4/7/08

Here we go again....


At about 1am this morning I finally got our I-751 Petition to Remove Conditions completed and ready to go.

For all those who have been through the immigration process, I don't need to tell you what it involved! But needless to say as usual with these immigration things it was alot of work getting all the required evidence together.

For the rest of you here's an idea of what went into it:

Cover Letter, then index pages throughout, 2 years of Tax Returns, a statement from every bank, saving or credit card account we have, life insurances, wills, retirement policies, mortgage, warranty deed, green card, passport, drivers licence, 3 sworn affadavits from friends, joint memberships, travel bookings, pictures, then lots of misc' pieces of paper that prove we live together or I live here. Oh and last but not least, a check for $545 to process it all :-)

The next step is I will get called into the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Service)in OKC for biometrics (fingerprints and picture) despite them having done this just 2 years ago. Then hopefully inside the 9-12 months it's currently running at, I will receive a 10 year Unconditional Green Card and be done with the USCIS for a few years!

Having said that, I plan on applying to Naturalize as a Citizen next July, as the fee's seem to double each year.

So above is our 'small' missive to the USCIS, all I have to do now is find a binder big enough to get it into, as they get very upset if you punch holes in it! It will be on it's way tomorrow, as they are also very insistent it arrives close to 90 days before my Conditional Green Card expires, but not before 90 days or they will send it back to us.

I think you get the picture!

5 comments:

Pam said...

We did ours so long ago, it is hard to remember what all went through. But we did hire an attorney to help with the process, but i think we could have done it on our own. All of ours was done in Baltimore, and if you think OKC is bad, just thank the Lord that you are doing it here instead of there. I think some of the process has changed since 1991, no doubt! Anyway, once we got our call to go back and meet with the examiner, they asked us if we brought our interpreter. John said in his best Queen's English, "I don't believe we will be needing an interpreter ..." and you should have seen the guy's face light up. We think he kept us back there an extra hour or two going through our wedding photos just so he could stretch out our appointment....

Roland Hulme said...

I do NOT envy you!

Fortuntely they gave me an unconditional green card when I arrived. Took four years and cost $$$ however.

fiona said...

Good luck dear friend!

You've made me think that taking out citizenship might be a prudent thing to do after all the hard work involved in getting the conditions removed and finally getting a Green Card. Oh and for what it's worth, I got fingerprinted four times in total, because of course, THOSE change over time!???!!

Like Roland though my process took four years in the hands of San Francisco's INS office, but Seattle fortunately took one look at the baby bump, stamped my approval and sent me on my way... of course, not recommended and only as a last resort! ;-)

Let me know how it goes..

Perhaps we should start revising our US history and Civics test now....

Carrie

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's a lot of stuff to do. What a big hassle! I swear the government does all it can to be contentious.

Anonymous said...

Wishing that all goes well for all your hard work...

What you have had to go through should make every natural-born citizen more grateful they don't have to go through the same process, although that might not be a bad idea for some...