www.briansharon.com

November 2004	New Green Cards: Conditions removed from our residency... Brian and Simon can now stay in the USA and will qualify for naturalization from mid December THIS YEAR! We had better get reviewing basic American history if we want to pass the quiz! We have our new 10 year Green Cards, so everything is now going to get quiet on the visa side of life until things happen about becoming American Citizens.
Late 2004	Web site 'rebirth': The entire web site has been off for about a year as we just had it 'parked' and not in use. Well, when it came time to renew the domain name, we decided to re-work it. Here we are, all nice and new. The computer is a Dell ("Dude, its a Dell" - Sorry. If you've not been in the USA during 2003 or not seen the TV adverts, then that won't mean much, but its funny), the software is Sun Solaris (Unix) and I'm using the Apache web server... all at home. No more hosting at a server 'farm' somewhere far, far away. Our local ISP is within 100 yards of our back door and we know the technicians by name. Can't say THAT about any of the other companies we have used!
March 17th, 2002	New web host: The entire web site has now moved to the USA. We are at: http://www.briansharon.com
February 3rd, 2002	New email address: It had to happen! The old email address we used on this site had to change - it was UK based - in fact the entire site is UK based and it will be migrating over to a location based in the USA sometime soon.
Mid-January, 2002	Green Card: Well, we sat outside the Dallas INS office in late December and got our I-551 stamps in our passports. They did it at the initial enquiry window, just inside from the metal detector - no interview, no swearing oaths, nothing formal, just give them the letters from Dec 19th and they did it all there and then - such an anti-climax. Then in early January, we got forms that looked just like the NOA letters, but these were titled, "Welcome to America" and said that our Permanent Resident Cards would be with us within three weeks... WOW! Mid January arrives and just two weeks after the "NOA-like" letters were sent, both of us have our green cards! They are good for two years and the card folder they came in have a warning on about needing to remove conditions... could this be it? Have we got to the end of this stage of our INS struggle? Well, it would seem so. This entire adventure has taken us since early May 2001, and from arrival in the US to getting our green cards, less than three months, which is a fantastic result and best of all, no more INS for a while - <PHEW>.
December 19th, 2001	AOS: WOHOO - today the letters informing Simon and I that we have been granted Conditional Permanent Resident status here in the USA arrived!!!! Now all we need to do is to line up at 2am in the cold outside the Dallas INS office and freeze our butts off so we get the stamp in our passports. I tihnk that is going to have to wait until after Xmas day as we have other things to do and a week end before Xmas and of course, they are closed for Xmas anyway! At least I know we are approved and that means this Xmas will be a little bit better than it otherwise would be.
December 17th, 2001	Senator: It has taken nearly daily phone calls and emails from me to our Senators aide and from him to the INS to get anywhere. His words to me were that he felt like he was being given the "run around" by them at every turn. Anyway, turns out the missing files of papers (see November 15th entry) were left in a pile and ignored (sorry... delayed) once they had gone form D/FW airport to the TSC. All it took was for the person at Dallas to request the file from the TSC and hey presto.... they turned up. But the INS didn't tell us where the file was - the Dallas office didn't know, the TSC didn't know where the files were until our Senators aide asked D/FW what they had done with the file and it "turned-up". Why did the INS need us to get our Senator involved and make us all waste this time and energy on finding this darn file? Why do the INS not know where these files are anyway? Why do the INS have such a 'we don't care' attitude to those that they deal with? Our Senators aide tells me that he estimates one in every ten INS cases gets screwed up by the INS themselves. This is terrible; I feel as though the INS have come out of this with a very poor rating. If they were a commercial service, I would take my business elsewhere, but as they are who they are, I have no choice but to suffer them. Perhaps when all this is over, I should stand as a politician and try to get the INS reformed BIG TIME?
November 28th, 2001	Senator: I am starting out on what amounts to an almost daily plan of phone calls and emails detailing things to our Senators office. The frustration is incredible. The INS won't tell anyone what is going on and the aide that has been assigned this in the Senators office is pretty ticked-off by the attitude he is getting from them too.
November 27th, 2001	Why are we waiting? It's been more than a week and Thanksgiving has come and gone. NOTHING form the INS yet, so I went down there again. I know from the last time I was there, that if you don't get there in the early hours, you won't get in, so I was up at 2am and on the road for 2:15am. At 3:15am, I had parked and was 15th in line. By 6am, the guard was going down the line of people asking for those with various kinds of forms and appointment letters. By 6:45am I was inside and waiting. By 7:30am I was seen. What a waste of time. The INS simply don't have a clue about customer service. They can't tell me anything about my 'case' except that the file is still on the desk of the person it's supposed to be with, waiting for adjudication. "Erm, I am waiting for a file to come form somewhere else - and came here to see if it's arrived." All I get from the INS agent is a shrug of the shoulders. I ask if they can see what has happened and why it's taken much more time than was expected. Hahahahahahaha. What a joke. Did I ask that in Chinese or something? I get to fill in the enquiry form and get asked to leave the building as "they need to deal with other cases". Back in the car I am on the phone..... Time to get our Senator involved.
November 15th, 2001	AOS: Got to the Dallas INS office at 2:30am. We were 15th in line! By 4am, the line was about 100 people long. Thank goodness for the camp chairs we had with us... concrete is NOT a nice thing to sit on for five hours. The Dallas INS district office is on the southbound access road of North Stemmons Freeway - quickest way from the south is to take the Mockingbird exit and go round the loop at the next lights. The parking lot (and way in) is at the back of the building. It's supposed to be one way in there, with entry from the front of the building and exit from the lot at the back. Only the first 70 or so people will fit under the awning so if it's raining, BE PREPARED. 6:40am and the line started moving. By 6:50 we were inside the door. Through the metal detector and the line inside went back passed the rest rooms - this was the line for a number ticket. Just 10 minutes more and we were sitting down with ticket in hand. Now the metal detector is very sensitive and the security guards will NOT take any crp so if they tell you to take your belt off or let them search you, best to just do it! By 7:30am, we had handed over all the forms and evidence for the affidavit and the AOS form itself. I have read many, many stories online about the tons of extra stuff people take with, but we were only ever asked for EXACTLY the stuff it asks for on the instructions to complete the forms - be prepared for this. Remember that they take payment in cash, check or money order. It took four hours of waiting to get called in for the interview!!!! The interview itself was simple enough, the key to this must be (as ever), to get the paperwork done properly and to answer the questions honestly. All of us (me, my K-2 son, my USC wife and the INS agent) were squeezed into an office designed for less than two people and the fun getting seats organised "broke the ice". From there on in, it was easier as we 'related' as people - if that makes sense? While the INS agent said that she was happy with our applications the only problem stopping her making a decission was that our "A" files were still making their way from central records to the Dallas office, so at that time, she could not give us the stamps in our passports - ARGHHH!!! She says it will only be about three days*, but with Thanksgiving on the way, I think the chances of it only taking three days are pretty slim. I am happy to be proved wrong on this, but somehow I don't think so! The last thing done was fingerprinting - done the old way with ink and card - no computerised scanners or whatever! So now we wait for the letter from our INS person 'inviting' us back for our I-551 passport stamps...
November 11th, 2001	The BIG day: Wedding day. This is what it has all been about - getting married to Sharon. I am NOT going to write lots here about it as there are a series of other pages that deal with the wedding and all the stuff we have gone through organising it. All 250 people there were happy and from our point of view, the occasion was a really good one.
November 2nd, 2001	SSN: One thing that I am learning very quickly is that in the USA you need to get your papers in order BEFORE you go for anything govt related. Thank goodness we have our stuff in order, but we see so many others who simply don't and they just have to go away and do it right next time and suffer a wasted trip. I get my SSN application submitted, but Simons is refused. Despite this going to the supervisor and an appeal to logic "He will need a social security number soon ANYWAY and we will be back for one then"... it's no use. He will have to get an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). So we go to the IRS office for that and get the form submitted, despite the person at the desk muttering all sorts of stuff like "Why does he need this?" and "Are you sure he needs this number?" Geez!!!! We are surprised to see that outside the IRS office in Fort Worth is the water park that was the backdrop used for the part of the film "Logans Run" where Logan and girl emerge from the city and are on a stepped concrete area. It's a nice place to walk around, which we did for a few minutes in the sun... it was only 80 degrees today, that's 20 degrees cooler than when we were here in the Summer. Wow! Now on with the preparations for the wedding!
November 1st, 2001	Emigration day: Well, this is the day!!!!!!! I am going to leave out all the last two weeks of frantic packing and throwing away of "stuff" from my UK home, this is really not important... except a quick note to say that if you can travel light and keep all your immigration papers close at hand, you should do so. I was up at 2:30am for the journey to get my kids. My son (Simon) is on a K-2 visa and is emigrating to the USA with me, but my daughter (Caz) is just using a visa waver to visit for the wedding. After getting all the bags into the car and making the trip for the kids, it was 4am. My ex said a tearful goodbye to Simon and we left for the airport. Even though I still have a few "not too wonderful" feelings towards her, my ex (Simon's mother) has respected Simon's views throughout and has not stood in his way, so I do respect her for that. We get to Gatwick Airport, just to the south of London by 5am and go to the American Airlines check in desk. It's closed, so we go for an early breakfast. By 6am we are back and are now about 50 people back in the newly formed line. Security is much tighter than I have seen it at a UK airport and our tickets, passports and visas are checked over three times before we get to the actual check in desks. Once there, everything proceeds as expected. After a ten and a half hour flight and a good landing at DFW airport, we get to the back of the INS hall. American Air had none of the customs cards on the airplane so the crowd at the back of the hall all looking to fill them in was more of a fight than anything. We joined a line of people that as you might be able to predict was the slowest to be seen. We were the last but one group to be processed. The only change from what we were expecting was that they don't issue the 90 day EAD stamp anymore. This is no great loss as you can always go to your nearest INS office and get one if you must, but to be honest, there are not that many employers that want someone with a work permit that'll only last for three months! Seems we are going to just HAVE to get married and apply for the one year EAD quickly. No great hardship as getting married was the original idea anyway and we have to go to the Dallas INS office to do the walk-in AOS anyway... We'll just apply for the EAD as well... that's going to be a busy day! Today was also my 46th birthday, and about 20 friends most of whom I met in the summer and us go out for a Mexican meal tonight to celebrate. With the move and all, this is one birthday that will be stay with me for a long, long time. Hello America!
October 4th, 2001	Interview day: YAHOOO!!!!!!! Today we got our K-1 and K-2 visas... but what actually happened today? This is the detail of the days events. - - - - I was up at 3:30am (BST = GMT+1) today. Was I anxious? Oh yes. Anyway, by 04:30, I had showered, dressed and was sitting with a mug of coffee watching a Giants ball game on UK Channel 4. I called my sweetheart to say that "I am off to the embassy now" and we spent about 20 minutes on the phone. Time to double check my briefcase for it's contents. It's all there, photos, passports etc, all the checklist items and photocopies of EVERYTHING. I also included all the photocopies of EVERYTHING else we sent or submitted as well as extra items to prove we have met (more photos and letters). At just after 05:00 I am out the door and in the car. It starts first time <phew>. Off I drive. A mile down the road and I realise I forgot my watch. Turn round and get it. So it's now 05:10 and I am NOW starting off (again) on my hour and a half drive down to outer London to get my son. 06:30 and I arrive at my ex-wife's house. Simon is ready and waiting. He sees me arrive and is at the front door ready for me before I have even switched the car off! Is this boy keen or what? My ex wife has the last item of paper for me - an affidavit giving her permission for me to take my son and emigrate to the USA. We never did get a court order for residency/custody of the kids, so when we realised that we needed some form of documentary evidence that it WAS ok to take him, we did kind of panic... still better safe than sorry in these matters. All is in order and my son and I drive over to my fathers place, which is almost next to a tube train station, and he lets me park my car there for free (it's $15 a day to park on the street for the day otherwise). So we are off down to catch a tube train. 07:30, we emerge at Marble Arch tube station and head north towards the doctors surgery. All fianc� visa applicants are sent to Dr Philans for an 8am "appointment". When we get there, we are 7th in line. By 8am, the line is 25 people long! the morning is cool and clear but it's getting warmer all the time, and all of us in the line are convinced that the heavy coats we have are too heavy for the rest of the day. Oh well - just too bad. A safety note: the gate that leads downstairs just to the left of the front door was unlocked. If you leant on it, it would just swing open and down you would go to the basement level. BE WARNED and avoid a broken leg or worse! 08:02, the front door opens and we are ushered downstairs. You go into a very nice looking London Victorian or regency style London town house. Very nice upstairs. I couldn't afford such a place in the West End of London!!! Just imagine a place out of one of those BBC period costume drama series (on PBS TV in the US) you have a good idea of the style it's decorated in. DOWNSTAIRS is another matter. The chap who did the ushering of us when we all arrived was the "funny" radiographer and indeed his remarks were "Visa applicants downstairs, family members, children, pets, animals etc into the waiting room please". Downstairs we are all given a form to complete, for basic information like who we are, our doctors address etc. Remember to bring THAT piece of information with you, if you can't remember your docs address. These forms are all handed in with passports, one photo and our passports and the questionnaire that came in the packet 4. As all 25 or so of us are downstairs, this was quite a scrimmage at the small desk where the nurse sits. 08:30 and it's all quiet and we are all sitting and waiting. The nurse behind the desk is typing on a golf-ball typewriter (not seen one of those in action for a while), and assembling folders of all the forms we have given in and new forms too. We are called up as these folders of papers are ready to pay. NOTE that the fees have gone up so check with the note in your packet 4. It is quite clearly explained. Also Dr Phelan (the business name is "West London Medical Centre") DO accept just about every major UK credit card (MasterCard, VISA, Solo etc), but I didn't see an AMEX sticker. Once paid, we are told to sit out in the hall in line ready for being called through the door into the back rooms. 09:00 still waiting. At least there is a watercooler there, although the gurgling as you draw a cup of water is likely to get everyone laughing!!! The toilet is an interesting silver walled thing.... mind the door, it's LOW. 09:15 and I get called. The vampire lady (quite a nice chatty lady really), does her stuff in my left arm. Just below the elbow. No pain at all - very well done. I get asked to confirm it's MY name on the container (as expected), so that's fine. I am shown out and back into the waiting room. As I am rolling down my sleeve, I joke that I still have my arm attached and that gets many of the rest of us "victims" laughing. 09:30 and I get called again. My son is still 14 years old, so is exempt from the blood test and X-ray. This time we are both called into another back room which is like a corridor with booths down one side. Each booth has what can only be called "Ranch-style" swing doors on and are not soundproof. Simon and I are told to strip to the waist. 09:45 and me first for the eye test. Cover right eye with right palm and read this line of letters. Cover left eye with left palm and read another line of letters. Then into the X-ray room. "Stand here, put arms there, deep breath in and hold it.... ok all done." The X-ray man is quite light hearted really, cheerful even!!! Weight and height checked against the forms we filled in from the packet 4. 09:50 and Simon takes the eye test. Interestingly, his eyes are not as good as mine!!! WOW!!! Seems he needs an eye test!!! 09:55 and both of us into the docs room. For both of us, it's a basic health check, Doc listens to lungs (all clear), heart beating (cleanly), open mouth, say "ahhhhhhh", Doc looks into our eyes, ears, mouth with penlight. Hop onto bed and he does the usual push-test around the tummy, also does a "cough-and-drop" (girls, ask your hubbies about this) test. the forms are amazing... zillions of boxes for him to tick and spaces to sign. At the end he assembles the folder of forms again and tells us the news about what shots we need. Back outside and get dressed. 10:05 and while I am getting dressed, I overhear the funny X-ray man training a new nurse - he has been there 10 years in this job and he likes it! His vies are interesting to hear and overall, quite positive. It shows in his handling of people, better than most in the NHS, that's for sure!!! 10:10 We get copies of the immunisation records and we get the rolled-up X-ray (DON'T fold it), and have to go upstairs to get the shots. 10:12 and we are filling in another form. Pay for the shots and get shown into the front upstairs room. A very chatty nurse gives us the shots. No pain for me, just a slight pin prick. Simon pulled a face on the second injection he needed. I think he has had enough of needles today :-) 10:25 and we are walking down to the embassy. More police of duty in Grosvenor square than I can ever remember and they are armed police too... most unusual for London. Round to the south end of the embassy building and through the barriers by waving the appointment letter at the guard. Up the stairs into the reception area. Detector checks for everything. Up stairs to the RIGHT to the immigrant visa area. As we were going to press a buzzer, someone came out through the armoured glass door, so we went right on in. 10:30 and a sign says go to booth 3 or 4 - go upto booth 3 and press buzzer. No noise. Booth 4. No noise... do these bell pushes actually work? An embassy staffer comes up to collect our appointment letter. Tells us to sit down. 10:45 and we are called up to give in all the forms. I hand over all the originals as he asks for them and also copies after. I also give in the photos. Just a point here. If you get your photos wrong, you cannot get them done in the machine in the reception area, you will have to get them done in the pharmacy 2 blocks to the north of the embassy and bring them back latter in the day. This must be very frustrating, so like us, READ the specs for the photos and get it right first time. 11:00 and we are called up for the interview proper at booth 5. Raise right hand and swear that everything on the form is the truth. Fill in fianc�s name where shown (don't do like me and put what will be her married name, use her unmarried family name). At least this made the interview guy and me laugh!!! Both Simon and me signed all the forms where shown. What questions were we asked? "When did you meet?" I lurched into "We are ANOTHER internet couple, we met online as she sent me an email......" and I droned on about that for about 30 seconds before he stopped me :-) "So you are going to Texas are you? You know what the weather is like there in the summer?" I said that we do as we were there in the late spring this year. He looked at all the forms as I was speaking, and we spoke briefly about Sharon's job and that was it. "If there is no problem with your medical, when you come back at 12:15 you will get your visa". Oh... he also checked on the computer screen for something, but whatever it was, came up negative, and we were on our way outside the embassy to find a coffee shop. 12:15 and we were back... BOTH of us were very anxious. "if, if, if"... "Will we get the visa".... "Why isn't anything happening?".... 12:30 and they start to call people up to get payment slips. There is a payment booth at the back of the waiting room. K-1 people don't panic when you are NOT called to get a slip and pay money... they won't do that for us. 12:45 and we are the third K-1 case to be called to the booth. Sealed brown envelopes and visas in passports are handed over along with a note about not leaving the US until we get Advanced Parole. We get the lecture about not opening the envelopes and the visa is good for entry to the US one time only and that's it. Done. Free to go. Complete. What? No brass bands playing? :-) Such an anti-climax.... I feel like a 10 ton weight has been lifted! We managed to talk and joke with some other "visa-victims" whilst we were outside the docs and we all talked whilst in the embassy. Once we got outside at about 12:50, we were there talking some more... seems nobody we talked to got refused. Well done everyone. Now to get on with moving out of my house and ship stuff to the USA. Oh and I also have to get my son and me over there too.... USA, watch out, here we come!
September 8th, 2001	Packet 4 and interview date received: Well... that WAS quick... just one working week form sending the packet 3 forms back to the US embassy in London, the packet 4 (mostly medical stuff) arrives with our appointment date. They also sent two copies of all the forms this time round - one for me and one for Simon - so they know this is for both of us. We are to take our medical exam and do the interview on October 4th 2001 :-) If I assume that they will issue the visa that day, then I have a lot to do and little time to do it all in... got to organise packing and shipping of Simon and my personal stuff, get the things I am NOT taking with me either sold or given away, get my UK tax forms in by the end of September as well (to beat the first IR deadline this tax year), so the next month is going to be a real busy time. I think there won't be too many more updates to this web site until after the interview, there is just so much to do. Of course, we also have to start to think about booking the flight tickets. On a slightly different note, I have to say how impressed I am with the speed that the London Embassy can bring to processing these visas. Perhaps the TSC could do with sending a few supervisors over here to get shown how to speed things up a bit?
September 3rd, 2001	Packet 3 forms sent back: The package of forms as a result of the packet 3 arriving, are all completed and sent back to the London Embassy today using a signed-for service of the Royal Mail (Special Delivery). It would have been sent on Saturday (September the first), but we needed Simon's passport number for one of the forms and guess what? Just like any normal 14 year old, he had "mislaid" his passport - in fact it was under a pile of papers just in front of where we were sitting all the time :-) Hey! I have to blame SOMEONE, don't I?
August 30th, 2001	Packet 3 arrives: The envelope with the case details cover note and blanks of all the application forms arrived today. This is a huge amount quicker than we were expecting as these "packets" often take 6-8 weeks once the 129F has been approved, yet for us, this has only taken two and a half weeks! Well done Visa Branch, US Embassy, London.
August 28th, 2001	Certificates arrive: The last of the originals of all the birth, marriage etc certificates needed for the visa application itself have arrived, so now what we need is the packet of forms from the US embassy in London. It's only been two weeks since the I-129f was approved in Texas, so it's a bit early to expect anything in the UK mail. More waiting!
August 24th, 2001	Sharon takes a "long-weekend" in the UK: Now we are approved Brian cannot travel to the USA, so with some special offers from American Airlines, Sharon takes a long-weekend over in the UK. It's "August Bank Holiday" (late spring public holiday) weekend which is the last public holiday in the UK before Christmas, so we have a great time together... it's worth the time spent travelling for Sharon and wonderful for Brian as we can simply be together for a few days. We are both thankful that we can afford this kind of trip and are mindful of those other K-1 visa applicants who cannot travel due to time, financial or other constraints. We wish you all well and hope that you can all be together with your loved ones soon.
August 17th, 2001	Second NOA arrives: Yup... paper confirmation of the approval arrives at Sharon's home. The second NOA with the word "Approved" on and it also showing Brian's USA alien number - it's all getting closer now.
August 15th, 2001	Our I-129f petition has been approved: Incredible news: our I-129F (Petition for foreign fianc�e) is approved by the INS. This is the worst part of the process over with! *YAHOO!!!!* Once the 129F is approved by the Texas INS office, the 'case' should go to INS central processing and the US embassy in the UK. The 129F is the part of the process that is the US citizen (Sharon) asking the US Govt. for the okay for me to emigrate to the USA and marry. After this, I have to get the right entry visa (called a K-1 visa) from the embassy in London. We now have to wait for the paper confirmation (called the Notice Of Action - or NOA) before we can move on and get into the visa issue process itself. Once we have the NOA (should be with us inside a week), we can get to work on opening the file in London, after which the medical and interview will be arranged.
July 27th, 2001	Brian's vacation is over and he returns to the UK: We stopped off at two fast food places today, once on the way to my soon to be sister-in-laws place and again on the way to Dallas/Fort Worth airport. One of the places we went to was Krispy Kreme in Arlington for doughnuts and a drink. Whilst we were sitting there, I could see why the INS are very sensitive to people overstaying their time on visitors and tourist visas. It must be very tempting to simply stay on in the USA if your home is just a mud hut and your water is far from clean. Makes me appreciate fully that I come from the UK and don't have to suffer that kind of thing every day. Still, in just a few months, I should be over in the USA for good and be as happy as you can imagine, living with someone who loves me as dearly as Sharon so obviously does. I hope the wait isn't as long as we fear. Even one day is too long now, but we just have to sit it out.
July 13th, 2001	Brian 'vacations' with Sharon in the USA: I can't take being apart form Sharon any more. For the two weeks starting Friday 13th July (good date, huh?) my son and I spent two weeks vacationing in the USA with Sharon and her son. We entered the USA on the visa waver scheme and I had letters from everyone I could think of in the UK showing that we were there for JUST two weeks and were due back in the UK for other things (I still have a job to go to etc). In fact the INS guy was as matter of fact and as straight forward as I could ever want them to be. Three questions and we were allowed in. Two things to say about this visit; There is a lot of hysteria on the news groups about visiting your partner in the USA when you have an I-129f outstanding. Whilst I am sure there are some kinds of people that the INS will indeed target when they try and enter the USA on a visitors visa, if you are straight about your visit, don't hide anything, are truthful and are prepared (see above), if you ARE stopped and have to prove why you are there and (more importantly) that you intend to go home when you say you will, then everything will be ok. This is just plain common sense..... The visit there was really worth while. I met lots of my new relatives (yes, and my mom-in-law to be), and know the locality and have a bit of driving practice for when I go there to live. My son gets on really well with his step-brother and had a great time there. This visit has allowed us to sort out a few minor details about the wedding and has also let me spend some real "quality time" with the love of my life. At least we are half way through the wait for the INS approval now and have some great memories of this visit.
July 12th, 2001	UK Police Certificate arrives: As a part of the process to get everything lined up before it's actually needed, but I had applied for the UK police certificate early and today it's sent out by Scotland Yard in the post to me saying that I have a clean police record. It arrived whilst I was in the USA (typical), so I didn't read it until I got back!
June 15th, 2001	TSC phone system includes us: Late this week, the TSC telephone answering system has been updated to include us -- well, at least it no longer replies that it has no record of our application, but it still says there is 120-150 days to go. Never mind the reports from other K-1 applicants that the TSC is processing K-1 visa petitions between 95 to 100 days right now!
June 2nd, 2001	First Notice of Action arrives: The first notice is with us. We are in the system, and according to the notes on the first page, it will take anything about 120-150 days to process things. More waiting.
June 1st, 2001	INS cash the check: This may seem like a small point, but it's the first official milestone in this entire process that is a result of an outside agency actually DOING something. We now KNOW that our application is in the system and is being worked on. Now we wait (more waiting) for the first notice of action (NOA) from them, due in the mail anytime now.
May 19th, 2001	Brian tells his Dad: In his own words: "My father is a very ill man. He may not last more than a few months. He has emphysema, cancer and several other (mostly smoking related) illnesses. He is 82 years old and to see him laying there in hospital, I am glad that apart from the usual teenage experiments with cigarettes, I have never smoked anything in my life. He too is very supportive and only wishes me the very best for the future".
May 9th, 2001	Paperwork goes in: The packet of papers and supporting documentation for the K-1 visa was sent to the Texas INS office today. Now it's wait and see what happens next! Reading the many news groups and web sites, they might process things in as little as two weeks or as long as six months. WOW! It's at times like this that you really wish there was a reliable way of working out WHEN they will get round to process the application. There are plans to make and without a date, not much can properly happen!!!! It's the uncertainty as to how long all this is going to take, as much as the delay itself that hurts. All Sharon and Brian want is to be together!
May 6th, 2001	Brian tells kids and ex-wife: Whilst not worried about my ex-wife's reaction, his kids reaction astound him. They can join him in the USA if they want to and his 14 year old son says he does (that's great news). His 17 year old daughter has more of a life in the UK and was undecided at the time, but eventually decides she wants to stay. Both of them are overjoyed and very supportive; "Thanks kids -- I need both of you to be 'on-side' in this".
May 5th, 2001	Sharon returns to Texas: All good things do come to an end and one of the most wonderful weeks in both thier lives ends with Sharon flying out of Heathrow airport to go back to Texas. Tears flow... Brian has NEVER felt like this before about parting from someone :-( This relationship is so very special and important now, that it's the most important thing he can imagine having in his life.
April 30th, 2001	Proposal: In an emotional evening, Brian proposes to Sharon and she says "yes". YAHOOOOO!!!! Actually, it wasn't quite like that, but you get the idea :-) As Sharon has a 12 year old son, them priority is not to move him away from his existing school and friends, so after what must have been half a microsecond of thought, there is no doubt in Brian's mind on this, he will move over to the USA. Anything else would be unfair to Sharon and son.
April 28th, 2001	Sharon arrives in London: After deciding to vacation in the UK (she has never been to London before), Sharon arrives at London's Heathrow airport, safe and sound. Brian is not usually in the habit of being impulsive, but as Sharon walks out of the arrivals channel at Heathrow terminal 3, and first sees him, she waves and smiles. Brian's heart melts and he realises that he has NO defence against this woman and her charms; it's love at first sight.
April 2001	The relationship builds: After over 500 emails, voice messages and almost daily phone calls it is clear that there is so much in common between us that this is more than a special friendship. This is a VERY special thing we share. Is it love? It sure feels like it .... yet we are nearly 5,000 miles apart!