I just noticed that NSC has finally updated their status, and shusterman.com has posted it. They say they're only working I-129F cases dated January 7th. Funny.

Mine is dated January 9th. It's been approved since June 5th, and it's already made its way to London...LOL.

Our I-130 is still pending there... Though I got approved Feb. 04th at the District Office!!!

these are just estimated dates. It's the oldest date someone is working on. Which means if there are 4 people working on files and one has the first week of jan and the others are faster workers, they might be processing the middle of Jan. So when they release the updates it shows the oldest date.

They recieved our petition on Aug 26th, the day our approval came out, the update on visapro.com showed they were working on Aug 8.

So instead of complaining. Why don't you be happy that you have your approval.

It's obvious that it's simply an "estimate". I'm certainly not complaining, and I'm extremely happy that my case is approved.

However, there are MANY people that rely on these updates to be fairly accurate, considering we have 90 days to be married once our fiance arrives. This poses a bit of a logistical problem in regards to planning a wedding and the likes. I'm only here now for those who are still waiting for approval, to assist, and provide some type of guidance.

So, as you've experienced, I've experienced, and countless others have experienced, NSC is full of $hit. The bottom line is, these people need to be more OPEN to what's going on, rather than the cryptic rhetoric they provide.

BTW, according to the BCIS website, I'm still not approved. A person can't call the individual service centers now, so they're forced to call the national number. I called them today, again, to see what they'd say, and they read me what I can get by going to their website. The data needs to be accurate, so that people aren't "slapped in the face" with an unexpected approval. IMHO, of course...LOL

Goodnight...gotta hit it.

Polaris, your view on shit as equaling to money is pretty correct...keep up the good word!

Actually it's not that "funny"...

Money: the medium of necessity. Money: the metaphor for success. Money: the mind rattler and the mood shifter. As the rap lyric goes: "I've got my mind on money and money on my mind."

Changes in the economy not only mess with our money but also with our minds, say experts who study the psychology of money. Economic cycles can lead to the peak of fulfillment or to the hollow of despair. Even the stock market affects mental health. Until recently, the study of money and human behavior had been primarily the province of economists who develop models based on large-group activity. Aside from aberrant behavior, such as compulsive gambling, psychologists and psychotherapists generally have not touched the subject of money.

Freud and his colleagues made early references to the subconscious symbolism of money. Studies have shown that people have an easier time talking about sex than money, that arguments over it are the major cause of divorce and that the majority of people do not understand the meaning of money. In one of his more controversial papers, "Character and Anal Eroticism," Freud even likened the subconscious symbolic value of money to shit, suggesting that money is to be viewed as something people must learn to separate themselves from. Freud referred to "archaic modes of thought that have predominated or persist..." In myths, fairy tales, superstitions and in unconscious thinking, "money is brought into the most intimate relationship with dirt," he wrote.

His analysis is not as anal as a first reading might suggest. People have conflicting emotions about money, vacillating between a desire to possess it and yet thinking of it as dirty, according to philosopher Jacob Needleman. And that ambivalence is ancient. It is rooted in the origin of money, cultural and religious contradictions and family attitudes and socialization.

As unthinkable as it may seem, there was life before money. The exchange of goods, the first recorded instance of bartering, can be traced to ancient Egypt 4,500 years ago. The earliest coins were found in Mesopotamia (now southern Iraq) around 2,000 B.C. Pieces of silver of a measured weight were called shekels. Lydia (now known as Turkey) produced the first standardized coins, called electrum, from a mixture of gold and silver and stamped with a seal that guaranteed the weight. The Roman Empire became the greatest trade center in the world around 100 B.C., and that led to the global spread of coins minted in gold and silver and bearing the likeness of Rome's rulers.

The colonists arrived on America's shores broke and banned from minting coins by Britain, according to Jerry Martien, author of "Shell Game: A True Account of Beads and Money in North America." The Dutch, he writes, had come a decade before and established Indian wampum beads as the New World's "currency." But the Indians never saw the white and purple beads fashioned from shells as money, but as a "gift exchange." And a form of communication - they were woven into elaborate patterns that could be "read" by the tribes. The wampum belts often spoke of the death of great chiefs or treaties that had been reached. After repeated attempts by waves of colonists to establish a valuation, first based on beaver pelts, the bead business collapsed in 1633. "Where one party extended a gift of use-relation, the other party thought he had come into possession, into an ownership-relation, 'to have and to hold.' The gift, of course, was not reciprocal. "So what we see in these first encounters, inevitably fatal in the long run, is the failure of the colonist to see something distinct from money," Martien writes.

The invention of money was perhaps inevitable, economists say. Transactions became too complex for straight bartering. It was too cumbersome to haul around a lot of heavy coins or large items for trade. So the value of the silver and gold was first represented in banknotes and later what are known in the United States as dollar bills. Money has its value only at the moment of trade and then becomes, essentially, a "valueless marker" for something that at one time had value to someone, according to the economist John Kenneth Galbraith in "Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went." The dollar only works as a store of value, a means of exchange within the confines of a cultural agreement. Money becomes more than pieces of paper and bits of metal when we operate from the myth that it is social acceptance and emotional security, when we pin our hopes and happiness on having it. And when enough is never enough.

The trouble with money begins early, at the toddler stage, experts say. Studies have focused on how children acquire knowledge of the meaning, value and origin of money. In their book, "The Psychology of Money," psychologists Adrian Furnham and Michael Argyle present a range of studies that show children's economic understanding is gradually acquired and goes through recognizable phases: Very young children see their parents purchasing things, but they concentrate more on the activity, which is seen as a ritual. They are unaware of value, purpose or the origin of money until their second decade of life. From that point into adulthood, children can internalize their parents' emotions and behaviors toward money and replay those in their adult lives. "Bad" financial habits can be established early, when the child understands what possession and ownership means. Greed is something that grows in us between the ages of 2 and 4. This happens before we're old enough to understand the value of money. In response to a disruption in our families or a threat to the love or affection we receive, we can, at a very young age, develop the desire to gather and protect material things. Threatened by what we interpret as the absence of love, attention and affection, we can learn to compensate for this perceived lack by surrounding ourselves with material goods. As adulthood approaches, gender differences in how money is perceived become more pronounced.

Psychoanalysts say that without the capacity for abstraction, money cannot be. Psychological thinking and exploration are essential to resolve the emotional and behavioral dilemmas money poses to our psyche. From antiquity, money has been blamed for a host of sins. Money is not the root of all evil, because it is morally neutral. It is the love of it, what people do with money that has the capacity for evil. "Money talks' because money is a metaphor, a transfer and a bridge. Like words and language, money is a storehouse of communally achieved work, skill and experience. Even today, money is a language for translating the work of the farmer into the work of the barber, doctor, engineer or plumber.

polaris x is right nsc IS full of $hit i have found some 17th jan approved though still a lot arent done yet so ONE of them is working at least !!! makes em look pretty stupid against texas doesnt it ? though some of us are STILL waiting ..... any news yet polaris ?

I find particularly interesting the post of "guest" on money! Awesome Info!

How come the I751 dates have not changed from the 5/15/03 update? Does that mean that these fools have done NOTHING in a whole month! These people should all be fired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Polaris_x, You are my hero! My I-129f was recv'd by NSC on 2/24, and when I saw this latest update, I nearly freaked. It seemed like NSC has slowed to a 50% pace, but maybe not. If I'm as lucky as you, my I-129f may be approved by mid-July. I can only hope so!!

I think you will find that all SC's are full of shit! My I140 was filed at VSC on july 30th 2002! According to their dates recently issued, they are working on nurses I140's filed on MAY 30th 2003! what alot of bullshit. Or maybe i'm unlucky and got the laziest bastard immigration officer processing my case!

Good Morning Everyone!!!!!

To Guest: Snoop Dogg...LOL I just heard that song yesterday, trying to drive one of my co-workers crazy. And the thing is, I don't even like rap. Snoop Dogg cracks me up though.

To dwaarf2: I got a letter last night from the NVC saying they've sent the case to London. The woman I spoke to on Monday (June 16) said that the case was sent there on June 12. So, "Sols" will be getting her packet any day now. The BCIS website STILL says we're not approved. Oh, I'm having an issue with that script. It's due to me being a nerd, and not allowing Java to run on my system. I'll debug that when I get time, and then I'll start doing searches as time permits. :)

To I751: Yeah, could you imagine one of us not working for a month? Oh crap, never mind. "Sols" (my fiance) can attest that I'm good at doing that. Okay, could you imagine someone with a "normal" job not working for a month? You're right they should be fired. Me, on the other hand, should be allowed to continue playing Quake and RTCW on the clock...LOL

To Tom: Hang in there. I think dwaarf2 has a date right around yours. Have you been to the "Dave Hollis" site and put your details in? It's a good way to see the status of pending I-129F cases. You can sort by 1st NOA and see where NSC is at. The only problem is that some people sign up, then never update. Here's the link. http://www.davehollis.com/k1/list.php

HEY thats great news polaris x can i uncross my fingers now ? lmao (its hard to run these searches with fingers missing lol )
as for THEM well i am still at it !!!!!!!

TOM
hey there ours is the 25th feb usa/uk nsc maybe they will finally get there i keep running the dates lmao , how you doing ? next month cant come fast enough (cept my birthday :( ))))

Dwaarf2: Doing fine here. My fiancee is Thai and our trips to meet in Europe or Thailand are getting EXPENSIVE. Let's keep in touch about our approvals.

Polaris_x: I've updated my info on davehollis. I've call the National Cust Service Center, and they seem to have the exact same info as the website. Is there a number at NSC that has more updated info? What is the phone number?

TOM
hey wont be much longer lol, what kind of info do you want ? maybe i can help you on that ? my fiancee is in montana its been months since we saw each other :(

Tom:

You can no longer call NSC or any other service center directly. Don't waste your time with calling the number. All that the rep does is put your number into the website, so you're not going to buy yourself anything there. According to them, I'm still not approved...LOL

damn your kidding right?
i read on expats it took 13 days for one to read different looks like they HAVE gone on holiday lmao or maybe the computers need new operators ??? heard they also have loads of extra staff now as well maybe thats why theres a big gap between approvals

Well, it IS spring, and fishing the Big Blue River for catfish at this time of year is a LOT of fun. So, if they're fishing, it would be understandable...LOL.

I can't wait for Sols to catch an 80 pound catfish. :) She's going to freak...after her arms regain some blood flow...hehehehe.

tell me you arent going to take her fishing ?
oh god that is so icky i stopped i hated the squishy feel of them though they taste nice!!
IF someone else catches em cleans em and cooks em !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Polaris_x=dwaarf