The waiting isn't nearly as bad as I expected. Its day three since the appointment and all is going well. We have even decided to not start checking the website until Monday. I think the key is to stay busy. Wednesday we flew back to Mexico City and stayed with Anna and Benjamin for the night. Thursday morning we took a bus to Puebla and are now in Cholula, Puebla. This is probably our favorite town in Mexico, because it's an awesome place and because it is where we got our dog. We've been walking almost nonstop during the day and enjoying the sights. There is perfect weather, by far the best I've been in for months. Last night it rained and hailed, but Jose was watching the basketball game and I was reading a funny book, so it only added to the vacation feel.
We've got a pretty tight budget, but we're going to travel for as long as we can while we wait for Jose's decision. It seems like the best way to pass the time and stay distracted.
-Emma
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
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
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
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Night Before
Jose's appointment is tomorrow morning at 8 am. We are staying in a different hotel that is a little farther from the Consulate, so he is going to take the hotel's free shuttle to the Consulate at 7 am. I'm going to stay in the room and sleep, which is what I do best. Jose is ironing his fancy outfit now and worrying about how his hair will look. I convinced him to let his hair grow out and he is regretting it now that the 2-months-uncut hairstyle doesn't look as put together as he'd like for his appointment. I think it looks fine, but worrying about his hair is a pretty harmless way to release his stress.
We took a 6 am flight from Mexico City and got to Ciudad Juarez at 8 this morning, after the longest 3 hour flight ever. If you are doubting my math there, be aware that Ciudad Juarez time is an hour earlier than Mexico City. I finally convinced Jose to let us try a different hotel. He has refused in the past to change anything, including our hotel choice, in case it messed up fate or something ridiculous like that. But, I won at last, and we're staying in a nicer and cheaper hotel room with a microwave and fridge so we don't have to eat out. We stocked up on cereal, beans, and tortillas at the Oxxo, although I have to admit I now kind of miss being forced to eat out. Microwave quesadilla does not compare to Applebee's apple walnut blue cheese salad. Shocker.
Most importantly, we have the waiver packet with us, signed, and ready to turn in. The Forum Family says waiver appointments have been taking about 2 hours. Hopefully Jose will be back by about 10:30 am (9:30 California time) with a positive report. Then the real stress begins.
Until tomorrow,
Emma
We took a 6 am flight from Mexico City and got to Ciudad Juarez at 8 this morning, after the longest 3 hour flight ever. If you are doubting my math there, be aware that Ciudad Juarez time is an hour earlier than Mexico City. I finally convinced Jose to let us try a different hotel. He has refused in the past to change anything, including our hotel choice, in case it messed up fate or something ridiculous like that. But, I won at last, and we're staying in a nicer and cheaper hotel room with a microwave and fridge so we don't have to eat out. We stocked up on cereal, beans, and tortillas at the Oxxo, although I have to admit I now kind of miss being forced to eat out. Microwave quesadilla does not compare to Applebee's apple walnut blue cheese salad. Shocker.
Most importantly, we have the waiver packet with us, signed, and ready to turn in. The Forum Family says waiver appointments have been taking about 2 hours. Hopefully Jose will be back by about 10:30 am (9:30 California time) with a positive report. Then the real stress begins.
Until tomorrow,
Emma
Online Forums
Jose and I are in the hotel waiting for tomorrow's appointment and I'm alternating between trying to distract us and obsessively reading the online immigration forum.
Jose found the forum about a month ago and I've checked daily since, where we've learned good news and bad. Bad news: last week we found out that there is a website for checking available waiver appointments, and most of the people on the forum have been able to move their appointments up by more than a month. People with first appointments after Jose's, which was on March 29th, are already back in the U.S. Lame. Good news: 17 of the 21 people with waiver appointments in May have been approved! I'm hoping/thinking we will jump on that bandwagon and have Jose home this month.
The forums have helped us understand the process and what is going on better, so even with the bad news we sometimes get, they've been a great resource. Each month, the "forum family" as the members, mostly wives of applicants, call themselves, post a list of every member with their waiver appointment that month. They celebrate when someone is approved, and provide support when someone is backlogged (being backlogged means the hardship wasn't convincing enough for an immediate visa, and adds another 6-12 month wait). Each day, they update the list with the developments in each case. That's been most helpful for us, because we've been able to track how many people are approved and how long it has taken to get the visas (usually about 2 weeks). We even learned about two phone numbers where applicants can get updates about their waiver, including hearing that it was approved days before the decision packet arrives at DHL.
I haven't actually posted anything on the forum, I'm more of a invisible stalker, but I'm tempted to register and have Jose added to the list of June appointments. I kind of want random wives sending me words of encouragement and supporting us no matter what the outcome is. It's always nice to be in contact with people going through something similar. I just don't want to have to be as emotional and obsessive as them. Sorry, Jose, but it's a little much.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
-Emma
Jose found the forum about a month ago and I've checked daily since, where we've learned good news and bad. Bad news: last week we found out that there is a website for checking available waiver appointments, and most of the people on the forum have been able to move their appointments up by more than a month. People with first appointments after Jose's, which was on March 29th, are already back in the U.S. Lame. Good news: 17 of the 21 people with waiver appointments in May have been approved! I'm hoping/thinking we will jump on that bandwagon and have Jose home this month.
The forums have helped us understand the process and what is going on better, so even with the bad news we sometimes get, they've been a great resource. Each month, the "forum family" as the members, mostly wives of applicants, call themselves, post a list of every member with their waiver appointment that month. They celebrate when someone is approved, and provide support when someone is backlogged (being backlogged means the hardship wasn't convincing enough for an immediate visa, and adds another 6-12 month wait). Each day, they update the list with the developments in each case. That's been most helpful for us, because we've been able to track how many people are approved and how long it has taken to get the visas (usually about 2 weeks). We even learned about two phone numbers where applicants can get updates about their waiver, including hearing that it was approved days before the decision packet arrives at DHL.
I haven't actually posted anything on the forum, I'm more of a invisible stalker, but I'm tempted to register and have Jose added to the list of June appointments. I kind of want random wives sending me words of encouragement and supporting us no matter what the outcome is. It's always nice to be in contact with people going through something similar. I just don't want to have to be as emotional and obsessive as them. Sorry, Jose, but it's a little much.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
-Emma
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Waiver Packet and Appointment
For the last 2 weeks we have been working on getting together all of the new supporting documents we need for our hardship waiver packet. Now that we are getting closer to our appointment on June 7th, our lawyer has given us a checklist of all of the documents she needs to update and put together our final waiver packet. Most of the things on the list are things she needs from Emma in order to show the hardship she has gone through and how being away from me has affected her. Emma had to get together recent medical records, doctor letters, psychologist letter, work letter, volunteering letter, and letters from friends and family about how these past 2 years have affected her. Getting this list from our lawyer was very exciting because it reminded us of how close our appointment is but at the same time very stressful. When we got the list Emma was in the middle of papers and getting ready for finals, so it was very bitter-sweet for her. Like always, Emma took on another project on top of school and work, and was able to manage working on all three things at once. The week before finals Emma spent most of the time traveling from Berkeley to Healdsburg and back. Monday she had a doctors appointment at UC Berkeley, on Tuesday a doctors appointment in Healdsburg, and then Thursday night an appointment with a psychologist in Santa Rosa. I am pretty sure she spent the majority of that week at doctors appointments and in her car. She managed all of that while sending emails to professors and volunteer supervisors asking for letters, working, and studying for finals. WOW, I get exhausted just writing and thinking of all those tasks at once, I can't imagine the stress Emma felt. That is the list of things Emma had to get together before she came down to Mexico this Friday. There are smaller and much easier things that we still need to get together. The majority of the stuff left on the list we already have and will just have to get together or print them out. My tasks are getting a few documents together that I already have and finding proof of the conditions in Mexico and how dangerous it is. I have been focusing on finding proof of violence in the places we have lived. Monterrey and Chimalhuacan were a piece of cake and Coyoacan was surprisingly not that difficult. Of course the incidents I found did not occur in the colonia we live in, but luckily what is considered Coyoacan has many colonias, and a few of them are not all that safe. I am also having people I have met in Mexico write letters about my good moral character. Once we get all of those things together, which is nothing compared to all the things Emma had to get on her own, we will be ready for our waiver appointment.
At the appointment I will pay the fee for review of our waiver and drop off the waiver packet. This appointment is pretty straight forward and quick. I will first pay and turn in the packet at the same time and then will be asked to see a consular official. The interview with the officer is just to verify that what we are including in our packet is accurate and true. Once the packet is turned in and I take the oath, we will be one step closer to me coming home. After the waiver appointment it can take up to 2 weeks to hear back from the consulate about the decision they have made. Our lawyer mentioned that it has been taking 7-10 days for her other clients who have recently gone through this part to get the visa in their hands if they are approved. We are hoping for a fast approval so we can get the visa and come home as soon as possible. If we are to get approved in 7-10 days we will be able to come home before my birthday on June 19 which would be the best birthday present. If it takes 2 weeks for us to get the visa, which would not allow us to come home before my birthday, it would still be the best present ever.
For now we work on the last few things for our packet, then wait and cross our fingers for good news. Hopefully we will be seeing you back in California very soon.
-Jose
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Adios Monterrey
I am back in Mexico City. My professors have been really supportive during the last month and have done everything they could to help me after I was robbed. Their first concern was my safety and well being. Right away they let me know that I should take off as much time as I needed to get better. Having so much support from my professors was really nice for me because at the time I was convinced that everything that had to do with Monterrey was working against me or just hands down terrible. Although I had no desire to go back to Monterrey, I got myself back to school a week ago. It was really weird and stressful being back in Monterrey and the 100+ degree weather was not helping in making my return pleasant. My first night back I was welcomed with gunshots which made me really question my decision to go back to Monterrey. Unless I had class, the weather and danger of Monterrey kept me locked in my apartment. Luckily after talking with my professors, they gave me two options: stay on campus in the dorms for free so I could be completely safe, or leave Monterrey and finish my school work online. Of course I decided to get out of Monterrey ASAP. So here I am, happily back in Mexico City with Anna and Benjamin, the best hosts in the world. IIn the few days that I have been back in Mexico City, I have rented an apartment for a month in Coyoacan for Emma and I, and been here with Anna when she found out she got into UC Berkeley.
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