What does it take??

[Edge]

for a latina woman to succeed in adjusting to life here in the U.S.  

I know my first girlfriend in Venezuela probably would have had a hard time adjusting to life here, so it is probably good that relationship ended.  I began to realize this after getting to know her.  I think guys need to keep an eye on how easy is it going to be for their novia/fiancée to adjust to life here and this should be part of the selection process.

What qualities does she need to have?  

What can we do to help her??

[Ross2]

... in response to What does it take??, posted by Edge on Apr 7, 2002

Edge,

I'm not married to a Latina yet so I'm not claiming to be an expert on this subject, but I think a travel visa would
be extremely helpful. She should visit the USA for a month or two to see how she adjusts. If she does not have a travel visa, then a fiance visa would be a better choice than marrying her in Colombia, at least if you're concerned about her being able to adjust. I think that three months is not a bad test of this ability.
  I also think it would be better if she studied English
prior to arriving in the USA. This would ease the transition and also test her desire to learn English once
she is here.
  If I marry a latina, I plan to have my mother or another
family member at my house frequently, at least at first, to
help ease her loneliness for her family. I would let her call her family frequently for the first few months (within reason).

Ross

[mck]

... in response to Re: What does it take??, posted by Ross2 on Apr 7, 2002

With me it is not so much the girl herself I am worried about or the adjustment process, it is the cost of all the expenses. For example the cost of a lawyer is $2500 to complete the entire K1 visa, not just the front end (the front end to get her here on the K1 you can do for about $1000), or do an adjustment of status from a tourist visa to a spousal visa. English classes for 16 weeks are about $500. Airfare for her to come up $350.00. Driving school $200. The cost of a cheap used car for her $2000. Misc expenses $500.00. The cost of the initial meeting and the vacation $1200.00. The cost when you add all this up comes out to about $7000.00, and that is doing it cheaply. But I look at it this way, It is probably alot cheaper then what it would cost to do the entire wedding thing for an American chick and at least the expenses are spread out over a about a year.