The French Maid
Registered Users (C)
So this morning at 11am was our appt time. DO-Portland Oregon
Husband drove to work and I took half the day off and slept in
The immigration offices are literally 3 blocks away from where we live so it was super easy. I just had to walk over there
I was a bit nervous so I took a quick walk in the park near by to clear my head.
I walked into the building and went through security check. The security guy was nice enough to point me in the right direction. He was super friendly but then again, I am in Portland so no surprise there. (we are known for friendliness here).
My husband called and said he was on his way. I went to the waiting room and sat down. Just prior I had to put my appt notice in the correct box as there were three different types of notices.
I started text messaging my friend at work for a little support and I took a picture of a lady that was falling asleep (her head kept sinking downwards) and sent it to my friend for a bit of humor (sorry, this is how I deal with stress).
My husband showed up about 10 min later and sat down next to me. We waited for another 10-15 min before they called our name. The officer walked us back all the way to the end of the hall. He swore us in and we sat down.
The guy was very nice but very professional. He first asked for our ID's, passports...etc. He had our file and he was FRANTICALLY going through each page and marking things with a red pencil. I think the guy was a speed reader or something. LOL.
Basically he verfied my birthplace, Birthdate, parents names, wjere I work, the name of my previous husband (yuck) and asked if I had any children. He thumbed through my passport and was looking at the each stamp
Then he asked if we met here in the US and how we met. I blushed and said "myspace"... he kind of laughed
Then he asked my husband (French citizen) if his parents were French citizens, if he has ever had any immigration issues such as being deported or in court for any reason as well as being convicted of any crimes such as drug trafficking.
He is asking all these questions as he is busily looking through our file, he barely even looked up at us.
THen he asked to see my paperwork which I had all organized with tabs... I first gave him our joint account paper work such as bank statements, cell phone bill, 401k beneficiary and car insurance.
THen I gave him printed out copies of our wedding pics and trip to France as well as our first emails together... which he kept! Seems so personal for someone to have private emails but I guess its what they need for proof of a real relationship. My husband asked me after the fact if we had made any derogatory statements about Bush in the emails... I started laughing pretty hard at that. I said "so what... its FREE SPEECH HERE"
He got up and made some copies of things and came back and said that we are approved PENDING NAME CHECK
The look on my face changed I am sure because the IO saw me when he said that. I said "oh my, I have heard HORROR stories about this" and he nodded and agreed. He said unfortuantly, we don't have any control over that. He said most of the name checks clear pretty fast with about 20 percent being held up for about 6 months and 1 percent being stuck in the system.
We told him that we are planning to travel to France for X-mas and he suggested that we file for the Advance Parole (and add in the notes that we are leaving to France in X-mas)... yeah right like that's going to help. The filing for that is taking 3 months to process... so in that case we need to file NOW...with the upped fees too.
I was pretty open about my frustration with this and the IO could tell. So here we are waiting for name check
Then he said "ok, do you have any other questions?" We said no and he shook our hands and escorted us out and said "have a nice day"...
The interview took a total of 15-20 min total.
My husband was pretty annoyed and said he is tired of filing fees and said "#(&(#&% it, we aren't going to France this x-mas)... I know you are upset but we really need to go this year because his parents don't know we are married. We were going to take them out to x-mas dinner and tell them.
Knowing my husband he will break down and do the Advance Parole but I think he is just frustrated right now. I guess we COULD wait until the last minute and see if we get the greencard before X-mas but by then.. it could be cutting it close and plane tickets won't be cheap.
So... I guess we aren't quite done yet.
That was our experience... I will be staying around the boards for awhile. Probably checking the name check thread too now
Husband drove to work and I took half the day off and slept in
The immigration offices are literally 3 blocks away from where we live so it was super easy. I just had to walk over there
I was a bit nervous so I took a quick walk in the park near by to clear my head.
I walked into the building and went through security check. The security guy was nice enough to point me in the right direction. He was super friendly but then again, I am in Portland so no surprise there. (we are known for friendliness here).
My husband called and said he was on his way. I went to the waiting room and sat down. Just prior I had to put my appt notice in the correct box as there were three different types of notices.
I started text messaging my friend at work for a little support and I took a picture of a lady that was falling asleep (her head kept sinking downwards) and sent it to my friend for a bit of humor (sorry, this is how I deal with stress).
My husband showed up about 10 min later and sat down next to me. We waited for another 10-15 min before they called our name. The officer walked us back all the way to the end of the hall. He swore us in and we sat down.
The guy was very nice but very professional. He first asked for our ID's, passports...etc. He had our file and he was FRANTICALLY going through each page and marking things with a red pencil. I think the guy was a speed reader or something. LOL.
Basically he verfied my birthplace, Birthdate, parents names, wjere I work, the name of my previous husband (yuck) and asked if I had any children. He thumbed through my passport and was looking at the each stamp
Then he asked if we met here in the US and how we met. I blushed and said "myspace"... he kind of laughed
Then he asked my husband (French citizen) if his parents were French citizens, if he has ever had any immigration issues such as being deported or in court for any reason as well as being convicted of any crimes such as drug trafficking.
He is asking all these questions as he is busily looking through our file, he barely even looked up at us.
THen he asked to see my paperwork which I had all organized with tabs... I first gave him our joint account paper work such as bank statements, cell phone bill, 401k beneficiary and car insurance.
THen I gave him printed out copies of our wedding pics and trip to France as well as our first emails together... which he kept!
Seems so personal for someone to have private emails but I guess its what they need for proof of a real relationship. My husband asked me after the fact if we had made any derogatory statements about Bush in the emails... I started laughing pretty hard at that. I said "so what... its FREE SPEECH HERE"He got up and made some copies of things and came back and said that we are approved PENDING NAME CHECK
The look on my face changed I am sure because the IO saw me when he said that. I said "oh my, I have heard HORROR stories about this" and he nodded and agreed. He said unfortuantly, we don't have any control over that. He said most of the name checks clear pretty fast with about 20 percent being held up for about 6 months and 1 percent being stuck in the system.
We told him that we are planning to travel to France for X-mas and he suggested that we file for the Advance Parole (and add in the notes that we are leaving to France in X-mas)... yeah right like that's going to help. The filing for that is taking 3 months to process... so in that case we need to file NOW...with the upped fees too.
I was pretty open about my frustration with this and the IO could tell. So here we are waiting for name check
Then he said "ok, do you have any other questions?" We said no and he shook our hands and escorted us out and said "have a nice day"...
The interview took a total of 15-20 min total.
My husband was pretty annoyed and said he is tired of filing fees and said "#(&(#&% it, we aren't going to France this x-mas)... I know you are upset but we really need to go this year because his parents don't know we are married. We were going to take them out to x-mas dinner and tell them.
Knowing my husband he will break down and do the Advance Parole but I think he is just frustrated right now. I guess we COULD wait until the last minute and see if we get the greencard before X-mas but by then.. it could be cutting it close and plane tickets won't be cheap.
So... I guess we aren't quite done yet.
That was our experience... I will be staying around the boards for awhile. Probably checking the name check thread too now
!!