Crafting Arrows for Battle

I received the I-130 interview letter this week from the USCIS. Molly sent me a copy via email along with a memorandum that outlines the categories for which I should supply proofs to support the status of our very real relationship. The 5 categories that I need to cover are: 1) Evidence of Visits and Communication, 2) Financial Records for Joint Assets or Liabilities, 3) Birth Certificate of Child Born to the Marriage, 4) Statements from at Least Three Persons, 5) Other Evidence Establishing a Bona Fide Relationship. I immediately made a list of what I had in my files or could obtain and sent that information back to Molly asking if there was anything I might be overlooking. I also mentioned that some of the documentation I don’t have copies of (i.e. last bank account we held jointly) should be in the waiver packet we sent back in February of 2012. Lance said, “Just add to the heap of paper post waiver submission.” Ok, that gives me a starting point!

I opened my copy of the waiver and reviewed the table of contents and scrolled through some of the pages to see what they already had. I started a table of contents for the documents I was going to give Lance and Molly since I am nothing if not obsessively organized when it comes to anything immigration related. At the end of day one, I had printed and cataloged over one hundred pages of supporting documentation that I had on my flash drive. Those hundred pages were almost exclusively tax returns from 2007 through 2012 and I didn’t print copies of W2s or other supporting documentation.

They have no idea the can of worms they have opened by demanding this arbitrary interview. My project for this weekend is going through my Vaultz Letter/Legal Size File Chest, which if you don’t want to follow the link is a large black filing chest with locks that contains about 6 reams of paper that I have stored over the last 7 years or so. I have my tax filings since I started working, reams of legal documents, official certified documents, and the dried out husks of 2 box elder bugs together with the spider that murdered them in cold blood. I held a moment of silence in their honor, followed by a single dust buster salute and burial.

I have less than a month to prepare; there is no time to lose in amassing evidence. On top of the paperwork, I need to figure out that to wear! I don’t have a lot of clothes that fit me well, and I need to present a good image. Shit, I guess this means I’ll have to do something with my hair and maybe even learn how to use makeup.



Every idea from now until the interview will serve as another arrow in my quiver, and my irritation only improves my aim. You have been warned.



Ciao