I've been quite busy.
By quite busy, I mean I've been quite lazy.
Well now that we finally arrived in Austin, TX, finally got settled in, and I finally got a job, I have a bit of time to tell this story.
I call it The Story of Time Standing Fucking Still.
Because that's what it felt like.
So it starts out in November of 2012, in La Florida, Santiago, Chile.
Felipe and I decided that despite us loving Chile, the United States was just a better choice for us.
I didn't know Spanish at the time, and Felipe is fluent is Spanish and English. I couldn't get a job there, Felipe could easily get one in the US. So we made the decision.
The day we made a final decision, we told his mom in his backyard and she started crying. I felt so bad. I felt like I was taking him from everything he's ever known, his entire family, his only friends.
But he was very excited.
So December 2012, we made a journey to the US Embassy, in the center of Santiago. We asked what we needed to start the process. We had a very nice lady tell us what we needed to do, although in retrospect, she was not of much help.
By mid-January, we had filled out and sent all of our paperwork for Felipe to go through the immigration process. I had to fill out a I-130 (petition for alien relative) form and a biographical information form, Felipe only had to do the biographical information form. We had to include 2 passport sized photos of each of us, and a payment of like $400 USD. We didn't have the money and even if we did, we couldn't send it to Homeland Security because they didn't accept electronic money orders and they didn't accept money from a non-American bank. So I am thankful my parents had the resources to help us out there.
On February 5th we got notice that the USCIS receive and had accepted our case.We were sooo happy and naive little us, we were celebrating and thought ''yeah, we'll be to the US by June!''
No.
So we played the waiting game for about 4 weeks, one week more than we should have for following information to the next step of the process. After 6 weeks, we called the USCIS and they kept telling us that there was a request for evidence (RFE) but they couldn't tell us what exactly it was. We thought it was to prove our relationship was genuine or something.
We kept waiting.
It was not until 4 months later, because we had never received the forms in Chile, I had to change my address to my parents in the US, THEN they got the forms, that we were notified that we somehow either didn't include two photos of each of us or they weren't the specific size. I'm not sure which it was. So we were delayed 4 months for fucking pictures.
We send the photos to my mom, she sends them to the USCIS in Chicago, and then within a week, in mid-June, we got information, a to do list, of what needed to be completed for the net step: NVC stage.
We had to pay the fees online and had to send my packet plus my parents' packet together and then Felipe's afterwards. My parents needed to provide a packet because they were the co-sponsors since I had no money, thus they were sponsoring Felipe to financially care for him for at least 5 years (legally, so he couldn't receive welfare benefits). So it included tax information, paycheck stubs, letters from employers, yada, yada. Mine included only tax information.
This stage is only supposed to last one month. We sent our things in around the middle of July, so of course we thought we'd be done by mid to late August.
It lasted until the end of September because:
With ALL of this paperwork we had to fill out, I didn't add my full name (by that I mean I didn't add my middle name, because there is a plethora of Dara Boyds in the world) to one area in one paper. So they notified my mom, which was who all the paperwork went to since Coree de Chile sucks and never delivered our shit, I had to change my mailing address to my parents' in Austin, TX.
So my mom added my full name and sent it back in, they sent it back saying that they needed my full name AND my updated signature after I added my name. Well hell.
So there was a lot of emailing and scanning at that time, well.. the entire time, but we had to do that to about 5 or 6 times.
We were at the beach, I believe it was September 18, for the Chilean independence holiday, and we got an email that finally said that we had a sufficient amount of evidence financially to move forward with our case.
Finally!
We had to sit tight for two weeks-they said, for an interview date at the US Embassy.
So we waited.
More.
And waited.
In mid October, like two weeks after they said we'd receive a date, we finally got one.
November 27, 2013.
I did probably an entire 24+ hours of emailing the Embassy, who were the NICEST and most patient people with me, from the time we received our date up until we left for the US.
We had to take an entire day to get Felipe's medical stuff done, which we got done about 3 weeks before the interview. We had to go to 3 different places in Santiago, luckily they were all very close, within walking distance of each other. Everything was fine with that, that was an rather easy process.
So interview day arrives.
We are scared and nervous and excited.
Almost puking our faces off with nervousness and I was more nervous because I wore shoes that had a little height on them (anyone who knows me knows that I can barely walk without shoes and watching me walk in heels is painfully hilarious).
As we drew closer and closer to the Embassy, somehow I became more relaxed.
I thought, ''We got this.''
So we entered and were the first ones there.... well, we were about an hour and a half early, haha, for fear of being late, I guess.
We sat there until our number was called.
When it was, we went to a window, like a bank teller except with a window in front of it, and it was an interview who asked some questions about how we met, our families, and our plans in the US.
Then she gave us some papers on spousal abuse....
We sat back down and waited to be called on again by the Consulate, who was the would who'd determined if it was a yay or nay.
After pretty much the same questions as the interviewer, it was a yay.
Yay!!!
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| Interview Day! |
So we had a few ''fiesta de despedida''s and they were a lot of fun, I cried at them! I was happy to return to the US, but as soon as I realized that I was leaving Chile and my family there, it really started to make me sad. We will see them again soon. Hopefully during the (our) summer (their winter)!
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| Cony (youngest sister-in-law), Jorge (father-in-law), me, Felipe, Fabiola (mother-in-law), Nathalia (sister-in-law) |
So we started packing and selling some of our things and we left Santiago, Chile at 3:30am on December 16, 2013. We had a layover in Panama City, Washington D.C., and finally ended in our destination- Austin, Texas.
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| Us in the Dulles airport in DC |
Now, in mid-February, we both have great jobs that we enjoy, planning his family's visit, and have a move back to Pennsylvania in mind to open a ''normal people'' spa... one that's affordable to everyone!
But until then, we will keep working and enjoying life together!
With Veda :)
I want to put this out there...
If you are going through the process, or any visa process, don't hesitate to ask any questions you have. I'll answer them the best that I can!
