Some great news for our family.

[Lancer]

The cousin we've been working so hard to bring over from the Phils arrives this morning. My pal, her fiance is one happy camper at long last.

to the government and the endless red tape we had to wade through. Over ten months they have been apart. These are two good people, and that's just not right.

They've got a few more years of paperwork and expense until she gets her citizenship, but that's another day.

His fiance is in the air right now. Dolores can hardly sleep she's so happy her cousin will be here!

[Pekka]

It's a problem, this bureaucracy. Basically bad people still get in, but good people have to go through weird stuff and some of them won't get through.

I guess it's the problem with everything, we try to protect and it mostly hinders good folks, the bad guys still surf through because it's not like they're known to obey the rules anyway. But good news! Glad to hear it worked out and is coming into fruition You should have a party.

[Lancer]

Thank you Pekka, and I believe a party will be in order once the jetlag is behind her.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Well, in defense of that bureaucracy, the kind of visa your cousin got is the #1 immigrant visa fraud category, and the Philippines is one of the top countries for visa fraud overall. If your buddy had gone fiancee shopping in Singapore, he would have had a much speedier reunion with his beloved.

On the bright side, he didn't fall for a Yemeni girl.

At any rate, congrats!

[SlowwHand]

Great news.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


On the bright side, he didn't fall for a Yemeni girl.

I heard Yemeni girls really blow you away

[Nikolai]

Great news Lancer.

[Zkribbler]

Is she going to be in Oregon, or is she going someplace warm?

[Seedle]

Glad to hear the good news.

[Lancer]

Thanks all for the good wishes!

Zkrib, she's going to be right here in our little town.

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Well, in defense of that bureaucracy, the kind of visa your cousin got is the #1 immigrant visa fraud category, and the Philippines is one of the top countries for visa fraud overall. If your buddy had gone fiancee shopping in Singapore, he would have had a much speedier reunion with his beloved.

On the bright side, he didn't fall for a Yemeni girl.

At any rate, congrats!

Thanks Rufus! We're in a much better mood to cut those folks in the US Embassy/Phils a break now that she's here. Curious though, what sort of fraud can there be? I figure its evil sweat shop slave trafficing, but with what its costing my friend they would likely be better off buying stuff made in the Phils than bring the folks here. The sex industry shouldn't be wanting for women with the demise of morality in this country and again the cost of the whole thing should put off a pimp as well.

I was happy to see the forms that one orders from the IRS directly to prove the paying of taxes.

I think there should be a way for folks that have gone through the process and been together for many years with no problem to vouch for friends and relatives.

Something. That would give the government more time to grill the newbies without connections.

Also, Dolores relative is 41 years old, my pal is 50, not 17 and 70. Something about the grilling they got doesn't make much sense considering that fact.

[Zkribbler]

Welcome her to the U.S. for all of us!!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Lancer
Thanks Rufus! We're in a much better mood to cut those folks in the US Embassy/Phils a break now that she's here. Curious though, what sort of fraud can there be? I figure its evil sweat shop slave trafficing, but with what its costing my friend they would likely be better off buying stuff made in the Phils than bring the folks here. The sex industry shouldn't be wanting for women with the demise of morality in this country and again the cost of the whole thing should put off a pimp as well.

I was happy to see the forms that one orders from the IRS directly to prove the paying of taxes.

I think there should be a way for folks that have gone through the process and been together for many years with no problem to vouch for friends and relatives.

Something. That would give the government more time to grill the newbies without connections.

Also, Dolores relative is 41 years old, my pal is 50, not 17 and 70. Something about the grilling they got doesn't make much sense considering that fact.

Your whole situation screams "no fraud," which is why it sailed through once it got to the embassy stage; the only problem was the wait, which is there because everyone in the Philippines is trying to get to the US; the case backlog is huge, and the high incidence of fraud means that cases get extra scrutiny at every step, slowing things down.

As for what kind of fraud we're talking about, banish the thoughts of evil pimps; the evil figures in this scenario are the Filipinas themselves, along with their relatives. The basic form of fraud is the sham marriage; this comes in a couple of flavors. Most common was the use of American "fiances" who have been paid by a girl's US-based relatives to bring her over; the going rate for this when I was there was $5000 plus all expenses paid for that one trip to the Phils to "prove" the relationship was real. Less common, but more hilarious and decidedly ickier, was when the family decided to try this scam on the cheap, by cutting out the middleman and using a member of the family as a fiance(e); I saw many of these there, but my favorite was a good looking young man being petitioned as a fiance by an enormous 50-something woman who made poverty-level wages as casual labor at an Alaskan tuna cannery -- and who turned out to be his aunt. :vomitsmiley:

At least in those two versions, everyone involved knew it was a sham marriage. In the third variation on this theme, the Filipina knew it was a sham marriage, but the poor American didn't have a clue; the plan was for her to string him along for money for a while, then agree to marry him, get teh K visa, marry him, then divorce him as soon as teh green card showed up; the next step after that was usually to use her newly-acquired green card status to petition her real husband, who was patiently waiting in the Phils, happy to share his wife with another man if it meant a shot at moving to America. (Again, where is that vomit smiley?)

And don't even get me started on the ladyboys attempting to conceal their plumbing from their hapless, lovelorn internet boyfriends.

It's swell that it worked out for your friends and family, and I'm pleased and honored to have been able to play a small advisory role along the way. But given what goes on when Filipinos get Visa Fever, you can hardly blame the embassy's careful and suspicious procedure; you guys were doing the immigration equivalent of trying to get a pizza delivered in South Central.

But congrats again to one and all.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Lancer
The sex industry shouldn't be wanting for women with the demise of morality in this country and again the cost of the whole thing should put off a pimp as well.

And yet, the Philippines is considered the whorehouse of Asia.

Maybe your attitudes about American women suck.

[Lancer]

Thanks pal for that info Rufus, and thanks for the help along the way.

We do need to work on that vomit smiley.

Thank you Zkrib, I will do.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Comrade Snuggles


And yet, the Philippines is considered the whorehouse of Asia.

Maybe your attitudes about American women suck.

What attitudes are those Che? Your other statement is very mean spirited. Something I'm getting used to from you unfortunately. Also your apparent need to follow me from thread to thread appears to be the beginnings of some sort of fixation. Maybe you should get some professional help.