Some questions.

[Kyle]

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 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.

[mmpv]

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 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.

[fineart]

Hopefully your beloved woman comes to USA soon. I was not on K-1 visa. I was on CR1 visa. It was my first marriage and my background was simple, been in school before getting a stable job. Maybe this made my interview pretty easy. It seemed the visa officer just intended to let me pass. He gave me sunny smiles when I appeared before his window. I initiated the conversation.

 

Me:"Good morning, sir." (I smiled big since I loved his smiling face.)

 

VO:"Oh, good morning. So, your name is xxx?"

 

Me:"Yes. I am xxx."

 

VO:" Your English is very good. Where did you learn English?" (He kept reading on his computer, typed from time to time.)

 

Me:" From school. Also my English is improved by talking to my husband a lot."

 

VO :"Aha, good. When did your husband divorce?"

 

Me :"On Month/Date/Year, I think." (I told him the specific date, though I was not quite sure whether it was completely correct.)

 

Me:"Would you like to see some pictures we have taken and have not submitted to you?" (I felt he was going to give me the visa already from his happy expression, and it was not necessary to submit anymore materials, but I tried to find something to say anyway.)

 

VO:"Oh, very nice pictures." (He looked over several pages of my album which was labeled in English about where, who were in the pictures, since we have travelled to a lot of places.)

 

Me:" Thank you!"

Me :"My husband is waiting outside. Would you like to see his passport?" (Actually my visa was approved by him already, before I showed him my husband's passport, because he finished typing and signing on all the paperworks before he saw my husband's passport.)

 

VO:"Sure. Thank you."

 

He had a look at my husband's passport and said :"Welcome to America. Your visa is approved."

 

Me:"Oh! Thank you so much sir! Thanks! Have a great day!"

 

VO:"Thank you. Have a nice trip!"

 

 

When I walked out to the third floor of the Counsulate and rushed to my husband, I cheered :"Yeah~~~I passed!!!" My husband said "You are so fast ???!!!"

 

We hugged and were very happy and excited. Other American guys right away enclosed me and asked what things was like in the interview building and what my interview was like. They also described their lovers to me and asked me whether I saw their lovers. I didn't pay attention to others actually. I repeated every word VO said to these guys so that they knew interview was not that scary. I sent a lot of encouraging words to these guys, telling them their lovers would surely pass like I did.

 

My husband asked me to show VO my credit card which had my Chinese given name and his last name encraved on the card. I didn't have a photo ID for this credit card at that time. But I husband told me to draw money from ATM by this credit card so that we could show VO this joint financial proof. This was one of the two things I got from USA already before I was approved to enter USA. The other USA thing is ITIN number. But I didn't have a chance to show VO this credit card information.

 

Also my husband's tax paper showed my name. Before spouses get their visa to USA, they could apply an ITIN number(individual tax identification number), which need to fill W-7 form from IRS.org website, and then go to US embassy to apply the ITIN. I went to US Embassy in Beijing and got this ITIN number for me. The process was pretty simple and easy. We did his tax return together when I was still in China. This is a strong proof that our marriage was true to VO.

 

That is just my own experience, hopefully has some help to Robert&his sweety, or to some other members.

 

PS: Lawyers can not help much for visa processing. When we walked out of the Counsulate building, we still were too excited to calm down and we decided to go to somewhere to drink some tea, with my repeating my interview to him again. There when we drank the tea, we saw another white guy and his chinese woman. My husband asked them whether they came for interview. They said yes. And the Chinese woman told me in Chinese, she had not taken any interview yet. But her white man told my husband in English, she failed twice in interview already. She might not expect I could understand a lot of English and I knew what her white man said. So I started to let go of this woman and give advice to the pathetic white man in English. He said, he paid $5000 dollars to a lawyer in USA to handle her K-1 visa. After she failed in the first interview, she asked him to give her $1500 to pay a Chinese lawyer for the visa. Then she failed a second time. My husband and I told him, we didn't pay a penny to any lawyer since my English was good enough to understand many forms and fill in those forms. He told us, his fiancee's English was very bad. He said he felt so frustrated that he must be a trash in VO's eyes, otherwise why others could bring their lovers to USA but he could not. He said he was going to marry her and reapply CR1 visa. We supported his idea and offered as much information as we could to him. Before we left them, we sent our best bliss to them.

[xiaofeizhu]

I agree with what has been said about keeping everything simple. Your future wife will probably be nervous (even though she won¡¯t show it!) and keeping everything organized and simple will help her to have a smooth interview.

 

That being said, I tried to make it as easy as I could for my husband by adopting the folder technique that some had used on CFL that I thought was a good idea. I used clear folders with snaps on them (they look like plastic envelopes) that I found at ChaoShiFa for like 5 RMB each. Any folder would do and even an accordion type file would work, but I chose the clear envelope style for several reasons. One, if he needed something, he would only have to grab one small file rather than the entire accordion. Two, the folders being clear, I was able to make a ¡°cover sheet¡± for each folder that I handwrote (I am anal, as you will soon find out) in both English and Chinese (hubby did not know much English at the time, and even if he did the Chinese would help him to locate things faster under pressure) and color coded with a highlighter. Three, I was able to sneak some pictures and cards, etc. on the top of some folders so that when hubby pulled out the folders the VO would see them even if he/she didn¡¯t want to! Fourth, using the envelope style, the documents were protected from rain (I think it did drizzle that morning!) and wind (they would not fly away) and also stayed where they belonged. We bought a bag that looked like a briefcase but was really cheap and not fancy (it just had the place to put the documents and one small zippered section) to keep all the folders in. It worked out extremely well. Having explained that, this is how I coded the files:

 

1. Interview Documents ¨C In the first file, I put all of the things hubby needed for the interview. This included his, my, and my parents (they came to GUZ to support him) passports, the medical information, the interview appointment document, and the money he needed to pay the visa fee (we were DCF so we paid at the time of interview) police certificates, etc. I highlighted this yellow for sunshine and luck.

 

2. Evidence of Relationship ¨C This file was the thick, but we fit everything into the folder. In this folder we had the pictures, cards/letters, plane tickets, EOR, affidavits from friends/family attesting to our relationship, joint bank account, copy of our rental agreement in Beijing that listed both our names, documents that proved we went to the same school at the same time, etc. This was color coded red for love.

 

3. Proof of Support ¨C I put all of the guarantor stuff in this file. The I-864 as well the co-sponsor information. This means the forms, as well as the tax transcripts, the bank statements, letter from my mom¡¯s job saying how much she made, etc. As a side note, I also included proof of my domicile in this folder such as my proof of doing absentee oversea voting, my Hawaii drivers license copy, letter that I was accepted to the University of Hawaii for the coming term, etc because I was a DCF and domicile was definitely something I needed to address. This folder was color coded green for money.

 

4. Miscellaneous ¨C This was a thin folder, but I did put some documents in there when I panicked and had nowhere to put the other documents. I included documents like the originals of our school completion certificates, both from Japan and China. I can¡¯t remember what else was in the file but basically, if you plan it right, you shouldn¡¯t need this folder. This was color coded purple I think because that was the only color left.

 

5. Copies of Everything ¨C Like I said, I am anal and also a bit paranoid. So I made a folder that had copies of EVERYTHING that we submitted, from the initial I-130 through P-3, P-4, etc. For me, it was the extra peace of mind in case the VO was like, ¡°you never turned in the _____¡±. This folder is also probably not necessary but I did it anyway. It was color coded blue for peace of mind.

 

Now you know why I am anal, but hubby said it was a flawless system for him. The three most important files (#1 ¨C 3) were handy and he said the color coding came in handy when he freaked out (he was probably just saying this so that I would feel accomplished). Before the interview, we drilled on potential questions and on the colors of the folders. I would be like, ¡°If you need _____ (name of document) where do you go?¡± and he would answer. Hehe. It sounds crazy, I know, but as I said before, I am anal and paranoid. Anyway, it¡¯s just an idea for organizing all of your stuff. I doubt that you will need 700 pages of chat logs (how will your lady carry them all! Haha) but picking out a few and having them readily available will be good. Being organized and not a mess makes a good impression on the VO. While my husband suited up (with a pink tie, of course, much to his dismay) I did see many others go in just a t-shirt and shorts. I think my hubby was the only one that day wearing anything formal. I didn¡¯t care because hey, you are up to the discretion of the VO, why chance it?

 

Hopefully this was helpful for you. Hopefully you are not as anal and paranoid as me. Well, paranoid, maybe. (Haha, I¡¯ve read your other posts, too! ).

[xiaofeizhu]

PS. Sorry that was so long. I had no idea. Really!

[Michael]

Hopefully your beloved woman comes to USA soon. I was not on K-1 visa. I was on CR1 visa. It was my first marriage and my background was simple, been in school before getting a stable job. Maybe this made my interview pretty easy. It seemed the visa officer just intended to let me pass. He gave me sunny smiles when I appeared before his window. I initiated the conversation.

 

Me:"Good morning, sir." (I smiled big since I loved his smiling face.)

 

VO:"Oh, good morning. So, your name is xxx?"

 

Me:"Yes. I am xxx."

 

VO:" Your English is very good. Where did you learn English?" (He kept reading on his computer, typed from time to time.)

 

Me:" From school. Also my English is improved by talking to my husband a lot."

 

VO :"Aha, good. When did your husband divorce?"

 

Me :"On Month/Date/Year, I think." (I told him the specific date, though I was not quite sure whether it was completely correct.)

 

Me:"Would you like to see some pictures we have taken and have not submitted to you?" (I felt he was going to give me the visa already from his happy expression, and it was not necessary to submit anymore materials, but I tried to find something to say anyway.)

 

VO:"Oh, very nice pictures." (He looked over several pages of my album which was labeled in English about where, who were in the pictures, since we have travelled to a lot of places.)

 

Me:" Thank you!"

Me :"My husband is waiting outside. Would you like to see his passport?" (Actually my visa was approved by him already, before I showed him my husband's passport, because he finished typing and signing on all the paperworks before he saw my husband's passport.)

 

VO:"Sure. Thank you."

 

He had a look at my husband's passport and said :"Welcome to America. Your visa is approved."

 

Me:"Oh! Thank you so much sir! Thanks! Have a great day!"

 

VO:"Thank you. Have a nice trip!"

 

 

When I walked out to the third floor of the Counsulate and rushed to my husband, I cheered :"Yeah~~~I passed!!!" My husband said "You are so fast ???!!!"

 

We hugged and were very happy and excited. Other American guys right away enclosed me and asked what things was like in the interview building and what my interview was like. They also described their lovers to me and asked me whether I saw their lovers. I didn't pay attention to others actually. I repeated every word VO said to these guys so that they knew interview was not that scary. I sent a lot of encouraging words to these guys, telling them their lovers would surely pass like I did.

 

My husband asked me to show VO my credit card which had my Chinese given name and his last name encraved on the card. I didn't have a photo ID for this credit card at that time. But I husband told me to draw money from ATM by this credit card so that we could show VO this joint financial proof. This was one of the two things I got from USA already before I was approved to enter USA. The other USA thing is ITIN number. But I didn't have a chance to show VO this credit card information.

 

Also my husband's tax paper showed my name. Before spouses get their visa to USA, they could apply an ITIN number(individual tax identification number), which need to fill W-7 form from IRS.org website, and then go to US embassy to apply the ITIN. I went to US Embassy in Beijing and got this ITIN number for me. The process was pretty simple and easy. We did his tax return together when I was still in China. This is a strong proof that our marriage was true to VO.

 

That is just my own experience, hopefully has some help to Robert&his sweety, or to some other members.

 

PS: Lawyers can not help much for visa processing. When we walked out of the Counsulate building, we still were too excited to calm down and we decided to go to somewhere to drink some tea, with my repeating my interview to him again. There when we drank the tea, we saw another white guy and his chinese woman. My husband asked them whether they came for interview. They said yes. And the Chinese woman told me in Chinese, she had not taken any interview yet. But her white man told my husband in English, she failed twice in interview already. She might not expect I could understand a lot of English and I knew what her white man said. So I started to let go of this woman and give advice to the pathetic white man in English. He said, he paid $5000 dollars to a lawyer in USA to handle her K-1 visa. After she failed in the first interview, she asked him to give her $1500 to pay a Chinese lawyer for the visa. Then she failed a second time. My husband and I told him, we didn't pay a penny to any lawyer since my English was good enough to understand many forms and fill in those forms. He told us, his fiancee's English was very bad. He said he felt so frustrated that he must be a trash in VO's eyes, otherwise why others could bring their lovers to USA but he could not. He said he was going to marry her and reapply CR1 visa. We supported his idea and offered as much information as we could to him. Before we left them, we sent our best bliss to them.

 

 

What a great story. I am doing a CR 1. Papers left NVC on September 30, 2009. We are just waiting for a interview. In my case my wife cannot speak very good English. But I do believe that is a great idea to do the tax paper. We also had done the K1 and was denied December 17, 2008. It has been a long road. Through the whole process of the K1 one I did not know about this web site. Then I did finally hear about and it has helped me a lot while I am doing the CR1. Thank You all for all the wonderful information. I do plan on going to the interview.

[fineart]

What a great story. I am doing a CR 1. Papers left NVC on September 30, 2009. We are just waiting for a interview. In my case my wife cannot speak very good English. But I do believe that is a great idea to do the tax paper. We also had done the K1 and was denied December 17, 2008. It has been a long road. Through the whole process of the K1 one I did not know about this web site. Then I did finally hear about and it has helped me a lot while I am doing the CR1. Thank You all for all the wonderful information. I do plan on going to the interview.

Yes, Michael. It is free to get an ITIN number. ITIN can replace SSN to do tax return.

 

Good Luck to her interview!

[Michael]

What a great story. I am doing a CR 1. Papers left NVC on September 30, 2009. We are just waiting for a interview. In my case my wife cannot speak very good English. But I do believe that is a great idea to do the tax paper. We also had done the K1 and was denied December 17, 2008. It has been a long road. Through the whole process of the K1 one I did not know about this web site. Then I did finally hear about and it has helped me a lot while I am doing the CR1. Thank You all for all the wonderful information. I do plan on going to the interview.

Yes, Michael. It is free to get an ITIN number. ITIN can replace SSN to do tax return.

 

Good Luck to her interview!

Thank You very much. You have been a great help.

 

{edit} Replaced

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Edited November 23, 2009 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[Rachel + Will = Together Forever]

My take on it is:

 

1. If you have been married before, you most likely will need an EOR letter outlining your past marriage.

 

2. If you haven't been married before, most likely they will not ask for an EOR letter, but it's always nice to have - tucked away in your kitchen sink - just in case.

 

There have also been reports of people getting their EOR letters notarized in GUZ, before their interview. Some have reported that the consulate workers have taken notice of this, and at times, asked questions about the information on the letter. When asked why, they replied "To help the interview go faster".

 

As far as statistics goes, there aren't any that I've found on this site. You can review the interview results forum and check it out if you want.

Our experience was that an EOR is very important, regardless of whether or not you've been married before. Obviously neither I nor my fiance has been married before, however I wrote a very detailed, 3 page (back and front) EOR addressed to "Dear Sir or Madam, US Consulate Immigration Officer," and told my Sweetie to hand it in along with my passport. I honestly thing it was a huge deciding factor in his not getting white or blue for lack of a bona fide...

NOTE: I did not get mine notarized, because the only available day for me was Columbus day, and they were closed at the Consulate. However it didn't seem to make a difference that it wasn't notarized.

 

I signed a new printed "Intent to Marry" AND wrote a detailed EOR, (against my lawyer's advice... ) and stuck it in my passport with my drivers' license.

 

Will said he handed the passports in first, and then said, "Here are some letters that my Fiancee wrote for you, would you like to see them?" She said "Yes, I would," and looked at them for a couple minutes and said, "Thank you, I'm going to keep these..." and then my Will handed in our 70+ pictures, which he said she really enjoyed looking at, and even smiled some.

 

It was obvious that if it wasn't for financial reasons, he would've passed easily that day, and I really think it's before I worked hard on that EOR letter, and we got together A LOT of really *nice* pictures starting from the first day I set foot in China until Oct. 2009.

 

So my advice would be, by all means, prepare those things well! It might save you!

[Rachel + Will = Together Forever]

PS. Sorry that was so long. I had no idea. Really!

Wow, sounds like you did exactly what we did... Seriously I think xiaofeizhu's long list there is perfect... thanks for noting all that down!