the Battle of Shiroyama in the fall of 1877. (I forgot the time setting of the movie, but that sounds about right). There are many interesting parallels between that time and the movie. For example, the wearing of swords was made illegal in 1877 (which became a prominent issue in the movie). I am seeing a couple of estimates of the numbers forces, but what is clear is that the final battle had HUGE armies. Although neither side fought to the "Last Man Standing", both sides took heavy losses. The samurai leader of the rebellion, Saigo Takamori (Takamori Saigo) was wounded in the last battle, and committed suicide in his defeat.

I am glad that you have enjoyed my stories. They have been fun to write. I am sorry if some of the themes are a bit negative..... But, they are a place where I can release some of my frustration with the system. ------ Clifford -----

I bet you could park a pickup along some of the southern borders and pick up your quota in a single night!!!! ------ Hmmm, could I add a couple of "Americans" to your list for deportation?

Ok, Say I owned a factory making furniture. What would be the difference between staffing my factory with Mexican immigrants North of the Border, or staffing it with Mexicans South of the Border? Of course, having it north of the border, the property values are higher, and I would imagine that income taxes would be higher. In theory, one would also have to pay social security, medical, retirement, and everything else. Having the factory south of the border.... cheaper land, cheaper labor, cheaper retirement benefits, ....... And, with NAFTA, the finished products can be imported into the USA duty free!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact, with NAFTA, one can ship the raw products south for processing and bring the finished product back up here...... And, if one is lucky, even call it made in the USA (or, at least made in Mexico out of US materials). ----------------------------- Yes, I admit that black-market workers are very bad. Most Americans cringe at the thought of bribing to get stuff like passports in foreign countries. With that in mind, it is not reasonable to then say it is ok to break the law by hiring undocumented laborers, and likely cheat on the taxes because there is no way to legally pay social security and income taxes. Plus, as others have pointed out, while many Mexican Americans contribute lots of hard work to our society, by not paying taxes, and not legally having drivers licenses and insurance, and other things, then they can actually be as much of a drain as a benefit. ------------- It looks like I am rambling and jumping from one side of the fence to another. I think what we really need is to figure out a way to make it not profitable to hire "illegal aliens" in the USA and regulate the flow of "legal" workers from Mexico into the USA. * The first step would be to make exorbitant fines for hiring illegal / undocumented workers. For example, fine businesses $100,000 PER EMPLOYEE. * Allow both prime contractors and subcontractors to be fined. The responsibility shouldn’t be solely born by the subcontractors. * Fine the undocumented employees a significant amount as well as sending them packing south. Of course, much of the money may never be collected, but it is something that could be held over their heads should they ever return. * Make visas accessible in a “reasonable” amount of time for a “reasonable” cost. ----- CK -----

I can't stand being given the nth degree to try to get my finacee to the USA while others receive charity for walking across the border. However, there are always two sides to every story. There is a mix of people from South of the boarder, as well as from right here in the USA. I have heard that many Mexican Americans are extremely hard working. Often they take jobs that are not favoriable to Americans. They are often forced to work at below minimum wage so that we can save a few cents on our Apples at the supermarkets. Yes, I admit that the system may be abused by some, but many Mexicans come to the USA for a piece of the American Dream, and they work hard to get it. On the other hand, I have met Americans (both blacks and whites) that live off of the system. One black woman I know is in her early 30's. She has 6 children from ages 5 to 17. Since I met her 6 months ago, she has worked about 2 weeks. I can't quite figure out where her money comes from, but it certainly isn't from her own work. And, I doubt that she will be outworking any hispanic laborers out on the farm. ---- CK ----

Unfortunately, Rudolf has been having troubles with his visa this year, and Santa will not have his reindeer guide this year. Out of shear frustration, Santa has decided the only alternative was to skip delivering presents to the United States. The troubles began last Christmas Eve when Rudolf was traveling through Idaho and fell in love with Trixie, a mule deer from Northern Idaho near Yellow Pine. Trixie came to visit him last February at the North Pole and they decided to get married March 8th. Two days later, they filed their application for a K3 visa with the US INS. Since Trixie was from Idaho, they filed in Nebraska. Five months later, August 12th, NSC sent back an RFE because Rudolf and Trixie had failed to list an Embassy in the North Pole that would review their case. Here lies the problem. The North Pole, not being on a land mass, is not in any country's jurisdiction. Thus, there is no local Embassy. Santa first approached the Canadian Embassy in Ontario. However, the immigration officials in Ontario astutely pointed out that Santa's Workshop was actually much closer to US territory than Canadian territory, and thus they adamantly refused to take the case. The US State Department was actually considering waving the visa requirements due to the proximity of the workshop to Alaska. However, Sam Walmart complained to his golf buddy, George Bush that Santa and his crew including Rudolf were decidedly un-American because they because they were giving away millions of presents for free, and significantly stifling competition on the Christmas Market. Mr. Bush immediately squelched any ideas of waving the visa requirements. Finally, the Russian Embassy in Moscow agreed to take the case. After a month of run-around trying to determine who would hear the case, Rudolf returned the RFE to Nebraska listing Moscow as the Jurisdiction. With extreme pressure from Mini-Me, and the other American Dwarves, the NSC finally finished processing the case on October 3rd. It was then forwarded to the National Visa Center. With a blinding burst of speed, NVC finished the case on November 18th and forwarded it to the Moscow Embassy. However, the Russian Embassy insists on repeating the name check and refuses to do anything until the Additional Administrative Processing is finished. Trixie has contacted both Idaho Senators as well as both Representatives to try to help move the case forward, but nothing will budge the Moscow Embassy from deviating from their own intrinsic schedule for completing their Additional Administrative Processing on Rudolf's Visa. They have already scheduled all of their interviews out to mid February, and even if they could offer an interview, it would be impossible to do it before next February or March. Their only suggestion was for Rudolf to trade jobs with the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately, the Easter Bunny gets nauseated with long hops, and is afraid of flying. Realizing that time was running short, Santa suggested filing for a temporary employment visa as all of the reindeer had done in the past. Unfortunately, the temporary employment visa was refused because of Rudolf's intention to immigrate. Without a guide for the Sleigh through the USA this Christmas Eve, Santa has finally decided to skip bringing gifts to the children in the USA for the first time in over a century.

4 month wait at the beginning?????? Wow, yours sped through the system... Irina and I had to wait 6 months for the "initial phase". I think we will find euphemisms for the work that is being done because there is no real explanation for the tremendous waits that we are experiencing. I presume that the 4-6 months at BCIS was for data entry into "the system", and 10 minutes for review. Mine has been in "additional administrative processing" in Moscow for 3 1/2 months now. After being processed in the USA for 8 months, I have absolutely no idea what kind of additional processing that can possibly be done in Moscow prior to the interview….. But, alas, we wait.

Oops, I meant to post under a different thread .... Now I have to think of something meaningful to post here....

Oh, So, if one got married in Las Vegas.... And was living in some other state, it wouldn't show up???? :o

That is odd, I thought one would need to be registered to vote to get a jury summons. ---- CK -----

The Texas and Nebraska BCIS offices have been averaging about 6 months for their initial phase of processing applications. The California office shredded a bunch of their applications about 2 years ago which helped them get caught up, but apparently their performance has been sliding ever since then. Of course, most of the "lost applications" were likely resubmitted so they really didn't gain much of a longterm reprieve. The Vermont Service Center is the only one with a somewhat reasonable turnaround time. While I believe that 6 months to do their processing is inappropriate, there is not too much sense in complaining to much until you pass that point as it will likely fall on deaf ears. For the most part, everything is done in order. Unfortunately, what I have found is that the Nebraska BCIS office was just the tip of the iceburg.... My application sped through the NVC in a blinding 1 1/2 months..... Then, it has been gathering dust and growing cobwebs in Moscow ever since (now 3 1/2 months without a P3/P4). A year ago there was a protest at the Texas Service Center. Not much has improved since then. http://www.global7network.com/ru/us_en/imm..._delays/tsc.asp I think we need to repeat the protests next Valentine's day, but this time at all of the major visa processing centers in the USA.... TSC, NSC, CSC, MSC, NVC, as well as in Washington DC. Hopefully we can get some national news on our plight. http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....t=ST&f=1&t=4003 ---- Clifford -----

Wow, They return half of the petitions with a "Request for Evidence"...... Somebody must certainly be working hard to get those statistics up so high. Of course, most of the things that they send the RFE back for should have been determined within the first week of processing. And, I would guess that the vast majority shouldn't be generating an RFE. Perhaps someone should work a little more on making the forms & instructions clearer so that the errors don't occur. For example, putting in a check box: . . . . Have you been married before? [] Yes [] No . . . . If Yes, list the names of previous spouses I guess making the forms clearer would make everything too simple. ------ Clifford -------

Frank, Let's hope Jingwen doesn't see it. She might not like the comparison

Interesting Dilemma. You wish to file as "married" filing jointly. In theory, you should qualify because you have been married for a half a year, and are sending her support money, even though she hasn't been to the USA yet. However, your wife will be unable to get her SSN until AFTER her interview about mid year next year, and she will need the affidavit at the interview. Sorry, I have filed K1…. Now it is costing me over $3K in deductions. But, I still believe that the K1 was appropriate in my case. Somebody else must be in a situation like yours, but I would contact the IRS and see what they can tell you. If you start this time of year, perhaps you will be better off than waiting till next April. An option that you might consider: File as married, filing separately (or as single). As soon as you have a SSN for your wife, send in a amendment to your return and try to get your refund. Is there a form to submit an estimated income / tax when you file for an extension? Maybe you could send that one in instead of the 1040 form. Send in a few W2 forms for good measure. ----- Clifford -----

Finally got my rental car for Christmas..... Oh the wonders and the frustrations of http://www.priceline.com It turns out the the "Economy" cars seemed to be priced higher than the "compact" cars. Fortunately my departure flight was a midnight flight which allowed me to make 4 "bids" per week. Even with the added costs, the total priceline cost was just over half the cost of going directly to the rental agencies. ----- Clifford -----

Oh, It sounds like mass chaos is coming..... What would happen to China if the number of people owning cars doubles over the next decade?????? New York may be one of the cities in the USA with the least cars per capita (and worst traffic problems). Mass transit is generally better in the city than owning a car, and there is no place to park in NY. Thus, many people opt not to own them. Hmmm, half of the cars in New York are painted yellow..... Does that mean that the drivers there are better than in other parts of the country? ------ Clifford -------

Hmmm, If the USA wants to keep the "Illegal Alien Workers" out, then they need to make it not economically profitable for them to come up here. For example. When Walmart was busted for having "illegal" janitors, then they should have fined Walmart $100,000 PER WORKER. And, if they were subcontractors.... fine both the general contractor and subcontractor a hefty fine. If, on the other hand, we wish the allow the hispanic workers, it should be designed so that they come up on our own terms. This might even include encouraging more English to be taught in the schools in countries with large emmigrant populations. ----- Clifford ----

http://computerdude.50megs.com/Cliff_Fiat_small.jpg ---- Clifford ----- No, I think he has some sort of yuppie SUV but his dad may have had a Citroen. Seems I recall past post to that effect. WTF with the forbidden links thing? Mick, There is some kind of a hot-link blocker on the web page. I am not quite sure how it works as I am seeing the correct pictures. However, follow this link and it will show you the correct picture of my car (I think), as well as fix all of my broken links after you refresh the page (I hope). Perhaps I should look for a new web hosting service that isn't so much of a hassle. http://computerdude.50megs.com/Cliff_Fiat_small.html I am going to start working on a personal web page.... Not too much there yet. http://computerdude.50megs.com/ However, hopefully within a week, I will start putting up MS Word Compatable INS Forms!!!! I have the I-129F mostly finished, and am making headway on the g325a. ---- Clifford -----