Our number was called after waited about 15-20 minutes.  We were told we need my birth certificate for issuing of Social Security Numbers! I have filled up the form required but didn’t bring along the birth certificate because no where in the form indicated that it’s needed!

Oh well, we went home to get the birth certificate and drove down there again. (Wasted two and half hours and traveling over 50 miles back and forth!!) You thought it’s smooth sailing after that.Just the opposite. We wasted whole morning driving down there twice only to be told my name shown in the system was jumbled up. The customer service at the social security couldn’t or wouldn’t issue me a SSN. Even though I have my marriage certificate, birth certificate and passport to prove they ware the ones that screwed up, not me. Damned bureaucrates!

I was too tired and hungry to argue. So I surrendered for a jumbled up name! We would wait till the green card to arrive in the mail and see whether the same happened, then we can get that changed later.

After much consideration on the space and weight limit, going to leave behind some heavier and bulkier ones,  would need to buy new ones. Only going to pack two winter coats and some woolen sweaters.  The woolen sweaters are light, but can take up space.

check-in 2 luggage= 2 x 23 kgs =  46 kgs (100 lbs)

carry-on =  12 kgs (25 lbs)

That means  can bring 58 kgs (125 lbs) of stuffs in this three luggage without paying for excess baggage!! Let’s see how that can be done! :-)

Bought a few packets of pre-cooked sauces, curry powder, spices, anchovies, dried shrimps, Malaysian coffee and tea last week.

I usually prefer to cook from scratch using fresh ingredients, but decided to buy some pre-cooked sauces, as some ingredients may not be easily available or will be expensive to buy in the area we live. This pre-cooked sauces will be handy when the crave for Malaysian food strikes or when I am tired of French toast casserole. :-)

Added more to the stash today. Decided to buy a few for some of the sauces and another pack of Ipoh Old Town white coffee. I actually don’t drink coffee, thought they will be gifts for relatives who like coffee. Also bought some herbs for Bak Kut Teh and spices for green curry!

Gosh, they weighted about 5 kg (11 lb) now! Gotta stop buying food stuffs, else, may have to pay for excess baggage!!

The pick up time was 3-4 p.m at the Visa Facilitation Service (VFS) office at Wisma MCA, which is at Jalan Ampang, adjacent to Citibank and opposite China Bank. I took a LRT train, got down at Ampang Park station, took the exit that has “Wisma MCA” on it and walked towards Citibank. Wisma MCA is two buildings away from Citibank.

There was quite a crowd, about 50- 60 people were in line when I arrived at the entrance of VFS office at 2.45 p.m.  The office was closed and only opened at 3.00p.m. Despite the long line, it went really fast.

Most people were there to pick up visitor’s visas. In fact, I was one of the two people who were picking up immigrant visas on that day. The man who served me  at the counter was kind of goofy. He was looking high and low for my passport at the drawer that held all the visitor’s visas. He looked kind of perplexed when he could not find mine, he searched one more time, could not find! Opened another drawer, still could not find!

So, I reminded him I was picking up immigrant visa. Actually, the consular staff made a note on the blue slip, he must have not paying attention to that. :-) He suddenly realized his mistake and albeit embarrassingly took out a bag from another drawer and gave me the passport and visa package.

I got out there at 3.15 p.m!.

Security clearance again at the entrance of building. Got a number (the second person for immigrant visa). The waiting room was almost full with at least 60 people inside, eight out of nine windows were opened and it went really fast. The interviewers were mostly whites, only one Asian interviewer who looked  and sounded like a Filipino.

 When I entered the waiting room, the numbers for non immigrant visas had already gone up to 50+. Looked like they had  interviewed about 50+ non immigrant visa applications at 9.00 a.m, starting from 7.30 a.m! Pretty efficient, I would say.

I was quite sure it was a local staff who was in charged of the IV documents submission  in the morning when they did not start calling the first applicant at 9.15 a.m. And, I  was right !  Time is rubbery as in Boleh Land.:-)

The KL consulate conducts the immigrant visa (IV) interview in two parts. Morning for submitting documents and afternoon for the actual interview. The first part was handled by a local staff and the second part by an American staff.

My number was called at window 8 at 9.45 a.m. Submitted all the documents and paid the $400 visa application fee. Was told to go back there at 1.30 p.m for the actual interview.

Got out of the embassy at 10.oo a.m. Then I walked back to the train station at a leisurely pace. There was really no need to hurry as I had 3 hours to kill before the interview at 1.30 p.m.

At first, thought of taking a train to the next train station - KLCC, as there is really nothing much to see at Ampang Park. Second thought, better preserved some energy for the afternoon session. So, sat down at the McD for a little people watching, then window shopped a bit, bought a handbag and had an early lunch there.

It was too hot at 1.00 p.m and was too lazy to walk, so I took a cab to go back to the embassy. It was easy to get a cab this time! It took only 5 minutes to reach the embassy from Ampang Park by cab!

It was a bit too early, the guard said he will let me in at 1.15 p.m. Security clearance and entered the building again. Could see many embassy staffs got back from lunch break.

I was the only person at the waiting area! A white man was sitting at  window 7  and was typing something on the computer. He called my number at 1.20 p.m. and the interview began!

He had me placed the fingers of both hands on the scanner, first four of the fingers, then the thumb. The biometrics data was online and connected to database in Washington DC. Matching any records would mean further administrative processing a.k.a. bureaucratic blackhole. Mine didn’t match any, obviously. :-)

The interviewer had me took an oath and then signed the part 2 of the DS-230 form before he started asking me questions about my previous stay in the US and our marriage. He asked quite a few questions, but he was not hostile and was rather casual.

He flipped through all the documents submitted, kept the photocopy and returned the originals, except for the Certificate of Good Conduct which he kept the original.

He opened the old passport and stamped “Canceled without prejudice” on the  ten years visitor visa. Then ticked at the box next to “meet the requirements of section 213A” on affidavit of support form and wrote down his name as reviewer. I could see it started with a J, not sure it was Jimmy or Jerry.:-)

Then he asked whether I have any evidences of our  relationship that I can show him. I passed him some photos of us and with other people, cards, letters from the big boy’s parents addressed to us and a document that showed  my name on his health insurance.

Then, he told me everything looked alright and asked me to take a seat and waited to be called again. I sat down, in less than one minute, saw the local staff whom I submitted the documents this morning appeared  at window 7,  my number was called again within seconds.

He tried to pull my leg, he asked in a typical Malaysian way “Got approved ah ?”

Then, he smiled and gave me the slip that has the instruction for picking up passport and visa.

Yup, the long awaited IR1 visa is approved!  Can pick up the passport and a package  tomorrow at 3.00 - 4.00 p.m !!

The friendly woman security guard asked me on my way out: you the only person this afternoon? I have no idea where was this guy who was supposed to be in front of me.  I guess the interviewer decided to call my number first as I was the only person at the waiting room !!

All in all, it took 15 minutes in the morning for the documents submission and 15 minutes in the afternoon for the actual interview.  But it was like killing a few dragons, all the  waiting, commuting, walking, loitering at the mall had me exhausted, would need a good massage!

And, getting it done now will also mean I don’t have to deal with it anymore in future. However, the move is going to be postponed. At least not until he starts making all the necessary preparations. I don’t want to freeze my butts off in IL !

Unlike some people in other countries who joked about “bringing everything except the kitchen sink”, KL is not a high fraud posting that is notorious for asking for excessive proofs of bone fide marriage. However, we have some of the proofs i.e.  photos, cards, phone bills, bank statements, in a big envelope. Though not too worried about the interview, one can never be too prepared when dealing with US immigration. :-)

The consular office required the originals of the civil documents i.e marriage certificate, birth certificate, police certificate and passport to be presented before the interview. but required a copy of all of the civil documents to be submitted after the interview.I have the originals and xerox copies of all the civil documents  in separate file folders and are labeled  accordingly.

All the leftover labels from the preschool that we folded up are put into good use. The Dymo label maker is very handy to create labels. We used  to label the Montessori materials in the classroom, to expose the children to written words and  later to help them to identify the materials. We also label the cubicles and stationery  at the preschool so the children can locate and identify  their belongings.

Since the visa interview appointment has been brought forward from 09/09 to 08/28, they are sending another visa appointment letter. Hopefully it will arrive before the interview date. May be should call the consular office if it has not arrived by Monday, just to confirm the interview date.

Called the consular office on Monday, Rani whom I talked to on the phone was hesitant to bring forward the interview, she said they are quite tight with a few complicated cases in the next two weeks. I pleaded and told her our case is simple. She agreed to “squeeze ” me onto the tight schedule and rescheduled my visa interview to next Thursday 08/28/2008. Which means only one week before I go back to KL to attend the visa interview.

With the visa interview fixed on a Thursday,  we are expecting to receive the visa on Friday, a day after the interview and can start making travel arrangement and booking air ticket after the visa is on hand. The big boy told me to land on certain days so that he can pick me up from the airport. Do I fly the airplane and have control over the schedule? If he can’t pick me up, I would take a shuttle bus or airport limousine. I am sure Chicago  airport has the the same reliable and affordable ground transportation services like the Newark Airport Shuttle that run the surrounding suburbs.

Called the US consulate  after breakfast, was told they have mailed out packet 4 documents i.e. appointment letter, visa application form DS-230 part 2 and all the forms for medical check up to Melaka. However, they would give me a copy of the medical forms  if I wanted to go for medical check up. Well, might as well since I would be here in PJ till Sunday.However, the consulate is open for immigration visa related matters only on Mon and Fri 2-3.30 p.m.

Left PJ at 1.00p.m, decided to take a train down to Ampang Park and walked down to Jalan Tun Razak. The US embassy is about 10 minutes walk from the train station. The sun was so hot, really regret didn’t bring along an umbrella. It was 5 minutes before 2.00p.m at the entrance of the embassy, the guard let me in for security check. The woman guard ran my handbag through the machine (like the one at the custom). She pour  everything  inside the handbag into a basket. Then she put everything back to the handbag except for the hairpin and earphone. She kept these in the basket and gave me a number for retrieving them later. She asked me to take a sip from the water bottle and switch off the handphone. There weren’t many people inside the embassy, was out of the consulate office within 10 minutes.

Armed with the medical forms, took a cab outside US embassy to go to the panel doctor at Bangunan Ming  near Bukit Nanas. The doctor took some history, did some routine physical examination,  and gave me a jab for Mumps, Measles and Rubella (MMR). The biggest challenge during the medical check up was to find the well hidden veins on my hands to draw blood for HIV test! He spent about 20 minutes poking at five places n my left and right hands!! The X-ray has to be taken at PKNS Building at Jalan Raja Laut, took another cab to go there. Was able to get everything done before 4.00 p.m. Walked down to Masjid Jamed station to take a train back to PJ before the rush hour office crowd, reached PJ at 5.00p.m sharp. Took about 4 hours and cost about USD90, now the mandatory medical examination for the  immigration visa application is done, one less thing on the to-do-list.

The package 3 returned contains the visa application form DS-230 part 1 and a checklist that indicates the availability of civil documents thus readiness for visa interview.

If the consulate receives the package 3 documents on Tuesday, I supposed they will schedule the interview and mail out packet 4 this week.  So, I am going up to KL on Thursday and go for the medical check up and vaccinations on Friday.

It was raining cats and dogs on Thursday and Friday, guess the mailman couldn’t go out to deliver mails on his bike. In fact, on the way to buy bus ticket, I dropped by the post office at 4.30 p.m on Thursday to check whether the mail  was there. The mail room supervisor told me the mail man has already left for home! The supervisor swore mails from KL would take two to three days to reach my parent’s place. But, this one has taken five days!

There is really nothing they could not email in the packet. Packet 3 documents include a cover letter, a check list, an immigration visa application DS-230 form (which can be downloaded from US State Department’s website)  and an instruction sheet about photo format.

The DS-230 and  the checklist need to be returned to the consular office. So, going to the post office on Monday to mail it by express mail. Hopefully, they will receive it the next day and packet 4  will be ready for pick up on Friday. (The consular section open for Immigration Visa related matters on Monday & Friday only) Packet 4 contains the medical check-up and interview appointment letter. Will need to go down to KL for the medical check up as the panel doctors are in KL and Penang only. It depends on the interview date, if it’s not too far apart, will just stay on for a few days.

A Korean woman told me the Seoul Consulate sent her all the documents via an E-packet and she was able to schedule an interview within 10 minutes because everything is done electronically on the consulate’s website. That must be the famous efficiency and work ethics, the Korean style. :-)

May be to allow people to schedule appointments online, they will need to hire IT specialist like new york IT services to setup a sophisticated IT management system. All the documents they have are probably available in pdf files and they have our email addresses on file. It is not difficult to setup a system to email all the documents and forms electronically, isn’t it?

Don’t understand why there is so much resistance to adopt more efficient method i.e. email! Why they still use snail mail when they can just email all the documents ? Wouldn’t that make their job much simpler too? No more licking stamps, sealing envelopes and annoying calls from people who were impatiently waiting for the packet to arrive. :-)

Should have driven up to KL on Monday to pick up the documents from the consular office in person. But, due to some miscommunication, I thought it was not ready for pick up yet when I called on last Friday. Since the documents can only be picked up on Monday or Friday 2.00-3.30 p.m, no choice but to have them mailed out instead of waiting till this Friday to pick up in person. Looks like this inevitably delay the process for another week. But, at least we have expedited the I-130 petition and an approved expedite request at NVC which has saved us months of waiting.

We have already downloaded the forms from the internet and filled up. They are two forms: the DS-230 immigrant visa application form and I-864 affidavit of support form.

The beneficiary now the applicant (that’s me) needs to submit the DS-230 immigration visa application form together with the supporting documents upon receiving the packet from the consular. The supporting documents include the original long birth certificate from JPN, marriage certificate, Malaysian Certificate of Good Conduct, one US sized passport photo and photocopy of the data page of my Malaysian passport.

The petitioner now the sponsor (that’s the big boy) needs to submit the I-864 affidavit of support with all the supporting documents that prove his current income and employment. He needs to mail his IRS tax transcripts for the past three years, pay stubs for the past six months, letter from his employer stating his position, starting date and term of employment (part time or full time).

The affidavit of support is a contract between the big boy and Uncle Sam (that’s the US government), he has to guarantee that me will not become a public charge. If the immigrant has to claim mean-tested social benefits, then Uncle Sam has the right to recover the sum from the sponsor. The affidavit is binding as long as we are alive, even if in the event of divorce! In fact, very few conditions exclude him from the obligations of this contract, one of them is death, second is if I become US citizen (which I don’t plan to at this moment in time) or I have worked long enough to earn enough credits to be eligible for social security. In another word, the big boy is making a big financial commitment, imposed and enforced by Uncle Sam. :-)

After the consular goes through the the DS-230 package and I-864 package submitted, they will request for more documents if anything is missing. Else, I should receive another package which consists of the interview appointment letter and information on medical checkup. Then will have to go for medical check up, X-ray and vaccinations before the interview.

For the interview, would have to bring all the documents for proofs of bona fide marriage. Since we have been married for three years and KL is not a notorious consular that rejects immigrant visas for spouses with frivolous reasons, we are not too worry about the interview. But, we still have to prepare all the proofs in case they ask to see them. We have emails, letters, cards, photos, telephone bills, insurance letter, bank statements, etc. They are just too many if I would to print all of them, in order to save a few more trees, I will only select some of this to print out. :-)

The big boy filed an I-130 petition for me in March 15. The petition was forwarded to California Service Center and he received a notice that said the petition was received on March 17 with a priority date of March 24.

We didn’t hear anything after that. I went for a surgery in April and went through a cancer scare throughout April and May. After much persuasion, the big boy then filed an expedite request on June 5. The expedite request was approved on June 24 and subsequently the I-130 petition was approved on July 9.

The approved I-130 then was forwarded and received by National Visa Center (NVC) on July 15. The big boy filed an expedite request with NVC on July 16 and it’s approved on July 24. The file will be forwarded to KL and continue with the second part of the immigration process.

The second part of the process is to have the beneficiary of the petition, that’s me, to submit an application for the immigrant visa. Hopefully, the second part is going to go fast, much faster than the first part!

However, NVC seems to move really fast, they received the file on June 15, we filed an expedite request on July 16, they generated the choice of agent and AOS fee bill on July 17, and this forms are sent out immediately, the big boy has received them on Monday July 21. The best thing happened today July 24, they approved the expedite request!

Which means NVC is forwarding the file to KL immediately. The normal procedure is to pay fees to NVC, wait for the fee processing, then submit documents and wait for documents verification, and that can take another 3-6 months before an interview appointment can be granted!

With the expedite request being approved, we are paying fees and submit documents to the KL consular. Since there is no backup of immigrant visa applications at KL consular, it should moves very fast from now onwards.

Bravo! Alright, at least we know not all government agencies are as rotten as USCIS. This jokers have caused much stress in the last four months, certainly would need wrinkle cream for all the lines result from that! After four months of dealing with the jokers who work at turtle speed, am impressed with the efficiency of NVC!

It took him three months to mail out a two-page form that already filled up except his signature. Somehow he managed to mixed up the form and submitted a draft copy he printed out earlier which has my name wrong! You have to salute him for his ability to screw up. I think he has allergy to paperwork!

It took one week for USCIS to generate the letter requesting for evidence(the missing marriage certificate), one week for the letter to arrive, one week for the response to find its way to the system, that was a total of three weeks of delay. We would have gotten the approval for I-130 petition in the middle of June if not because of the missing document.

The I-130 petition has been approved for a week now. While he was taking his time to figure out what he supposed to do next, I went ahead to email an expedite request on his behalf. However, after talking to the live operator at NVC, to my horror, found out the error in my name has not amended before the file was forwarded to NVC.

My fear is: the expedite request will not be looking at until the error in name is amended. I panicked and emailed a request for amendment on his behalf. After all this being done, he mailed the amendment letter by snail mail because he said the live operator told him they process mail faster than email. I hope the duplicate is not going to delay the process further.

The confirmed procrastinator is taking his sweet time in everything. It took him a few weeks to unpack the laptop we recently purchase. After moving in the new place for two months since May, he still live with the unpacked moving boxes! He also never throw away anything, he keep all every piece of paper. He still keep all the old shirts and Baseball Gloves that he will not use in those boxes. He certainly has tons of garbage waiting for me to clear, that’s for sure. By the rate it goes, I will be 64 by the time this whole cleaning process completes!

As we were waving goodbye to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and getting ready to say hello to National Visa Center(NVC), discovered USCIS gave us a goodbye gift - they never amend the mistake on my name though multiple service requests were filed to amend it and we were told it will be amended during adjudication.

The nightmare has turned into reality - the mistake has propagated to NVC now. Great!!

It’s very important to have the right name because the visa is going to be issued in that name! Have to send another request to amend the mistake! Hopefully people who work at NVC are more competent than those jokers at USCIS! They do seem like they are more efficient because within a week, they have already assigned a case number and have a person called “Supervisor Sue” whom we know is processing the expedite request!

Though the I-130 petition has been approved for more than a week and we have received a hard copy of the approval notice, the online system still shows the case as “pending”! Doesn’t that make you wonder how much they still rely on manual work? If they want to be an efficient organization, employing the right IT solution is a necessity. They need to re-evaluate their IT management or hire an IT consulting firm among the NY IT Services to do a major revamp!

They took about 2-3 months to produce the certificate previously. It was mainly required by people who were migrating. But, in recent years, many countries like Australia and US have requested this for people who applied for student visas too. That means they are a lot more people who apply for this certificate now. So, they changed the procedure, we just have to do a statutory declaration and have some big shot or class A government servants signed the forms, they can produce the certificate based on the declaration and it can be done on the same day!

Have already done the statutory declaration and have one of my teachers signed the paper in May. But I waited for the I-130 petition to get approved before getting it because the certificate has a validity date and it can expire.

The Ministry of Foreign Affair is at the Wisma Putra in Putrajaya. I decided to drive up there today. This is my first time to the new administrative capital, don’t have any idea how Wisma Putra looks like, armed with an address that says it’s at Precinct 2, Putrajaya, I drove there by myself!

After much ado about nothing, left my parents’ house at 9.15 a.m. Exit the North South highway at Kajang and reached Putrajaya township at about 11.00 a.m. The Wisma Putra is not too far off, but I missed the sign behind some trees and drove into a maze of office buildings. (are you surprised? Malaysian poor road signs and my sense of direction aare not very good combination!!) Gosh, I have no idea there are hundreds of office buildings that have the same color tone and all look the same (at least to me) !

I stopped and asked two Malay girls, they pointed to a hill and said “Tu, yang bangunan putih dengan bumbung hijau atas bukit tu” (There, the white buildings with green roofs that sit on that hill) Can you see?

By the time I reached the Wisma Putra and found the consular office, it was nearly 11.45 a.m. Though my queue number was called within 5 minutes for document submission, have to wait for them to produce the “Certificate of Good Conduct” after that. They were quite a lot of youngsters who looked like students and a few adults were waiting for the same.

By 12.00 p.m, they were still about 10 people ahead of me who were waiting in line. I knew I would have to go back there to collect the certificate after lunch hour. Didn’t realize the consular office is closed from 12.30 - 2.00 p.m. (The office hours are 8.30-12.30 p.m and 2.30 -4.00 p.m, they only works 5 1/2 hours!!)

How to kill the 2 hours? decided to call a friend who works about 25 minutes away, we went out for lunch and catch up.

Went back to Wisma Putra at 2.45 p.m and got this certificate:

RM60 for gasoline, RMRM27.80 for toll, RM6 fee for statutory declaration and RM20 for the certificate, all for the pleasure of getting a certificate that says “The Government of Malaysia finds her to be a person of Good Conduct“! Got to go all length to show Uncle Sam that I am a good girl ! :-)

Five weeks after filing an expedite request, the petition for an immigrant visa is finally approved today! Does that mean I can buy an air ticket and get on a plane now? No way! The I-130 petition basically is an initial filing to determine eligibility of the petitioner to file an immigrant visa for an  immediate relative, which is spouse in our case.

The approved I-130 is now being forwarded to National Visa Center (NVC) for further processing. We are filing another expedite request so that NVC will forward the file to KL immediately.

Meanwhile, the big boy has to pay more fees, submit more documents and sign a contract with Uncle Sam that he is going to be financially responsible for me. The contract is called an affidavit of support (AOS). It means if I ever become a public charge i.e. claim unemployment or any mean tested benefits, Uncle Sam can recover the payments from the big boy!

When the file is forwarded to KL, I have to submit an application form and some civil documents i.e birth certificate, marriage certificate and police clearance. This step is going to be fast as I already have all the documents, ready to go out. Then, I would need to go for a medical check up and take some vaccinations. The last one will be the interview.

My conservative estimation- all this will take at least another one and half months! It may take longer if the big boy does not submit the AOS documents in time!!

It doesn’t help that we are dealing with one of the most inefficient governmental agencies in the world. These bureaucrats are jokers, they have been covering their butts with old excuses like security check for delays and backlogs. After 911, “security” has been the magic word to cover all the backlogs due to an arcane system and incompetent work force.

In this computer age, it’s hard to imagine an agency that handles more than one million permanent residencies application alone still uses an outdated and arcane system which involve transferring files around physically! Our initial petition is processed at a service center in CA , when the petition is approved, the file will be forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC) in NH, then it’s forwarded to the consulate oversea. It’s not uncommon that files get lost or misplaced in all this moving around!!

The irony amidst all this is: it takes only a week or two to get a visa for a spouse of a non citizen H1B worker! You see, in the capitalist world, the corporates who have the financial power to hire lobbyists to influence the lawmakers get ahead of the games. Family reunification stays at the bottom of priorities because they do not have many people who look out for their rights. Work based petition can be expedited by paying for premium fee. Many people would be willing to give up their gold coin for faster reunification with their spouse and family. But there is no way to expedite a family petition unless it’s life and death situation! I really feel sorry for many families (some with young children) who have been separated for years while waiting for the visa to be granted.

It has been closed to three months since we filed the papers, except for a notice of receipt, we are kept in the black hole not knowing what happened to the papers. We tried to file an expedite request based on my medical condition that needs further attention. The big boy had even involved the congressman’s office to chase them down. However, we are yet to receive any news that the expedite request is approved or rejected. An expedite request takes weeks to process, what an oxymoron! It’s good that I have plenty of things to keep me occupied while this waiting game is going on, or else can die with all this slow response and keep in suspend not knowing what kind of outcome we will receive.

Really need to have another yard sale to get rid of some of the stuffs.

Have been sorting a few boxes of bills and documents, being paranoid with the efficiency of the utility companies and afraid that they would one day smack me with unpaid bills plus interest, I kept all the paid bills dated back to 2003!! They have to go, right into the trash bin!

Not even sure it’s worth all this trouble. I really do doubt.

While doing small talk with the clerk and receptionist at the Birth Registration office yesterday, found out the court interpreter is also a qualified translator, he can also translate the birth certificate. The cost is half of what the translators at Dewan Bahasa charge.

The best thing is: the court house (the building next to Jusco) is just a few minutes drive from our house. I drove there after getting the birth extract from the Registration office. It only took 5 minutes to get the birth certificate translated. The man who did the translation even gave me four copies, so that I don’t have to go back and pay more!

On top of that, making sure the big boy is not procrastinating is a stressful job. He has finally started looking at getting an apartment. So he is not planning to put me up at the park or on the street!.

Don’t think he will have time left to scout for furniture. We would have to do that together. His parents and some of his relatives have given us some furniture, but we probably need to get a dining table and some cooking utensils. No, we do not need a beer pong table because we are not going to move into a frat house. :-)

We should be getting our first notice of action in about 10 days and then we can start filing the second set of papers. In fact, we have been busy preparing documents and making arrangement for some documents to be translated.

Some said the application process operates like a black box, you don’t hear much from them after you file the papers, until they send you an approval and the notice for an interview. Thus, the waiting game has just started.

There are three major steps of paperwork to file, and we couldn’t do the second set until the processing of the first set starts. Currently it takes an average of six to eighteen months to process all three sets of them. That mean there won’t be green card before that and there would be no work authorization for that long!

He has been gathering documents for the longest time!! In fact, he hasn’t done anything! Nearly four months later, he said he couldn’t find our marriage certificate and need to find a suitable envelope to mail the forms!!

Fed up is an understatement right now, more like is it worth leaving my comfort zone to live so far away from the support system that I have here? Would it be better to just end a meaningless marriage with such an irresponsible person?

In fact, thousands of couples and many young families were kept apart for years under the current immigration system in the States. It’s just not efficient enough to process the amount of applications they get each year.

Looks like the approval may not come through for another year! We may have to change our plan i.e. have me visit as a visitor first and then come home to attend the interview. That’s our plan B and hopefully that coincides with my plan to come home during CNY 2009.

Don’t you think it’s strange? Apparently I can’t apply to adjust my status when I am in US as a visitor, the process and the final interview still has to be done in my home country. Red tapes and bureaucracy do not just happen in third world. :-)

It looks like there is a huge back-up of filings that built up before the fees hike in July 2007. It is rather common to take more than a year or even two years to complete the process currently. So we have to come up with plan B. I may have to go as a visitor while the migration in progress. We were trying to determine whether it’s possible or advisable to  do so. It stressed me that there is so much conflicting information, even on the official website!!

Life has thrown me into this unpredictable choppy sea and am adjusting the sails. Once we have decided that it’s better for me to move than for him to come back here, there are so many things to do. I am slowly getting rid of things and tidying up the loose ends.

It’s not as simple as just packing up and leave. The business and earthly possessions need to be disposed or taken care, the taxes and fees to be paid, the house need to be leased out, etc.

I thank God that the boat is sailing smoothly so far.

We found out that sometime it takes years for some people, but so far from what we gathered from the internet, people from here have shared good experience and shorter waiting period. We didn’t know that hubby could have done the application and filing with the embassy here directly when we were living here, and that route is usually the fastest compare to do the filing with the Department of Homeland Security within the States.

It takes a lot of leg work and cost money to do all the filings, we just pray and hope that it won’t be too painful process.