And Now We Wait

Jose went to his appointment this morning and turned in the waiver packet.  The person at the Consulate wasn't super friendly to him, but Jose said her briskness didn't bother him because it was obvious that it's just a job to her.  I think it sucks that the futures of so many people are decided by Consulate officials who see it just as a job.  I want some emotion involved when they're deciding our damn future!

The official Jose talked to refused to tell him how long it would take to hear a decision, except for to say "we take some days, and DHl takes some days, then you can pick it up."  Thanks, lady, really helpful.  Other people have come out of their appointments in the last few days reporting that their officials told them it is taking about 10 days, but we don't know if that is business days or not.  Our attorney told us today that she thinks its more like three weeks.  Jose keeps telling me not to ruin his excitement over what is happening, so I'll complain on here that when we first started the appointments in 2009 decisions were made in 3-5 days.  People just stayed in Ciudad Juarez until they got their decision.  Now, the wait is too long for us to be able to afford a hotel, or handle being trapped in the room, so we're flying back to Mexico City tomorrow to wait.  Once we are notified of the decision being ready to pick up, we'll fly back to Ciudad Juarez.  Hopefully we will know before we arrive if we were approved or not.

My classes in Berkeley start on June 20th.  We are hoping that we will know the decision before then, even if the visa isn't ready to be picked up, but it doesn't look promising.  If it doesn't work out before, I'll fly back to Berkeley on Sunday, June 19th (extra sucks that that is Jose's birthday) and then fly back to Mexico as soon as Jose can pick up his visa and fly back to the U.S. with him that day or the next.  Excessive, I know, but the last two years have been hard and I need to to there when he comes back to have a sense of conclusion.

In conclusion, we're hanging in horrible suspense and wondering how the hell people get through this.
-Emma