Let's just say, good luck or not, my God didn't forget me. Don's worry Alfred!
At 5:00 am my alarm went off, and then I knew the day is finally here.
We arrived at the embassy at exactly 6:52am and were directed to join the IV queue. We were at the tail end of the queue and had to wait for a long time for our turn.
Once at the entrance, the officer in charge checked our appointment letter and identified each member of the family and then asked us to proceed to security.
We did all the security checks, but I was unfortunately asked to leave my little boy’s water and food at the security post and come back for them when they are needed.
When we got to the waiting area, another officer took our appointment letter from us and asked that we sit and wait.
After about 10mins, my name was called to window 2 where I was given an invoice to go and pay our visa fees.
The cashier was not too pleasant to deal with initially, but I managed to break the ice with him and he even wished me lots of luck by the time I finished with him.
Back to the waiting area, after about an hour or so, I was called again to window 2 to submit my documents. That really took like forever to finish. The lady was very pleasant though, so I guess that made up for the whole waiting thing. She even gave my son some fruit flavored candy and a bar of chocolate.
She flipped through the sheets and gave back those documents that were not needed. She looked at the documents I presented on my 21year old daughter and smiled. Then she said “you seem to have done your homework on her case right?” I just smiled.
Well, back to the waiting area, I lost track of time though. We were called again to window 1 to be ten-printed. They said that was for 14years and above so only 3 of us were ten-printed.
Back to the waiting area again, by which time, I had made 3 trips to the security post already with my little boy because he wanted to drink some water.
Not long after the ten-printing, we were finally called for the big conversation with the CO.
This time, I looked at the CO’s watch and it was 09:33am.
The interview:
Me: Good morning
CO: Good morning, how are you today?
Me: Very fine, thank you.
CO: I would need you to all raise your right hand (except the younger ones) and swear to tell the truth blah blah blah
Me, Husband and Miss 21: We do (then my 2 year old son says “we do”). Now the CO was laughing and then says thank you to the little boy.
CO: I need you to sign against the highlighted area on the form. She gives the forms we sent to KCC. I sign first, Miss 21 , and then my husband signs his and that of all the younger kids.
CO: when did you complete high school?
Me: Ans
CO: When did you get married?
Me: ans
CO: What do you do now?
Me: ans
CO: Where?
Me: blah blah blah
CO: your daughter is safe (Miss 21). You did a good job with your research; I guess you know more about CSPA than most of us here right?
Me: Smiling, and saying silently “you bet”
CO: All your documents are fine, but I have to give these back to you (after high school educational certificates, pictures, materials on CSPA).
CO: I have bad news for you though. All your NIV’s would have to be cancelled to make way for an IV, so no more tax free income for you .
Me: Very well.
Me: thank you , but what about the originals of my other documents?
CO; we would return them when you come to pick up your passports with visas.
Me: very well
CO: I have approved your case, please don’t make any travel arrangements until you have picked up your visas, don’t take the kids out of school, blah, blah
Me: OK
Me: there is a problem
CO: yes
Me: my husband needs to travel to Canada tonight on an official assignment, so we were hoping that you could give back his passport to him so that he drops it off when he returns.
CO: No problem
CO: when are you back? (Referring to my husband)
Husband: Ans
CO: No problem, I will give you the passport, and a letter to enable you drop off your passport when you return.
Husband: Thanks
CO: Here you are, she gives me a blue sheet and the letter for my husband
Me and family: Thank you
CO: Nice day
Now, we the Yankee settlers should try and get together in the hood when the time comes (maybe during summer) to ‘ woso br3 no gu’…...
Sm1smom, Simon, NuvF, valdek15425, and all members, how can I thank you enough? I really appreciate your support, especially with the CSPA thing. It was really an eye opener.
Thank you very much. God richly bless you all.