One Week to Appointment

There's one week left until Jose's waiver appointment in Ciudad Juarez on June 7th.

At the appointment, Jose will drop off the waiver packet the attorney has made that proves the hardship I will suffer if Jose is not allowed into the U.S. for 10 years.  The hardship comes either from me being in the U.S. without Jose, or from me moving to Mexico for 10 years to be with Jose.  There are 14 categories of hardship that the consulate accepts, and we have focused on the medical, educational, and financial hardships.  It seems that the medical hardship is strongest, because of my Celiac Disease and ulcers from stress.  I've also been diagnosed with depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from living in Mexico, the violence I've seen in Mexico and being separated from Jose.  Basically, the less healthy I appear, the better Jose's case, and I'm not looking healthy.   For the education hardship we have focused on how being separated from Jose affected me in school last year, and how my future educational goals would be harmed by him not coming home.  My professors wrote letters about how my participation changed after Jose was attacked in April and how I am a promising student who would not be able to succeed academically in Mexico.  I don't contribute very much to the financial hardship since I am a student, instead that is mostly hardship on my dad.  Since he has had to pay for everything, he wrote a letter saying that he cannot afford to continue supporting us in Mexico.   The waiver packet has come together really well, and we are all feeling good.  The paralegal at the attorney's office told my dad she thinks this is the strongest case they have ever had.  That's promising, considering that the attorney has had 11 cases since January and 9 of them were approved.  Of course, everything comes down to who looks at our packet and how they feel about us.

We have been collecting documents for the waiver packet for the last few weeks.  I spent dead week before finals driving from Berkeley to Santa Rosa for lots of appointments, once even twice in the same day.  I didn't get much studying done.  I've been in Mexico for two weeks, and many of our days have been spent on the waiver.  We are ready to be done with it. Luckily, we are close.  The attorney is sending the packet to Ciudad Juarez on Thursday and Jose will pick it up on Monday before the appointment.

At the appointment, Jose just pays a fee, leaves his passport, and drops off the packet.  We don't hear if he is approved until a week or two after the appointment.  It will probably be the most stressful one to two weeks we've ever experienced.  When he is notified that his decision has been made, and he will go to the DHL office in Ciudad Juarez to pick up the decision.  His passport will be in the envelope either with or without a visa.  We're hoping for a visa.

Fingers crossed.
-Emma