Catching Up....

I just realized that it is already the 9th of February and I have yet to post anything at all this month! I guess I have just been busy! Right now at work, I am in the middle of perhaps the busiest time all year. We are in the middle of Confirmation preparation for our grade 8 students and our parish is doing a spiritual renewal program that I am organizing that is gearing up for another 6 week session. Since I am in charge of both of these programs it means that I am pretty busy.

Along with work, I have been working away at more wedding plans. My mom, sister and I are heading up to Chicago in March to work on some wedding stuff. Jim will be meeting us there. This will also be the first time Jim's parents and my mom meet. While we are there we will be doing our food tasting at our venue, meeting with the florist and doing a cake tasting. Now some of you may remember I already talked about doing a cake tasting. Back in November we went and had our cake tasting. But the bakery that the hotel is affiliated with closed, so we have to do it all over again. While it is a bit of a pain because the bakery is over an hour away from the hotel, I am always up for sampling some yummy cake!

Next weekend I will also be heading up to Minnesota to spend some time with Jim. I haven't been there since July so I will be able to experience the frigid temps of winter while I am there this time. We are also going to get our wedding bands while I am there. It is all fun exciting stuff!!

Also soon, I will have to deal with the next step of paper work required for the visa. I know the visa is very confusing for a lot of people. Sometimes Jim is even confused. So I thought I would take a moment to sort of lay out the steps along the way. Luckily we are already done with Step 1 and 2. Here they are:

Step 1: Send in original submission which includes evidence of having met within the last 2 years and biographical information for both of us. This gets sent to a service center in the US depending on where you live. Ours went to California. This generally takes about 5 months to do all the background checks on us. We got our in 140 days just shy of 5 months.

Step 2: California reviews submission and either approves, denies or requests more information from us. We were approved. They then send the submission to the National Visa Center where it gets processed and moves onto the local consulate.

Step 3: The local consulate (in our case Montreal) receives submission and sends out a package of information for you to fill out and return. This includes more biographical info etc. Once you fill that out, they send you another package where you are able to book your medical and your interview. Usually these are booking 2-3 months out once you can book them.

Step 4: Medical in Toronto and Interview in Montreal. At the interview the passport is taken and the visa is printed right on passport. After the interview you cannot enter the US unless you want to be married within 90 days. You have 6 months to use your visa once it is printed on the passport.

Step 5: Move to the US.

Step 6: GET MARRIED :)

Step 7: File for an Adjustment of Status to get your conditional green card. Also at this time you file for advanced parole (so you can leave the US while your visa is being processed. It is like letting you out on good behavior! ;) and employment authorization. The advance parole and work authorization take about 2-3 months to come through. Conditional green card takes 4-6 months.

Step 8: Receive the conditional green card. Once you have this it is good for 2 years. Before the two years are up the government will send you a reminder to fill out some more paperwork to remove the conditions on the green card. (Yep, yet MORE paperwork to fill out!!). Once that is sent and processed you will receive a permanent green card renewable every 10 years. At this stage you may or may not be required to go for a couples interview before they approve your permanent green card.

Step 9: Live like a normal human being not worried about paperwork every two minutes!

Hope this helps you get a better picture of how things work.