Starting the 'process' of emigrating, is timing everything nowadays?

[beginthebeguin]

This is appropro. 
Well I read today (the day I start the process to get a passport for emigrating) that a man in California goes to a 'bank to big to fail' plops down cash to pay for his mortgage and the bank manager refuses to accept the cash as payment. And it was not an amount that would fill up one of those deposit bags that a small business owner would place in an overnight deposit slot. The man insists, bank manager gets all flustered calls police. Man wanting to make the deposit takes a half and hour to explain to police the situation and does not get arrested as a fortunate result.
 Strange days days indeed. And it's just beginning.
I am beginning to wonder, even if I had a lot of assests, is the recommendation of using a US bank to conduct one's 'affairs' still a valid depository for one's assets? Hmmmmmmmmm.     

[JimD]

You're starting the process of emigrating? When do you expect to complete the process? If you're planning to enigrate to Haiti I'm not sure you'll need a passport.

[V_Man]

The USA is the only country I have been to where you don't need to pass through immigration on the way out. I was amazed. I actually went all the back and found an officer in another part of the airport just to make sure the airline people were not telling me lies.

Process? What process?

You don't have a passport!!! Ay caramba!!!!!!!
How long have you been without a passport?

BTB, if you don't have a passport then how do you know you want to emigrate and where you want to emigrate to?

[beginthebeguin]

V_Man said:

The USA is the only country I have been to where you don't need to pass through immigration on the way out. I was amazed. I actually went all the back and found an officer in another part of the airport just to make sure the airline people were not telling me lies.

What year was this?
 

[V_Man]

Last year. Within the last 6 months.

[Micky]

As far as I know that is the way it has been for at least 35 years.  Everytime that I had left the U.S. on an international flight,  the airline checks your passport at the check-in and that's it.  They also check for onward passage,  as most countries require it,  but I can recall a couple when they did not check for onward. 
 
Micky

[Jeff S]

You've never had to pass through immigration on the way out of the US.

[Bob_S]

Basically, America is the land of the free (or so we like to pretend), so you are free to leave any time you wish.  It is the airline's responsibility just to make sure you have proper documentation to enter your destination country so they don't have to waste money on a seat to bring you home if you don't.  So, no exit stamp from America.

[braziliangirl]

And if you are not American, you just have to make sure you return the I-94, otherwise it will seem like you never left the country. (By the way, they gave me a 180 days permit again.  )

[piglett]

And if you are not American, you just have to make sure you return the I-94, otherwise it will seem like you never left the country. (By the way, they gave me a 180 days permit again.  )

hey BG you heading to the US to visit us ?

[Bob_S]

hey BG you heading to the US to visit us ?

You missed it.  Sadly, all she met were a couple of old married dudes (with pretty daughters).

[Jeff S]

You missed it.  Sadly, all she met were a couple of old married dudes (with pretty daughters).

LOL!

[braziliangirl]

hey BG you heading to the US to visit us ?

Hey Pig,

I'm here for almost 20 days now and will leave on Sunday. Met Jeff, IV, Bob, his wife, and the most important: Sweetie Pie, Bob's daughter, one of the cutest little girls on earth!

The I-94 is a paper they give us when we enter on tourist visas (I don't know if it happens with other kinds of visas, because I just came here with B-1s and B-2s). After you talk to the immigration agent, he stamps the date you have to leave the country. It can be 5 days, 2 weeks, whatever, up to 180 days. I always get lucky and get the 180 (and never use all of it).

 

[piglett]

Hey Pig,

I'm here for almost 20 days now and will leave on Sunday. Met Jeff, IV, Bob, his wife, and the most important: Sweetie Pie, Bob's daughter, one of the cutest little girls on earth!

The I-94 is a paper they give us when we enter on tourist visas (I don't know if it happens with other kinds of visas, because I just came here with B-1s and B-2s). After you talk to the immigration agent, he stamps the date you have to leave the country. It can be 5 days, 2 weeks, whatever, up to 180 days. I always get lucky and get the 180 (and never use all of it).

 

what ever happened to the guy who wanted to have some kind event up here in the northeast?
did he fall off the side of the planet? i have 10,000 things going on rite now with my wife having her visa interview in about 3 weeks. HOWEVER maybe once that is straight we can do something up here?
KFC is down in NYC   & he is the only other northeastern member that i know of. maybe we could meet up in that area. i know there are plenty of airplanes heading from my area to there every day(45 min. flight). I'll have to see what everything looks like once my wife arrives & i get her straightened out.
(or maybe once she gets me straightened out)
 
pig 

[Bob_S]

Met Jeff, IV, Bob, his wife, and the most important: Sweetie Pie, Bob's daughter, one of the cutest little girls on earth!

Deceptively cute.  Oh, sure, she looks all sweet and innocent walking hand in hand with BG and IV, laughing at all the boys checking them out.  But BG and IV never saw her truly evil evil side.  Robert Angel got a taste of it slammed full in the face.  When we were visiting his neck of the woods, Robert kindly took us around to show us the sights.  And Sweetie Pie was happy to take his hand as we went walking around town.  But when Bill showed up the next day to join us, Sweetie spurned Robert!  Crushing his heart and cast Robert aside like a used tissue to latch onto Bill, she was last seen taking Bill's hand as we strolled along the downtown river front, cruel evil fickle minx that she is.  Well on her way to becoming a typical L.A. girl.  Evil EVIL child.

[robert angel]

Bob--she still has my heart! I can still hear her wonderful, wonderful giggle echoing in my head. You might recall me telling you to relish it, because in six or seven years, she's REALLY going to change. From being a sweet and shy, yet polite conversationalist, you'll be lucky to get mono syllable sentences out of her--You: "How was your day?" Her: "Fine"--What did you do today in school?" her "Nothing" -- Have much homework? --"Already did it" and so it goes for about six years...
 
I thought somehow I'd avoid that with my younger son Nicholas, who just turned 15. But around age 13, it hit. Today, he can't be seen in public with his parents! After 3 questions tonight, he asked me: "Is this the '20 questions" game, Dad?" Instead of doing something, going somewhere with us, he's too busy calling in tactical nuclear bomb strikes, while playing 'Modern Warfare' in his 'man cave' with kids in Asia and Europe on his X Box Live. With a 93% average in school, taking honors and advanced classes a grade above his actual grade given his age, I can't complain.
 
If we tried dragging Nicky to half the places we took your little darling--even to the beach which she seemed to love--we'd have a rebellion!
 
Enjoy--these ARE the 'good old days' you're living right here and now. Sweet natured, great table manners, polite...I've seen a lot of kids and she really is a sweetie and smart too. You and the Missus are a UNIT--seems where one of you drops off, the other picks up, complimenting each other and your little one's in good hands. You folks communicate sometimes w/o even having to say anything--that's special.
 
I predict she'll be fine in the long run--but you'll see some proof down the line that her blood lines contain BOTH sides of the pac rim tectonic 'ring of fire'--inevitably mixed in with a bit of 'California crazy'!!
 
Still have the same camera memory card in the same camera we took some nice pictures with. When my wife got back from the Philippines, after a kiss and loading the lugagge into the car, it was the first thing she wanted to see. Will have to send you the pics yet! Bill and I still recall your visit with smiles--he's got some different, great news I'm waiting for him to break out and share eventually!
 

[braziliangirl]

Who's Bill? Please don't introduce Sweetie to anyone else in this forum. That way she will never forget IV and I. 

I agree with Robert. Even though it was for a short time, seeing how you and your wife work as a team was truly inspiring.

[whitey]

Love your new profile photo, BG!

[braziliangirl]

Thanks, Whitey!
Americans and their super sized portions.

[michaelb]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5mqTlUy9UE&feature=related

[braziliangirl]

Interesting song, Michealb.  I had never heard before.

I hope no Brazilian reads this, but the best coffees I've ever tried were Colombian. That makes me wonder, and I have to ask you guys: How do your Colombian wives make it in the US without real coffee? Do they go to Starbucks or Peets every day? Can you find good coffee in the grocery store?

IV witnessed my craving and need for a good coffee in the morning. All the Brazilians that I know who live there pack their bags with Pilão coffee when they get back from Brazil...

[michaelb]

Goya (when available, sometimes it's hard to find, usually only available in stores that cater to Latino customers).....

Bustelo when you can't find Goya....usually (but not always) available in Latino stores and some "mainstream" stores.

El Pico - the cheaper brand made by the same company as Bustelo.  Sometimes (but not always) in "mainstream" stores.

All of them, of course, must be prepared in a colador (or as we call it in English, "coffee sock").....coffee socks are really hard to find, even the Latino stores don't stock them.....she brings some back from Colombia, but they don't last forever, and when those run out I have to buy them on the internet. 

[whitey]

Cool song, Michael.

Interesting song, Michealb.  I had never heard before.

I hope no Brazilian reads this, but the best coffees I've ever tried were Colombian. That makes me wonder, and I have to ask you guys: How do your Colombian wives make it in the US without real coffee? Do they go to Starbucks or Peets every day? Can you find good coffee in the grocery store?

IV witnessed my craving and need for a good coffee in the morning. All the Brazilians that I know who live there pack their bags with Pilão coffee when they get back from Brazil...

My wife doesn't drink coffee, so she doesn't miss it at all.  They don't drink very much coffee at all on the coast in Colombia.  In a my city here in Canada, you can't throw a stick without hitting a Tim Horton's or Starbucks.  In Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, you really have to look to find a Juan Valdez.  It didn't seem to be any better in Medellin, but I only spent a week there. 

Ironically, other than the cultivation and export, Colombia really doesn't seem to have much of a "coffee culture".  I've heard it said, but don't know if it's true, that most of the high quality coffee from Colombia doesn't get consumed there and is exported instead - the crappy stuff is kept.  I asked my wife one time to get me some Colombian coffee, and I was presented with this jar of awful instant stuff ... bleck!

It's easy to find Colombian coffee in the grocery stores and coffee shops here ... I always ask for it.  I don't claim to be a connoisseur, but it tastes pretty good to me!

[braziliangirl]

Thanks, guys!

here we also use the (paper or fabric) coador and I've heard that we export the all the best ones, just like they do in Colombia, but after trying some in the US, especially at hotels and hostels, I believe we don't get just the "crappy" ones.

I can drink instant coffee, but just with milk. Once I tried a Colombian one called Buendía and loved it! I ask everyone that goes to Colombia to bring me coffee and I thought Juan Valdez was just for tourists, but I've never tried anything better. A friend brought me a supermarket brand once, the ones you make with the colador, and it was not good...

In Brazil there is a coffee culture, but it's mostly at home. We don't go out much for a coffee, but everytime someone visits we offer fresh made black coffee. Plus we take it every morning, after lunch, during work, and grandmother always make it with cake or bread at 5pm! And even though Brazil is warm, especially my city, we never drink iced coffee. Just recently we started with frozen, creamy mixes, like frappuccinos. But black coffee with ice as I saw in the US when I went during summer, never.

By the way, what saved me on my vacations was an Italian instant espresso called Medaglia D'oro that apparently can only be found in fancy grocery stores. (Oh gosh, I'm sooo high maintenance!!!  ) It is delicious with half and half, but I don't have the courage to try it with just water.

[DesmondID]

Cool song, Michael.

My wife doesn't drink coffee, so she doesn't miss it at all.  They don't drink very much coffee at all on the coast in Colombia.  In a my city here in Canada, you can't throw a stick without hitting a Tim Horton's or Starbucks.  In Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, you really have to look to find a Juan Valdez.  It didn't seem to be any better in Medellin, but I only spent a week there. 

Ironically, other than the cultivation and export, Colombia really doesn't seem to have much of a "coffee culture".  I've heard it said, but don't know if it's true, that most of the high quality coffee from Colombia doesn't get consumed there and is exported instead - the crappy stuff is kept.  I asked my wife one time to get me some Colombian coffee, and I was presented with this jar of awful instant stuff ... bleck!

It's easy to find Colombian coffee in the grocery stores and coffee shops here ... I always ask for it.  I don't claim to be a connoisseur, but it tastes pretty good to me!

This matches my experience.. I've read several articles about Colombia not being a Coffee culture and that a good cup of coffee is hard to come by..

http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/colombia-land-of-horrible-coffee/Content?oid=1391488

When my family visited Medellin for my wedding there was a discussion about how unsatisfying the coffee tasted. My wife drinks coffee but she puts so much  creme and sugar in it I doubt the actual coffee makes any difference. She will start from a Colombian blend before converting it to hummingbird food by adding five packets of sugar and four of those small cups of milk/creme.