Sink Roots or Chase the Dollar?

michigander

Active member

Equipment
B2601
May 29, 2018
547
234
43
Northern Michigan
Didn't chase the $ , been married 41 years , house paid for , no car payments.
My wife does have a B2601 payment.

Past the 59 1/2 10% ding on taxes a couple of days ago lol , starting to think about retirement :)
 
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Henro

Well-known member

Equipment
B2910, BX2200, KX41-2V mini Ex.
May 24, 2019
5,116
2,341
113
North of Pittsburgh PA
No, my wife is, though and she brought three teenagers with her back in 2006 when we decided we either needed to get married, or get apart. The air travel and phone bills were gonna break us if we didn't do one or the other. I could tell you a lot you probably wouldn't want to know about immigration. Ain't none of it easy or cheap is the short version, and EEO workers will screw it up and blame you for it. Don't even get me started on lack of communication between government agencies. She naturalized last year, so now carries a US passport when we travel, and can vote and all that good stuff. She's an American now. All totaled, it cost us nearly 30K by the time she got naturalized, including one round of renewal of her green card and the kids'. So it would be a pretty fair assumption that it's a bad idea to engage me on immigration issues. I'll shut up before I climb up on my soapbox.
My wife has a green card that does not have an expiration date. Back in the late 70s for a few years they issued green cards that did not expire. For a while, after 9/11 she was told when entering the US after a trip back to Japan, that she should get a new green card. She always replied "I will do that..." but never did as it is not a requirement apparently. Now they never mention anything when entering the country. BUT the old card does not work with the automated machines that let you enter without interaction with a person.

Costs my son in law, who is British, $400 every ten years to renew his green card.

A friend that is/was Japanese went to renew his green card some years ago, and the person in the office said, it will cost you $400 to renew, or you can become a US citizen for close to nothing...he chose to become a US citizen.

The only negative I see with respect to my wife's situation is that if she were to leave the country for a year, her green card would expire...but that is unlikely to happen.

Sorry to hear it was so expensive for you guys...
 

Old_Paint

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
LX2610SU, LA535 FEL w/54" bucket, LandPride BB1248, Woodland Mills WC-68
Dec 5, 2020
1,539
1,425
113
AL
Costs my son in law, who is British, $400 every ten years to renew his green card.

A friend that is/was Japanese went to renew his green card some years ago, and the person in the office said, it will cost you $400 to renew, or you can become a US citizen for close to nothing...he chose to become a US citizen.
Interesting. Strange, too. It cost $750 each for green card renewals when we did it. Every time we filed (the exact same) petitions, there went $750 for each person. For Aussies. Who are supposed to be some of our bestest buddies. From the initial application for fiancé visa with dependent visas, change of status from fiancé visa to temporary resident (after we got married), to conditional resident, then legal permanent resident, and finally naturalization, we filed EXACTLY the same paperwork with some slightly varying attachments on each phase, as required by HS. Each status change required a basic form, though, and the processing fee nearly doubled by the time we renewed the green cards for LPR. Don't remember the form numbers, but the only things that changed was more current photos and the dates.

Naturalization wasn't "next to nothing". It was about $850 each. Went to three ceremonies out of 4 expat Aussies. My eldest step-son hasn't naturalized yet, but pretty vehemently says he will never return to Oz to live. I just keep reminding him that Aussies have dual citizenship automatically no matter where they choose to live. Once an Aussie, always an Aussie.
 
Last edited:

Old_Paint

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
LX2610SU, LA535 FEL w/54" bucket, LandPride BB1248, Woodland Mills WC-68
Dec 5, 2020
1,539
1,425
113
AL
LOL...accidentally hit the reply button I suppose...been there, did that...more than once...
Yup, was in the process of editing when you replied to the defunct reply.
 

chim

Well-known member

Equipment
L4240HSTC with FEL, Ford 1210
Jan 19, 2013
1,738
820
113
Near Lancaster, PA, USA
Wifey and I are both "locals" from birth, and all the places we've lived since birth are well within range of a .22 LR round. Apartment for the first two years and then two different new houses.

Early in our married life my Grandma said that when I brought a check in the front door, Wifey grabbed it and scooted out the back door ........................... and took it straight to the bank. Our first new home was the last thing we financed (other than a couple investment properties we partnered on with three other couples). We've always lived and spent sensibly. That allows us to continue living as though I'm still working.
 

Henro

Well-known member

Equipment
B2910, BX2200, KX41-2V mini Ex.
May 24, 2019
5,116
2,341
113
North of Pittsburgh PA
Interesting. Strange, too. It cost $750 each for green card renewals when we did it. Every time we filed (the exact same) petitions, there went $750 for each person. For Aussies. Who are supposed to be some of our bestest buddies. From the initial application for fiancé visa with dependent visas, change of status from fiancé visa to temporary resident (after we got married), to conditional resident, then legal permanent resident, and finally naturalization, we filed EXACTLY the same paperwork with some slightly varying attachments on each phase, as required by HS. Each status change required a basic form, though, and the processing fee nearly doubled by the time we renewed the green cards for LPR. Don't remember the form numbers, but the only things that changed was more current photos and the dates.

Naturalization wasn't "next to nothing". It was about $850 each. Went to three ceremonies out of 4 expat Aussies. My eldest step-son hasn't naturalized yet, but pretty vehemently says he will never return to Oz to live. I just keep reminding him that Aussies have dual citizenship automatically no matter where they choose to live. Once an Aussie, always an Aussie.
Wow! That is amazingly unfortunate. Do not know the rules...never needed to know them with a green card that never expires. When we got the wife's green card, I do not remember having to pay anything. Might have, but not much if we did.

One reason we did not consider the wife getting American citizenship is I don't think dual citizenship was possible between Japan and the US. But a different Japanese friend that became a US citizen told us, you just do not tell the Japanese anything, and maintain your Japanese citizenship. Might work, who knows?

For practical reasons, I think it might have been better if the wife had become a US citizen...but that is water over the dam now...