Immigration Update: on to step 2
For my friends who have been listening to me rant, rave and cry for the last 8 months (or more?) via blog, email, internet chat or phone, I have GOOD NEWS and an update on our immigration situation.
I had a BAD DAY on Friday. I had an all day meeting trying to get a contract with a company to do Business Development (the 2nd all day meeting that week), but the woman just wasted my time. She doesn't want to pay for services rendered (who does?), but just like most people in this country, they want to create gold from peanuts. No, it just doesn't happen. I've never heard of an alchemy spell that creates gold from peanuts, salted, honey roasted or plain. So I was really bummin' on Friday because I still don't have a job or contract.
On Saturday after waking sometime in the afternoon (hey man, lay off, there are no rules when you are unemployed), I opened my email to see an email from my lawyer.
I got *wonderful* news regarding our case status at USCIS (that's the government immigration center). The US government has APPROVED our petition!
I broke down sobbing in tears of joy and happiness. This has been a long, hard road my friends. All because I found the person I want to spend my life with and had the strength to follow my heart and the courage to fight every obstacle to make it happen. When I decided to move to Turkey over 2 years ago, arriving in Istanbul with 2 suitcases, I didn't know what lay ahead.
Hold your breath, it isn't over yet honey.
What this means: our case goes to the 2nd step in the bureaucratic process. The USCIS approval means that the US government says,"Yeah, okay, you've been in a real relationship for the past 2 years and you two truly intend to marry within 90 days of arriving in the US."
So we're still looking at another 4-6 months of red tape and a few thousand dollars more of filing fees. Yes, this an expensive process.
So now we move on to Step 2 of the process, which is shorter and easier. Step 3 is the next tough obstacle to overcome, but we won't go into that one yet.
For now, we're just basking in the glory of getting through Step 1.
I had a BAD DAY on Friday. I had an all day meeting trying to get a contract with a company to do Business Development (the 2nd all day meeting that week), but the woman just wasted my time. She doesn't want to pay for services rendered (who does?), but just like most people in this country, they want to create gold from peanuts. No, it just doesn't happen. I've never heard of an alchemy spell that creates gold from peanuts, salted, honey roasted or plain. So I was really bummin' on Friday because I still don't have a job or contract.
On Saturday after waking sometime in the afternoon (hey man, lay off, there are no rules when you are unemployed), I opened my email to see an email from my lawyer.
I got *wonderful* news regarding our case status at USCIS (that's the government immigration center). The US government has APPROVED our petition!
I broke down sobbing in tears of joy and happiness. This has been a long, hard road my friends. All because I found the person I want to spend my life with and had the strength to follow my heart and the courage to fight every obstacle to make it happen. When I decided to move to Turkey over 2 years ago, arriving in Istanbul with 2 suitcases, I didn't know what lay ahead.
Hold your breath, it isn't over yet honey.
What this means: our case goes to the 2nd step in the bureaucratic process. The USCIS approval means that the US government says,"Yeah, okay, you've been in a real relationship for the past 2 years and you two truly intend to marry within 90 days of arriving in the US."
So we're still looking at another 4-6 months of red tape and a few thousand dollars more of filing fees. Yes, this an expensive process.
So now we move on to Step 2 of the process, which is shorter and easier. Step 3 is the next tough obstacle to overcome, but we won't go into that one yet.
For now, we're just basking in the glory of getting through Step 1.
posted by Super Z @ 2:43 PM
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