Dream to work part time and live on investments
My friend Pauline was here for a visit over the weekend. We spent some good time catching up and talked till 1.00 a.m on Saturday. We updated each other on what happened in our lives and our fail attempts to lose weight healthily without relying on diet pills. :-)
Both of us have been suffering from similar health problems in the last 2-3 years. That certainly have our views on work, career and money changed over the years. We have spent 10 years of our youth at a stressful job, gain our financial independent and lost our health in the process!
We dream of a day that we can retire early, take up a less stressful job or live on a part time pay. One thing we know, with the high inflation rate and the pathetic interest we get for putting our money in the bank, that’s probably a far fetched dream!
We certainly need to learn more about other investment vehicles that bear better returns. Do not think we have the time and patience to invest in individual stock, but we like the idea of mutual funds and foreign currencies deposits. Anyone heard of trust deed investing? Diamond Bay Investments claims that real estate trust deed investments can produce a margin of return as high as 12 % and has a low margin of risk. Do you think it’s a viable for retirement income?
Filed under friends | Comment (0)Case being forwarded to consulate
Called NVC today, the audio recording system has been updated , saying the approved I-130 is being forwarded to Kuala Lumpur consulate on July 26. Since July 26 is a Saturday, guess that mean the package will be picked up by DHL truck on Monday July 28. That’s really wonderful news!
At the meantime, the big boy is still taking his time to put together all the documents that he has to mail out. It’s true that he had a food poisoning and has been not feeling well this week. But, he has been told what to prepare six months ago! I would expect he has everything in the envelope and just have to drive to the post office to mail them out now. Apparently not!
Too much stress to deal with a procrastinator, it helps you to lose weight faster than all the best diet pills. Good thing my friend Pauline is here visiting over the weekend, a distraction that keeps me occupied instead of feeling upset over his idiotic inaction.
Filed under migration | Comment (0)Friends who are going through the same visa process
Since we started the visa journey, I have been hanging around one of the immigration and visa forums quite a bit. Though the forums, I learned more about the visa process and got to know some people who are going through the same process. No one understands the frustration of waiting and waiting better than people who are going through the same.
Most of us are petitioning or being petitioned for a spousal or fiance(e) visa. It’s quite ironic that fiance(e) who is not married yet can get a visa faster than spouse. But, fiance(e)’s visa doesn’t come with work authorization and they have to go through adjustment of status, which is a pain, dealing with USCIS again.
Many of them couldn’t work right after marriage as the work authorization and adjustment of status can take a while to process. A Brazilian woman I met on the forum, her paperwork has been pending and she has been waiting forever, she was bored to death at home. She decided to go to school just to kill time. She paid a few thousands to attend one of the beauty schools, learning the whole thing from shampoo to manicure, pedicure, cutting, coloring, chemicals, facials, etc. She is hoping once her paperwork gets approved, she can find a job immediately with her new qualification.
Filed under migration | Comment (0)NVC approved the expedite request
Good news ! National Visa Center (NVC) has approved the expedite request filed a week ago. The approved I-130 petition will be forwarded to KL shortly. The NVC rep confirmed on the phone that we are to pay the fees and submit the documents to the consulate for further processing. NVC will send the file with DHL express mail and it will take about 3-4 days to reach KL consulate.
The next step is to wait for the consulate to mail me a package of forms and a checklist for documents submission. At the same time, the big boy has to mail the Affidavit of Support package which will contain the I-864 AOS form, his tax transcripts, pay stubs and employment letter to me. He also needs to mail all the proofs of bone fide of marriage.
I have him mail me the letter that has my name on his health insurance plan, the statements of the checking account to show co-mingling of our finances, photos and affidavits from his parents. Some people also submit photos or proof that they are the beneficiary of each other’s life insurance. The big boy didn’t have a life insurance, he has not have time to ask for a few life insurance quotes to sign up for one!
See, all the hoops and loops we have to jump through in order to prove to Uncle Sam that we are a genuine couple, not of a sham marriage. All due to some black sheep who use sham marriages for green cards, honest people like us got stuck and scrutinized to no end.
Filed under migration | Comments (2)
