Endlich… AOS weggeschickt!

In den letzten paar Tagen haben wir die letzten Sachen zusammengesucht welche ich fuer die Green Card, Arbeits- und Reisebewilligung brauche.  Ist ein ziemlicher Papierkrieg das Ganze, aber wir habens geschafft und alles weggeschickt. Jetzt beginnt das grosse Warten!

Hier ein paar Impressionen:

Was drin ist: 6 Passfoeteli, mehrfache Kopien von Pass, Visa, I-94,  Marriage Certificate, 5 verschiedene mehrseitige Formulare und noch viel viel mehr…

Alles zusammen, gut 2 Zentimeter dick.

Visa Interview successful!

I’ve got my visa, I’ve got my visa, I’ve got my visa I’ve got my veeeeesaaaah!

So the visa interview last Monday went well, especially after I realized that I’d mainly be sitting around waiting. I arrived at the embassy at ~9:30am with my letter that said “Show this letter to the Protectas Agent, do not wait in line!” and the Protectas Agent (very nice guys btw) was very much amused by that line.  “Let’s not wait in line then!” is all he said, and I passed the whole line of ~40 people waiting…  I’m sure I got some evil looks! I had to get rid of all my electronics and wasn’t even allowed to carry a plastic bag with me inside, where I could have put all my documents, and believe me, I had a ton of documents including my lung xray with me, I barely managed to carry them all. Security check was normal procedure, walk through the beeper, back and forth, stand there with the arms spread out and let the guard do his thing with another hand held scanner for whatever things I might have illegally carried in there.

Inside I was told to sit down around the right corner… along with at least 30 other people, stuffed into a tiny room with a tiny tv that showed tennis all morning long. People got called up to the different counters left and right to explain things, hand in forms and have their fingerprints taken. Most of the people were there for non-immigrant visas and got called to the counters that weren’t right next to the chairs with all the waiting people. Of course the immigrant visa counter had to be right in that room where everybody was waiting, so when I got called up everybody was able to listen in and see me struggle with my pile of papers. The guy behind the window was very nice though, he just collected all my forms (DS-156, DS-156k, I-134, letter of intent, company letter of sponsor, birth certificate, police clearance, passport, new passport pictures, proof of payment, sealed medical envelope) asked me no relevant questions whatsoever except when I was planning to travel, and then told me to sit down again and apologized for the wait, and that the consul would call me before lunch…(it was 10 am then)

So I waited, and waited and waited, saw the waiting area fill up, people do their things, leave, new people arrive, leave, and waited and waited, and at ~noon it was only me and like 3 other people left waiting. Finally I got called to another window where I had to sign the DS-156k and give all my 10 fingerprints. Again, no questions asked nothing, no one wanted to see our pictures or our emails or asked me how we met or anything. The guy told me to sit down again and said he’ll give my folder back to his colleague at the other window  who will then call me again in just a bit.

I sit down again and just in this moment I see the other guy knocking the window and beckoning me to come there. I get up and he says “It all looks good with your visa, did you have your fingerprints taken?” “Yes, Sir” “Ok, so we will send out the visa tomorrow or after tomorrow, or if you want you can pick it up” I guess I must have stared funny at him, as he repeated that this was all and that I was free to go now and the visa would be in the mail.

So… the visa is in the mail! I’m expecting it tomorrow or Friday. I’m so so so so so relieved that we finally got past this step and can look forward to the future now.