the green card!

I have not much else to say but just wanted to let you guys know about it ^_^

I was busy washing our M3 this afternoon since it had rained quite a bit the last weeks, and the car was pretty dirty so it was about time someone did something about it, plus I am the one who usually drive in the BMW and Michelle usually only drives the Mercedes so I thought it would be justified for me to wash ‘my’ (haha) car.

While I was washing the car (this reminds me of a joke: “what was was before was was was?”, I will give the answer later in this post), the mailman (woman) dropped by. I checked if there was any mail for us, and what do you think? There was a letter from the USCIS (Department of Homeland Security). Exciting!

I opened the letter right away, while my hands were still half wet hehe, and I read the following:

“WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”

“This is to notify you that your application for permanent residence has been approved. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to permanent resident status in the United States.”

And some other information about the card and such. The letter stated that I can expect my green card within three weeks by mail, but I think it might actually be with a week, that is, if I can believe the statistics… the statistics said that I would receive this letter after about 8 days when I was approved, and indeed, it has been exact 8 days ago and since the statistics also say it takes 7 days after this letter for the green card to arrive, I think I can expect it soon also. I am curious if it is true but I am not worried any more

This is really great news. We will not have to worry for another 2 years after we received the green card. The only thing we need to do is to make sure that we can show them in 2 years that we are still married (which is just the same as we did now so I doubt that will cause us problems) and request a new card.. after that it is over with us having to prove that our marriage is for real and in good faith because then I will come out of the conditional status (these two years are conditional: I have to stay married in order to be able to stay here during these two years, but yeah, do you really think I would stay here when I was not married to Michelle? Not really, then I would rather be in the Netherlands as I have my family there and there is not much here, besides Michelle and our ‘peanut’). And if I want, then I can request citizenship within three years, after which I get a US passport next to my Dutch one and then I can also vote in the 2012 elections haha.

Right, I still owe you guys the right answer, here goes: Before was was was, was was is!

Think about that

Well, we’re not entirely sure but we think it should be ok.

We went, as I mentioned before, to the Department of Homeland Security in Honolulu for our adjustment of statement interview.

The interview was at 10.15 AM but we were there at around 10.05 AM. After about 10 to 15 minutes, our number was called and we met the immigration officer who would take our interview. The first impression that we got from this man was very nice, he didn’t make a strict impression but seemed to be a bit more relaxed.

First he took our oath and then explained how things would take place, he would mostly look if everything was in order and he would ask questions on base of the forms. He also explained that there might be moments in which nothing would be said but we shouldn’t be worried about that as he might still be writing certain things down.

Ok, so we started.

He mostly asked us some general questions, like on which address we lived, when we met, how that this was, when we got married, if I had children (and that was a “yes, one, but there will be two soon” after which he congratulated us) and more of that kind of questions. Nothing special really and you don’t have to worry about it I think, as long as your marriage is in good faith and so I did not worry much about those questions either.

And then we came to the scary part, my court record.. he started to read everything and read my explanation also which I added to the application (for those who do not know what it is about, I once have been arrested for participation of theft, however, I never did anything like that. I only once had the goods in my car but at that time I did not even know those were stolen, that is something I found out later when the police arrested me.. so basically that something nothing special but, well, you never know what the USCIS might say). The officer did not ask much about these documents, except if I had been more in contact with the police of if this was the only thing so I told him that there was nothing else except for the one time they pulled me over for speeding but that was nothing special. During the talks that followed I told him that I was quite worried about that part but he told us that it would not be much of a problem and, even though he did not say it with that much words, we shouldn’t worry much about it.

After this he gave us some general explanations of what would happen next. He would process the documents and if he didn’t see anything weird, which he did not expected, then we should receive, the latest in two months, but more probably at the end of April, the greencard. He also explained how we had to request the permanent residency in two years from receiving the conditional greencard (this one is conditional for two years to see if it is really a bonifide marriage) and that we had to do that within a certain amount of time. He asked us to sign some documents which were related to this and from that it also showed that he didn’t think that there was anything weird about our application. He also told us that, if there would be anything unclear or if they needed another document, that they would be in touch but if we do not hear a thing, then wouldn’t be a problem.

He asked some documents after this to see that the marriage was really real, we gave him some bank statements and some voided checks which had our names on it, some copies of the registration and title of our car and a few more of these things. This was more than enough for him. We also gave him two pictures that he liked to have for the dossier as extra proof and that was basically all, I think we have been inside for less than an hour.

To know it really sure, I asked again what he thought of the interview and he told us again that we shouldn’t have to worry and that he would check everything and that we would receive the greencard, if there were no special things, could receive within the timeframe given. I also asked if he needed the EAD card (employment authorization) and Advance Parole documents but he said he rather didn’t do that as, in the unlikely case that something goes wrong, I would at least have the insurance that I can work and travel if needed.. sounds like a solid explanation to me.

So ok, we did not get the relieving “you’re approved” but we think we shouldn’t worry about it as we really did not get that impression from the immigration officer.

until the interview that will decide over our future, the interview for the greencard.. I am already pretty nervous, even though we still have to wait for a few more days.. and even then there is a pretty big chance that the officer can’t tell us the outcome right away, it might actually take another 60 days if he is not sure about our case.. that is at least something that I hear sometimes on an immigration forum

Nah, it aint fun, I wish it was Friday already but, yeah, we have to wait two more days. I am gathering and collecting everything that we need to bring in the mean time, it will be quite a package that we will bring with us. I hope we have everthing as it should be so they have nothing to mention about that. And, well, the fact that Michelle is pregnant now should be the best proof of an ongoing relationship and a marriage out of good faith.

We’ll see, I’ll keep you updated!